HP StoreOnce Backup System Concepts and Configuration Guidelines (BB877-90913, November 2013)

Table 8 Summary of seeding methods and likely usage models (continued)
CommentsConcernsBest forTechnique
Reduced shipping costs of
physical tape media over
actual StoreOnce units.
nl
Relies on the backup
application supporting the
copy process, e.g. Media
copy or “object” copy” or
“duplicate” or “cloning”
Suitable for all replication
models, especially where
remote sites are large (inter-
continental) distances apart.
nl
Well suited to target sites
that plan to have a physical
Backup application Tape
offload/ copy from source
and copy onto target
Requires physical tape
connectivity at all sites, AND
media server capability at
Tape archive as part of the
final solution.
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each site even if only for the
seeding process.
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Best suited for StoreOnce
VTL deployments.
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Backup application licensing
costs for each remote site
may be applicable
Unlikely to be used when
seeding HP StoreOnce
B6200 Backup systems.
USB disks are typically
easier to integrate into
Multiple drives can be used
– single drive maximum
USB portable disks, such as
HP RDX series, can be
Use of portable disk drives -
backup application copy or
drag and drop systems than physical tape
or SAS/FC disks.
nl
capacity is about 3TB
currently.
configured as Disk File
Libraries within the backup
application software and
used for “copies”
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RDX ruggedized disks are
OK for easy shipment
OR
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between sites and cost
effective.
Backup data can be drag
and dropped onto the
portable disk drive,
transported and then drag
and dropped onto the
StoreOnce Target.
nl
Best used for StoreOnce
NAS deployments.
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Do not use when seeding HP
StoreOnce B6200 Backup
systems.
NOTE: Seeding methods are described in more detail in the next chapter.
Controlling Replication
In order to either optimize the performance of replication or minimize the impact of replication on
other StoreOnce operations it is important to consider the complete workload being placed on the
StoreOnce Backup system. By default replication will start quickly after a backup completes; this
window of time immediately after a backup may become very crowded if nothing is done to
separate tasks. In this time the following are likely to be taking place:
• Other backups to the StoreOnce Backup system which have not yet finished
• Housekeeping of the current and other completed overwrite backups
• Possible copies to physical tape media of the completed backups
These operations will all impact each other’s performance, some best practices to avoid these
overlaps are:
• Set replication blackout windows to cover the backup window period , so that replication will
not occur whilst backups are taking place.
• Set housekeeping blackout windows to cover the replication period, some tuning may be
required in order to set the housekeeping window correctly and allow enough time for
housekeeping to run.
• Delay physical tape copies to run at a later time when housekeeping and replication has
completed. Preferably at the weekend
86 Replication