Recommended basic backup configurations when protecting Enterprise Vault 10 using the NetBackup 7.1 and later Enterprise Vault Agent.

Problem

Recommended basic backup configurations when protecting Enterprise Vault 10 using the NetBackup 7.1 and later Enterprise Vault Agent.

Solution

With the release of NetBackup 7.1, support for protecting Enterprise Vault 10 (EV 10) was introduced.
The NetBackup 7.1 and later Enterprise Vault Agent is capable of automatically discovering and protecting the following Enterprise Vault 10 entities:

  Enterprise Vault 10  

• Open Partitions
• Closed Partitions
• Ready Partitions
• Index Location
• Vault Store databases
• Directory database
• Monitoring database
• Fingerprint database
• FSAReporting Database
• Auditing Database

The NetBackup 7.1 and later Enterprise Vault Agent includes 4 different sets of Enterprise Vault Directives; one specific to Enterprise Vault 7.5, one specific to Enterprise Vault 8.0, one specific to Enterprise Vault 9.0, and one specific to Enterprise Vault 10.

Because of changes to the logical architecture introduced in Enterprise Vault 8.0 and the introduction of the logical container "Vault Store Group", the way the Netbackup 7.1 and later Enterprise Vault Agent enumerates and backs up Enterprise Vault is granular and per individual entity. The following Directives are available specific to Enterprise Vault 10:

         EV_OPEN_PARTITION=<VAULT_STORE_NAME>

EV_CLOSED_PARTITIONS=<VAULT_STORE_NAME>

EV_READY_PARTITIONS=<VAULT_STORE_NAME>

EV_INDEX_LOCATION=<EV_SITE_NAME>

EV_VAULT_STORE_DB=<VAULT_STORE_NAME>

EV_FINGERPRINT_DB=<VAULT_STORE_GROUP_NAME>

EV_DIR_DB (No target necessary)

EV_MONITORING_DB (No target necessary)

EV_AUDIT_DB (No target necessary)

EV_FSAREPORTING_DB (No target necessary)

 For a detailed explanation on the above EV 10 Directives please refer to the "Veritas NetBackup (tm) 7.1 for Enterprise Vault Agent Administrator's Guide for Windows": https://www.veritas.com/docs/000002546

 NOTES!

• The FSAReporting Database only gets created when File System Archiving is configured and then only if FSAReporting is enabled and configured.
• The Auditing Database only gets created if Enterprise Vault Auditing is enabled and configured.

In order to back up the Enterprise Vault 10 entities in a sequence that allows restores to be performed that require a minimum of manual re-synchronization, configure NetBackup Policies according to the following recommendations.

In the Enterprise Vault Policies listed below, it is recommended that the Policy Client is the Alias of an Enterprise Vault Server belonging to the Enterprise Vault Site.

a. Create an Enterprise Vault Policy that has the EV_OPEN_PARTITION and EV_FINGERPRINT_DB as it's Directives. Within this Policy, create 2 Schedules, 1 Full backup and 1 Differential Incremental Backup.

b. Create an Enterprise Vault Policy that has the EV_DIR_DB, the EV_MONITORING_DB, (if configured) the EV_AUDIT_DB and (if configured) the EV_FSAREPORTING_DB as it's Directives. Within this Policy, create 2 Schedules, 1 Full Backup and 1 Differential Incremental Backup.

c. Create an Enterprise Vault Policy that has the EV_INDEX_LOCATION as it's Directive. Within this Policy, create 2 Schedules, 1 Full backup and 1 Differential Incremental Backup.

d. Create an Enterprise Vault Policy that has the EV_CLOSED_PARTITIONS and EV_READY_PARTITIONS as it's Directives. Within this Policy, create 2 Schedules, 1 Full backup and 1 Differential Incremental Backup.

For each of the above Policy Schedules configure their respective Start Windows so they execute in the order set out below. Adjust the Start Times according to individual EV Site configurations and size of entities. Configure the Start Windows to take into account the duration of the backups so that none of the backups overlap each other.

Configure Full and Differential Incremental schedules to take into account the size of the EV environment and execute the schedules for Full and Differential Incremental in the sequence they are listed here i.e. run Full backups once per week and Differential Incremental backups daily the rest of the week or the below sequence daily if possible.

NOTE! It is very important that the Database and Open Partition backups include Differential Incremental Schedules since this schedule type is the only one that will back up the Database Transaction Log and truncate it. If the Transaction Log is not truncated it will continue to grow in size and could eventually lead to a disk full situation.

For a very large EV environment, consider running Full backups monthly, Cumulative Incremental backups weekly (add Cumulative Incremental Schedules to the Policies created above) and Differential Incremental backups daily. In addition, backups of non-critical entities such as Closed and Ready Partitions can be scheduled to run less frequently.  

1st: The Full Schedule of the EV_OPEN_PARTITION and EV_FINGERPRINT_DB in the EV Policy created in a. above.

2nd: The Full Schedule of the EV_DIR_DB, the EV_MONITORING_DB, (if configured) the EV_AUDIT_DB and (if configured) the EV_FSAREPORTING_DB in the EV Policy created in b. above.

3rd: The Full Schedule of the EV_INDEX_LOCATION in the EV Policy created in c. above.

4th: The Full Schedule of the EV_CLOSED_PARTITIONS and EV_READY_PARTITIONS in the EV Policy created in d. above

(If running Full backups weekly or monthly, run the following Cumulative Incremental backups weekly and/or Differential Incremental backups daily in the sequence set out here)

5th: The Differential Incremental Schedule of the EV_OPEN_PARTITION and EV_FINGERPRINT_DB in the EV Policy created in a. above.

6th: The Differential Incremental Schedule of the EV_DIR_DB, the EV_MONITORING_DB, (if configured) the EV_AUDIT_DB and (if configured) the EV_FSAREPORTING_DB in the EV Policy created in b. above.

7th: The Differential Incremental Schedule of the EV_INDEX_LOCATION in the EV Policy created in c. above.

8th: The Differential Incremental Schedule of the EV_CLOSED_PARTITIONS and EV_READY_PARTITIONS in the EV Policy created in d. above.