Veritas NetBackup™ Replication Director Solutions Guide

Last Published:
Product(s): NetBackup (8.0)
  1. Introduction
    1.  
      About NetBackup Replication Director
    2.  
      About the roles of the Replication Director plug-ins
    3.  
      Software required to use Replication Director
    4.  
      NetBackup configuration for Replication Director
    5.  
      Tools for troubleshooting Replication Director
  2. Additional configuration topics
    1.  
      Configuring the NetBackup Client Service
    2.  
      NetBackup naming conventions
    3.  
      How to configure a multi-NIC environment
  3. Creating a NetBackup storage server for snapshot replication
    1.  
      Creating a NetBackup storage server for snapshot replication
    2.  
      Updating an OpenStorage storage server to reflect plug-in updates
    3.  
      Adding the storage server credentials to a NetBackup server
  4. Configuring disk pools for snapshot and replication
    1. About disk pools for snapshots and snapshot replication
      1.  
        About disk volumes for snapshots and snapshot replication
    2.  
      Creating disk pools for snapshot replication
    3.  
      Updating disk pools after volumes are added, are deleted, or are changed
    4.  
      Updating an OpenStorage disk pool to reflect plug-in updates
    5.  
      How to resolve snapshot disk volume changes
    6. Using bpstsinfo to view the replication topology of a device
      1.  
        NetApp storage server sample bpstsinfo output
  5. Configuring storage units and storage unit groups for snapshots and snapshot replication
    1.  
      Creating storage units for a Replication Director configuration
    2.  
      Creating storage unit groups for snapshots
  6. Configuring storage lifecycle policies for snapshots and snapshot replication
    1.  
      About configuring storage lifecycle policies for snapshots and snapshot replication
    2.  
      Creating a storage lifecycle policy for snapshots and snapshot replication
    3. Operation types in a storage lifecycle policy
      1. Snapshot operation in an SLP
        1.  
          Primary snapshot storage unit
        2.  
          Primary + Replication source snapshot storage unit
        3.  
          Replication source + Replication target snapshot storage unit
        4.  
          Replication target snapshot storage unit
        5.  
          Replication source + Replication target + Mirror snapshot storage unit
        6.  
          Replication target + Mirror snapshot storage unit
      2.  
        Replication operation in an SLP
      3. Index From Snapshot operation in an SLP
        1.  
          Determining where and when the Index From Snapshot operation occurs
        2.  
          Pre-requisites for indexing for an NDMP policy
        3.  
          Configuring indexing for an NDMP policy
      4.  
        Backup From Snapshot operation in an SLP
      5.  
        Duplication operation in an SLP
    4. Retention types for storage lifecycle policy operations
      1.  
        Expire after copy retention type for SLP operations
      2.  
        Fixed retention type for SLP operations
      3.  
        Maximum snapshot limit retention type for SLP operations
      4.  
        Mirror retention type for SLP operations
      5.  
        Target retention type for SLP operations
  7. Configuring backup policies for snapshots and snapshot replication
    1.  
      About configuring a backup policy for Replication Director
    2.  
      Configuring an NDMP policy to protect a NAS host
    3.  
      Configuring a Standard or MS-Windows policy to protect clients using NDMP with Data Mover
    4.  
      Configuring a Standard or MS-Windows policy to protect NAS volumes or SAN-connected devices
    5. About NDMP support for Replication Director
      1.  
        Limitations of Replication Director with NDMP
      2.  
        Authorizing NetBackup access to a NAS (NDMP) host
      3.  
        ALL_FILESYSTEMS and VOLUME_EXCLUDE_LIST directives
      4.  
        Configuring an NDMP policy in a multi-network environment
  8. Restoring from a snapshot
    1.  
      About restores from array-based snapshots
    2.  
      Restoring files and folders from an array-based snapshot
    3. About restores from array-based snapshots of virtual machines
      1.  
        Restoring files from array-based snapshots of virtual machines
    4.  
      Using OpsCenter to restore from array-based snapshots
    5.  
      How NetApp performs a volume-level rollback restore
    6.  
      Restoring (rolling back) from an array-based snapshot
  9. OpsCenter reporting
    1.  
      Veritas OpsCenter reporting
    2.  
      Configuring an alert for OpenStorage events
    3.  
      Storage lifecycle policy reporting
    4.  
      Disk pool monitoring
    5.  
      Monitoring snapshot replication jobs
    6.  
      Reporting on storage units, storage unit groups, and storage lifecycle policies
  10. Using NetApp disk arrays with Replication Director
    1.  
      Using NetApp disk arrays with Replication Director
    2. Supported NetApp topologies
      1.  
        NetApp topologies that Replication Director does not support
    3. Using NetApp Data ONTAP 7-mode with Replication Director
      1.  
        Configuration overview: NetApp 7-Mode with Replication Director
      2.  
        Licenses required for NetApp Data ONTAP 7-Mode with Replication Director
      3.  
        Software required to use NetApp Data ONTAP 7-Mode with Replication Director
      4. About using NetApp SAN-connected storage with Replication Director
        1.  
          Using SnapDrive for iSCSI setup on Windows
        2.  
          SAN-connected storage limitations
      5.  
        If the OnCommand Unified Manager root or administrator password has changed
      6.  
        Considerations when configuring an OnCommand Unified Manager as a NetBackup storage server
      7.  
        Importing existing NetApp relationships for NetBackup control
      8.  
        Enabling Unicode and language settings on NetApp disk arrays
    4. Using NetApp Clustered Data ONTAP with Replication Director
      1.  
        Configuration overview: NetApp Clustered Data ONTAP with Replication Director
      2.  
        Licenses required for NetApp Clustered Data ONTAP with Replication Director
      3.  
        Software required to use NetApp Clustered Data ONTAP with Replication Director
      4.  
        Configuring Replication Director to work with Clustered Data ONTAP
      5.  
        About creating backup policies for Clustered Data ONTAP with Replication Director
      6.  
        Protecting volumes with nested junctions for Clustered Data ONTAP
      7.  
        Limitations to using Clustered Data ONTAP with Replication Director
  11. Using Oracle with Replication Director
    1.  
      Requirements for Oracle support
    2. About Oracle support for Replication Director
      1.  
        Configuring an Oracle Intelligent Policy
      2.  
        Configuring a script- or template-based Oracle policy
  12. Using Virtual Machines with Replication Director
    1.  
      Requirements for virtual machine support
    2. About virtual machines and Replication Director
      1.  
        Notes on Replication Director for virtual machines
      2.  
        Configuring a policy for virtual machines to use Replication Director
      3.  
        About jobs in the Activity Monitor that use Replication Director for virtual machines
  13. Terminology
    1.  
      Replication terminology

Notes on Replication Director for virtual machines

Note the following about Replication Director for virtual machines:

  • For supported vCenter versions and datastores, see the NetBackup Software Compatibility List available from the following location:

    NetBackup Master Compatibility List

  • For additional support details, see the following Veritas tech note:

    Support for NetBackup 7.x in virtual environments

  • Replication Director for virtual machines does not support Accelerator.

  • Instant Recovery supports disk storage units only. To use Instant Recovery to restore a VM that was backed up with Replication Director for virtual machines, note: The virtual machine backup must have been copied to a disk storage unit.

  • Although applicable to Replication Director for physical computers, NDMP backup does not apply to Replication Director for virtual machines.

  • Replication Director supports virtual machines on NetApp NFS datastores only.

  • To create virtual machines on the NFS datastore, enter anon=0 in the /etc/exports NetApp file on the NetBackup storage server. The anon=0 entry is the equivalent of the no_root_squash option. See the following VMware document for more information on the anon=0 entry:

    Best Practices for running VMware vSphere on Network Attached Storage

  • The NetApp OnCommand Unified Manager (formerly DataFabric Manager) must be able to resolve the host name that was used to mount the vCenter datastore. Hardware snapshots cannot succeed if the OnCommand server is unable to resolve the host name

  • If the NetBackup master and media server are UNIX and the backup host is Windows, the backup host must have a fully qualified domain name. Otherwise, the backup fails.

  • You must have a valid NFS export (share) for each qtree that is mounted as an NFS datastore.

  • Supports restore of virtual machines and of individual files in virtual machines. Does not support volume-level rollback restore. (In the Replication Director Solutions Guide, references to rollback restore do not apply to virtual machines.)

  • If the datastore name contains special characters, the datastore name in the backup image contains @ followed by the value of the special character. For example, a datastore that has the name "NFS datastore1" (with a space) appears in the NetBackup catalog as NFS@20datastore1.

  • If changes occur to virtual machine configuration (such as adding, deleting, or moving VMDKs), it may be necessary to set Reuse VM selection query results for to 0. (Reuse VM selection query results for is on the policy Clients tab.) With a setting of 0, NetBackup rediscovers the virtual machines and their configuration each time the policy runs. Note: If the vmdk files are reconfigured and the next backup runs without rediscovery, NetBackup is not aware of the vmdk changes. It attempts to back up the virtual machines in their previous configuration. The result may be an incorrect backup.

  • VMware vSphere uses the Space Efficient Virtual Disk (SEsparse) for snapshots of the disks that are larger than 2 TB. VMware's VDDK however does not support backup or restore of SEsparse disks with the host-based file transport mode. Because Replication Director for VMware requires host-based file transport, Replication Director cannot support the vmdk files that are larger than 2 TB. To back up the vmdk files that are larger than 2 TB, use NetBackup for VMware without Replication Director.

  • When restoring from Replication Director backups, note the following:

    • If you select more than one image in the Backup, Archive, and Restore interface, it may take longer than expected to display the image contents. NetBackup performs a separate browsing operation for each selected image. You should select one image at a time when browsing for restore.

    • Do not select files or folders from two different images. The NetBackup Backup, Archive, and Restore interface, and the OpsCenter interface do not support restoring data from two different images in the same restore job. Restore from one image at a time.

    • When you use the Backup, Archive, and Restore interface to browse for an image to restore, only the primary copy is made available for restore. In the NetBackup Administration Console, use the Catalog node to select a different copy (such as a backup image or replica) as the primary copy.

      Note:

      NetBackup automatically selects the correct hardware (datastore) snapshot to restore, based on the virtual machine snapshot that is designated as the primary copy. Make sure the virtual machine snapshot that you want to restore is set as the primary.