Securing 2nd copy of Catalogue Backup when using AIR!

[Spartacus81]

NBU 7.5.0.4 all virtual. 

2 Domains using AIR so far so good. 1xMaster 10 media servers at each site.

Now concern is both domain storing the catalogue on site as my customer wants total disk based solution. My worry is if my master vm died how would i bring it back up.

catalgoue duplication; run the catalogue on dedup pool and SLP'ed it to another diskpool? if yes is deduping the catalogue adviseable?

any other suggestion apart from using the tape would highly be appreciated.

[Yasuhisa_Ishika]

I recommend you not to use MSDP for catalog backup as in master disaster situation MSDP also dies.
It may be possible to duplicate AIRed catalog backup to BasicDisk or tape and send it back to original site, but in this scenario you can not use DR ingo file in recovery as cataog recovery source is different from its original backups.

BasicDisk with replication or tape is reliable method in disaster.

[Jean-Pierre_Bai]

100% agree with above not to dedup catalog.

Basic disk is fine. You can copy DR file to directory with same name on alternate site this will get around name of recovery source and original backup being the same.

[Mark_Solutions]

It is not reccomended to AIR the catalog and of no real use without tape at the destination site - even then it needs its own SLP and volume pool setting up to be consistent

You can create the DR file at a later date so can egt around that one

Best bet is to do it to a disk storage unit and replicate that and the dr file to the other site - loose all the benefits of de-dupe but it would help

One alternative would be for the SLP on the remote site to have a duplication step that duplicates it to an advanced disk storage unit (cannot use basic disk in an SLP) where at least the image files would be of some use and could be copied somewhere and imported in the event of a disatser

Hope this helps

[Spartacus81]

Thanks for your response Guys..

so we all agreed not to to dedup the catalgoue though my argument would be: 

a. it will save diskspace as catalogue tend to get bigger if you using dedup+air

b. if master dies MSDP dies too. fine. all i will do is built the vm with same name and IP; install NBU; copy the DR file to master from the media server and recover the catalogue from the target MSDP where catalogue was replicated using SLP. ?

other Option:

Both domains are source and target domains and the catalgoue is currently sitting on basic disk at each end.

what about this one. i have two load balancing servers (vms) at each site. i can attach 1TB disk to each media server create a basic storage unit on master attach to that media server and schedule the duplication of securing the 2nd copy of catalogue on that basic storage unit which will serve the purpose. As far as the DR file is concern thats not a problem i can setup cron task to copy DR file from master to that media server.

make sense? 

[Jean-Pierre_Bai]

msdp dies only if storage server dies, if storage server is a media server it will not die when master dies, it will be unusable until catalog is recoverd along with the master but all data is not lost.

Bottom line, to say master dies MSDP dies is not 100% correct.

[Spartacus81]

Jean what i meant was to dedup the catalogue on master by creating a dedup pool (MSDP) on the master and then replicate (SLP'ed) it to a media server to secure the 2nd copy of the catalogue. So master will be both master and storage server but only for catalogue. 

So if my master dies; msdp dies too Fine; i can recover the catalogue from the media server.

[Mark_Solutions]

It wont be that easy without your Master to recovered a de-duped image from your media server to be honest.

I cannot see a problem with backing it up to de-dupe on your main site using a dedicated SLP - replicating to to the second site using AIR and then once it gets to the second site duplicate it to an advanced disk area

That way at least you have "usable" image files that can be copied back somewhere and imported, after which you can do a catalog restore - still needs a little playing with but at least it makes life a whole lot easier

[Spartacus81]

Thanks Mark. I see what you mean by useable files which gives you more flexibility. Great. 

So here it is:

Attach a 1TB disk to master at each site; create a MSDP diskpool; dedup the catalogue; SLP'ed it (duplication task) to Media server that has the Advance disk pool; cron task to copy the DR file to media server. That way the 2nd copy of Catalogue secure and ready to use at each site and all disk based.

[Mark_Solutions]

To use AIR you need dedupe at both sites - I wouldn't worry about a special de-dupe pool fo rthe catalog backup unless it is too large to have a media server do the catalog backup.

So create a Catalog_SLP on the main site which points to your media servers de-dupe pool and run the catalog backup to that and add the AIR replication step

On the remote site you also have Catalog_SLP which runs an import and then duplication to Advanced Disk

And yes, the cron job to copy the DR file across (or just keep your e-mail with the attached DR file safe)

[Spartacus81]

Thanks Mark i understand the AIR concept. Cheers for the steps but i don't want 2nd copy of the catalgoue of each domain to be on the other site.

I will backup the catalogue to the local dedup pool and duplicate it using the SLP to the advance diskpool.

thank you all for your inputs. Mark i will mark your post as a solution. 

[Mark_Solutions]

But you can't!

You cannot AIR from de-dupe ro advanced disk - it has to be de-dupe to de-dupe and then you can duplicate to advanced disk

You could have a very short retention period on the replicated de-dupe copy to save space

[Spartacus81 · Accepted solution]

Sorry mark but am not going to use AIR for catalogue replication. its already happening between two domains.

what you are suggesting is this:

(@ Source Domain Catalogue_SLP= Backup-->Replicate and Target Domain: Catalogue_SLP=Import--> Duplicate)..

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I dont want that way it will be too messy. I want each domain to have two copies of their catalgoue backups at their respective sites. Both domains have 2 load balancing server sat there doing minimum work. So what i thought is after discussing with you clever guys.. 

A (it's not AIR):

Catalogue_SLP= Backup to MSDP; Duplicate to Advance Disk. when you create an SLP you can see both MSDP pools and advance disk pool when you either select backup or duplication. Right.

B: (Simple Duplication assuming its going to tape)

Run Catalogue to basic storage unit and then

Schedule duplication task on that storage unit and duplicate to another basic unit created on the media server. :)

[Mark_Solutions]

OK it you are not sending it cross site then what you have suggested will be fine - either tape, advanced disk or basic disk at least gives you something to work from when it comes to a restore - the tape copy being the easiest

[Spartacus81]

Yes it does. Thanks. 

Thank you all again for your inputs much appreciated.