VMware backup of Exchange 2010 DAG, and GRT restore from tape

[RLeon]

Hi all,

Just a general query about VM Exchange server and GRT restore.

GRT restores:
First, let's talk about backing up an entire VM, and ignore MS Exchange for now.
Suppose every other GRT prerequisite and config is fully in accordance to the Netbackup VMware guide.
  Policy type = VMware
  (VMware tab) Enable file recovery from VM backup = YES
I understand that even if the backup goes directly to tape, GRT could still restore individual files directly from tape.
The technicalities behind this feature work very similarly to when you backup to tape using Flashbackup, and restore individual files directly from tape.

Next, in a non-VM Exchange 2010 DAG environment, one of the requirements to enable the use of GRT is that the storage unit must be disk, not tape.
GRT Exchange images can be duplicated from disk to tape, and then duplicated back to disk for GRT restores.
The bottom line is, that for Exchange GRT restores, the backup image must be on disk, not tape.

VM level Exchange backups and GRT restores:
Suppose the Master server is 7.5.0.1 running on Win2008R2 SP1,
and the backup target is a a VM MS Exchange 2010 SP2 Mailbox Node running in a Vmware ESXi 5.0 setup.
Also suppose every other GRT prerequisite and config is fully in accordance to both the Netbackup VMware and Exchange guides.
  Policy type = VMware
  (VMware tab) Enable file recovery from VM backup = YES
  (VMware tab) Enable Exchange Recovery = YES

I understand that if the backup goes to disk, then both "individual files" GRT and Exchange GRT restores would work.
If the backup goes directly to tape, then the "individual files" GRT restore should still work.
But what about the Exchange GRT restore? I don't suppose it would work from tape (just like in a non-VM setup), but this point is not made very clear from the guides.

The Queries:
A VMware backup directly to tape allows for individual file restores, but what if the VMware backup also includes an Exchange Mailbox DAG node?
Would it still be possible to use GRT restore for the VM Exchange objects, if the entire VM was backed up directly to tape?
If the answer is no, then would duplicating the VM backup image from tape to disk enable GRT restore for the Exchange objects?

Thanks all,

RLeon

[Oddy]

Rleon,

If you want the vmware Exchange GRT backup to work it has to go to a supported disk storage unit.

It will not work to duplicate the vmware backup image that went to tape to disk afterwards, that will not give you an option to restore grt items from the backup image.

If you have backed up the vmware Exchange backup to a supported disk storage unit there is an option to catalog it to tape with the bpduplicate -bc_only command see technote

http://www.symantec.com/business/support/index?page=content&id=HOWTO72094

I hope this answer your question.

Rgds

Oddy

[RLeon]

Oddy, thanks for the input.

Could you elaborate on the use of the bc_only option?
I am familiar with the bpduplicate command, but not with the bc_only option.
I read though your link, and I also found it in the guides, but I still don't fully understand its use.

If it helps, I'm looking to fill in some sort of table, like the following.
If at all possible, please help me in completing/correcting the answers.

Given the config:
  Policy type = VMware
  (VMware tab) Enable file recovery from VM backup = YES
  (VMware tab) Enable Exchange Recovery = YES

1. If backup goes to supported disk storage unit:
  1a. GRT restore of individual flat files? (Pretty sure it is Yes)
  1b. GRT restore of granular Exchange objects? (Pretty sure it is Yes)

2. If backup goes directly to tape:
  2a. GRT restore of individual flat files from tape? (I'm guessing Yes)
  2b. GRT restore of granular Exchange objects from tape? (Solid No.)
  2c. Duplicate the backup image from tape to disk, then GRT restore of granular Exchange objects? (No, as Oddy said)

3. If backup goes to supported disk storage unit, then duplicated to tape WITHOUT using bpduplicate -bc_only, and the original disk copy expired:
  3a. GRT restore of individual flat files directly from tape? (Fairly sure it is YES)
  3b. GRT restore of granular Exchange objects directly from tape? (No, as Oddy said.)
  3c. Duplicate the backup image from tape back to disk, then GRT restore of granular Exchange objects? (No, because bpduplicate -bc_only was not used.)

4. If backup goes to supported disk storage unit, run bpduplicate -bc_only, then duplicated to tape, and the original disk copy expired:
  4a. GRT restore of individual flat files directly from tape? (Fairly sure it is YES)
  4b. GRT restore of granular Exchange objects directly from tape? (I'm guessing NO.)
  4c. Duplicate the backup image from tape to disk, then GRT restore of granular Exchange objects? (Yes, because bpduplicate -bc_only was used, so the catalog has the Exchange GRT data.)

Hope the above didn't seem totally nonsense to you :)

Thanks!

RLeon

[RLeon]

Anyone?

If you are a technical minded person who appreciates a systematic approach in problem solving, then surely you wouldn't want to miss this great opportunity in validating my answers to all 11 questions (from 1a to 4c). Bonus points if you could give practical examples in using the bpduplicate -bc_only command.

Thanks all,

RLeon

[Oddy · Accepted solution]

I think the bpduplicate -bc_only will nfs mount the vmware backup image and read the granular items and catalog them to the image catalog by updating the <backupimage>.f file.

Here is my answer to your other questions.

1. If backup goes to supported disk storage unit:
  1a. GRT restore of individual flat files? Yes
  1b. GRT restore of granular Exchange objects? Yes

2. If backup goes directly to tape:
  2a. GRT restore of individual flat files from tape? Yes
  2b. GRT restore of granular Exchange objects from tape? No
  2c. Duplicate the backup image from tape to disk, then GRT restore of granular Exchange objects? No

3. If backup goes to supported disk storage unit, then duplicated to tape WITHOUT using bpduplicate -bc_only, and the original disk copy expired:
  3a. GRT restore of individual flat files directly from tape? YES
  3b. GRT restore of granular Exchange objects directly from tape? No
  3c. Duplicate the backup image from tape back to disk, then GRT restore of granular Exchange objects? No, because bpduplicate -bc_only was not used.

4. If backup goes to supported disk storage unit, run bpduplicate -bc_only, then duplicated to tape, and the original disk copy expired:
  4a. GRT restore of individual flat files directly from tape? YES
  4b. GRT restore of granular Exchange objects directly from tape? NO
  4c. Duplicate the backup image from tape to disk, then GRT restore of granular Exchange objects? Yes

I hope this helps.

/Oddy

[RLeon]

That clears up alot of things. Thanks for going through the whole list, you get all the points!

Is there a way to automate bpduplicate -bc_only before the Exchange data gets duplicated to tape?

This is for when the Exchange backups go to a Staging basic disk storage unit, OR when the Exchange backups go to a SLP that stages the data on disk, and then duplicates them to tape.

Thanks,

RLeon

[Oddy]

I do not think there is a way to automate the bpduplicate -bc_only in netbackup, might be that you can create a script and run that after the backup is done.

/Oddy

[RLeon]

Let's hope that this useful feature will be implemented in the next version.

Thanks for all your help,

RLeon