D2D2T policies using nbu 8.0

[Bruce_Clegg]

We just got a new media server and tape library and loaded it with: Netbackup 8.0 and ~1.9 TB of (Raid 5) local disk storage.  The media server is connected it to the library with fibre hba's.

So far so good.  Now I need to set up policies.

My daily differential backups are averaging only about 700 GB - so I can only fit 2 full days on the local disks.  The plan, down the road it is to build out a san and keep 90 days on disk - but that isn't ready yet.

Full backups are run once a week.  Right now the plan is for them to go straight to tape.

For the differential backups, I'd like to set up a daily policy to backup to the hdd - then another policy to backup yesterday's differential backup to tape with a retention of ~3 weeks - to tape.  I'd like the system to, once the backup to tape is complete to delete the data from the hdd.

Can this be accomplished within Netbackup?  Or will I need to use the OS (cronjob) to do the deleting?  I don't want to use the OS - because I want to be 100 percent sure the data is backed up before I erase it.

If there are problems with this plan, can you point them out to me?  Also, can you please point me to some documentation on the best way to set this up?  Thanks!

[BVshet]

Hi Bruce,

Hope you are doing good.

This can be achieved by using NetBackup storage life cycle policies(SLP)

This is easy to manage and reduces the effort required to chnage things when you get the required SAN storage.

https://www.veritas.com/support/en_US/article.000014583.html

The above link should help you plan and Veritas has good documentation for SLP.

Regards,

Bshet

[Marianne · Accepted solution]

If you do not have Capacity license or Data Protection Optimization license, you cannot use SLPs.
SLPs can only be configured for Advanced Disk and Dedupe disk.

Configuring dedupe (MSDP) seems like a good choice.
While your company is spending money on new resources, now is a good time to talk to your reseller about 'working smarter' as far as backups are concerned.

Without sufficient licensing, your only other choice is Basic Disk with Disk Staging.
Do not backup the disk storage to tape. The backup will be unusable.

In the Disk Storage Unit config, select Staging Schedule at the bottom of the screen.
Configure a schedule that will look for disk backups shortly after the backups have completed to duplicate to tape. 
It is good practice to configure the schedule every couple of hours (e.g. every 3 hours).

Backups that have been duplicated to tape will automatically be expired and deleted when the disk reaches the High Water Mark.
Oldest backups are selected first and cleanup will happen until the LWM is reached.

You should NEVER delete anything from backup storage manually. This will corrupt catalogs as NBU still has record of those backups until expiration date.
Expiration will delete backups from disk.

Some DSSU documentation (old but still valid):

DOCUMENTATION: Description of NetBackup Disk Staging Relocation Behavior
http://www.veritas.com/docs/000030287

 Disk Staging Storage Unit (DSSU) cleanup behavior 
http://www.veritas.com/docs/000036495

[Bruce_Clegg]

thank you.  Plenty to think about.