Nuts and bolts in NetBackup for VMware: Transport methods and TCP ports
It had been a while since my last blog on NetBackup for VMware. The next in line in that series was restore process flow. However, since there had been many questions on transport methods and TCP ports, let us talk about those for now. I will get to restore process flow soon!Nuts and bolts in NetBackup for VMware: Understanding V-Ray vision through backup process flow
Now that we know how VM discovery job works for a VMware Intelligent Policy (VIP), let us move on to the actual backup job. The process flow described here is the same for both VIP and browse-and-select type policies unless specified otherwise.Nuts and Bolts in NetBackup for VMware
Looking for the details on NetBackup for VMware? Would you like to know about the nuts and bolts inside? We recently published, and we intend to publish more on technical details on award winning NetBackup for VMware protection. As there are many blogs in this series, I am publishing this blog as a container for this series. The series so far:All new NetBackup 5220: The complete and purpose-built backup appliance
IDC defines(1) a purpose-built backup appliance as a disk-based solution that utilizes software, disk arrays, server engine(s), or nodes that are used for a target for backup data and specifically data coming from a backup application (e.g., NetBackup, Backup Exec, Networker etc.). These products are stand-alone disk systems purpose built to serve as a target for backup. Symantec’s NetBackup 5200 series appliances, while purpose built for backups, are much more than a traditional PBBA. For example, the all new NetBackup 5220 appliance can be deployed as a NetBackup master server, media server or both. This modular appliance can be used for implementing a brand new NetBackup domain for a remote office or enterprise without needing additional software based backup application to manage data protection for clients. NetBackup 5220 is not just a purpose built backup target, it is a complete backup solution by itself. NetBackup 5220 is the newest member in NetBackup appliances family. The system features v 2.0 of appliance software which is based on NetBackup 7.1.0.1 code. The appliance starts at 4TB of deduplication storage which is ideal for remote office/branch office use cases. As mentioned earlier, the appliance can function as an independent all-in-one NetBackup system or it can be configured as a media server reporting to a central data center. The Auto Image Replication (A.I.R) feature makes it possible for these appliances to replicate to remote NetBackup domains for Disaster Recovery readiness. There is no need to have a backup server and a duplication appliance as in the case of using a traditional PBBA. Moreover, the 4TB model may also be used as the driver for NetBackup 5000 series based global deduplication appliances thereby providing 192TB of deduplication pool. The storage on NetBackup 5220 can be expanded up to 36 TB by adding a Symantec Storage Shelf. Another key feature for NetBackup 5220 is the support for SAN Client. We will talk about this in a separate blog. Thanks to Symantec V-Ray, NetBackup 5220 appliances provide unprecedented visibility into virtual machines, giving you faster recovery and reduced storage costs in virtual environments. Whether you have Hyper-V or VMware (or even both), the appliance understands the data stream with embedded stream handlers whereby it can identify the file boundaries and strip out the meta data before deduplicating the segments. This level of content intelligence makes it possible to deduplicate across virtual, physical, application and NAS systems without brute force resource intensive processing. VMware Intelligent Policy makes it possible to set data protection in auto pilot mode, no need to manually add/remove virtual machines into backup policies. Highly customized rules can be engaged to ensure visibility while automating protection. Do you know that NetBackup 5220 is designed to kill the VTL? We will talk about it next week! 1 Worldwide Purpose-Built Backup Appliance 2011–2015 Forecast and 2010 Vendor Shares, Robert Amatruda, IDC Research Director, Data Protection and Recovery, May 2011Optimized Synthetic Backups: Taking the art and science of synthesizing backups to a cut above
The concept of synthesizing full backups from previous full and new incremental backups had been in the industry for a while. The idea is to run incremental backups on client system so that its CPU and memory resources are used minimally. In addition, as the full data set is not moved over network, it is a great way to save network bandwidth.
Open letter to EMC: Change your Data Domain licensing model and stop taxing your customers
Deduplication makes disk-based data protection an economically viable and important part of an overall data protection strategy. Unfortunately, EMC customers quickly learn that there is a significant tax burden to bear for deploying Data Domain deduplication. As a result, EMC is found wanting when it comes to saving organizations money by using deduplication.New Year’s Resolution #1 – Better Backup for Snapshots
How many of you have made a New Year’s resolution to lose weight? Well OK, maybe not weight literally but you’ve been tasked to find ways in 2012 to reduce cost in your backup infrastructure and with a bit of smart maneuvering actually improve backup and recovery performance. In the upcoming release of NetBackup, Symantec can help reduce cost and accelerate recovery with
