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NDMP, NetApp and NetBackup - Need help understanding a few things.

MattS
Level 6
So I'm trying to setup backups on our NetApp v-series via NDMP.

Here's the setup:

Master - 6.5.4 on RHEL4 (VM)
Media - controls robot (tld0) - 6.5.4 on Solaris 10 (SPARC)
Media - (media server i would like to "control" the NDMP backups and has drives in tld0) - 6.5.4 Win2k3R2x64
NDMP host - NetApp V-series - 7.3.1.1P1
Tape Library - NetApp VTL

This is what i have done so far:

-License verified on Master server. (older docs say to add to the media server as well, not sure here)
-Created a virtual drive and zoned it in with an initiator port on the V-series.
-The VTL can see the v-series fine.
-Setup the authentication portion on the V-series and added an NDMP host for it in NetBackup.


So my questions are:

-Does the NetApp filer need to have the media changer (robot) added?
-If so do i need to make changes to the existing robot in NetBackup?
-When i add a new robot in NetBackup which device host do i choose? The media server that has control of the robot or the one that I want to "control" the NDMP backups?
-To go along with the questions above: Do i leave the robot number the same?
-Do i need to install the NDMP client on the media server that controls tld0, due to it being Solaris?

I've got about 10 PDF's open right now in regards to this, but i cant seem to find anything that answers these questions specifically.  The install guide for ndmp doesn't seem to address adding it to pre-existing environments.

Feel free to link any docs even though i think i covered everything from every vendor back to 1998 (see www.ndmp.org)
;-)

Thanks for any help,
Matt
1 ACCEPTED SOLUTION

Accepted Solutions

Deepak_W
Level 6
Partner Accredited

1. Rakesh - V-series in NetApp does not mean VTL device. V-series means storage virtualization HW which aggregates all third party storage devices.

2. Matt - Below mentioned are the explainations for the questions asked.

-Does the NetApp filer need to have the media changer (robot) added?
This is always preferred, but not mandatory. If you add the drive and robot to NetApp then that will be Local NDMP backup and will be the  fastest. and in case if  you choose to add the drive and robot to media server then that will be remote NDMP (LAN based) and will be slower than local-NDMP.

-If so do i need to make changes to the existing robot in NetBackup?
option 1 - if you add the drive and robot to NetApp then you will need to create new storage unit and will need to assign all NDMP backup to that storage unit.
option 2- if you ass the drive and robot to media server then you will need to create the storage unit and will need to assign all NDMP backup to that storage unit.

-When i add a new robot in NetBackup which device host do i choose? The media server that has control of the robot or the one that I want to "control" the NDMP backups?
you wil need to assign the robot control to the host which will control NDMP backups. NetApp filer in option 1 and media server in option 2

-To go along with the questions above: Do i leave the robot number the same?
this does not matter as long as you do not have too many robots to get confused.

-Do i need to install the NDMP client on the media server that controls tld0, due to it being Solaris?
irrespective of being solaris or windows you will need NDMP license to enable your NBU taking NDMP backups. NDMP is tier based license.

Hope this clarifies yoru queries.

 

View solution in original post

3 REPLIES 3

Rakesh_Khandelw
Level 6

 

-Does the NetApp filer need to have the media changer (robot) added?
NO, unless you are creating a new virtual library  in your VTL for NDMP backups but even in that case you can choose one of your media servers or master server to control this changer.
-If so do i need to make changes to the existing robot in NetBackup?
-When i add a new robot in NetBackup which device host do i choose? The media server that has control of the robot or the one that I want to "control" the NDMP backups?
You can make any media server or master server as device host for robot.
-To go along with the questions above: Do i leave the robot number the same?
If you are adding new robot then you need to give it a number which is not in use.
-Do i need to install the NDMP client on the media server that controls tld0, due to it being Solaris?
Yes, you need to install NDMP agent and need to  have NDMP license.

Deepak_W
Level 6
Partner Accredited

1. Rakesh - V-series in NetApp does not mean VTL device. V-series means storage virtualization HW which aggregates all third party storage devices.

2. Matt - Below mentioned are the explainations for the questions asked.

-Does the NetApp filer need to have the media changer (robot) added?
This is always preferred, but not mandatory. If you add the drive and robot to NetApp then that will be Local NDMP backup and will be the  fastest. and in case if  you choose to add the drive and robot to media server then that will be remote NDMP (LAN based) and will be slower than local-NDMP.

-If so do i need to make changes to the existing robot in NetBackup?
option 1 - if you add the drive and robot to NetApp then you will need to create new storage unit and will need to assign all NDMP backup to that storage unit.
option 2- if you ass the drive and robot to media server then you will need to create the storage unit and will need to assign all NDMP backup to that storage unit.

-When i add a new robot in NetBackup which device host do i choose? The media server that has control of the robot or the one that I want to "control" the NDMP backups?
you wil need to assign the robot control to the host which will control NDMP backups. NetApp filer in option 1 and media server in option 2

-To go along with the questions above: Do i leave the robot number the same?
this does not matter as long as you do not have too many robots to get confused.

-Do i need to install the NDMP client on the media server that controls tld0, due to it being Solaris?
irrespective of being solaris or windows you will need NDMP license to enable your NBU taking NDMP backups. NDMP is tier based license.

Hope this clarifies yoru queries.

 

MattS
Level 6
Thanks for the responses guys.

To better clarify, what im trying to do is this: (taken from http://eval.symantec.com/mktginfo/enterprise/white_papers/b-whitepaper_best_practice_for_ndmp_backup_netbackup_02-2009_20016956.en-us.pdf )

Direct NDMP—Direct NDMP backup is identical in practice to local NDMP backup, but differs in the implementation
with sharing of SAN tape drives in a library with a NetBackup media server. With the Shared Storage Option (SSO)
NetBackup can share tape resources between the media servers and NAS. This requires the NDMP host to be SAN-
attached and zoned to see the library or drives. The master server controls access to the tape device.


Sorry, i should have mentioned that in my first post.