Nuts and bolts in NetBackup for VMware: Avoiding CBT penalty with NetBackup Accelerator
Let us start our technical deep dive with NetBackup Accelerator for VMware. Most of you already know that NetBackup Accelerator is designed to provide full backups for the cost of performing an incremental backup. In this case cost stands for the backup window, backup storage, client CPU, client memory, client disk I/O, network bandwidth etc. required for running backups.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:Agile, End-to-end, Scalable Data Protection for Cisco UCS Based Data Centers with Symantec NetBackup
Cisco Unified Computing System (UCS) servers unify computing, networking, management, virtualization, and storage access into a single integrated architecture. This unique architecture enables end-to-end server visibility, management, and control in both bare metal and virtual environments.Nuts and bolts in NetBackup for VMware: What is new in NetBackup 7.6?
It had been a while since I added something new to this series on Nuts and Bolts in NetBackup for VMware. The dawn of NetBackup 7.6 is here. It is one of the biggest releases in NetBackup for VMware vSphere and vCloud. This release prepares for your journey to Software Defined Data Center. Are you ready? Fasten your seat belts! First and foremost, let us put some perspective on the adoption of virtualization in data centers. Symantec and VMware have been guiding you in reaping the benefits of virtualization. It is happening in three phases. You are likely to be in one of the three phases in this exciting journey. IT Production: In this phase, you are looking save on capital expenses through server consolidation for general-purpose workloads. The key advantage here is to pool and abstract hardware resources for optimal utilization. NetBackup prepared you for this phase since NetBackup 6.5 in 2007, the very first official release of NetBackup with VMware specific features. VMworld judges awarded NetBackup with Best of VMworld in Data Protection and Business Continuity category. NetBackup was the first product to ever get this recognition. NetBackup is still the only product that has won or became the finalist in that category the most number of times. Business Production: This phase is about virtualizing business critical applications and reducing operational expenses. Automation is the mantra at this stage. NetBackup prepared you for this phase since NetBackup 7.1/NetBackup 5220 release in 2011-12. Symantec V-Ray, VMware Intelligent Policies, SAN based offhost backups and integrated VMware Ready backup appliances mitigated the operational costs of virtualized workloads through simplification and automation. NetBackup 5220 and Symantec V-Ray got the attention from both VMworld and Microsoft TechEd judges bagging several awards. Software Defined Data Centers: This is the nirvana for virtualization where compute, network and storage is virtualized and managed as a service model. This phase is all about agility and efficiency for data centers. Now NetBackup 7.6 is preparing you for SDDC in 2013-14. So how exactly is NetBackup 7.6 preparing for this third phase in virtualization so as to reach software defined data centers? Let me give you an overview here. You are zero miles away from these features once you enter the 7.6 freeway to Software Defined Data Center NetBackup Accelerator for VMware workloads: Super fast backups for workloads in VMware vSphere and vCloud are here! NetBackup Accelerator for VMware combines three key technologies to deliver fast and resource efficient backups for virtual machines and applications. NetBackup Replication Director for VMware workloads: Storage array level snapshots and replicas can meet high RPO/RTO required for business critical workloads. However the lack of content awareness limits their use cases. NetBackup Replication Director for VMware vSphere and vCloud workloads enables you to make use of storage level snapshots and replicas without losing end-to-end content visibility, granular recoverability and data life cycle manageability. NetBackup Instant Recovery for VMware: This capability enables you to bring up enterprise grade virtual machines and workloads right from the backup storage even before restoring data back to production storage. NetBackup for VMware vCloud: NetBackup 7.6 brings unmatched support for VMware vCloud Suite, starting with end-to-end support for vCloud Director based environments. As you guys know, vCloud Director is the current foundation for building an SDDC for VMware customers. You get to protect the “DNA” of such SDDCs through NetBackup 7.6. Almost all features in NetBackup for VMware vSphere now seamlessly work for vCloud Director based environments. NetBackup Blue Sky Recovery: NetBackup now automates the migration and disaster recovery of physical machines into virtual machines in VMware vSphere and vCloud environments from the backups. NetBackup Auto Image Replication works in conjunction with this capability to take systems anytime to remote locations or to the cloud. This feature is designed to accelerate your journey to virtualization. Well, this is just an overview. We will get into the nuts and bolts of each of these features in upcoming blogs in this series. The first one in this series is already live. Here is the blog on technical deep dive into NetBackup Accelerator for VMware. Got a question NetBackup 7.6 for VMware features? Ask me using the comments section below. I shall answer them directly or through subsequent blogs. We have a lot to talk about in NetBackup 7.6! Related blogs: Eliminating CBT penalty with NetBackup Accelerator Earlier blogs in Nuts and bolts seriesNetBackup: The true scale-out backup solution for VMware vSphere workloads on Nutanix
Nutanix is a hyper-converged infrastructure solution where each node is a self-sufficient set of compute and storage resources to run workloads. Four Nutanix nodes form a Nutanix Block. Multiple Nutanix Blocks can be acquired for pooling compute and storage. Nutanix follows ‘shared nothing’ architecture for storage.Looking for the Right Data Backup Solution for the Virtual World? Ask Yourself These Three Questions
Backup is like an insurance policy. You want it for the peace of mind, but you don’t want it to dominate your workday (also, nights and weekends!). You need to protect data on your virtual machines to guard against hardware/storage failures and user errors. You may also have regulatory and compliance requirements to protect data for the longer term.Nuts and bolts in NetBackup for VMware: Under the hood view of NetBackup Instant Recovery for VMware
NetBackup Instant Recovery for VMware enables you to boot up and run multiple virtual machines directly from backup image. As far as the end user of the virtual machine is concerned, there is no functional difference between an instance of VM run from production storage or the one run from NetBackup backup storage.Day and Night: NetBackup 5220 vs. that other product
I have worked for NetBackup Technical Support as a Staff engineer for long time. Customers don’t call us when things are working great; they need our help when they are not getting what they want from the product. Naturally, a seasoned engineer in support is continuously dealing with weaknesses or defects in the product more than its strengths.