NetBackup™ NAS Administrator's Guide

Select the policy attributes

1. On the left, click Protection > Policies.
2. Enter a name for the policy in the Policy name field.
3. Select the NAS-Data-Protection option from the Policy type dropdown.
4. In the Destination section, configure the following data storage parameters:

   • The Data classification attribute specifies the classification of the storage lifecycle policy that stores the backup. For example, a backup with a gold classification must go to a storage unit with a gold data classification. By default, NetBackup provides four data classifications: platinum, gold, silver, and bronze.

     This attribute is optional and applies only when the backup is to be written to a storage lifecycle policy. If the list displays No data classification, the policy uses the storage selection that is displayed in the Policy storage list. If a data classification is selected, all the images that the policy creates are tagged with the classification ID.

   • The Policy storage attribute specifies the storage destination for the policy's data. For NAS backups you must select a Storage lifecycle policy as storage.

     You can override this selection from the Schedule tab.

5. Take checkpoints every-Specify the frequency for taking checkpoints during a backup. By taking checkpoints during a backup, you can save time if the backup fails. By taking checkpoints periodically during the backup, NetBackup can retry a failed backup from the beginning of the last checkpoint. A retry is often quicker than restarting the entire job.

   The checkpoint frequency indicates how often NetBackup takes a checkpoint during a backup. The default is 15 minutes. The administrator determines checkpoint frequency on a policy-by-policy basis. When you select the checkpoint frequency, balance the loss of performance due to frequent checkpoints with the possible time lost when failed backups restart. If the frequency of checkpoints affects performance, increase the time between checkpoints.

   Checkpoints are saved at object boundaries and point to the next object in the list to be backed up. Checkpoints cannot occur in the middle of an object backup. After the object is backed up, the checkpoint is saved.

6. The Limit jobs per policy attribute limits the number of jobs that NetBackup performs concurrently when the policy is run. By default the box is cleared and NetBackup performs an unlimited number of backup jobs concurrently. Other resource settings can limit the number of jobs.

   A configuration can contain enough devices so that the number of concurrent backups affects performance. To specify a lower limit, select Limit jobs per policy and specify a value from 1 to 999.

7. In the Job priority field, enter a value from 0 to 99999. This number specifies the priority that a policy has as it competes with other policies for resources. The higher the number, the greater the priority of the job. NetBackup assigns the first available resource to the policy with the highest priority.
8. The Media owner field is available when the Policy storage attribute is set to Any Available. The Media owner attribute specifies which media server or server group should own the media that backup images for this policy are written to.

   • Any(default)-Allows NetBackup to select the media owner. NetBackup selects a media server or a server group (if one is configured).

   • None-Specifies that the media server that writes the image to the media owns the media. No media server is specified explicitly, but you want a media server to own the media.

9. Under Snapshot Client and Replication Director section, Perform snapshot backupsand Retain snapshot for Instant Recovery or SLP management parameters are selected by default and are read only.

   • Select Enable vendor change tracking for incremental backups to enable vendor change tracking. About Vendor Change Tracking

   • Perform snapshot backups

     Ensures that the policy creates snapshots of the disk array.

   • Retain snapshots for Instant Recovery or SLP management

     Ensures that the policy retains the snapshot after the backup completes.

   • Click Snapshot options to configure the snapshot type that you want to capture, and the NetBackup Snapshot Manager that you want to use.

     Here are the snapshot types:

     • Auto (default): The OpenStorage partner uses the best snapshot technology available to that partner to create the snapshot.

     • Mirror: The OpenStorage partner creates a copy dependent on the existence of the source. (The source can be the original snapshot or another replica.) Therefore, the retention of the replica depends on the retention of the source. If the source is deleted, the mirror is automatically deleted.

     • Clone: The OpenStorage partner creates an independent copy of the volume. The copy process can take some time as the entire copy must be complete. The snapshot that is created is independent of the source.

     • Cow: Copy-on-write snapshots. The OpenStorage partner makes a copy of modified data in a new location. Read requests for data that are unchanged are directed to the original volume. Read requests for changed data are sent to the copied blocks of the snapshot. Data blocks that have changed since the snapshot was created are described in metadata.

   • The Perform off-host backup options are not available for selection.

   From the Snapshot Manager list, select the snapshot manager that you want to use. The snapshot manager that you select must be configured to support the workload that you want to protect with the policy.

10. To activate the policy, select the option Go into effect at, and set the date and time of activation. The policy must be active for NetBackup to use it. Make sure that the date and time are set to the time that you want to resume backups.

    To deactivate a policy, clear the option. Inactive policies are available in the Policies list.

11. The Collect true image restore information attribute specifies whether the policy collects the information necessary to perform a true image restore. A true image restore (TIR) restores the contents of a directory to reflect the contents of the directory at the time of an incremental or a full backup. Files that were deleted before the backup are not restored.

    With the attribute enabled, a restore based on an incremental backup includes all files that were backed up since the last full backup. The restore also includes those files that were deleted at any time during that period.

    NetBackup starts to collect the true image restore information with the next full or incremental backup for the policy. The true image restore information is collected for each client regardless of whether any files were changed.

    NetBackup does not provide true image restores based on the time of a user backup or archive. However, NetBackup uses a user backup for a true image restore if the backup is more recent than the latest automatic full or incremental backup.

    About true image restore

12. The Allow multiple data streams option is selected by default and is read only. This option allows NetBackup to divide automatic backups for each query into multiple jobs. Because the jobs are in separate data streams, they can occur concurrently.

    Multi-stream jobs consist of a parent job to perform stream discovery and child jobs for each stream. Each child job displays its job ID in the Job ID column in the Activity monitor. The job ID of the parent job appears in the Parent Job ID column, which is not displayed by default. Parent jobs display a dash (-) in the Schedule column.

    Optionally, for Flex Scale and MSDP Volume Group (MVG) environments, select the Use multiple MSDP nodes option.

    This option improves load balancing for multi-stream backups, by enabling distribution of backup streams across the multiple MSDP nodes, optimizing throughput, and reducing potential congestion on individual nodes.

13. Select the Use Accelerator option to enable accelerator for the policy.

    NetBackup accelerator increases the speed of backups. The increase in speed is made possible by the change detection techniques on the array. The backup host uses the change detection techniques to identify the changes that occurred between the last backup and the current state of the array. The array sends the changed data to the media server in a more efficient backup stream. The media server combines the changed data with the rest of the array's data that is stored in previous backups.

    If a share/volume or a portion of the share/volume is already in storage and has not been changed, the media server uses the copy in storage rather than reading it from the array. The result is a full NetBackup backup.

    Accelerator for D-NAS

14. Under the Client-side deduplication options, Disable for all clients is selected by default, and it is read only.
15. The Keyword phrase attribute is a phrase that NetBackup associates with all backups or archives based on the policy. Only the Windows and UNIX client interfaces support keyword phrases.

    Clients can use the same keyword phrase for more than one policy. The same phrase for multiple policies makes it possible to link backups from related policies. For example, use the keyword phrase "legal department documents" for backups of multiple clients that require separate policies, but contain similar types of data.

    The phrase can be a maximum of 128 characters in length. All printable characters are permitted, including spaces and periods. By default, the keyword phrase is blank.

16. The Dynamic data streaming attributes is selected by default and is read only. If required change the value for Maximum number of streams per volume. The maximum number of streams per volume determines the number of backup streams that are deployed for backing up each volume. For example, if a policy contains 5 volumes and the value of this parameter is set to 4, then a group of 4 backup streams for each volume is seen, thereby a total of 20 child backup streams and 5 parent backup streams as part of backup execution of the policy.