Dell PowerVault Storage Area Network Manuel utilisateur

Best Practices for Setting up NetVault Backup

Native Virtual Tape Liprary (nVTL) on a DR

Disk Backup Appliance

A Dell Technical White Paper

2 Setting up NetVault Backup Native Virtual Tape Library on the Dell™ DR4X00 Disk Backup Appliance

Inc. in the US and worldwide. NetVault is a trademark of Dell-Quest.

3 Setting up NetVault Backup Native Virtual Tape Library on the Dell™ DR4X00 Disk Backup Appliance

Table of contents

Introduction .......................................................................................................................................................................................4

Executive Summary .......................................................................................................................................................................... 5

1Technical Setup/configuration Best Practices ..................................................................................................................... 7

1.1 General Setup /configuration Best Practices ............................................................................................................. 7

1.2 DR4X00 Setup/configuration Best Practices ............................................................................................................. 7

1.3 NetVault nVTL Setup /configuration Best Practices ................................................................................................. 7

1.4 Using and Managing a NetVault: Backup nVTL on DR4X00 appliance.................................................................9

2Install and Configure the DR4X00.........................................................................................................................................11

3Configure NetVault Backup nVTL ......................................................................................................................................... 18

4Set up the DR4X00 Cleaner...................................................................................................................................................30

5Monitoring Dedupe, Compression & Performance........................................................................................................... 31

5.1 NetVault: Backup VTL and Cleaning Cycles............................................................................................................. 31

5.2 NetVault: Backup Optional Configurations for Optimum Performance ............................................................32

Appendix A Additional Resources...........................................................................................................................................34

Appendix B Configure DR4X00 replication for NetVault backup for nVTL ....................................................................35

Appendix C Moving an nVTL NetVault Backup residing on DR4X00 replicated container to another NetVault

backup server 44

Appendix D Sample Scripts For Management Of Replication Failover And Reclamation Of Disk Space ..................54

4 Setting up NetVault Backup Native Virtual Tape Library on the Dell™ DR4X00 Disk Backup Appliance

Introduction

The Dell™ DR4X00 is a high-performance, disk-based backup and recovery appliance that delivers

innovative features such as inline deduplication and compression, advanced data protection, and

replication. Additionally, the management features, ease of deployment, and an architecture that enables

core backup data to remain on disk and online longer can help organizations reduce the complexity

associated with backup.

In most cases, a Dell DR4X00 solution replaces a tape drive or library as the primary storage target

because the DR4X00 can deliver fast full backups and restores more efficiently than traditional tape

devices. Using a combination of the DR4X00 for a primary backup storage target and existing tape

infrastructure for secondary backups provides a high-performance and reliable solution to meet legal

obligations or business requirements for offsite storage, archiving, and disaster recovery.

Combined with the power of NetVault Native Virtual Tape Library (nVTL), the Dell DR4X00 provides

customers with a unique solution stack enabling them to protect data and meet demanding RPO and RTO

goals with simplicity and speed.

This not only enables customers to realize lower costs to own and operate data protection functions it

also helps customers realize higher and more effective initial investment returns as the integrated solution

provides a single point for both software and infrastructure scale and support.

This paper is intended for technical sales, solution architects, backup administrators, system

administrators, and IT managers who need to understand how to design and deploy the Dell DR4X00

Advanced Disk Backup & Disaster Recovery Solution with NetVault nVTL. Readers should have a working

knowledge of DR4X00 disk based backup storage appliance, NetVault Backup, and NetVault nVTL

software application as well as related backup and disaster recovery operations best practices.

The primary goal of this paper is to provide a step-by step install/configure guide of the DR4X00 with

NetVault nVTL. In addition, the guide will illustrate key technical considerations and best practices involved

in deployment/configuration process of the DR4X00 and NetVault nVTL solution.

5 Setting up NetVault Backup Native Virtual Tape Library on the Dell™ DR4X00 Disk Backup Appliance

Executive Summary

This paper provides detailed information about how to set up a Dell™DR Series Disk Backup Appliance as a

target for NetVault®nVTL software. In this configuration, NetVault nVTL is configured for target object

store use for data protection operations. This use case with nVTL requires more factoring with out-of-

band maintenance and forethought as the space would need to be preformatted and properly managed

for use. The primary advantage is that due to its simple approach, NetVault Backup Native Virtual Tape

Library (nVTL) DR4X00 replication support is achievable using this method.

See Figure 1 below which illustrates the DR4X00-NetVault nVTL baseline Scenario.

Figure 1: DR4X00-NetVault nVTL basline Scenario.

6 Setting up NetVault Backup Native Virtual Tape Library on the Dell™ DR4X00 Disk Backup Appliance

NOTES:

The DR4X00 build version and screen shots used for this paper may vary slightly, depending on the

version of the DR4X00 operating system.

See NetVault DR Series Backup Appliance Application notes, DR4X00 and NetVault nVTL

documentation for additional information.

Please refer to Appendix B & C of this guide for advanced DR Series –NetVault nVTL replication

procedures ,

7 Setting up NetVault Backup Native Virtual Tape Library on the Dell™ DR4X00 Disk Backup Appliance

1Technical Setup/configuration Best Practices

This section highlights key configuration and setup best practices to successfully add the DR backup Disk

appliance for the use with NetVault Backup native Virtual Tape Library (nVTL) instance(s).

1.1 General Setup /configuration Best Practices

Refer to the manufacture’s documentation for additional details on the following prerequisites.

Ensure cabling configured correctly.

Configure interfaces, protocol and addressing.

oConfigure Networking infrastructure to support Jumbo Frames (MTU=9000).

Preconfigured system to run as the NetVault Backup Server and respective native virtual tape

libraries.

DR4X00 preconfigured for use with the following attributes established:

oProper network connectivity with IP address or DNS name of DR4X00 Backup Appliance.

oDR4X00 Backup Appliance(s) configured with the appropriate containers needed to host

the NetVault Backup native VTL (nVTL) instance

oFor each container defined a network share exported via CIFS or NFS of appropriate

permission and size.

oAll authentication requirements fulfilled such as Domain name, username and password

for users setup on DR4X00 unit to provide full access to the predefined containers and

network share(s) for use as backup repositories. In the case of the NetVault Backup nVTL

solution this should include full access to not only the NetVault Backup server but also all

SmartClients intended for use.

1.2 DR4X00 Setup/configuration Best Practices

Each NetVault Backup nVTL instance should be created and configured to run within the domain of a

single DR4X00 Storage Container. This will allow for easy management of storage consumption

therefore each NetVault Backup nVTL instance should run within its own container.

Users should be created so that the NetVault Backup server user has full Read/Write access to the

container. This is a requirement for NetVault to be able to manage the configuration items and

respective objects created within said container during backup, access during recovery, and deletion

upon retirement.

1.3 NetVault nVTL Setup /configuration Best Practices

Due to various factors such as data set size, data set iteration or count, retention period, and change rate it

can be difficult to determine the best VTL size and configuration for any given deduplication situation. One

of the best practices is to size the VTL to no more than 10x the physical available disk space or to assess

how much data the customer has to backup and the required retention periods for each set of data so as

to not exceed either one of these two guidelines when creating the virtual media for the virtual tape library

8 Setting up NetVault Backup Native Virtual Tape Library on the Dell™ DR4X00 Disk Backup Appliance

and to set the drive count to equal the number of simultaneous jobs or data streams desired without

exceeding the maximum guidelines set forth by the vendor.

For Example: Starting with a storage appliance with 2TB of physical disk space. Based on the 10x usage

recommendation, one can create a VTL of 20TB of total storage. But given that the data backed up per

week is 2TB and data retention is 4 weeks, the total amount of data stored at any given time would only be

8TB. Cutting the VTL down to 10TB would then be a more efficient use of space.

Once the overall size of the VTL is determined, the number of virtual drives to create and the granularity of

the VTL is the next consideration.

Most storage appliance operating environments can effectively handle a set number of streams. Any read

or write operation to and from a VTL virtual drive would denote a stream. As a rule of thumb, the number

of virtual drives to create in the VTL should reflect what is required to support simultaneous streams, or

concurrent jobs. Creating an excessive number of drives does not yield any benefits and could lead to

performance degradation. It is important to also never exceed the number of streams supported by the

appliance vendor’s operating environment when creating VTLs and virtual drives.

Media size is the final consideration when creating a VTL. Unlike physical media, virtual media can be

created to any size within the allowed range set by the appliance. So proper media size selection is

important to ensure smooth operation of the VTL. Creating a small number of large media will extend the

retention of expired data and prevent proper recycling within a media pool. Creating a large number of

small media puts a strain on the NVBU Media Manager process and can cause contention of resources. We

recommend that the media size be made to accommodate for the media group retention policy such that

when the retention period is expired for that group all items on the media should expire as well thus

allowing for the reuse of the virtual media in question.

9 Setting up NetVault Backup Native Virtual Tape Library on the Dell™ DR4X00 Disk Backup Appliance

1.4 Using and Managing a NetVault: Backup nVTL on DR4X00

appliance.

General guidelines and best practices for using a NVBU VTL on a DR4x00 unit:

Only create enough media to cope with one full cycle of backups, and the relevant retention

policies.

Set the “Automatically Label Blank Media” parameter to off to prevent erroneous use of blank

media and to ensure efficient use of available media within a tape pool. A tightly managed tape

pool will ease the space reclamation process.

Pre-Labelling media and assigning a NVBU media Group Label will make the task of managing

tape pools much easier. Tapes will be re-used properly within a tape pool and space reclamation

can then be performed in an orderly fashion.

In our example NVBU VTL, we should now begin to look into grouping the data to be backed up to work

with media groups as target sets. For example, if we have 2 TB of data to backup, done on a weekly full

backup basis, with retention of 4 weeks, we will need 8 TB of media. With media at 100 GB each, 80

pieces of media can be added to the target media group. The main reason for using media groups is so

we can force the DR4x00 unit to re-use media before using blank media.

NVBU’s media selection algorithm is:

Target media in a drive

Target media in a slot

Blank media

Media marked for re-use.

As you can see blank media would be used before media marked for re-use. If we do not re-use media,

the DR4x00 unit will never be able to recover the space. By re-using media NVBU overwrites the previous

contents once the header has been updated and reuses available space which otherwise would not be

reclaimable by the DR4x00 clean cycle. Keeping spare media that is not grouped blank will keep the usage

of the DR4x00 unit as low as possible.

Because the Automatically Label Blank Media option is disabled, the backup may run out of media before

it completes, especially if the data set is growing. This is the trade off when using a DR4x00 unit, media

management become necessary to allow best use of the unit.

To alert administrators that a job has run out of media, NVBU’s Global Notification can be used to send an

email to the sys-op detailing that there is no suitable media to complete the job. The media request can

then be placed on hold in the Device Management window. Blank media can be added to the relevant

target media group and the media request taken off hold. While this is not ideal, it will allow the job to

complete.

10 Setting up NetVault Backup Native Virtual Tape Library on the Dell™ DR4X00 Disk Backup Appliance

Another recommendation would be automating a media utilization report (job ID 13) to be sent to the sys-

op on a reoccurring basis to track the media usage. This will allow the sys-op to pre-add media to help

prevent the above scenario.

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