Setting Up the Dell™ DR Series System as a Backup Target on ASG-TimeNavigator Dell Engineering June 2015 A Dell Technical White Paper
Revisions Date Description April 2015 Initial release June 2015 Updated cleaner recommendation THIS WHITE PAPER IS FOR INFORMATIONAL PURPOSES ONLY, AND MAY CONTAIN TYPOGRAPHICAL ERRORS AND TECHNICAL INACCURACIES. THE CONTENT IS PROVIDED AS IS, WITHOUT EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND. © 2015 Dell Inc. All rights reserved. Reproduction of this material in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of Dell Inc. is strictly forbidden. For more information, contact Dell.
Table of contents 1 Installing and configuring the DR Series system ....................................................................................................................... 5 2 Configuring a backup job on ASG-Time Navigator over a CIFS target ............................................................................. 12 2.1 Configuring a CIFS container as a TiNa-library ............................................................................................................ 12 2.
Executive summary This white paper provides guidelines about how to set up the DR Series system as a backup to disk target for ASG-Time Navigator over CIFS and NFS. This paper is a quick reference guide and does not include all DR Series system deployment best practices. For additional information, see the DR Series system documentation and other data management application best practices whitepapers for your specific DR Series system at: http://www.dell.
1 Installing and configuring the DR Series system 1. Rack and cable the DR Series system, and power it on. Initialize the DR Series system. Refer to the DR Series System Administrator Guide topics: “iDRAC Connection”, “Logging in and Initializing the DR Series System,” and “Accessing IDRAC6/Idrac7 Using RACADM” for more information. 2. Log on to iDRAC using the default address 192.168.0.120, or the IP address that is assigned to the iDRAC interface. Use the user name and password: “root/calvin”. 3.
5. Set the user-defined networking preferences. 6. View the summary of preferences and confirm that it is correct. 7.
8. Join the DR Series system to Active Directory. Note: If you do not want to add the DR Series system to Active Directory, see the DR Series System Owner’s Manual for guest logon instructions. a. In the left navigation area of the DR Series system GUI, select Active Directory. b. Click Join.
c. Enter your Active Directory credentials. 9. Create the container by selecting Containers in the left navigation area, and then clicking Create at the top of the page. 10.
11. Select the Connection Type as NAS to enable both CIFS and NFS access. (Time Navigator supports both CIFS and NFS protocols.) 12. Enable NFS and CIFS access to the container as appropriate, and select Time Navigator for the Marker type. Click Next.
13. Enter the required access control list details. 14. Click Create a New Container. 15. Verify the container is created.
16. Select the Container that was just created and click Edit. Note the container share/export path, which you will use later to target the DR Series system. 17. To exit, click Cancel Note: For improved security, Dell recommends adding IP addresses for the Backup console (ASG-Time Navigator). Not all environments will have all components.
2 Configuring a backup job on ASG-Time Navigator for a CIFS target This procedure describes how to initiate and configure a backup job using ASG-Time Navigator with the DR Series system. The high level steps are as follows: 1. 2. 3. 4. 2.1 Configure CIFS container as a TiNa-library (i.e., backup device) Create a media pool and attach the TiNa library to this media pool Configure the TiNa backup strategy Select source data and start a backup job Configuring a CIFS container as a TiNa-library 1.
4. Select Virtual Libraries, and expand the Atempo section. Click Virtual Library System. 5. Enter a library name (for example, sample_cifs_library) in the New Atempo VLS screen and provide the CIFS share path in the Media Directory field. Click OK.
6. Confirm the library has been properly created in catalog. Note: TiNa backup services should run as the user with domain administrator or administrator write permissions on the DR Series system. Refer to Appendix A for recommendations on the number of cartidges and size for disk-based dedupe appliances. 2.2 Creating a media pool and attaching the TiNa library 1. 14 On the Storage menu, click Media Pool and then click New.
2. Enter a Pool Name and Label, and click Add. Select the available Drives in the list by clicking OK. 2.3 Configuring the TiNa backup strategy 1. 15 Click the Backup menu and then select Platform Selection. Select the Strategy (for example, Strategy A), click New, and then click Standard Strategy.
2. Click the Main button under Media Pools. Select the pool name, and click OK. 3. Similarly, add it for incremental backup. Without this Incremental media Pool, Time Navigator will not accept to take the full backup.
2.4 Selecting source data and starting a CIFS backup 1. Right-click the Time Navigator backup server host icon and click Backup Selection. 2. Click New, and then browse to the path of the data to be backed up. Select the directory location and click OK.
3. Apply a strategy for the new backup selection, and click OK.
4. On the Backup menu, click Selected Platform > Strategy A > Full Session Now. 5. Monitor the status of the running job by clicking Monitoring > Job Manager.
2.5 Performing an incremental backup 1. Add the Full backup Media Pool in the Incremental tab. Browse the Media pools by clicking Main, and then selecting the Full backup Media Pool in the list. 2. Select the full backup strategy by clicking the Backup > Platform Selection and then selecting the strategy (for example, Strategy A). Click New > Incremental Session Now.
3 Configuring a restore job on ASG-Time Navigator over a CIFS target 1. When a backup job completes, select the Windows Time Navigator host, and configure the Restore operation by selecting Platform > Restore & Archive Manager. 2. Enter the credentials of the Host for the Restore Job configuration and click OK.
4. Browse to and select the objects to be restored. 5. On the Restore menu, click Run.
6. Select one of the Restore Destinations and click OK. The Restore Information window shows the restore progression to its completion.
7. Monitor the restore job status by clicking Monitoring > Job Manager. When the Restore job completes, it appears in the Job Manager.
4 Running a duplication and restore job on a secondary CIFS target ASG-Time Navigator Backup Server Primary-DR4X00 CIFS C For certain Disaster Recovery scenarios, a duplicate copy of a backup data set from a primary DR Series system can be made available on a secondary DR Series system. Secondary-DR4X00 Follow these instructions to create a duplicate copy of a backup. 1. 25 On the primary DR Series system, create a CIFS container.
2. On the secondary DR Series system, create a CIFS container. The following figure shows the configured primary and secondary DR containers as PrimaryVirtual Library System (VLS) and Secondary-VLS for demonstration of duplication and restore from a secondary DR Series system.
The Backup Job is configured and submitted on the Primary DR Series system. 3. For duplication of existing backup data Configuration, when the primary backup job completes, click Storage > Media > Management.
4. Select the media pool name on which the secondary logical drives are available and click OK. 5. Select the Cartridges and click Duplicate.
6. Click Start to see the duplication in progress. 7. 29 Monitor the duplication work in progression on the Primary and Secondary DR Series systems.
8. Right-click the secondary logical drive and click Enable (For Restore Only). 9. Monitor the Restore progress on the secondary system.
10. Wait for the restore to complete from the secondary container to client.
5 Configuring a backup job on ASG-Time Navigator over an NFS target This procedure describes how to initiate and configure a backup job using ASG-Time Navigator with the DR Series system. The high level steps are: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5.1 Configuring the NFS container as a TiNa-library 1. 32 Configure an NFS container as a TiNa-library (i.e., backup device). Create a media pool and attach TiNa logical drives to this media pool. Configure a TiNa backup strategy.
2. Select Virtual Libraries and, in the Atempo section, click Virtual Library System. 3. Enter a library name (for example, TiNA_Library) in the New Atempo VLS screen. Browse the Media Directory to select the DR container (NFS) mount point, and click OK. 4. The DR container should be mounted on the machine on which TiNa is running.
5. Click OK to assign the selected mount point on the New Atempo VLS Note: See Appendix A for information about best practices, cartridge size, and number of cartridges for the DR Series system. 5.2 Creating a media pool and attaching TiNa logical drives 1. 34 To create a Media Pool, select Storage > Media Pool > New.
2. Enter a Pool Name and Label and click Add. Select the available Drives in the list and click OK. 5.3 Configuring a TiNa backup strategy 1. 35 Create a backup strategy by clicking Backup > Platform Selection and then selecting the Strategy (for example, Strategy A). Click New and then click “Standard Strategy.
2. Click Main under Media Pools, and, in the Media Pool Selection dialog box, select the pool name and click OK. 5.4 Selecting the data to be backed up and starting a backup job 1. 36 Configure the data to be backup as follows. Right-click the Time Navigator backup server host icon and click Backup Selection.
2. Click New and then browse to the path of the data to be backed up. Select the directory location and click OK. 3. Click Properties, and then clear the Compressed and Encoded checkboxes. Click OK. Note : Dell recommends that you do not enable the TimeNavigator native compression and encryption features while performing backup/restore.
4. Configure the properties for the new backup selection as needed, and click OK. 5. Select Backup > Selected Platform. Select a Strategy, and click Full Session Now.
6. Monitor the status of the running job by clicking Monitoring > Job Manager. The backup progress is shown in VTL disk (logical drives). 7. 39 Double click one of the Active Jobs to view the complete details.
8. For Incremental Backup, add the Full backup Media Pool in the Incremental tab. Browse the Media pools by clicking Main, and then selecting the Full backup Media Pool in the list. 9. Select the full backup strategy by clicking Backup > Platform Selection and then selecting the Strategy (for example, Strategy A). Click New > Incremental Session Now.
6 Configuring a restore job on ASG-Time Navigator for an NFS target 1. For a restore operation, select the Linux Time Navigator host and configure the Restore operation by selecting Platform > Restore & Archive Manager. 2. Enter the credentials of the Host for the Restore Job configuration and click OK.
3. Browse to and select the objects to be restored. Select Restore > Run. 4. Select one of the Restore Destinations and click OK.
The Restore Information dialog box shows the restore progress.
7 Running a duplication and restore job on a secondary DR Series system NFS target ASG-Time Navigator Backup Server Primary-DR4X00 1. 44 NFS N For certain Disaster Recovery scenarios, a duplicate copy of a backup data set from a primary DR Series system can be made available on a secondary DR Series system. Secondary-DR4X00 On the primary DR Series system, create an NFS container.
2. On the secondary DR Series system, create an NFS container. 3. Mount the primary and secondary DR containers on Time Navigator backup server 4. The following figure shows the configured primary and secondary DR containers as Primary-VLS and Secondary-VLS for demonstration of duplication and restore from the secondary DR system.
The Backup Job is configured and submitted on the primary DR Series system. 5. For duplication of existing backup data Configuration, when the primary backup job is completed, click Storage > Media > Management.
6. Select the media pool name on which the secondary logical drives are available and click OK. 7. 47 Select the cartridges and click Duplicate.
8. Click Start to see the Duplication in progress. 9. Restore from secondary is required when the primary is down or inaccessible. 10. Right-click the secondary logical drive and click Enable (For Restore Only).
11. Restore data selection. 12. Monitor restore progress on the secondary DR Series sytem.
Restored data from secondary DR container to client.
8 Setting up the DR Series system cleaner Performing scheduled disk space reclamation operations are recommended as a method for recovering disk space from system containers in which files were deleted as a result of deduplication. The system cleaner runs during idle time. If your workflow does not have a sufficient amount of idle time on a daily basis, then you should consider scheduling the cleaner to force it to run during a scheduled time.
9 Monitoring deduplication, compression, and performance After backup jobs have run, the DR Series system tracks capacity, storage savings, and throughput on the DR Series system dashboard. This information is valuable in understanding the benefits of the DR Series system. Note: Deduplication ratios increase over time. It is not uncommon to see a 2-4x reduction (25-50% total savings) on the initial backup. As additional full backup jobs are completed, the ratios will increase.
A Best practices for setting up ASG-Time Navigator backup native Virtual Library System (VLS) on a DR Series system The DR Series systems are capable of running a cleaning cycle on a regular basis to recover data space that is no longer required by the deduplication process. Using a DR Series system as an ASG-Time Navigator VTL repository requires periodic maintenance to achieve the best usage from the system.
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.
B Creating a storage device for CIFS There are two options for ASG-Time Navigator to authenticate to a DR Series system through CIFS. • • The DR Series system is joined into an Active Directory Domain: Integrate ASG-Time Navigator and DR Series system with Active Directory and ensure the Active Directory user has appropriate ACLs to the DR Series system container share.
C Creating a storage device for NFS For NFS backup using the ASG-Time Navigator, a target folder needs to be created as an NFS share directory. This is the location to which backup objects will be written. This is not required while adding CIFS share. 1. Mount the DR Series System NFS share onto the NFS share directory to which backup objects will be written in the ASG-TimeNavigator environment. For example: mount –t nfs :/containers/sample /mnt/TiNA_targetContainer 2.
D Launching a Time Navigator administration console on a Linux platform Go to the Bin directory location /usr/Atempo/TimeNavigator/tina/Bin on the Time Navigator Backup server. The Time Navigator tina_daemon and tin_daemon_clt must be started each time the platform starts, with the root user: i Note: The services/daemon must be running on the Linux Time Navigator backup server at all times. It is not possible to start a backup or to use a peripheral on a platform if the service or daemon is not running.
