netbackup shared storage guide

Symantec NetBackup™Shared Storage Guide

UNIX, Windows, Linux

Release 7.1

21159731

Symantec NetBackup™ Shared Storage GuideThe software described in this book is furnished under a license agreement and may be usedonly in accordance with the terms of the agreement.

Documentation version:

PN: 21159731

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The Licensed Software and Documentation are deemed to be commercial computer softwareas defined in FAR 12.212 and subject to restricted rights as defined in FAR Section 52.227-19"Commercial Computer Software - Restricted Rights" and DFARS 227.7202, "Rights inCommercial Computer Software or Commercial Computer Software Documentation", asapplicable, and any successor regulations. Any use, modification, reproduction release,performance, display or disclosure of the Licensed Software and Documentation by the U.S.Government shall be solely in accordance with the terms of this Agreement.

Symantec Corporation350 Ellis StreetMountain View, CA 94043

http://www.symantec.com

Printed in the United States of America.

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

http://www.symantec.com

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Symantec’s support offerings include the following:

■ A range of support options that give you the flexibility to select the rightamount of service for any size organization

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■ Global support purchased on a regional business hours or 24 hours a day, 7days a week basis

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For information about Symantec’s support offerings, you can visit our Web siteat the following URL:

www.symantec.com/business/support/

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Contacting Technical SupportCustomers with a current support agreement may access Technical Supportinformation at the following URL:


Before contacting Technical Support, make sure you have satisfied the systemrequirements that are listed in your product documentation. Also, you should beat the computer on which the problem occurred, in case it is necessary to replicatethe problem.

When you contact Technical Support, please have the following informationavailable:

■ Product release level



■ Hardware information

■ Available memory, disk space, and NIC information

■ Operating system

■ Version and patch level

■ Network topology

■ Router, gateway, and IP address information

■ Problem description:

■ Error messages and log files

■ Troubleshooting that was performed before contacting Symantec

■ Recent software configuration changes and network changes

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Customer Service is available to assist with non-technical questions, such as thefollowing types of issues:

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[email protected], Middle-East, and Africa

[email protected] America and Latin America

mailto:[email protected]



Technical Support . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

Chapter 1 Introducing shared storage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13

About this guide .... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13About NetBackup SAN Client and Fibre Transport ... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14

Section 1 AdvancedDisk option . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15

Chapter 2 Introducing AdvancedDisk . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17

About the AdvancedDisk option .... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17

Chapter 3 Licensing AdvancedDisk . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19

About the AdvancedDisk license key .... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19Licensing AdvancedDisk .... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20

Chapter 4 Configuring AdvancedDisk . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21

Configuring the AdvancedDisk option .... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21About AdvancedDisk file system requirements ... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22About AdvancedDisk storage servers ... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23About AdvancedDisk data movers ... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23About AdvancedDisk shared storage access ... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24About AdvancedDisk preferred or required read servers ... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24Configuring an AdvancedDisk storage server ... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26

AdvancedDisk storage server options .... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27About AdvancedDisk disk pools ... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29Configuring an AdvancedDisk disk pool ... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29

AdvancedDisk disk pool properties ... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30Configuring an AdvancedDisk storage unit ... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32

AdvancedDisk storage unit properties ... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33About AdvancedDisk storage unit recommendations .... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35

Contents

Chapter 5 Managing AdvancedDisk . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37

Managing AdvancedDisk storage servers ... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37Deleting an AdvancedDisk storage server ... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37Determining AdvancedDisk storage server state ... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38Removing AdvancedDisk storage server attributes ... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38Removing an AdvancedDisk storage server from disk pool

access ... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39Viewing AdvancedDisk storage servers ... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40Viewing AdvancedDisk storage server attributes ... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40

Managing AdvancedDisk disk pools ... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40Adding volumes to an AdvancedDisk disk pool ... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41Changing AdvancedDisk disk pool properties ... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41Changing AdvancedDisk disk pool state ... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42Changing AdvancedDisk disk volume state ... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43Deleting an AdvancedDisk disk pool ... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43Determining AdvancedDisk disk pool state ... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44Determining AdvancedDisk disk volume state ... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44Merging AdvancedDisk disk pools ... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45Removing a volume from an AdvancedDisk disk pool ... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45Viewing AdvancedDisk disk pools ... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46

Monitoring AdvancedDisk storage capacity and usage .... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46Monitoring NetBackup disk activity ... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47Viewing disk reports ... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48

Chapter 6 Toubleshooting AdvancedDisk . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51

AdvancedDisk troubleshooting .... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51Resolving an incorrect storage type problem .... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52

Section 2 OpenStorage option . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55

Chapter 7 Introducing OpenStorage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57

About the NetBackup OpenStorage option .... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57About control of the storage .... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58

Chapter 8 Planning your deployment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59

Planning your OpenStorage deployment ... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59About OpenStorage requirements and limitations .... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60About OpenStorage storage servers ... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61About OpenStorage server credentials ... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61About OpenStorage data movers ... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62

Contents8

About the OpenStorage plug-in ... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62About OpenStorage disk pools ... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63

About spanning volumes on OpenStorage disk pools ... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63About OpenStorage optimized duplication methods .... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64

About optimized duplication within the same domain .... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64About duplicating images to a remote NetBackup master

server ... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65About OpenStorage optimized synthetic backups .... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66About OpenStorage direct to tape .... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67

About NDMP requirements for OpenStorage direct to tape .... . . . . . . . . 68About media server requirements for OpenStorage direct to

tape .... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70About media server recommendations for OpenStorage direct

to tape .... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71About OpenStorage direct to tape limitations .... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71About the OpenStorage direct to tape process ... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71

About Nirvanix cloud storage .... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72About the Nirvanix storage pool ... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73About Nirvanix child accounts ... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73About backup image representation in the Nirvanix cloud .... . . . . . . . . . 74About data encryption for cloud storage .... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74About Nirvanix storage requirements and limitations .... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75

Chapter 9 Provisioning the storage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77

About provisioning the disk storage appliance .... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77About installing the disk appliance plug-in ... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78About provisioning the Nirvanix storage space .... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78

Chapter 10 Licensing OpenStorage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79

About the OpenStorage license key .... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79Licensing OpenStorage .... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80

Chapter 11 Configuring OpenStorage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81

Configuring OpenStorage disk appliance storage .... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81Configuring OpenStorage Nirvanix cloud storage .... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83Creating NetBackup log file directories ... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84Configuring an OpenStorage storage server ... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85Setting the Nirvanix storage server properties ... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85

Nirvanix storage server properties ... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86Configuring Nirvanix data mover preferences ... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89Configuring an OpenStorage disk pool ... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89

9Contents

OpenStorage disk pool properties ... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90Configuring an OpenStorage storage unit ... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91

OpenStorage storage unit properties ... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92About OpenStorage storage unit recommendations .... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94

Configuring OpenStorage optimized duplication behavior ... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96Configuring OpenStorage optimized duplication within the same

domain .... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98Configuring OpenStorage direct to tape .... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100Configuring OpenStorage optimized synthetic backups .... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102Adding OpenStorage functionality to an existing environment .... . . . . . . . 102Setting NetBackup configuration options by using bpsetconfig ... . . . . . . . . 103

Chapter 12 Managing OpenStorage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105

Managing OpenStorage storage servers ... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105Changing OpenStorage storage server properties ... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106Deleting an OpenStorage storage server ... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106Determining OpenStorage storage server state ... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106Setting OpenStorage storage server attributes ... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107Removing OpenStorage storage server attributes ... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107Updating an OpenStorage storage server ... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108Viewing OpenStorage storage servers ... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109

Managing OpenStorage server credentials ... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109Adding OpenStorage server credentials ... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109Changing OpenStorage server credentials ... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110Deleting the OpenStorage server credentials of a data mover

... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110Determining if OpenStorage server credentials exist ... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111

Managing OpenStorage data movers ... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111Adding an OpenStorage data mover ... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111Retiring an OpenStorage data mover ... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112

Managing OpenStorage disk pools ... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113Adding volumes to an OpenStorage disk pool ... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113Changing OpenStorage disk pool properties ... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114Changing OpenStorage disk pool state ... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115Changing OpenStorage disk volume state ... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116Deleting an OpenStorage disk pool ... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116Determining OpenStorage disk pool state ... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117Determining OpenStorage disk volume state ... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117Merging OpenStorage disk pools ... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118Removing a volume from an OpenStorage disk pool ... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119Updating an OpenStorage disk pool ... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119Viewing OpenStorage disk pools ... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120

Contents10

Monitoring OpenStorage storage capacity and usage .... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120Viewing OpenStorage disk reports ... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121About catalog backups to OpenStorage devices ... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122About restoring from backup copies ... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123

Chapter 13 Troubleshooting OpenStorage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125

About OpenStorage log files ... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125Troubleshooting OpenStorage credentials creation .... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127Troubleshooting Nirvanix storage pool creation .... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127Troubleshooting the encryption plug-in ... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128Troubleshooting Nirvanix backups and restores ... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129

Section 3 SharedDisk option . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131

Chapter 14 Introducing SharedDisk . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133

About SharedDisk support in NetBackup 7.0 and later ... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133

Section 4 Shared Storage Option . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135

Chapter 15 Introducing the Shared Storage Option . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137

About the Shared Storage Option .... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137About Shared Storage Option components ... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138

About SAN media servers ... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139About SSO and the NetBackup EMM server ... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139About scan hosts ... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139About the device allocation host ... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141

About reserving or releasing shared devices ... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141How to share robotic libraries without using the Shared Storage

Option .... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 142Shared Storage Option terms and concepts ... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143

Chapter 16 Licensing the Shared Storage Option . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145

About the Shared Storage Option license key .... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145Licensing the Shared Storage Option .... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145

Chapter 17 Configuring the Shared Storage Option . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147

About Shared Storage Option prerequisites ... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147About hardware configuration guidelines ... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149About installing and configuring drivers ... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 150

11Contents

Verifying the connectivity ... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 150About configuring the Shared Storage Option in NetBackup .... . . . . . . . . . . . 151

About configuring SSO in NetBackup .... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151Configuring Shared Storage Option devices in NetBackup .... . . . . . . . . 151About adding Shared Storage Option configuration options .... . . . . . 152About configuring NetBackup storage units and backup

policies ... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 152Verifying your Shared Storage Option configuration .... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153

Chapter 18 Using the Shared Storage Option . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159

Device Monitor and Shared Storage Option .... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159Viewing SSO summary reports ... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 160

Shared Storage Option summary reports ... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 161About adding SSO configuration options .... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 161

Chapter 19 Troubleshooting the Shared Storage Option . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163

Operating system assistance .... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163Common configuration issues with Shared Storage Option .... . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163Frequently asked questions about Shared Storage Option .... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 165

Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 167

Contents12

Introducing shared storage

This chapter includes the following topics:

■ About this guide

■ About NetBackup SAN Client and Fibre Transport

About this guideThis guide describes how to install, configure, and use shared storage withNetBackup.

NetBackup provides several options that let you share storage among multipleNetBackup media servers, as follows:

■ The AdvancedDisk option allows multiple NetBackup media servers to sharethe disk storage that is attached to a NetBackup media server. (Attached meansa file system mount on the storage.)See “About the AdvancedDisk option” on page 17.

■ The OpenStorage option allows multiple NetBackup media servers to shareintelligent disk appliance storage or cloud-based storage.See “About the NetBackup OpenStorage option” on page 57.

■ The SharedDisk option allows multiple NetBackup media servers to share diskarray storage.See “About SharedDisk support in NetBackup 7.0 and later” on page 133.

■ The Shared Storage Option allows multiple NetBackup media servers to shareindividual tape drives (standalone drives or drives in a robotic library).See “About the Shared Storage Option” on page 137.

1Chapter

About NetBackup SAN Client and Fibre TransportNetBackup also provides a separately licensed option for high-speed data transport.NetBackup SAN Client and Fibre Transport provide high-performance I/O backuprates for NetBackup client systems by using a storage area network (SAN) for datatransport.

See the NetBackup SAN Client and Fibre Transport Guide.

Introducing shared storageAbout NetBackup SAN Client and Fibre Transport

14

AdvancedDisk option

■ Chapter 2. Introducing AdvancedDisk

■ Chapter 3. Licensing AdvancedDisk

■ Chapter 4. Configuring AdvancedDisk

■ Chapter 5. Managing AdvancedDisk

■ Chapter 6. Toubleshooting AdvancedDisk

1Section

Introducing AdvancedDisk


■ About the AdvancedDisk option

About the AdvancedDisk optionThe NetBackup AdvancedDisk storage option lets you use the disk storage that isattached to a NetBackup media server. (Attached means a file system mount onthe storage.) NetBackup aggregates the disks into pools of storage you can use forbackups. NetBackup manages the storage as logical entities (disk pools).

Figure 2-1 shows a media server and attached disks.

Figure 2-1 AdvancedDisk storage components

Disk volumes Network file systemmounts

NetBackup media servers function asboth storage servers and data movers

AdvDiskPool_Gold AdvDiskPool_Silver

The NetBackup AdvancedDisk storage option provides the following benefits:

■ Is easy to deploy and use. NetBackup discovers the storage and uses familiarNetBackup storage units and backup policies to use the storage.

2Chapter

■ Allows multiple file systems to be used in a single storage unit.

■ Allows user to increase storage unit capacity by adding disks. Only add thecapacity required, then update the NetBackup disk pools. Logical units ofstorage span physical boundaries, so you do not have to create new NetBackupstorage units or change the backup policies.

■ Reduces the level of administrator attention. Automatic policies distribute jobload and intelligently manage capacity so that jobs do not fail because of outof space conditions.

Introducing AdvancedDiskAbout the AdvancedDisk option

18

Licensing AdvancedDisk


■ About the AdvancedDisk license key

■ Licensing AdvancedDisk

About the AdvancedDisk license keyAdvancedDisk is a feature that is licensed separately from base NetBackup. TheFlexible Disk Option license key activates AdvancedDisk.

You may have a single license key that activates both NetBackup and the FlexibleDisk Option. Alternatively, you may have one license key that activates NetBackupand another key that activates the Flexible Disk Option.

See “Licensing AdvancedDisk” on page 20.

If you remove the Flexible Disk Option license key or if it expires, the followingrestrictions apply:

■ You cannot create the disk pools or the storage units that referenceAdvancedDisk disk pools.

■ NetBackup jobs that attempt to use the disk pools or the storage units that arebased on disk pools fail. The error message indicates that the feature is notlicensed.

NetBackup does not delete the disk pools or the storage units that reference thedisk pools. You can use them again if you enter a valid license key.

3Chapter

Licensing AdvancedDiskNo special installation is required for the NetBackup components of AdvancedDisk.However, you must enter a license key. If you installed the license key when youinstalled or upgraded NetBackup, you do not need to perform this procedure.

Enter the license key on the NetBackup master server. The following proceduredescribes how to use the NetBackupAdministrationConsole to enter the licensekey.

To license AdvancedDisk

1 To add a license to a specific server, select File > Change Server and thenselect the server.

2 In the NetBackup License Keys dialog box, click New.

3 In the AddaNewLicenseKey dialog box, enter the license key and click Addor OK.

4 Click Close.

5 Restart all the NetBackup services and daemons.

Licensing AdvancedDiskLicensing AdvancedDisk

20

Configuring AdvancedDisk


■ Configuring the AdvancedDisk option

■ About AdvancedDisk file system requirements

■ About AdvancedDisk storage servers

■ About AdvancedDisk data movers

■ About AdvancedDisk shared storage access

■ About AdvancedDisk preferred or required read servers

■ Configuring an AdvancedDisk storage server

■ About AdvancedDisk disk pools

■ Configuring an AdvancedDisk disk pool

■ Configuring an AdvancedDisk storage unit

Configuring the AdvancedDisk optionThis section provides an overview of how to configure the NetBackupAdvancedDisk option.

Table 4-1 describes the configuration tasks.

To configure a base NetBackup environment, see the following guides:

■ The NetBackup Administrator's Guide for Windows, Volume I.

■ The NetBackup Administrator's Guide for UNIX and Linux, Volume I.

4Chapter

Table 4-1 AdvancedDisk configuration tasks

SectionTaskStep

See “About AdvancedDisk file systemrequirements” on page 22.

Learn about file systemrequirements

Step 1

See “About AdvancedDisk storage servers”on page 23.

See “About AdvancedDisk data movers”on page 23.

Learn about storage serversand data movers

Step 2

See “About AdvancedDisk shared storage access”on page 24.

See “About AdvancedDisk preferred or requiredread servers” on page 24.

Learn about what can affecthow you configure storageservers

Step 3

See “Configuring an AdvancedDisk storageserver” on page 26.

Configure a storage serverStep 4

See “About AdvancedDisk disk pools” on page 29.Learn about disk poolsStep 5

See “Configuring an AdvancedDisk disk pool”on page 29.

Configure a disk poolStep 6

See “Configuring an AdvancedDisk storage unit”on page 32.

Configure a storage unitStep 7

See the NetBackup Administrator's Guide forWindows, Volume I.

See theNetBackupAdministrator'sGuide forUNIXand Linux, Volume I.

Configure a policy that usesan AdvancedDisk storageunit

Step 8

About AdvancedDisk file system requirementsAdvancedDisk can read and write any nonshared file system that NetBackupsupports. However, AdvancedDisk is subject to any operating system or file systemrequirements or limitations. The following subsections describe knownrequirements and limitations. Requirements and limitations may exist for otherfile systems.

For supported file systems, see the NetBackup operating system compatibility listat Symantec support web site, as follows:

http://entsupport.symantec.com/

Disk pool configuration may affect how you configure your file systems.

Configuring AdvancedDiskAbout AdvancedDisk file system requirements

22

See “Configuring an AdvancedDisk disk pool” on page 29.

Additional requirements and limitations are as follows:

■ NFS file system requirements

■ You must use manual mount points. Automatic mount and unmount canchange mount points, which may cause disk resources to be unavailable.

■ The NFS server that exports the mount points must be configured to allowroot access to the file systems.

Note: Symantec recommends that you do not span backup images across NFSvolumes in an AdvancedDisk disk pool. File system full conditions cannot bedetected adequately. Therefore, a disk pool based on NFS volumes should becomprised of only one volume.

■ Windows CIFS not supportedOn Windows, networked mapped devices are not visible to Windows services,and AdvancedDisk cannot discover Common Internet File System disk volumes.Therefore, AdvancedDisk does not support the Common Internet File System.

About AdvancedDisk storage serversA storage server is a NetBackup media server that mounts the disk storage andwrites data to and reads data from the disk storage.

For AdvancedDisk, NetBackup media servers function as both storage servers anddata movers.

See “About AdvancedDisk data movers” on page 23.

Multiple storage servers can exist. The storage servers share the storage equally.

About AdvancedDisk data moversA data mover transfers data from primary storage (a NetBackup client) tosecondary storage during backups. It also can move data back to primary storageduring restores and from secondary storage to tertiary storage during duplication.

You do not configure data movers separately. For AdvancedDisk, NetBackup mediaservers function as both storage servers and data movers. Data movers areconfigured when you configure storage servers.

23Configuring AdvancedDiskAbout AdvancedDisk storage servers

About AdvancedDisk shared storage accessWith the AdvancedDisk option, you can configure access to your file systemstorage by more than one media server.

If you do so, be aware of the following:

■ Each media server must mount the file systems of all the disk volumes withina disk pool.

■ The mount points must be the same on each media server.NetBackup does not validate mount points, so you must ensure that the mountpoints are the same for each media server. You also must ensure that the mountpoints are valid.

■ To obtain a consolidated list of disk volumes, NetBackup queries every mediaserver. For large sets of servers, queries may affect performance.

■ Disk volume status is monitored on a single media server. Which servermonitors the status can change. Therefore, a change in disk volume availabilityon one media server may not be reflected in the disk volume status NetBackupreports.

To enable AdvancedDisk shared storage access by more than one media server:upgrade the NetBackup master server and the EMM server to NetBackup 6.5.2 orlater. (Normally, the master server and the EMM server are on the same computer.)

You do not have to upgrade 6.5 media servers. NetBackup 6.5 and later commandssupport multiple AdvancedDisk media server access to the storage. You canconfigure disk pools by using the NetBackup Administration Console on the masterserver or NetBackup commands.

To configure shared access, configure multiple media servers as storage servers.

See “Configuring an AdvancedDisk storage server” on page 26.

About AdvancedDisk preferred or required readservers

When you configure a storage server, you can specify that you want it to bepreferred or required for restore jobs. You also can specify whether a server shouldbe required for the read side of duplication jobs. These attributes can help managethe restore and the duplication traffic.

Configuring AdvancedDiskAbout AdvancedDisk shared storage access

24

Table 4-2 Preferred or required read server descriptions

DescriptionServerattribute

The server is preferred for the read side of restore operations. You canconfigure more than one server as preferred for restore.

If you configure preferred for restore but not required for restore,NetBackup considers preferred storage servers for jobs first. If none areavailable, NetBackup considers any configured storage server.

Normal NetBackup load balancing occurs among all storage serversmarked PrefRestore.

PrefRestore

The server is required for the read side of restore operations. You canconfigure more than one server as required for restore.

If you configure required servers for restore but not preferred servers,jobs queue until a required server is available to execute the job. Otherservers are never considered for restore jobs. Normal NetBackup rulesfor job retry apply.

If you configure both preferred and required storage servers and arequired server is not available, NetBackup considers preferred serversfor jobs. If none are available, jobs queue until a required or preferredserver is available. Other servers are never considered for restore jobs.

Normal NetBackup load balancing occurs for all required servers. Loadbalancing does not occur between the required and preferred servers.

ReqRestore

The server is required for the read side of duplication operations. Youcan configure more than one server as required for duplication.

If any server is configured as required for duplication, NetBackupconsiders only required for duplication servers for jobs. If a requiredserver is unavailable, jobs queue until a required server is available toexecute the job. Normal NetBackup rules for job retry apply.

Required for duplication also applies to storage server allocation forsynthetic backup operations.

ReqDuplicate

Only the media servers that are configured in the storage unit are considered forjobs. Therefore, if you configure a subset of the disk pool media servers in a storageunit, NetBackup selects from those servers only.

If you use the preferred or required restore or duplication attributes for a storageserver, the following may occur:

■ A restore operation uses a storage server that does not have a PrefRestore

or ReqRestore attribute. Reasons may be as follows:

25Configuring AdvancedDiskAbout AdvancedDisk preferred or required read servers

■ The destination disk pool does not include a storage server with a restoreor a duplication attribute.

■ A preferred or required storage server cannot be used because it isunavailable (NetBackup considers it DOWN).

■ A restore or a duplication operation is queued.The reason may be that a preferred or required storage server cannot be usedbecause it is unavailable (NetBackup considers it DOWN).

If you do not configure preferred or required restore servers, NetBackup usesnormal criteria to select a media server for restore or duplication. (That is, if youconfigure more than one storage server.)

Information about how NetBackup balances storage unit and media server loadis available.

See “Maximum concurrent jobs” in the following guides:

■ NetBackup Administrator’s Guide for UNIX and Linux, Volume I

■ NetBackup Administrator’s Guide for Windows, Volume I

You can use preferred or required restore servers rather than the Media hostoverride host property.

Information about the Media host override property is available.

See the following guides:


■ NetBackup Administrator’s Guide for Windows, Volume I

To enable preferred or required servers for restore or duplication, do the following:

■ Upgrade the NetBackup master server and the NetBackup EMM server toNetBackup 6.5.2 or later. (Normally, the master server and the EMM serverare on the same computer.)

■ Optionally, to enable command-line support on media servers, upgrade themedia servers that are used for AdvancedDisk operations to NetBackup 6.5.2or later.You do not have to upgrade the media servers. You can configure and managethe restore and the duplication storage servers by invoking the commands onthe master server.

Configuring an AdvancedDisk storage serverConfigure in this context means to configure as a storage server a NetBackupmedia server that can mount the storage.

Configuring AdvancedDiskConfiguring an AdvancedDisk storage server

26

Use the Storage Server Configuration Wizard to configure a storage server.However, if you want to configure preferred or required attributes, use thenbdevconfig command.

You can configure multiple storage servers. If you do, you must run the wizardfor each storage server you want to configure. You must configure as storageservers the NetBackup media servers that have read and write access to the storage.

See “About AdvancedDisk storage servers” on page 23.

When you configure a storage server, it also is configured as a data mover.

See “About AdvancedDisk data movers” on page 23.

See “About AdvancedDisk preferred or required read servers” on page 24.

To configure an AdvancedDisk storage server by using the wizard

1 Determine if the storage server is configured already.

See “Viewing AdvancedDisk storage servers” on page 40.

2 In the NetBackup Administration Console, in the left pane, expand Mediaand Device Management > Configure Disk Storage Servers.

3 Follow the wizard screens to configure a storage server.

To configure an AdvancedDisk storage server with attributes

1 Determine if the storage server is configured already.


2 Run the following command on the NetBackup master server or the mediaserver:

nbdevconfig -creatests -storage_server hostname -stype

AdvancedDisk [-st storage_type] -media_server hostname

[-setattribute attribute]

The following is the path to the nbdevconfig command:

■ UNIX: /usr/openv/netbackup/bin/admincmd

■ Windows: install_path\NetBackup\bin\admincmd

See “AdvancedDisk storage server options” on page 27.

AdvancedDisk storage server optionsThe following are the nbdevconfig command options that are used to configurestorage servers.

27Configuring AdvancedDiskConfiguring an AdvancedDisk storage server

Table 4-3 Options to configure AdvancedDisk storage server

DescriptionOption

The name of the NetBackup media server that has a file systemmount on the storage.

-storage_server

storage_server

Use AdvancedDisk.-stype hostname

A numeric value that specifies the storage server properties. ForAdvancedDisk, the default is 5 (direct attached, formatted disk).Required only if you want to use a value other than the default.

Determine the value by adding together the numeric values of thefollowing properties:

■ 1 - formatted disk. The disk is formatted as part of thevendor-specific preparation; NetBackup does not format thedisk.

■ 2 - raw disk. The disk is not formatted; NetBackup formats thedisk.

■ 4 - direct attached. Direct-attached means that the storage serverand media server are the same NetBackup host.

■ 8 - network attached. Network-attached means that the storageserver is physically distinct from the NetBackup media server.It does not imply LAN data movement nor does it preclude FibreChannel as the transport for data movement.

Whether the disk is formatted and how it is attached are mutuallyexclusive and complementary.

-st storage_type

Use the same name as the storage server name.-media_server

hostname

An attribute to apply to the storage server for the read side of restoreor duplication operations. The following are the attributes:

■ PrefRestore. The storage server is preferred for the read sideof restore operations. More than one storage server can havethe PrefRestore attribute.

■ ReqRestore. The storage server is required for the read side ofrestore operations. More than one storage server can have theReqRestore attribute.

■ ReqDuplicate. The storage server is required for the read sideof duplication operations. More than one storage server can havethe ReqDuplicate attribute.

See “About AdvancedDisk preferred or required read servers”on page 24.

-setattribute

attribute

Configuring AdvancedDiskConfiguring an AdvancedDisk storage server

28

About AdvancedDisk disk poolsA disk pool represents disk volumes on the underlying disk storage. NetBackupaggregates the disk volumes into pools of storage you can use for backups.

A disk pool is the storage destination of a NetBackup storage unit.

For AdvancedDisk, NetBackup assumes exclusive ownership of the disk resourcesthat comprise the disk pool. If you share those resources with other users,NetBackup cannot manage disk pool capacity or storage lifecycle policies correctly.

When NetBackup sends backup data to a disk pool, NetBackup selects disk volumesbased on available capacity and predicted size of the backup. NetBackup tries towrite backup data to a single volume. If necessary, backup images span diskvolumes in a disk pool. Backup images do not span across multiple disk pools.

Note: Symantec recommends that you do not span backup images across NFSvolumes in an AdvancedDisk disk pool. File system full conditions cannot bedetected adequately. Therefore, a disk pool based on NFS volumes should becomprised of only one volume.

See “Configuring an AdvancedDisk disk pool” on page 29.

Configuring an AdvancedDisk disk poolWhen you create an AdvancedDisk disk pool, you specify the following:

■ The NetBackup media servers that share the storage.The media servers must be configured as storage servers. They also functionas data movers.When you specify the storage servers, you associate them with the disk pool.Only those storage servers can access the disk pool.See “About AdvancedDisk storage servers” on page 23.

■ The disk volumes to include in the pool.

■ The disk pool properties.See “AdvancedDisk disk pool properties” on page 30.

Symantec recommends that disk volume and disk pool names be unique acrossyour enterprise.

You must first configure storage servers.


Once you've configured storage servers, proceed to creating a disk pool.

29Configuring AdvancedDiskAbout AdvancedDisk disk pools

To configure an AdvancedDisk disk pool

1 In the NetBackup Administration Console, in the left pane, select Media andDevice Management.

2 From the list of wizards in the right pane, click Configure Disk Pool andfollow the wizard instructions.

NetBackup does not filter out common file system mount points, such as /and /usr. Therefore, carefully choose the volumes to include in a disk pool.

For help, see the wizard help.

AdvancedDisk disk pool propertiesTable 4-4 describes the disk pool properties.

Table 4-4 AdvancedDisk disk pool properties

DescriptionProperty

The disk pool name.Name

The storage server name. The storage server is the same as theNetBackup media server to which the storage is attached.

Storage server

The disk volumes that comprise the disk pool.Disk volumes

The total amount of space available in the disk pool.Total size

The total raw, unformatted size of the storage in the disk pool.Total raw size

A comment that is associated with the disk pool.Comment

Configuring AdvancedDiskConfiguring an AdvancedDisk disk pool

30

Table 4-4 AdvancedDisk disk pool properties (continued)

DescriptionProperty

The High water mark setting is a threshold that triggers thefollowing actions:

■ When an individual volume in the disk pool reaches the Highwater mark, NetBackup considers the volume full.NetBackupchooses a different volume in the disk pool to write backupimages to.

■ When all volumes in the disk pool reach the Highwatermark,the disk pool is considered full. NetBackup fails any backupjobs that are assigned to a storage unit in which the disk poolis full. NetBackup also does not assign new jobs to a storageunit in which the disk pool is full.

■ NetBackup begins image cleanup when a volume reaches theHigh water mark; image cleanup expires the images that areno longer valid. For a disk pool that is full, NetBackup againassigns jobs to the storage unit when image cleanup reducesany disk volume's capacity to less than the High water mark.

If the storage unit for the disk pool is in a capacity-managedstorage lifecycle policy, other factors affect image cleanup.

See theNetBackupAdministrator's Guide forUNIX and Linux,Volume I.

See theNetBackupAdministrator'sGuide forWindows,VolumeI.

The default is 98%.

High water mark

The Low water mark is a threshold at which NetBackup stopsimage cleanup.

TheLow water mark setting cannot be greater than or equal tothe High water mark setting.

The default is 80%.

Low water mark

31Configuring AdvancedDiskConfiguring an AdvancedDisk disk pool

Table 4-4 AdvancedDisk disk pool properties (continued)

DescriptionProperty

Select this option to limit the number of read and write streams(that is, jobs) for each volume in the disk pool. A job may readbackup images or write backup images. By default, there is nolimit.

When the limit is reached, NetBackup chooses another volume,if available. If not available, NetBackup queues jobs until a volumeis available.

Too many jobs that read and write data may degrade diskperformance because of disk thrashing. (Disk thrashing is whenthe read and write heads move between the cylinders excessivelyas they seek the data for competing jobs.)

Fewer streams can improve throughput, which may increase thenumber of jobs that complete in a specific time period.

Limit I/O streams

Select or enter the number of read and write streams to allow pervolume.

Many factors affect the optimal number of streams. Factors includebut are not limited to disk speed, CPU speed, and the amount ofmemory.

per volume

Configuring an AdvancedDisk storage unitCreate one or more storage units that reference the disk pool.

The Disk Pool Configuration Wizard lets you create a storage unit; therefore,you may have created a storage unit when you created a disk pool. To determineif storage units exist for the disk pool, see the NetBackupManagement>Storage> Storage Units window of the NetBackup Administration Console.

See “About AdvancedDisk storage unit recommendations” on page 35.

More information about storage units is available.

See the NetBackup Administrator's Guide for Windows, Volume I.

See the NetBackup Administrator's Guide for UNIX and Linux, Volume I.

Configuring AdvancedDiskConfiguring an AdvancedDisk storage unit

32

To configure a storage unit from the Actions menu

1 In the NetBackupAdministrationConsole, in the left pane, select NetBackupManagement > Storage > Storage Units.

2 Click Actions > New > Storage Unit.

3 Complete the fields and set the options in the New Storage Unit dialog box.

See “AdvancedDisk storage unit properties” on page 33.

4 Click OK.

AdvancedDisk storage unit propertiesThe following are the configuration options for a disk pool storage unit.

33Configuring AdvancedDiskConfiguring an AdvancedDisk storage unit

Table 4-5 AdvancedDisk storage unit properties

DescriptionProperty

Enter a unique name for the new storage unit. The name can describethe type of storage. The storage unit name is the name used to specifya storage unit for policies and schedules. The storage unit name cannotbe changed after creation.

Storageunitname

Select Disk as the storage unit type.Storage unit type

Select AdvancedDisk for the disk type.Disk type

Select the disk pool that contains the storage for this storage unit.

All disk pools of the specified Disk type appear in the Disk pool list.If no disk pools are configured, no disk pools appear in the list.

Disk pool

Specify the NetBackup media servers that can move data to and fromthe disk pool for this storage unit. Only the media servers that areconfigured as storage servers appear in the media servers list.

Specify the media server or servers as follows:

■ To allow any server in the media server list to access the diskstorage (default), select Use any available media server.

■ To restrict the media servers that can access the disk storage, selectOnly use the following media servers. Then, select the mediaservers to allow. The selection list includes only the media serversthat are configured as storage servers for the disk pool.

NetBackup selects the media server to use when the policy runs.

Media server

Specify the largest fragment size that NetBackup can create to storebackups.

The default maximum fragment size for a disk storage unit is 524,288megabytes. To specify a maximum fragment size other than thedefault, enter a value from 20 megabytes to 524,288 megabytes.

Backups to disk are usually fragmented to ensure that the backup doesnot exceed the maximum size that the file system allows.

If an error occurs in a backup, the entire backup is discarded. Thebackup restarts from the beginning, not from the fragment where theerror occurred. (An exception is for backups for which checkpoint andrestart are enabled. In that case, fragments before and including thelast checkpoint are retained; the fragments after the last checkpointare discarded.)

Maximumfragment size


34

Table 4-5 AdvancedDisk storage unit properties (continued)

DescriptionProperty

Specify the maximum number of jobs that NetBackup can send to adisk storage unit at one time. (Default: one job. The job count can rangefrom 0 to 256.) This setting corresponds to the Maximum concurrentwrite drives setting for a Media Manager storage unit.

NetBackup queues jobs until the storage unit is available. If threebackup jobs are scheduled and Maximum concurrent jobs is set totwo, NetBackup starts the first two jobs and queues the third job. If ajob contains multiple copies, each copy applies toward the Maximumconcurrent jobs count.

Maximum concurrent jobs controls the traffic for backup andduplication jobs but not restore jobs. The count applies to all serversin the storage unit, not per server. If you select multiple media serversin the storage unit and 1 for Maximumconcurrent jobs, only one jobruns at a time.

The number to enter depends on the available disk space and theserver's ability to run multiple backup processes.

Warning:A Maximum concurrent jobs setting of 0 disables the storageunit.

Maximumconcurrent jobs

About AdvancedDisk storage unit recommendationsYou can use storage unit properties to control how NetBackup moves backup andduplication data.

For example, you can configure a favorable client-to-server ratio for importantclients by using the storage unit Media server setting.

See “About configuring a favorable client-to-server ratio” on page 35.

You also can use the storage unit Maximum concurrent jobs setting to controlthe backup or the duplication traffic that is sent to the media servers.

See “About throttling traffic to the media servers” on page 36.

About configuring a favorable client-to-server ratioFor a favorable client-to-server ratio, you can use one disk pool and configuremultiple storage units to separate your backup traffic. Because all storage unitsuse the same disk pool, you do not have to partition the storage.

35Configuring AdvancedDiskConfiguring an AdvancedDisk storage unit

For example, assume that you have 100 important clients, 500 regular clients,and four media servers. You can use two media servers to back up your mostimportant clients and two media servers to back up your regular clients.

The following example describes how to configure a favorable client-to-serverratio:

■ Configure the media servers for AdvancedDisk and configure the storage.

■ Configure a disk pool.

■ Configure a storage unit for your most important clients (such as STU-GOLD).Select the disk pool. Select Only use the following media servers. Select twomedia servers to use for your important backups.

■ Create a backup policy for the 100 important clients and select the STU-GOLDstorage unit. The media servers that are specified in the storage unit move theclient data to the storage server.

■ Configure another storage unit (such as STU-SILVER). Select the same diskpool. Select Onlyuse the followingmedia servers. Select the other two mediaservers.

■ Configure a backup policy for the 500 regular clients and select the STU-SILVERstorage unit. The media servers that are specified in the storage unit move theclient data to the storage server.

Backup traffic is routed to the wanted data movers by the storage unit settings.

Note: NetBackup uses storage units for media server selection for write activity(backups and duplications) only. For restores, NetBackup chooses among all mediaservers that can access the disk pool.

About throttling traffic to the media serversYou can use the Maximumconcurrent jobs settings on disk pool storage units tothrottle the traffic to the media servers. Effectively, this setting also directs higherloads to specific media servers when you use multiple storage units for the samedisk pool. A higher number of concurrent jobs means that the disk can be busierthan if the number is lower.

For example, two storage units use the same set of media servers. One of thestorage units (STU-GOLD) has a higher Maximum concurrent jobs setting thanthe other (STU-SILVER). More client backups occur for the storage unit with thehigher Maximum concurrent jobs setting.


36

Managing AdvancedDisk


■ Managing AdvancedDisk storage servers

■ Managing AdvancedDisk disk pools

■ Monitoring AdvancedDisk storage capacity and usage

■ Monitoring NetBackup disk activity

■ Viewing disk reports

Managing AdvancedDisk storage serversAfter you configure AdvancedDisk, you can perform various tasks to managestorage servers.

See “Deleting an AdvancedDisk storage server” on page 37.

See “Determining AdvancedDisk storage server state” on page 38.

See “Removing an AdvancedDisk storage server from disk pool access” on page 39.

See “Removing AdvancedDisk storage server attributes” on page 38.


See “Viewing AdvancedDisk storage server attributes” on page 40.

Deleting an AdvancedDisk storage serverUse the nbdevconfig command to delete a storage server.

If you delete a storage server, NetBackup removes it from your configuration.

The media server is not deleted from your configuration. To delete the mediaserver, use the NetBackup nbemmcmd command.

5Chapter

If a disk pool is configured from the disk volumes that the storage server manages,you cannot delete the storage server.

Warning:Do not delete a storage server if its storage contains unexpired NetBackupimages. If you do, data loss may occur.

To delete an AdvancedDisk storage server

1 In the NetBackup Administration Console, expand Media and DeviceManagement > Credentials > Storage Server.

2 On the Edit menu, select Delete.

3 Click Yes in the confirmation dialog box.

Determining AdvancedDisk storage server stateUse the NetBackup nbdevquery command to determine the state of anAdvancedDisk storage server.

To determine AdvancedDisk storage server status

◆ Run the following command:

nbdevquery -liststs -stype AdvancedDisk -storage_server

server_name -U

The following is the path to the nbdevquery command:



The State field shows either UP or DOWN.

Removing AdvancedDisk storage server attributesUse thenbdevconfig command to remove the following storage server attributes:

■ Preferred restore server (PrefRestore)

■ Required restore server (ReqRestore)

■ Required duplication server (ReqDuplicate)

See “About AdvancedDisk preferred or required read servers” on page 24.

Attributes are added when you use the nbdevconfig command to configure astorage server.


Managing AdvancedDiskManaging AdvancedDisk storage servers

38

To remove AdvancedDisk storage server attributes

◆ Run the following command on the NetBackup master server or on a storageserver:

nbdevconfig -changests -storage_server storage_server -stype

AdvancedDisk -clearattribute attribute




Removing an AdvancedDisk storage server from disk pool accessUse the nbdevconfig command to remove a storage server so that it no longercan access a disk pool. If NetBackup jobs exist that use that storage server, youcannot remove the storage server.

Warning: If you remove the only storage server, data may be lost. NetBackupcannot access the disk pool and the backup images on the disk pool.

To remove an AdvancedDisk storage server from disk pool access

1 For every storage unit that specifies the storage server (media server) in Useone of the following media servers, clear the check box that specifies themedia server.

This step is not required if the storage unit is configured to use any availablemedia server.

2 If only one storage server exists, change the state of all disk pools on thearray to DOWN. To do so, use the following command:

nbdevconfig -changestate -stype AdvancedDisk -dp disk_pool_name

-state DOWN




3 Remove the storage server. The following is the command syntax:

nbdevconfig -changedp -stype AdvancedDisk -dp disk_pool_name

-del_storage_servers storage_server

39Managing AdvancedDiskManaging AdvancedDisk storage servers

Viewing AdvancedDisk storage serversUse the NetBackup Administration Console to view a list of storage serversalready configured.

To view AdvancedDisk storage servers

◆ In the NetBackup Administration Console, in the left pane, expand Mediaand Device Management > Credentials > Storage Server.

The right pane, labeled All Storage Servers , shows all configured storageservers. AdvancedDisk storage servers show AdvancedDisk in the DiskTypecolumn.

Viewing AdvancedDisk storage server attributesUse the NetBackup nbdevquery command to view the storage server attributes.

To view AdvancedDisk storage server attributes

◆ Run the following command on the NetBackup master server or a storageserver:

nbdevquery -liststs -storage_server storage_server -stype

AdvancedDisk –U




The following is example output:

Storage Server : advdsk_server.symantecs.com

Storage Server Type : AdvancedDisk

Storage Type : Formatted Disk, Direct Attached

State : UP

Flag : PrefRestore

This example output is shortened; more flags may appear in actual output.

Managing AdvancedDisk disk poolsAfter you configure AdvancedDisk, you can perform various tasks to manage yourAdvancedDisk disk pools.

See “Adding volumes to an AdvancedDisk disk pool” on page 41.

See “Changing AdvancedDisk disk pool properties” on page 41.

Managing AdvancedDiskManaging AdvancedDisk disk pools

40

See “Changing AdvancedDisk disk pool state” on page 42.

See “Changing AdvancedDisk disk volume state” on page 43.

See “Deleting an AdvancedDisk disk pool” on page 43.

See “Determining AdvancedDisk disk pool state” on page 44.

See “Determining AdvancedDisk disk volume state” on page 44.

See “Merging AdvancedDisk disk pools” on page 45.

See “Removing a volume from an AdvancedDisk disk pool” on page 45.

See “Viewing AdvancedDisk disk pools” on page 46.

Adding volumes to an AdvancedDisk disk poolYou can expand a disk pool’s capacity by adding disk volumes to the disk pool.The names of the new volumes must differ from the names of the volumes in thecurrent disk pool.

The NetBackup storage units that use the disk pool use the additional storagecapacity automatically. You do not have to change the storage units.

(By default, NetBackup automatically increases disk pool capacity if the capacityof the underlying disk volumes increases. Similarly, NetBackup decreases thecapacity of a disk pool if the underlying disk volume capacity decreases.)

Table 5-1 Add volumes process for an AdvancedDisk disk pool

ProcedureTask

See “Configuring an AdvancedDisk disk pool”on page 29.

Create a disk pool from the newdisk volumes on the storageserver.

When you merge the disk pools, specify the originaldisk pool as the primary one. NetBackup deletes thesecondary disk pool after the merge.

See “Merging AdvancedDisk disk pools” on page 45.

Merge the disk pools.

Changing AdvancedDisk disk pool propertiesYou can change the properties of a disk pool.

To add volumes to a disk pool, you must use a different procedure.

See “Adding volumes to an AdvancedDisk disk pool” on page 41.

41Managing AdvancedDiskManaging AdvancedDisk disk pools

To change disk pool properties

1 In the NetBackup Administration Console, in the left pane, expand Mediaand Device Management > Devices > Disk Pools.

2 In the right pane, select the disk pool you want to change.

3 Click Edit > Change.

4 In the Change Disk Pool dialog box, change properties.

See “AdvancedDisk disk pool properties” on page 30.

5 Click OK.

Changing AdvancedDisk disk pool stateDisk pool state is UP or DOWN.

To change the state to DOWN, the disk pool must not be busy. If backup jobs areassigned to the disk pool, the state change fails. Cancel the backup jobs or waituntil the jobs complete.


42

To change AdvancedDisk disk pool state

1 In the NetBackup Administration Console, in the left pane, select Mediaand Device Management > Device Monitor.

2 Select the Disk Pools tab.

3 Select the disk pool.

4 Select either Actions > Up or Actions > Down.

Changing AdvancedDisk disk volume stateUse the NetBackup nbdevconfig command to change disk volume state. The stateis UP or DOWN.

To change the state to DOWN, the disk pool in which the volume resides must notbe busy. If backup jobs are assigned to the disk pool, the state change fails. Cancelthe backup jobs or wait until the jobs complete.

NetBackup jobs still read from and write to a disk pool that has a downed volume,but the downed volume is unavailable.

To change the AdvancedDisk disk volume state

1 Determine the name of the disk volume. The following command lists allvolumes in the specified disk pool:

nbdevquery -listdv -stype AdvancedDisk -dp disk_pool_name

The nbdevquery command resides in the following directory:


■ Windows: install_path\netbackup\bin\admincmd

To display the disk volumes in all disk pools, omit the -dp option.

2 Change the disk volume state. The following is the command syntax:

nbdevconfig -changestate -stype AdvancedDisk -dp disk_pool_name

–dv vol_name -state state

The nbdevconfig command resides in the following directory:



The state is either UP or DOWN.

Deleting an AdvancedDisk disk poolIf you delete a disk pool, NetBackup removes it from your configuration.


If a disk pool is the storage destination of a storage unit, you must first delete thestorage unit.

Warning: Do not delete a disk pool that contains unexpired NetBackup images; ifyou do, data loss may occur.

To delete an AdvancedDisk disk pool

1 In the NetBackup Administration Console, in the left pane, select Mediaand Device Management > Devices > Disk Pools.

2 Select a disk pool

3 Click Edit > Delete.

4 In the Delete Disk Pool dialog box, verify that the disk pool is the one youwant to delete and then click OK.

Determining AdvancedDisk disk pool stateDisk pool state is UP or DOWN.

To determine AdvancedDisk disk pool state


2 Select the Disk Pools tab.

3 The state is displayed in the Status column.

Determining AdvancedDisk disk volume stateUse the NetBackup nbdevquery command to determine the state of the volumesin AdvancedDisk disk pools.

To determine AdvancedDisk disk volume state

1 Determine the name of the disk volume. The following command lists thevolumes in the specified disk pool:

nbdevquery -listdv -stype AdvancedDisk -dp disk_pool_name





44

To display the disk volumes in all AdvancedDisk disk pools, omit the -dp

option.

2 Display the volume state by using the following command:

nbdevquery -listdv -dv disk_volume -stype AdvancedDisk


Merging AdvancedDisk disk poolsUse the NetBackup nbdevconfig command to merge existing disk pools.

NetBackup updates the catalog records to show the correct location of the backupimages in those disk pools.

If the secondary disk pool is referenced by storage units, you must first deletethose storage units.

To merge AdvancedDisk disk pools

1 Change the state of each disk pool to DOWN.


If backup jobs are assigned to a disk pool, the state change fails. Cancel thebackup jobs or wait until the jobs complete.

2 Merge the disk pools. The following is the command syntax. The primary diskpool is the one you want to retain; nbdevconfig deletes the secondary diskpool after the merge.

nbdevconfig –mergedps –stype AdvancedDisk -primarydp

disk_pool_name -secondarydp disk_pool_name




3 Change the state of the primary disk pool to UP.


Removing a volume from an AdvancedDisk disk poolUse thenbdevconfig command to remove a volume from a disk pool. The followingare the prerequisites:

■ NetBackup image fragments cannot exist on the disk volume.

■ NetBackup jobs cannot be active on the disk volume.


By default, NetBackup automatically decreases disk pool capacity if you removea disk volume.




To remove a volume from an AdvancedDisk disk pool

1 Change the disk volume state to DOWN.

See “Changing AdvancedDisk disk volume state” on page 43.

2 Change the disk pool state to DOWN.


3 Remove the volume by using the nbdevconfig command. The following isthe command syntax:

nbdevconfig -deletedv -stype AdvancedDisk -dp disk_pool_name –dv

vol_name

4 Change the disk pool state to UP.


Viewing AdvancedDisk disk poolsUse the NetBackup Administration Console to view configured disk pools.

To view disk pools

◆ In the NetBackupAdministrationConsole tree, in the left pane, select Mediaand Device Management > Devices > Disk Pools.

The list appears in the right pane.

MonitoringAdvancedDisk storage capacity andusageTo monitor storage capacity and usage, see the following:

The Disk Pools window displays a value that was storedwhen NetBackup polled the disk pools. The value may notbe as current as the value that is displayed in the StorageServer window.

To display the window, select Media and DeviceManagement > Devices > Disk Pools.

The NetBackupAdministration Console DiskPools window.

Managing AdvancedDiskMonitoring AdvancedDisk storage capacity and usage

46

See “Viewing disk reports” on page 48.The NetBackup Disk Poolstatus report.

The storage server view displays real-time values.

To display the window, select Media and DeviceManagement > Credentials > Storage Servers.

NetBackup AdministrationConsole Storage Serverwindow

The summary of active capacity-based license features inthe NetBackup License Keys dialog box. The summarydisplays the storage capacity for which you are licensed andthe capacity used. It does not display the amount of physicalstorage space.

To open the dialog box, select Help > License Keys in theNetBackup Administration Console.

TheNetBackupLicenseKeysdialog box.

The NetBackup OpsCenter also provides information about storage capacity andusage.

See the NetBackup OpsCenter Administrator's Guide.

Monitoring NetBackup disk activityYou can monitor NetBackup disk-related activity and status by viewing theNetBackup log files.

Some NetBackup commands or processes write messages to their own log files.Other processes use Veritas unified log (VxUL) files. VxUL uses a standardizedname and file format for log files. An originator ID (OID) identifies the processthat writes the log messages.

Table 5-2 shows the NetBackup logs for disk-related activity.

The messages that begin with a sts_ prefix relate to the interaction with thestorage vendor software plug-in. Most interaction occurs on the NetBackup mediaservers.

47Managing AdvancedDiskMonitoring NetBackup disk activity

Table 5-2 NetBackup logs

Processes that use the IDVxUL OIDActivity

Messages appear in the log files for the followingprocesses:

■ The bpbrm backup and restore manager

■ The bpdbm database manager

■ The bpdm disk manager

■ The bptm tape manager for I/O operations

N/ABackups andrestores

The nbjm job manager.117Backups andrestores

The nbemm process.111Deviceconfiguration

The Disk Service Manager process that runs in theEnterprise Media Manager (EMM) process.

178Deviceconfiguration

The Storage Server Interface process that runs in theRemote Manager and Monitor Service. RMMS runson media servers.


The Remote Disk Service Manager interface (RDSM)that runs in the Remote Manager and Monitor Service.RMMS runs on media servers.


To view and manage VxUL log files, you must use NetBackup log commands.Information about how to use and manage logs on NetBackup servers is available.

See the NetBackup Troubleshooting Guide.

Viewing disk reportsThe NetBackup disk reports include information about the disk pools, disk storageunits, disk logs, images that are stored on disk media, and storage capacity.

Table 5-3 describes the disk reports available.

Managing AdvancedDiskViewing disk reports

48

Table 5-3 Disk reports

DescriptionReport

The Images on Disk report generates the image list present on thedisk storage units that are connected to the media server. Thereport is a subset of the Images on Media report; it shows onlydisk-specific columns.

The report provides a summary of the storage unit contents. If adisk becomes bad or if a media server crashes, this report can letyou know what data is lost.

Images on Disk

The Disk Logs report displays the media errors or theinformational messages that are recorded in the NetBackup errorcatalog. The report is a subset of the Media Logs report; it showsonly disk-specific columns.

Disk Logs

The Disk Storage Unit Status report displays the state of diskstorage units in the current NetBackup configuration.

For disk pool capacity, see the disk pools window in Media andDevice Management > Devices > Disk Pools.

Multiple storage units can point to the same disk pool. When thereport query is by storage unit, the report counts the capacity ofdisk pool storage multiple times.

Disk Storage Unit

The Disk Pool Status report displays the state of disk pool storageunits. This report displays only when an Enterprise Disk Optionlicense is installed.

Disk Pool Status

To view disk reports

1 In the NetBackup Administration Console, in the left pane, expandNetBackup Management > Reports > Disk Reports.

2 Select the name of a disk report.

3 In the right pane, select the report settings.

4 Click Run Report.

49Managing AdvancedDiskViewing disk reports

Managing AdvancedDiskViewing disk reports

50

ToubleshootingAdvancedDisk


■ AdvancedDisk troubleshooting

■ Resolving an incorrect storage type problem

AdvancedDisk troubleshootingThe following may help you troubleshoot AdvancedDisk:

Table 6-1 AdvancedDisk troubleshooting

SolutionProblem

If NetBackup cannot access the storage, one possible causeis that the storage server was created with the incorrectnbdevconfig storage type (-st) value. An AdvancedDiskstorage server -st value is 5 (formatted disk, directlyattached); values other than 5 are incorrect.

More procedural information is available about resolvingthis problem.

See “Resolving an incorrect storage type problem”on page 52.

Unable to access storage

AdvancedDisk does not support Common Internet FileSystem (CIFS). If you try to configure multiple storageservers, NetBackup returns the following message:

DSM does not support to use multiple Windows Storage Servers forserver type: AdvancedDisk.

Multiple storage servers onWindows

6Chapter

Table 6-1 AdvancedDisk troubleshooting (continued)

SolutionProblem

If a volume becomes unmounted, NetBackup changes thevolume state to DOWN. NetBackup jobs that require thatvolume fail.

To change the volume state to UP, mount the file system

Volume state changes toDOWN when volume isunmounted

If recovery mechanisms do not protect a disk that fails, thebackup images on that disk are lost. Operating system readand write errors may occur for the volume that representsthe disk. NetBackup cannot use that volume because of theerrors, and NetBackup jobs may fail.

To prevent NetBackup from trying to read from or write tothe disk, you must change the volume state to DOWN inNetBackup. If the volume represents other disks that stillfunction, those disks are not available because the volumestate is DOWN. You may be able to read from the volumeby mounting it manually. If so, you may be able to recoverimage fragments from any disks that did not fail.

If you replace a failed disk, you can use the same mountpoint for the replacement disk. Change the volume state toUP, and NetBackup uses that volume again.

Any valid backup images on that volume are available forrestores.

Disk failure - AdvancedDisk

Resolving an incorrect storage type problemFirst determine the storage server value to verify that the storage server wascreated with the incorrect nbdevconfig storage type value. Then proceed toresolving the problem if necessary.

To determine the storage server value

◆ Invoke the following command on the master server or a media server thatfunctions as a storage server:

The following output shows an incorrect value for AdvancedDisk:

Storage Server : halo

Storage Server Type : AdvancedDisk

Storage Type : Formatted Disk, Network Attached

Toubleshooting AdvancedDiskResolving an incorrect storage type problem

52

To resolve an incorrect storage type problem

1 Delete all disk pools that use the storage server.

2 Delete the storage server.

3 Reconfigure the storage server.

4 Recreate the disk pools.

5 If necessary, specify the new disk pools in the storage units.

If you recreated the disk pools with the same names as the ones you deleted,this step is not necessary.

See “AdvancedDisk troubleshooting” on page 51.

53Toubleshooting AdvancedDiskResolving an incorrect storage type problem

Toubleshooting AdvancedDiskResolving an incorrect storage type problem

54

OpenStorage option

■ Chapter 7. Introducing OpenStorage

■ Chapter 8. Planning your deployment

■ Chapter 9. Provisioning the storage

■ Chapter 10. Licensing OpenStorage

■ Chapter 11. Configuring OpenStorage

■ Chapter 12. Managing OpenStorage

■ Chapter 13. Troubleshooting OpenStorage

2Section

Introducing OpenStorage


■ About the NetBackup OpenStorage option

■ About control of the storage

About the NetBackup OpenStorage optionOpenStorage is a Symantec API that allows NetBackup to communicate with thestorage implementations that conform to the API. Storage may be the following:

■ Disk appliances that include a host computer and the storage.

■ Nirvanix cloud-based storage.

Storage vendors participate in the Symantec OpenStorage Partner Program.Symantec qualifies their storage solutions for the OpenStorage API.

Depending on the storage implementation, OpenStorage may provide the followingcapabilities:

■ Share disks. Multiple heterogeneous media servers can access the same diskvolume concurrently.

■ Balance load and performance. NetBackup balances backup jobs and storageusage among the media servers and disk pools. For each backup job, NetBackupchooses the least full disk volume and least busy media server.

■ Use of disk appliance capabilities, which may include optimized off-hostduplication and deduplicated storage capabilities.

■ Fast storage provisioning.

■ Almost unlimited storage.

■ Alternative to off-site vaulting.

7Chapter

■ Simplified disaster recovery. Access your data from anywhere over the Internet.

Figure 7-1 shows an OpenStorage configuration that uses a disk appliance.

Figure 7-1 OpenStorage appliance configuration

Load-balanced NetBackup media servers aredata movers. They have the vendor plug-ininstalled.

The disk appliance is the storageserver.

Any connectivity (directly attached, SAN,LAN)

Network

About control of the storageThe vendor's storage implementation controls the storage format and where theimages reside on the storage. The vendor controls the data transfer method.Consequently, performance and storage utilization are highly optimized.

NetBackup has no knowledge of how the backup images are stored. Also, Symantecdoes not control which capabilities the vendor exposes through the OpenStorageAPI. Similarly, Symantec and NetBackup have no control over the communicationbetween the vendor plug-in and the storage server. The vendor determines theAPI or protocol to use between the plug-in and the storage server.

NetBackup determines when backup images are created, copied, or deleted. Imagescannot be moved, expired, or deleted on the storage unless NetBackup instructsthe appliance to do so through the API.

Introducing OpenStorageAbout control of the storage

58

Planning your deployment


■ Planning your OpenStorage deployment

■ About OpenStorage requirements and limitations

■ About OpenStorage storage servers

■ About OpenStorage server credentials

■ About OpenStorage data movers

■ About the OpenStorage plug-in

■ About OpenStorage disk pools

■ About OpenStorage optimized duplication methods

■ About OpenStorage optimized synthetic backups

■ About OpenStorage direct to tape

■ About Nirvanix cloud storage

Planning your OpenStorage deploymentTable 8-1 provides an overview of NetBackup OpenStorage. This overview andthe topics to which it refers may help you plan your deployment.

Table 8-1 OpenStorage deployment

InstructionsTaskStep

See “About OpenStorage requirements and limitations” on page 60.Read about requirements andlimitations

Step 1

8Chapter

Table 8-1 OpenStorage deployment (continued)


See “About OpenStorage storage servers” on page 61.

See “About OpenStorage data movers” on page 62.

See “About OpenStorage server credentials” on page 61.

Learn about storage servers,data movers, and credentials

Step 2

See “About OpenStorage disk pools” on page 63.

See “About spanning volumes on OpenStorage disk pools” on page 63.

Learn about disk poolsStep 3

See “About OpenStorage optimized duplication methods” on page 64.Learn about optimizedduplication

Step 4

See “About OpenStorage optimized synthetic backups” on page 66.Learn about optimizedsynthetic backups

Step 5

See “About OpenStorage direct to tape” on page 67.Learn about copy to tapeStep 6

See “About Nirvanix cloud storage” on page 72.Learn about Nirvanix cloudstorage

Step 7

See “About provisioning the disk storage appliance” on page 77.

See “About installing the disk appliance plug-in” on page 78.

Learn about provisioning thestorage

Step 8

See “Configuring OpenStorage disk appliance storage” on page 81.

See “Configuring OpenStorage Nirvanix cloud storage” on page 83.

See the configurationoverview topics

Step 9

About OpenStorage requirements and limitationsThe following are the requirements to use the OpenStorage option:

■ A NetBackup OpenStorage Option license key.

■ Storage that is exposed to NetBackup through a software plug-in that conformsto the Symantec OpenStorage API.

OpenStorage does not support the following:

■ Storage unit groups

Information about supported systems is available.

See the NetBackup Release Notes.

Planning your deploymentAbout OpenStorage requirements and limitations

60

About OpenStorage storage serversA storage server is an entity that writes data to and reads data from the storage.The storage server owns exclusive access to the storage.

The entity that functions as the storage server depends on the storageimplementation, as follows:

■ For OpenStorage solutions that use a disk appliance, the disk appliance hostis the storage server.

■ For Nirvanix Storage Delivery Network cloud-based storage, nirvanix.com isthe storage server.

For each OpenStorage environment, only one storage server exists.

When you configure the storage server, you enter the storage server host name.You also must enter the storage server type, as follows:

■ For disk appliance storage, your storage vendor provides the name of thestorage type.

■ For Nirvanix cloud storage, enter one of the following:

■ nirvanix for data that is not encrypted.

■ nirvanix_e to use encryption for the data you send to the cloud.


About OpenStorage server credentialsThe storage host may require logon credentials. The NetBackup media serversthat function as data movers require the credentials for storage access.

When you configure a storage server in the StorageServerConfigurationWizard,you configure its credentials. NetBackup does the following:

■ Saves the credentials so the media servers can log into the storage server.If the storage server is also an NDMP FSE host for direct to tape operations,they both must have the same logon credentials.See “About OpenStorage direct to tape” on page 67.

■ Configures each media server you select as a data mover.NetBackup does not monitor connectivity between data movers and the storageserver. However, when you configure the credentials, NetBackup configuresand maintains an access path between the media server and the storage server.See “About OpenStorage data movers” on page 62.

61Planning your deploymentAbout OpenStorage storage servers

If the storage server does not require logon credentials, you must enter dummycredentials so that NetBackup configures the media servers as data movers.

About OpenStorage data moversA data mover is a NetBackup media server that backs up a client and then transfersthe data to a storage server. The storage server then writes the data to storage.A data mover also can move data back to primary storage (the client) duringrestores and from secondary storage to tertiary storage during duplication.

The data movers host a software plug-in they use to communicate with the storageimplementation.

When you configure the storage server, you also select the media servers thathost the OpenStorage plug-in. Those media server data movers are assigned thecredentials for the storage server. The credentials allow the data movers tocommunicate with the storage server. NetBackup then configures the mediaservers as data movers.

You can control which data movers are used for backups and duplications whenyou configure NetBackup storage units.


About the OpenStorage plug-inA software plug-in must reside on every data mover. The plug-in must conformto the Symantec OpenStorage API specification. The vendor exposes the storagecapabilities to NetBackup through the plug-in.

The plug-in depends on the storage implementation, as follows.

■ For appliance storage, the appliance vendor provides the plug-in. The vendorshould provide information about how to install the plug-in.To determine a disk appliance’s capabilities, NetBackup uses the plug-in toquery the storage appliance. Capabilities can include deduplicated storage,optimized off-host duplication, and so on.See “About installing the disk appliance plug-in” on page 78.

■ For Nirvanix cloud storage, the plug-in is installed with NetBackup; no separateinstallation is required.


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62

About OpenStorage disk poolsAn OpenStorage disk pool represents the disk storage that is exposed to NetBackupthrough the OpenStorage API.

The storage vendor determines how to expose the storage, as follows:

■ For disk appliance storage, the vendor may expose the storage as one or moreunits of storage (that is, disk volumes).

■ For Nirvanix cloud storage, a child account is exposed as a single volume. Ifthe Nirvanix application (that is, storage pool) has more than one child account,each is exposed as a volume.See “About Nirvanix child accounts” on page 73.

A disk pool can represent one or more volumes. If a disk pool represents morethan one volume, NetBackup selects a volume for a backup based on: availablecapacity and predicted size of the backup. NetBackup tries to write backup datato a single volume. If necessary, backup images span volumes in a disk pool unlessthe storage implementation does not support volume spanning. Backup imagesdo not span across multiple disk pools.

A disk pool is the storage destination of a NetBackup storage unit.

Figure 8-1 shows a disk pool configuration in a disk appliance.

Figure 8-1 OpenStorage disk appliance disk pools

Disk appliance DP_Gold_OpenStorage

DP_Silver_OpenStorage

See “Configuring an OpenStorage disk pool” on page 89.

About spanning volumes on OpenStorage disk poolsOne of the capabilities a vendor may expose is the potential for images to spanacross volumes within a disk pool. NetBackup uses that capability to use the diskstorage most effectively. NetBackup breaks up backup images into fragments andstores a fragment or fragments if a full image does not fit into the space available.

63Planning your deploymentAbout OpenStorage disk pools

In NetBackup, the SpanImages attribute specifies that backup images can spanacross volumes in a disk pool. The SpanImages attribute applies to both storageservers and disk pools.

Two reasons exist that may require you to update NetBackup to use the volumespanning functionality, as follows:

■ Your OpenStorage vendor plug-in supports volume spanning functionality.Volume spanning is not a trait that the vendor plug-in advertises. Therefore,you must configure the storage server to use it explicitly.

■ You upgrade to a NetBackup release that supports OpenStorage volumespanning from a release that does not support it.NetBackup 6.5.4 and later support OpenStorage volume spanning. If yourvendor plug-in supports spanning and you upgrade to 7.0 from a 6.5 to 6.5.3release, you can configure NetBackup to use volume spanning.

In both cases, set the SpanImages attribute on both the storage server and thedisk pool.

See “Setting OpenStorage storage server attributes” on page 107.

See “Updating an OpenStorage disk pool” on page 119.

About OpenStorage optimized duplication methodsIf an OpenStorage disk appliance can copy the data on one appliance to anotherappliance of the same type, NetBackup can use that capability. The following tablelists the duplication methods in NetBackup that can use the functionality:

Table 8-2 NetBackup OpenStorage optimized duplication methods

DescriptionOptimized duplication method

See “About optimized duplication within the samedomain” on page 64.

Within the same NetBackup domain

See “About duplicating images to a remoteNetBackup master server” on page 65.

To a remote NetBackup domain

About optimized duplication within the same domainWith duplication to another disk appliance within the same domain, the diskappliances manage the deduplication. The ability to duplicate backups to storagein other locations, often across various geographical sites, helps facilitate disasterrecovery.

The following are some benefits of optimized, off-host duplication:

Planning your deploymentAbout OpenStorage optimized duplication methods

64

■ Reduced workload on the NetBackup media servers. More backups can beperformed.

■ Faster duplication. Duplication can occur in the background, simultaneouslywith ongoing backup jobs.

■ Reduced bandwidth. If the appliance supports deduplication, the copy processmay send only changed blocks.

The requirements and limitations of optimized duplication with the same domainare as follows:

■ The vendor must expose the off-host data movementcapability in their plug-in.

■ Both the source and the destination disk pools must bethe same OpenStorage vendor type.

■ One or more NetBackup media servers must connect tothe source appliance and the destination appliance.

Optimized duplicationrequirements

■ If the optimized duplication fails, the job is not retried.

To configure NetBackup to do normal duplication if theoptimized job fails, add the following entry to thebp.conf file on the NetBackup master server:

RESUME_ORIG_DUP_ON_OPT_DUP_FAIL = TRUE

■ The copy operation uses the maximum fragment size ofthe source storage unit, not the setting for thedestination storage unit. The optimized duplicationcopies the image fragments as is. For greater efficiency,the duplication does not resize and reshuffle the imagesinto a different set of fragments on the destinationstorage unit.

■ To confirm the image copy, a media server must haveconnectivity to the destination appliance.

■ A storage unit group cannot be a destination foroptimized duplication. The destination must be a storageunit that represents an OpenStorage appliance of thesame type as the source appliance.

Optimized duplicationlimitations

See “Configuring OpenStorage optimized duplication within the same domain”on page 98.

About duplicating images to a remote NetBackup master serverDuplication to a remote master server is a new feature in NetBackup 7.1. Withthis feature, you can duplicate backup images to a different master server domain.

65Planning your deploymentAbout OpenStorage optimized duplication methods

The ability to duplicate backups to storage in other NetBackup domains, oftenacross various geographical sites, helps facilitate disaster recovery.

Both domains must have OpenStorage configured and working in their domains.The OpenStorage devices must support replication.

You must use a storage lifecycle policy to copy the backup images to anotherNetBackup domain. For information about how to configure duplication to aremote master server, see NetBackup Administrator's Guide, Volume I.

For OpenStorage duplication to a remote master server, the source NetBackupdomain has no knowledge of the remote domain or its storage server. Therelationship between the source and the target domains is configured using thedisk appliance vendor's tools. When the appliances are configured properly,NetBackup images on the source disk appliance are replicated automatically tothe target disk appliance. That disk appliance uses the OpenStorage API to notifyNetBackup that a replication event occurred. NetBackup then imports thoseimages.

Caution: If you also use optimized duplication within the same domain, correctconfiguration is critical. For duplication to a remote master server, a target storageserver must not also be a storage server for the source domain. Therefore, choosethe target storage server or servers carefully.

The following are the requirements for optimized duplication to a remoteNetBackup domain:

■ The vendor must expose the off-host data movement capability in their plug-in.

■ Both the source and the destination disk pools must be the same OpenStoragevendor type.

See “About OpenStorage optimized duplication methods” on page 64.

About OpenStorage optimized synthetic backupsOne of the capabilities a vendor may expose is the disk appliance's potential toconstruct synthetic backup images. A media server uses messages to instruct thestorage server which full and incremental backup images to use when creatingthe synthetic backup. The storage server constructs (or synthesizes) the backupimage directly on the disk storage. In NetBackup, backups created in this way areknown as optimized synthetic backups.

The OpenStorage optimized synthetic backup method provides the followingbenefits:

Planning your deploymentAbout OpenStorage optimized synthetic backups

66

■ Faster than a synthetic backup.Regular synthetic backups are constructed on the media server. They aremoved across the network from the storage server to the media server andsynthesized into one image. The synthetic image is then moved back to thestorage server.

■ Requires no data movement across the network.Regular synthetic backups use network traffic.

■ Uses fewer disk resources, depending on the vendor implementation.The storage vendor determines the storage implementation. If the diskappliance uses data deduplication, duplicate data is not created and stored.

In NetBackup, the Optimizedlmage attribute enables optimized synthetic backup.It applies to both storage servers and disk pools.

If the original vendor plug-in exposed optimized synthetic backup functionality,the storage server and disk pools inherited that functionality. However, if yourOpenStorage vendor updates their plug-in to add optimized synthetic backupfunctionality, you have to update NetBackup.

See “Adding OpenStorage functionality to an existing environment” on page 102.

The following are the requirements for optimized synthetic backups:

■ The master and the media servers are at NetBackup version 6.5.4 or later.

■ The Enterprise Disk license key is installed on the NetBackup master server.

■ The plug-in from the disk appliance vendor supports the OpenStorageOptimizedImage attribute.

■ The vendor plug-in is installed on each media server that connects to thestorage appliance.

■ The target storage unit's disk pool is the same disk pool on which the sourceimages reside.

About OpenStorage direct to tapeOpenStorage direct to tape lets you copy NetBackup backup images directly froma disk appliance to tape. The copy operation does not use NetBackup media serverI/O.

NetBackup manages the copied images based on retention periods you define.

Direct to tape uses the Network Data Management Protocol (NDMP) for the copyoperations. Direct to tape requires specific NDMP features and release levels.

See “About NDMP requirements for OpenStorage direct to tape” on page 68.

67Planning your deploymentAbout OpenStorage direct to tape

NetBackup media servers manage the operations. The media servers require theNetBackup for NDMP software and specific NetBackup release levels.

See “About media server requirements for OpenStorage direct to tape” on page 70.

How to configure OpenStorage direct to tape is described elsewhere.

See “Configuring OpenStorage direct to tape” on page 100.

About NDMP requirements for OpenStorage direct to tapeIf the NDMP requirements are not met, the images are still duplicated. However,the copy operation uses the traditional duplication method of reading the imagethrough the NetBackup media server and writing out to tape.

Table 8-3 NDMP requirements for OpenStorage direct to tape

DescriptionNDMP functionality

The OpenStorage disk appliance requires an NDMP server that supports the OpenStoragedirect to tape specification. The Symantec OpenStorage Partner Program publishes thespecification. The direct to tape feature uses a subset of the NDMP File Service Extension(FSE) commands.

The host that provides the NDMP FSE functionality can be one of the following entities:

■ The disk appliance storage server.


■ An alternative name (that is, interface) for the storage server.

■ A separate host that interacts with the disk appliance. The host must be directlyconnected to the disk appliance.

NDMP File ServiceExtension

Direct to tape requires an NDMP tape server for the destination tape library. The NDMPtape server must support NDMP v4 or later.

The host that provides the NDMP tape server functionality can be one of the followingentities:

■ The same host that provides the NDMP FSE functionality.

If one host provides the NDMP FSE and NDMP tape server functionality, the tape librarymust be attached directly to that host. Data does not travel over the network.

See Figure 8-2 on page 69.

■ A host that is embedded in the tape library. Data travels over the network.


■ A separate host to which the tape server is directly attached. Data travels over thenetwork.


NDMP tape server

Planning your deploymentAbout OpenStorage direct to tape

68

Table 8-3 NDMP requirements for OpenStorage direct to tape (continued)

DescriptionNDMP functionality

The NDMP FSE server must use the same credentials as the OpenStorage storage server.

If you use the NDMP FSE server for other purposes, do not configure the credentialsdifferently for that purpose. For example, if you also use the NDMP FSE server as a VTLwith NetBackup, use the same credentials when you configure it with NetBackup.

Credentials

Figure 8-2 OpenStorage server provides all NDMP functionality

Tape library directlyattached to theOpenStorage server

The disk applianceprovides both the NDMPFSE and NDMP tapeserver functionality

Network

Figure 8-3 Tape library with embedded NDMP tape server host

Tape library with embeddedNDMP tape server host

Network

The disk appliance providesthe NDMP FSE


Figure 8-4 Separate host provides NDMP tape server functionality

Tape library directly attached tothe NDMP host

The disk applianceprovides the NDMP FSE

NetworkNDMP tapeserver host

About media server requirements for OpenStorage direct to tapeAlthough NetBackup media servers do not provide I/O, they are used to managethe operations.

Table 8-4 Media server requirements for OpenStorage direct to tape

DescriptionMedia server function

In this context, the read side media server does not read or move the backup images.It manages the read side of the NDMP copy operation.

The read side media server requires the following:

■ NetBackup 6.5.4 or later.

■ The NetBackup for NDMP software.

■ Logon credentials for the disk appliance storage server and the NDMP FSE host.

If the NDMP FSE host and the storage server host have the same name, NetBackupuses the storage server credentials to logon to the NDMP host. Therefore, you donot have to configure NDMP credentials in NetBackup. This NetBackup behaviormeans that the credentials you create for the disk appliance storage server and theNDMP FSE host must be the same.

If the NDMP FSE hostname is different than the storage server hostname, you mustconfigure logon credentials in NetBackup for that NDMP host.

Read side media server

In this context, the write side media server does not move or write the backup images.It manages the write side of the NDMP copy operation.

The write side media server requires the following:

■ NetBackup 6.5 or later.

■ The NetBackup for NDMP software.

■ Logon credentials for the NDMP tape server host.

Write side media server

Planning your deploymentAbout OpenStorage direct to tape

70

If one host provides both NDMP FSE and NDMP tape server functionality, onemedia server functions as both the read and write server.

About media server recommendations for OpenStorage direct to tapeTo simplify OpenStorage configuration and management, Symantec recommendsthat you use one set of media servers for all OpenStorage activity. The mediaservers then can function as either read or write side servers for direct to tapeoperations. They also can function as data movers for other OpenStorageoperations.

For each media server in the set, do the following:

■ Configure logon credentials to the OpenStorage storage server.

■ Install the NetBackup for NDMP software.

■ Configure logon credentials for the NDMP FSE host (if required).

■ Configure logon credentials for the NDMP tape server host.


About OpenStorage direct to tape limitationsThe following limitations exist:

■ The destination storage unit must be NDMP. You cannot use a storage unitgroup.

■ You cannot make multiple copies with one copy operation.

■ Backup images are not multiplexed when written to tape.

About the OpenStorage direct to tape processThe following is an overview of the direct copy to tape process:

■ NetBackup verifies that the image to be duplicated resides on an OpenStoragedevice.

■ NetBackup verifies that the disk appliance NDMP host supports theOpenStorage direct to tape specification.

■ NetBackup selects the write side media server, a destination tape drive, and atape volume.NetBackup selects a media server that has credentials to the NDMP tape serverhost. The media servers NetBackup considers are listed in the destinationstorage unit.

The write side media server does the following:


■ Establishes an NDMP session with the NDMP tape server and confirms thatit supports the NDMP v4 protocol.

■ Mounts, opens, and positions the tape and then uses NDMP to write a headerto the tape.

■ Sets up the NDMP mover interface on the NDMP tape server. It alsomonitors the progress of the write operation by waiting for any NDMPnotifications.

■ NetBackup selects the read side media server.If the write side media server has credentials for the NDMP FSE host,NetBackup selects it as the read side server. If it does not have credentials,NetBackup selects a media server with credentials to the NDMP FSE host.

The read side media server does the following:

■ Establishes an NDMP session with the NDMP FSE host.

■ Opens the files to be copied.

■ Sets up the NDMP mover interface on the NDMP FSE host. It also monitorsthe progress of the read operation by waiting for any NDMP notifications.

■ By means of the NDMP protocol, the backup images on the disk appliance arecopied to the tape storage.

■ After the images are copied, the read and write media servers close theirconnections to their respective NDMP hosts.

■ NetBackup validates the image copies; if valid, NetBackup ends the duplicationjob with status 0 (success).

About Nirvanix cloud storageThe NetBackup Cloud Storage for Nirvanix OpenStorage plug-in enables SymantecNetBackup to back up data to and restore data from the Nirvanix Storage DeliveryNetwork™ (SDN).

The Nirvanix Storage Delivery Network is a fully-managed, highly secure cloudstorage service. The SDN is comprised of standards-based access to Nirvanixstorage nodes that are located in the United States, Europe, and Asia. The SDNstores, delivers, and processes storage requests in the best location for yourenterprise.

See “About provisioning the Nirvanix storage space” on page 78.


Planning your deploymentAbout Nirvanix cloud storage

72

About the Nirvanix storage poolUse only one Nirvanix storage pool for each NetBackup backup domain. Storagepool names must be unique among all users of Nirvanix Storage Delivery Network.

You must use NetBackup to create the Nirvanix storage pool for your NetBackupbackups. The storage pools that NetBackup creates contain a required SymantecPartner Key. If you use the Nirvanix Management Portal to create the storagepool, it does not contain the partner key. Consequently, that storage pool cannotaccept data from NetBackup.

When you create the storage server and then set its properties, NetBackup createsthe storage pool and the first child account.

Caution:Never change the name of your Nirvanix storage pool after you configureNirvanix storage in NetBackup.

Note: Nirvanix uses the terms application and storage pool interchangeably intheir documentation.

About Nirvanix child accountsA Nirvanix child account represents storage on the Nirvanix Storage DeliveryNetwork. In the Nirvanix SDN, a child account is subordinate to a storage pool.NetBackup creates a child account when you configure Nirvanix storage inNetBackup. You can create additional child accounts for your storage pool. Eachchild account must have a unique name.

Note: The password for each child account you create must be the same as itsname. For the child account NetBackup creates, NetBackup uses the child accountname for the password.

A child account is exposed to NetBackup as a single volume through theOpenStorage API. If a Nirvanix storage pool has more than one child account,each is exposed as a volume. You add the volume or volumes to a NetBackup diskpool.

See “About OpenStorage disk pools” on page 63.

If you use encryption, each Nirvanix child account you use for NetBackup storagerequires a key group and a key record.

See “About the Nirvanix storage pool” on page 73.

See “About multiple Nirvanix child accounts” on page 74.

73Planning your deploymentAbout Nirvanix cloud storage

About multiple Nirvanix child accountsYou can create additional child accounts for your storage pool; to do so, use theNirvanix Management Portal.

One reason to use multiple Nirvanix child accounts is to separate your NetBackuptraffic. You can use each child account as the storage for a disk pool. Then, useeach disk pool for a different storage unit (for example, five child accounts andfive storage units). In each storage unit, you can select a subset of the mediaservers as the data movers. With this method, you can use each disk pool for adifferent type of data and balance the backup load among the media servers.

Alternatively, you can configure one disk pool and use that disk pool as the storagedestination for multiple storage units. And then use the storage units to balancebackup load among the media servers. If you have more than one child account,one disk pool can consume all of the child accounts.

If you use multiple child accounts, create them before you create the disk pool. Ifyou create them later, adding them to the disk is more difficult.

You also can use multiple storage units to prioritize your backup traffic.

See “About OpenStorage storage unit recommendations” on page 94.

About backup image representation in the Nirvanix cloudThe Nirvanix Management Portal shows the NetBackup backup images as followsin the Nirvanix Web Client:

■ Backup images appear as folders under the Storage Pool/Child Account view.

■ Every write operation for a new image creates a folder under the backup imagefolder. The folder names use a block image sequence number; for example, 0,1, 2, and so on.

■ Each backup image folder contains a block_map file. The file maps the blockimages to individual files.

■ Backup image properties are added as metadata to the folders.

About data encryption for cloud storageYou can encrypt your data before you send it to the cloud. NetBackup uses theNetBackup Key Management Service (KMS) for data encryption for cloud storage.

To use encryption, you must first configure the Key Management Service. Enablethe KMS on a NetBackup host type that supports KMS.

Information about supported systems for KMS is available.


74


Information about how to configure KMS is available.

See the NetBackup Security and Encryption Guide.

Follow the procedures in that guide to install KMS. Note the following:

■ KMS requires a Host Master Key passphrase and ID when you create the keymanagement database. The Key Management Service can create a randompassphrase for you.

■ KMS requires a Key Protection Key passphrase and ID when you create thekey management database. The Key Management Service can create a randompassphrase for you.

■ Each Nirvanix child account you use for NetBackup storage requires a keygroup. KMS requires a name for each key group. Use the following format forthe key group name:nirvanix.com:child_account_name

The first child account name is the same as the name you used for the childaccount when you set the storage server properties.See “Nirvanix storage server properties” on page 86.Unlike other storage types, the key group name does not require the ENCR_

prefix.

■ Each key group you create requires a key record. KMS requires a passphrasewhen you create the key record. A key record name is optional. If you use akey record name, you can use any name for the key record name. Symantecrecommends that you use a descriptive name.

About Nirvanix storage requirements and limitationsThe following are the requirements for Nirvanix cloud storage:

■ A NetBackup OpenStorage Option license key.

■ A Nirvanix Storage Delivery Network master account user name and password.

■ Default node-replication policy settings for your Nirvanix account. New storagepools inherit the default policies, but you can adjust them for each storagepool to fit your business needs.For more information or to verify that your account has the proper settings,contact Nirvanix customer support using the Nirvanix Management Portal.

■ Use NetBackup to create the Nirvanix storage pool that is used for yourNetBackup backups. The storage pools that NetBackup creates contain arequired Symantec Partner Key. If you use the Nirvanix Management Portal

75Planning your deploymentAbout Nirvanix cloud storage

to create the storage pool, it does not contain the partner key. Consequently,that storage pool cannot accept data from NetBackup.

■ Unique storage pool names. Storage pool names must be unique among allusers of the Nirvanix Storage Delivery Network.

The following OpenStorage capabilities are not supported for Nirvanix storage:

■ Optimized duplication

■ Optimized synthetics

■ Direct to tape (by NDMP)

■ Disk volume spanning of backup images

Information about supported systems is available.



76

Provisioning the storage


■ About provisioning the disk storage appliance

■ About installing the disk appliance plug-in

■ About provisioning the Nirvanix storage space

About provisioning the disk storage applianceIf your storage is provided by a disk appliance, you must install and configure thedisk storage appliance in your backup environment. The appliance must beoperational before you can use it for backups.

Specifically, do the following:

■ Add the appliance to your environment.

■ Install the vendor software packages on all NetBackup media servers thatconnect to the appliance.See “About installing the disk appliance plug-in” on page 78.

■ Perform vendor-specific steps to configure the appliance. Use the vendor’sprocesses and procedures to configure the appliance so that it works with yourenvironment. To configure the storage, you may be required to do the following:

■ Assign the appliance a name. NetBackup uses the name to identify theappliance.

■ Divide the appliance into one or more logical units of space. NetBackuprefers to these logical units as disk volumes. NetBackup aggregates the diskvolumes into disk pools.

9Chapter

Instructions for how to install and configure the appliance are beyond the scopeof the NetBackup documentation. For instructions, refer to the vendordocumentation.

About installing the disk appliance plug-inIf your storage is a disk appliance, the storage vendor’s release package includesa plug-in that installs on the NetBackup media servers that connect to the storageserver. The NetBackup media servers use the plug-in to communicate with thedisk appliance.

Install the plug-in on all NetBackup media servers that connect to the appliance.To install the plug-in, follow the vendor’s installation instructions.

The vendor’s plug-in installation process may also configure the storage server.

See “Configuring an OpenStorage storage server” on page 85.

After the initial installation of the plug-in, the storage server and disk pools inheritall of the functionality that the vendor exposes in their plug-in. However, if thevendor updates the plug-in to add new functionality, you must update existingstorage servers and disk pools in NetBackup to use that new functionality.


About provisioning the Nirvanix storage spaceBefore you configure Nirvanix cloud storage, you must have a Nirvanix masteraccount and storage space allocated for your use.

Your Nirvanix master account must be enabled for default node-replication policysettings. New storage pools inherit the default policies, but you can adjust themfor each storage pool to fit your business needs. For more information or to verifythat your account has the proper settings, contact Nirvanix customer supportusing the Nirvanix Management Portal.

For Nirvanix storage, NetBackup must create the application (that is, storage pool)and the child account. The storage pools that NetBackup creates contain a requiredSymantec Partner Key. If you use the Nirvanix Management Portal to create thestorage pool, it does not contain the partner key. Consequently, that storage poolcannot accept data from NetBackup.


See “About Nirvanix child accounts” on page 73.

Provisioning the storageAbout installing the disk appliance plug-in

78

Licensing OpenStorage


■ About the OpenStorage license key

■ Licensing OpenStorage

About the OpenStorage license keyOpenStorage is a feature that is licensed separately from base NetBackup. TheNetBackup OpenStorage Disk Option license activates OpenStorage.

Enter the license key on the master server and on each media server that connectsto the disk appliance. If you use the direct to tape feature, also enter the licensekey on each NetBackup media server that you use for direct to tape. Those mediaservers also must have the NetBackup for NDMP software installed. The licensekey that activates OpenStorage also activates the NDMP software on the mediaservers.

You may have a single license key that activates both NetBackup and theOpenStorage Disk Option. Alternatively, you may have one license key thatactivates NetBackup and another key that activates the OpenStorage Disk Option.

See “Licensing OpenStorage” on page 80.

The license key only enables OpenStorage functionality in NetBackup. You mustpurchase a storage vendor’s product and install the storage vendor’s NetBackupplug-in.

If you remove the OpenStorage Disk Option license key or if it expires, the followingrestrictions apply:

■ You cannot create the disk pools or the storage units that use the disk pools.

10Chapter

■ NetBackup jobs fail that attempt to use the disk pools or the storage units thatare based on the disk pools. The error message indicates that the feature isnot licensed.

NetBackup does not delete the disk pools or the storage units that are based onthe disk pools. You can use them again if you enter a valid license key.

Licensing OpenStorageNo special installation is required for the NetBackup components of OpenStorage.However, you must enter a license key.

The following procedure describes how to use the NetBackup AdministrationConsole to enter the license key.

Note: Enter the license key on the NetBackup master server and on each mediaserver that connects to the disk appliance. If you use the direct to tape feature,also enter the license key on each NetBackup media server that you use for directto tape. Those media servers also must have the NetBackup for NDMP softwareinstalled. The license key that activates OpenStorage also activates the NDMPsoftware on the media servers.

See “About OpenStorage direct to tape” on page 67.

To license OpenStorage

1 To add a license to a specific server, select File > Change Server and thenselect the server.



4 Click Close.


Licensing OpenStorageLicensing OpenStorage

80

Configuring OpenStorage


■ Configuring OpenStorage disk appliance storage

■ Configuring OpenStorage Nirvanix cloud storage

■ Creating NetBackup log file directories

■ Configuring an OpenStorage storage server

■ Setting the Nirvanix storage server properties

■ Configuring Nirvanix data mover preferences

■ Configuring an OpenStorage disk pool

■ Configuring an OpenStorage storage unit

■ Configuring OpenStorage optimized duplication behavior

■ Configuring OpenStorage optimized duplication within the same domain

■ Configuring OpenStorage direct to tape

■ Configuring OpenStorage optimized synthetic backups

■ Adding OpenStorage functionality to an existing environment

■ Setting NetBackup configuration options by using bpsetconfig

Configuring OpenStorage disk appliance storageTable 11-1 describes the tasks to configure NetBackup to use a third-party vendor'sdisk appliance that conforms to the Symantec OpenStorage API.

11Chapter

The configuration tasks for Nirvanix cloud storage are described in a differenttopic.


The NetBackup administrator's guides describe how to configure a base NetBackupenvironment.



Table 11-1 OpenStorage disk appliance configuration tasks


See “Planning your OpenStorage deployment” on page 59.Learn about planning yourdeployment

Step 1

See “Creating NetBackup log file directories” on page 84.Enable legacy loggingStep 2

See “About provisioning the disk storage appliance” on page 77.

See “About installing the disk appliance plug-in” on page 78.

Provision the storage andinstall the plug-in

Step 3

See “Configuring an OpenStorage storage server” on page 85.Configure a storage serverStep 4

See “Configuring an OpenStorage disk pool” on page 89.Configure a disk poolStep 5

See “Configuring an OpenStorage storage unit” on page 91.Configure a storage unitStep 6

Optimized duplication is optional.

See “Configuring OpenStorage optimized duplication within the samedomain” on page 98.

See “Configuring OpenStorage optimized duplication behavior” on page 96.

Configure optimizedduplication

Step 7

Copy to tape is optional.


See “Configuring OpenStorage direct to tape” on page 100.

Configure copy to tapeStep 8

Optimized synthetic backups are optional.

See “Configuring OpenStorage optimized synthetic backups” on page 102.

Configure optimizedsynthetic backups

Step 9



Configure a policy that usesan OpenStorage storage unit

Step 10

Configuring OpenStorageConfiguring OpenStorage disk appliance storage

82

Configuring OpenStorage Nirvanix cloud storageThis topic provides an overview of how to configure NetBackup to use Nirvanixcloud storage.

The configuration tasks for disk appliance storage are described in a differenttopic.

See “Configuring OpenStorage disk appliance storage” on page 81.

Table 11-2 Nirvanix initial configuration tasks


See “Planning your OpenStorage deployment” on page 59.Learn about planning yourdeployment

Step 1

See “Creating NetBackup log file directories” on page 84.Enable legacy loggingStep 2

See “About provisioning the Nirvanix storage space” on page 78.Provision the storageStep 3

The NetBackup Key Management Service provides data at rest encryptionfor your backups.

See “About data encryption for cloud storage” on page 74.

Optionally, configureencryption

Step 4

The Storage server type determines whether or not you use encryption foryour data, as follows:

■ Use nirvanix for data that is not encrypted.

■ Use nirvanix_e to use encryption for the data you send to the cloud.Encryption is optional.


Usenirvanix.com for the Storageserver name. If your Nirvanix accountuses a name other thanservices.nirvanix.com, enter the fully qualifieddomain name Nirvanix provided. For example, the server name may besimilar to services.storage.nirvanix.com.

Caution: After you configure the storage server, do not continue with theDisk Pool Configuration Wizard. Before you configure the disk pool, youmust set the storage server properties.


Configure a storage serverStep 5

See “Setting the Nirvanix storage server properties” on page 85.

See “Nirvanix storage server properties” on page 86.

Set the storage serverproperties

Step 6

See “Configuring Nirvanix data mover preferences” on page 89.Configure data moverpreferences

Step 7

83Configuring OpenStorageConfiguring OpenStorage Nirvanix cloud storage

Table 11-2 Nirvanix initial configuration tasks (continued)


If you want to add additional child accounts to the first disk pool you create,Symantec recommends that you add them at this point of the configuration.

NetBackup creates a child account when you run the Disk PoolConfiguration Wizard. Therefore, that child account is not listed on theManagement Portal when you configure additional child accounts. Itbecomes listed after you create the disk pool.

See “About multiple Nirvanix child accounts” on page 74.

You can add additional child accounts at any time. You can use them in anew disk pool or merge them into an existing disk pool.

See “Merging OpenStorage disk pools” on page 118.

Optionally, configureadditional child accounts

Step 8

See “Configuring an OpenStorage disk pool” on page 89.Configure a disk poolStep 9

See “Configuring an OpenStorage storage unit” on page 91.Configure a storage unitStep 10



Configure a policy that usesthe storage unit youconfigured

Step 11

Creating NetBackup log file directoriesBefore you configure OpenStorage, create the directories into which NetBackupcommands write log files. Create the directories on the master server and on eachmedia server that you use for OpenStorage.

More information about NetBackup logging is available.


See “About OpenStorage log files” on page 125.

To create log directories for NetBackup commands

◆ Depending on the operating system, run one of the following scripts:

UNIX: /usr/openv/netbackup/logs/mklogdir

Windows:install_path\NetBackup\logs\mklogdir.bat

Configuring OpenStorageCreating NetBackup log file directories

84

To create the tpconfig command log directory

◆ Depending on the operating system, create the debug directory and thetpcommand directory (by default, the debug directory and the tpcommand

directory do not exist). After you create the directories, the pathnames areas follows:

UNIX: /usr/openv/volmgr/debug/tpcommand

Windows: install_path\Volmgr\debug\tpcommand

Configuring an OpenStorage storage serverConfigure in this context means to add the storage host to NetBackup as a storageserver. When you configure a storage server, you also configure the media serversthat function as data movers.

If the storage host does not require logon credentials, you must enter dummycredentials so that NetBackup configures the media servers as data movers.

To configure an OpenStorage storage server in NetBackup

1 In the NetBackupAdministrationConsole, in the left pane, click MediaandDevice Management.

2 In the right pane, select Configure Disk Storage Servers.

3 Follow the wizard screens to configure a storage server.

Setting the Nirvanix storage server propertiesFor Nirvanix storage, you must use the following procedure to set the storageserver properties during configuration. Set the properties after you configure thestorage server.


To change storage server properties

1 In the NetBackup Administration Console, expand Media and DeviceManagement > Credentials > Storage Server

2 Select the storage server.

3 On the Edit menu, select Change.

85Configuring OpenStorageConfiguring an OpenStorage storage server

4 In the Change Storage Server dialog box, select the Properties tab.

5 To change a value, select it in the Value column and then change the value.

6 When finished changing values, click OK.

NetBackup creates the Nirvanix application (that is, storage pool). NetBackupcreates the child account when you configure a disk pool.

Nirvanix storage server propertiesAfter you create the storage server for Nirvanix, you must enter the propertiesfor your Nirvanix storage. Nirvanix may provide values for some of the properties.Depending on your configuration, not all of the properties may appear. Thefollowing are the properties:

Configuring OpenStorageSetting the Nirvanix storage server properties

86

The name of the Nirvanix storage pool. When you set the Nirvanix storage serverproperties, enter the name to use for the storage pool. NetBackup uses this namewhen it creates the storage pool in the Nirvanix cloud.

You determine the name of the storage pool. Storage pool names must be uniqueamong all users of Nirvanix Storage Directory Network not only unique within yourorganization’s storage in the Nirvanix SDN. Symantec recommends that you use anaming convention that is recognizable.

The storage pool name must be 50 or fewer characters.

The following are invalid characters for the storage pool nbu_name:

"\\/:?|*\"<>[] ";

Caution: Never change the name of your Nirvanix storage pool after you configureNirvanix storage in NetBackup.


STORAGE_POOL_NAME

The name of Nirvanix of child account. When you set the Nirvanix storage serverproperties, enter the name to use for the child account of the storage pool. NetBackupuses this name when it creates the child account.

You determine the name of the child account. Symantec recommends that you use anaming convention that is recognizable.

NetBackup uses the child account name for the password for the account.

The child account name must be 100 or fewer characters.

The following are invalid characters for the child account name:

"\\/:?|*\"<>[]~`'!@%^&()+={};' "

See “About Nirvanix child accounts” on page 73.

CHILD_ACCOUNT_NAME

The capacity of the storage of your child account. You can enter the size in MB, GB,or TB; for example, 50TB.

0 (zero) means the size is limited only by the amount of storage Nirvanix has available.

CHILD_ACCOUNT_SIZE

Whether to use Secure Sockets Layer encryption for the control APIs. The default isYES, use SSL.

USE_SSL

Whether to use Secure Sockets Layer encryption for read and write operations to theNirvanix storage. The default is YES, use SSL.

USE_SSL_RW

The size of the buffer to use for write operations. The default is 10 MBs.

To disable the use of the buffer, set this value to 0 (zero).

BUFFER_SIZE

The number of buffers to use for write operations. The default is 1, fixed.BUFFER_NUM

87Configuring OpenStorageSetting the Nirvanix storage server properties

Whether to log cURL activity. The default is 0, do not log activity.

NetBackup uses the cURL library to manage data transfer to the Nirvanix cloud.

LOG_CURL

The maximum time in seconds that the media server tries to connect to the Nirvanixstorage server. This only limits the connection phase, not the session time.

The default is 300 seconds (five minutes). The media server attempts to connect upto three times.

To disable this timeout, set the value to 0 (zero).


CURL_CONNECT_TIMEOUT

The maximum time in seconds to allow for the completion of a data operation. If theoperation does not complete in the specified time, the operation fails.

The default is 900 seconds (15 minutes). The media server attempts the operation upto three times.

To disable this timeout, set the value to 0 (zero).


CURL_TIMEOUT

Determines if multiple hosts can upload and download using the sameupload-download token, as follows:

■ If RESTRICT_IP is set to YES, only one host can use an upload-download token.

By default, RESTRICT_IP is set to YES. This setting prevents any intrusions intothe session by any other host.

■ If RESTRICT_IP is set to NO, multiple host addresses can upload and downloadusing the same token.

If the host's IP address changes, this setting allows the host to continue with thesession. A host IP address my change because of network address translation(NAT) or proxies. Therefore, set RESTRICT_IP to NO for such environments.

RESTRICT_IP

If firewalls prevent access to the nirvanix.comdomain on ports 80 (HTTP) or 443(HTTPS), you can use a proxy server. Valid values are either HTTP or SOCKS. If youdo not use a proxy server, leave this field blank.

PROXY_TYPE

The IP address of the proxy server. If you do not use a proxy server, leave this fieldblank.

PROXY_IP

If you use a proxy server, the port number to use to connect to the proxy server. Ifyou do not use a proxy server, leave this field blank.

PROXY_PORT

The NetBackup server that hosts the KMS service. When you set the Nirvanix storageserver properties, enter the name of the KMS server host.

By default, this field contains the NetBackup master server name.

KMS_SERVER

The version of the NetBackup Key Management Service.KMS_VERSION

Configuring OpenStorageSetting the Nirvanix storage server properties

88

The encryption version.CRYPT_VERSION

A switch to set the logging level of the encryption activities. The value is either YESfor logging or NO for no logging.

CRYPT_LOG_VERBOSE

Configuring Nirvanix data mover preferencesWhen you configure a storage server for Nirvanix cloud storage, NetBackup createsthe following files on the media server that queries the storage server:

■ libstspinirvanix.conf

■ libstspinirvanix.pref

■ libstspiencrypt.conf (only if your storage server type is nirvanix_e)

You must copy these files to any additional media servers that you configured asdata movers.

To configure Nirvanix data mover preferences

◆ For each data mover media server, copy the aforementioned files to thefollowing directory (depending on operating system):

UNIX: /usr/openv/lib/ost-plugins

Windows: install_path/NetBackup/bin/ost-plugins

Configuring an OpenStorage disk poolWhen you create a disk pool, you specify the following:

■ The storage server.For OpenStorage, the disk appliance is the storage server.

■ The disk volume or volumess to include in the pool.

■ The disk pool properties.See “OpenStorage disk pool properties” on page 90.

Symantec recommends that disk volume and disk pool names be unique acrossyour enterprise.


89Configuring OpenStorageConfiguring Nirvanix data mover preferences

To configure an OpenStorage disk pool

1 In the NetBackup Administration Console, in the left pane, select Mediaand Device Management.

2 From the list of wizards in the right pane, click Configure Disk Pool andfollow the wizard instructions.

OpenStorage disk pool propertiesThe OpenStorage disk pool properties are as follows:

Table 11-3 OpenStorage disk pool properties

DescriptionProperty

The disk pool name.Name

The storage server name.

For disk appliance storage, the storage server is the disk appliance host. For Nirvanixcloud storage, the storage server is nirvanix.com.

Storage server

For disk appliance storage, the disk volumes that comprise the disk pool.Disk volumes

The total amount of space available in the disk pool.Total size

The total raw, unformatted size of the storage in the disk pool.

The storage host may or may not expose the raw size of the storage.

Total raw size

A comment that is associated with the disk pool.Comment

The High water mark setting is a threshold that triggers the following actions:

■ When an individual volume in the disk pool reaches the High water mark,NetBackup considers the volume full. NetBackupchooses a different volume inthe disk pool to write backup images to.

■ When all volumes in the disk pool reach the High water mark, the disk pool isconsidered full. NetBackup fails any backup jobs that are assigned to a storageunit in which the disk pool is full. NetBackup also does not assign new jobs to astorage unit in which the disk pool is full.

■ NetBackup begins image cleanup when a volume reaches the High water mark;image cleanup expires the images that are no longer valid. For a disk pool that isfull, NetBackup again assigns jobs to the storage unit when image cleanup reducesany disk volume's capacity to less than the High water mark.

The default is 98%.

High water mark

Configuring OpenStorageConfiguring an OpenStorage disk pool

90

Table 11-3 OpenStorage disk pool properties (continued)

DescriptionProperty

The Low water mark is a threshold at which NetBackup stops image cleanup.

TheLowwatermark setting cannot be greater than or equal to the Highwatermarksetting.

The default is 80%.

Low water mark

Select to limit the number of read and write streams (that is, jobs) for each volumein the disk pool. A job may read backup images or write backup images. By default,there is no limit.

When the limit is reached, NetBackup chooses another volume for write operations,if available. If not available, NetBackup queues jobs until a volume is available.

Too many streams may degrade performance because of disk thrashing. Disk thrashingis excessive swapping of data between RAM and a hard disk drive. Fewer streams canimprove throughput, which may increase the number of jobs that complete in aspecific time period.

Limit I/O streams

Select or enter the number of read and write streams to allow per volume.

Many factors affect the optimal number of streams. Factors include but are not limitedto disk speed, CPU speed, and the amount of memory.

per volume

Configuring an OpenStorage storage unitCreate one or more storage units that reference the disk pool.

The Disk Pool Configuration Wizard lets you create a storage unit; therefore,you may have created a storage unit when you created a disk pool. To determineif storage units exist for the disk pool, see the NetBackupManagement>Storage> Storage Units window of the NetBackup Administration Console.

See “About OpenStorage storage unit recommendations” on page 94.

91Configuring OpenStorageConfiguring an OpenStorage storage unit

To create a storage unit from the Actions menu

1 In the NetBackupAdministrationConsole, in the left pane, select NetBackupManagement > Storage > Storage Units.

2 Click Actions > New > Storage Unit.

3 Complete the fields in the New Storage Unit dialog box.

4 Click OK.

OpenStorage storage unit propertiesThe configuration options for a OpenStorage disk pool storage unit are as follows:

Configuring OpenStorageConfiguring an OpenStorage storage unit

92

Table 11-4 OpenStorage storage unit properties

DescriptionProperty

Provide a unique name for the new storage unit. The name can describe the type of storage.The storage unit name is the name used to specify a storage unit for policies and schedules.The storage unit name cannot be changed after creation.

Storageunitname

Select Disk as the storage unit type.Storage unit type

Select OpenStorage (VendorName) for the disk type. VendorName is a string provided by thestorage vendor that identifies the vendor or storage.

Disk type

Select the disk pool that contains the storage for this storage unit.

All disk pools of the specified Disk type appear in the Disk pool list. If no disk pools areconfigured, no disk pools appear in the list.

Disk pool

Specify the NetBackup media servers that can move data to the storage server for this storageunit. (For OpenStorage, NetBackup media servers function as data movers.)

Only the media servers that are configured as data movers for the OpenStorage implementationappear in the media server list. If a media server does not appear in the list, verify that thesoftware plug-in is installed and that logon credentials are created.

Specify the media server or servers as follows:

■ To allow any media server in the media server list to move data to the storage server, checkUse Any Available Media Server.

If you configure more media server data movers in the future, you do not have to updatethe storage unit. After you install the plug-in and configure the credentials, NetBackupautomatically uses the media servers for the backups that are sent to the storage unit.

■ To restrict the media servers that can move data to the storage server, check Only Use TheFollowingMediaServers. Then select the media servers that are allowed to move the data.

Any media server in the list can receive data from the storage server; it does not have to beselected. A media server receives data for restore jobs and for storage monitoring purposes.

NetBackup selects the media server to use when the policy runs.

Media server

Specify the largest fragment size that NetBackup can create to store backups.

The default maximum fragment size for a disk storage unit is 524,288 megabytes. To specifya maximum fragment size other than the default, enter a value from 20 megabytes to 524,288megabytes.

Backups to disk are usually fragmented to ensure that the backup does not exceed the maximumsize that the file system allows.

If an error occurs in a backup, the entire backup is discarded. The backup restarts from thebeginning, not from the fragment where the error occurred. (An exception is for backups forwhich checkpoint and restart are enabled. In that case, fragments before and up to the lastcheckpoint are retained; the fragments after the last checkpoint are discarded.)

Maximumfragment size


Table 11-4 OpenStorage storage unit properties (continued)

DescriptionProperty

Specify the maximum number of jobs that NetBackup can send to a disk storage unit at onetime. (Default: one job. The job count can range from 0 to 256.)

NetBackup queues jobs until the storage unit is available. If three backup jobs are ready to besent to the storage unit and Maximumconcurrent jobs is set to two, NetBackup starts the firsttwo jobs. NetBackup queues the third job. If a job contains multiple copies, each copy appliestoward the Maximum concurrent jobs count.

Maximumconcurrent jobs controls the traffic for backup and duplication jobs but not restorejobs. The count applies to all servers in the storage unit, not per server. If you select multiplemedia servers in the storage unit and 1 for Maximum concurrent jobs, only one job runs at atime.

The number to enter depends on the available disk space and the server's ability to run multiplebackup processes.

Warning: A Maximum concurrent jobs setting of 0 disables the storage unit.

Maximumconcurrent jobs

About OpenStorage storage unit recommendationsYou can use storage unit properties to control how NetBackup moves backup andduplication data.

For example, you can accomplish the following objectives by using the storageunit Media server setting:

■ Configure a favorable client-to-server ratio for important clients.See “About configuring a favorable client-to-server ratio with OpenStorage”on page 94.

■ Separate SAN client traffic from other traffic.See “About separating OpenStorage SAN client traffic” on page 95.

You also can use the storage unit Maximum concurrent jobs setting to controlthe backup or the duplication traffic that is sent to the media servers.

See “About throttling OpenStorage traffic to the media servers” on page 96.

About configuring a favorable client-to-server ratio withOpenStorageFor a favorable client-to-server ratio, you can use one disk pool and configuremultiple storage units to separate your backup traffic. Because all storage unitsuse the same disk pool, you do not have to partition the storage.

Configuring OpenStorageConfiguring an OpenStorage storage unit

94

For example, assume that you have 100 important clients, 500 regular clients,and four media servers. You can use two media servers to back up your mostimportant clients and two media servers to back up your regular clients.

The following example describes how to configure a favorable client-to-serverratio:

■ Configure the media servers for OpenStorage and configure the storage.


■ Configure a storage unit for your most important clients (such as STU-GOLD).Select the disk pool. Select Only use the following media servers. Select twomedia servers to use for your important backups.

■ Configure a backup policy for the 100 important clients and select theSTU-GOLD storage unit. The media servers that are specified in the storageunit move the client data to the storage server.

■ Configure another storage unit (such as STU-SILVER). Select the same diskpool. Select Onlyuse the followingmedia servers. Select the other two mediaservers.

■ Configure a backup policy for the 500 regular clients and select the STU-SILVERstorage unit. The media servers that are specified in the storage unit move theclient data to the storage server.


Note: NetBackup uses storage units for media server selection for write activity(backups and duplications) only. For restores, NetBackup chooses among all mediaservers that have logon credentials to the storage server.

About separating OpenStorage SAN client trafficIf you use the NetBackup Fibre Transport option, you can use one disk pool andmultiple storage units to manage backup traffic. You can separate the NetBackupSAN client traffic from the regular NetBackup client traffic. Because all storageunits use the same disk pool, you do not have to partition the storage.

The following example describes how to separate SAN client traffic:

■ Configure the FT media servers and the regular media servers for OpenStorageand configure the storage.



■ Define a storage unit (such as STU-FT). Select the disk pool. Select Only usethe following media servers. Select the FT media servers that connect to theSAN clients.

■ Create a backup policy for the SAN clients and select the STU-FT storage unit.

■ Define another storage unit (such as STU-LAN). Select the same disk pool.Select Only use the following media servers. Select the media servers withLAN connectivity to the regular clients.

■ Create a backup policy for the regular clients and select the STU-LAN storageunit.


This scenario assumes that the SAN clients are a subset of your client base. It alsoassumes that the media servers with LAN connectivity to the regular clients alsohave SAN connectivity to the storage.

Note: NetBackup uses storage units for media server selection for write activity(backups and duplications) only. For restores, NetBackup chooses among all mediaservers that have logon credentials to the storage server.

About throttling OpenStorage traffic to the media serversYou can use the Maximumconcurrent jobs settings on disk pool storage units tothrottle the traffic to the media servers. Effectively, this setting also directs higherloads to specific media servers when you use multiple storage units for the samedisk pool. A higher number of concurrent jobs means that the disk can be busierthan if the number is lower.

For example, two storage units use the same set of media servers. One of thestorage units (STU-GOLD) has a higher Maximum concurrent jobs setting thanthe other (STU-SILVER). More client backups occur for the storage unit with thehigher Maximum concurrent jobs setting.

Configuring OpenStorage optimized duplicationbehavior

You can configure the following optimized duplication behaviors:

Configuring OpenStorageConfiguring OpenStorage optimized duplication behavior

96

The default NetBackup behavior is to use optimized duplicationbetween the source and the target storage systems that supportoptimized duplication. If an optimized duplication job fails,NetBackup does not run the job again.You can configure NetBackup to use normal duplication ifoptimized duplication fails.

Optimized duplicationfailover

The default is three attempts. You can specify the number oftimes NetBackup retries an optimized deduplication job beforeit fails the jobs.

Number of optimizedduplication attempts

If the optimized deduplication job is configured in a storagelifecycle policy and the job fails, NetBackup retries the job threetimes. If the job is unsuccessful after three tries, NetBackupwaits two hours and then retries the job. You can change thewait period.

Storage lifecycle policyretry wait period

Caution: These settings affect all optimized duplication jobs; they are not limitedto optimized duplication to a Media Server Deduplication Pool or a PureDiskDeduplication Pool.

You can configure several optimized duplication copy behaviors, as follows:

■ Optimized duplication failover.By default, if an optimized duplication job fails, NetBackup does not run thejob again.

■ Number of optimized duplication attempts.You can specify the number of times NetBackup retries an optimizedduplication job before it fails the jobs.

■ Storage lifecycle policy retries.If the optimized duplication job is configured in a storage lifecycle policy,NetBackup retries the job three times.

Caution:These settings affect all optimized duplication jobs, not only OpenStorageoptimized duplication jobs.

97Configuring OpenStorageConfiguring OpenStorage optimized duplication behavior

To configure optimized duplication failover

◆ On the master server, add the following configuration option:

RESUME_ORIG_DUP_ON_OPT_DUP_FAIL = TRUE

See “Setting NetBackup configuration options by using bpsetconfig”on page 103.

Alternatively on UNIX systems, add the entry to the bp.conf file on theNetBackup master server.

To configure the number of duplication attempts

◆ On the master server, create a file named OPT_DUP_BUSY_RETRY_LIMIT thatcontains an integer the specifies the number of times to retry the job beforeNetBackup fails the job.

The file must reside in the following directory (depending on the operatingsystem):

■ UNIX: /usr/openv/netbackup/db/config

■ Windows: install_path\NetBackup\db\config.

To configure the storage lifecycle policy wait period

◆ Change the wait period for retries by adding anIMAGE_EXTENDED_RETRY_PERIOD_IN_HOURS entry to the NetBackupLIFECYCLE_PARAMETERS file. The default for this value is two hours.

For example, the following entry configures NetBackup to wait four hoursbefore NetBackup tries the job again:

IMAGE_EXTENDED_RETRY_PERIOD_IN_HOURS 4

The LIFECYCLE_PARAMETERS file resides in the following directories:

■ UNIX: /usr/openv/netbackup/db/config

■ Windows: install_path\NetBackup\db\config.

Configuring OpenStorage optimized duplicationwithin the same domain

You can configure optimized duplication from one disk appliance to another.

A NetBackup media server initiates and manages the duplication betweenappliances. After the duplication completes, the media server connects to thedestination appliance to verify the image copy. NetBackup maintains records ofthe image copies and their locations in the NetBackup catalog.

Configuring OpenStorageConfiguring OpenStorage optimized duplication within the same domain

98

See “About optimized duplication within the same domain” on page 64.

To configure optimized duplication

1 Ensure that all requirements are met.

See “About optimized duplication within the same domain” on page 64.

2 Configure optimized duplication behaviors.

See “Configuring OpenStorage optimized duplication behavior” on page 96.

See “About throttling OpenStorage traffic to the media servers” on page 96.

3 Select the media server in common.

In the storage unit for the destination disk pool, select Onlyusethefollowingmedia servers. Then, select the media server or media servers that arecommon to both the source storage server and the destination storage server.

If you select more than one, NetBackup balances the optimized copy job loadamong them.

4 Use one of the following methods to duplicate backup images:

■ A storage lifecycle policy. The storage lifecycle policy manages both thebackup jobs and the duplication jobs.

When you configure the storage lifecycle policy, do the following:

■ For the Backup destination, select the Storage unit that is the targetof your backups.The disk appliance for the storage unit contains the primary backupcopies; they are the source images for the duplication operation.

■ For the Duplication destination, select the Storage unit for the diskpool on another appliance.

See the NetBackup Administrator’s Guide, Volume I.

■ A Vault policy. For Vault, you must configure a Vault profile and a Vaultpolicy.

■ On the Vault Profile dialog box ChooseBackups tab, choose the backupimages in the source disk pool.

■ On the Vault Profile dialog box Duplication tab, select the destinationstorage unit in the Destination Storage unit field.

■ Configure a Vault policy to schedule the duplication jobs. A Vault policyis a NetBackup policy that is configured to run Vault jobs. Select theprofile you created for the OpenStorage duplication job.

See the NetBackup Vault Administrator’s Guide.

99Configuring OpenStorageConfiguring OpenStorage optimized duplication within the same domain

■ The bpduplicate command. Use the NetBackup bpduplicate commandto copy images manually.Duplicate from the source storage to the destination storage.See NetBackup Commands Reference Guide.

You can apply separate retention periods to each copy. For example, you canretain the source image for three weeks and the destination copy for a longerperiod of time. If you delete the source image, the copy is not deleted.

Configuring OpenStorage direct to tapeTo configure OpenStorage direct to tape, you must perform multiple procedureson multiple computers. These procedures are in addition to the procedures toinstall and configure the disk appliance and OpenStorage.


Table 11-5 OpenStorage direct to tape configuration overview

DescriptionActionStep

See the NetBackup for NDMP Administrator’s Guide.Install and configure theNDMP tape server hosts andstorage devices

Step 1

If you upgraded a disk appliance so it supports the Symantec OpenStoragecopy to tape specification, you must reconfigure the storage server inNetBackup.


Reconfigure the storageserver

Step 2

Install the NetBackup for NDMP software on each media server you usefor direct to tape.

See “About media server requirements for OpenStorage direct to tape”on page 70.

See “About media server recommendations for OpenStorage direct to tape”on page 71.

See the NetBackup for NDMP Administrator’s Guide.

You must enter a license key that activates NDMP on those media servers.The license key that activates OpenStorage also activates NetBackup forNDMP.

Install the NetBackup forNDMP software

Step 3

Configure logon credentials in NetBackup for the NDMP hosts.


See the NetBackup for NDMP Administrator’s Guide.

Configure NDMP hostcredentials

Step 4

Configuring OpenStorageConfiguring OpenStorage direct to tape

100

Table 11-5 OpenStorage direct to tape configuration overview (continued)

DescriptionActionStep

The storage units must be configured as NDMP storage units, and theymust use the NDMP tape storage as their destination.

You do not have to include the write side media servers explicitly in thestorage unit. If you configure AnyAvailable, when the job runs NetBackupselects a media server that has the logon credentials for the NDMP tapeserver.

See theNetBackup Administrator's Guide for UNIX and Linux, Volume I orthe NetBackup Administrator's Guide for Windows, Volume I.

Configure the NetBackupstorage units

Step 5

First ensure that all requirements are met.


Then, use one of the following methods for direct to tape:

■ Create a storage lifecycle policy to create the backup and to duplicatethe backup images automatically.

For the Backup destination Storageunit, select the storage unit for thedisk pool on one appliance. For the Duplication destination Storageunit, select the NDMP storage unit.

See the NetBackup Administrator’s Guide for UNIX and Linux, VolumeI or the NetBackup Administrator's Guide for Windows, Volume I.

■ Create a Vault policy to copy images automatically.

On the Profile dialog box ChooseBackups tab, choose the backup imagesin the source disk pool on one appliance. For the Destination Storageunit on the Duplication tab, select the NDMP storage unit.

See the NetBackup Vault Administrator’s Guide.

■ Use the Duplicate option in the Catalog node of the NetBackupAdministration Console.

Select the NDMP storage unit as the destination for the duplication.Use the Storage unit field in the Setup Duplication Variables dialogbox.

See the NetBackup Administrator’s Guide for UNIX and Linux, VolumeI or the NetBackup Administrator's Guide for Windows, Volume I.

■ Use the NetBackupbpduplicate command to duplicate images on thedisk appliance to an NDMP storage unit.

See NetBackup Commands Reference Guide..

Configure the copy to tapeprocess

Step 6

101Configuring OpenStorageConfiguring OpenStorage direct to tape

Configuring OpenStorage optimized syntheticbackups

Use the following procedure to configure optimized synthetic backups.

If NetBackup cannot produce the optimized synthetic backup, NetBackup createsthe more data-movement intensive synthetic backup.

See “About OpenStorage optimized synthetic backups” on page 66.

To configure optimized synthetic backup

1 Configure a Standard or MS-Windows backup policy.

2 Select the Synthetic backup attribute on the Schedule Attribute tab.

Adding OpenStorage functionality to an existingenvironment

Your OpenStorage vendor may update their plug-in to expose more functionalityon their disk appliance. For example, the vendor may update their plug-in tosupport optimized synthetic backups.

If the vendor provides an updated plug-in, you must complete the followingprocedures to integrate the new functionality into NetBackup.

Table 11-6 Overview of how to add OpenStorage functionality

ProcedureTask

See “About installing the disk appliance plug-in” on page 78.Install the updated plug-in

You must update the storage server so NetBackup can use thenew functionality.

See “Updating an OpenStorage storage server” on page 108.

Update the storage server

You also must update existing disk pools so they recognizethe new functionality.


Any disk pools that you create after you update the vendorplug-in and storage server inherit the new functionality.

Update existing disk pools

Configuring OpenStorageConfiguring OpenStorage optimized synthetic backups

102

Setting NetBackup configuration options by usingbpsetconfig

Symantec recommends that you use the NetBackup Administration ConsoleHost Properties to configure NetBackup.

However, some configuration options cannot be set by using the AdministrationConsole. You can set those configuration options by using the bpsetconfig

command.

Alternatively, on UNIX systems you can set configuration options in the bp.conffile.


To set configuration options by using the bpsetconfig command

1 On the host on which you want to set configuration options, write the currentconfiguration to a file by running the following command:

UNIX: /usr/openv/netbackup/bin/admincmd/bpgetconfig –h hostname

> file.txt

Windows: install_path\NetBackup\bin\admincmd\bpgetconfig –h

hostname > file.txt

2 Edit and save the file.

You can change the values of the options that are in the file.

You can add option and value pairs.

Ensure that you understand the values that are allowed and the format ofany new options that you add.

3 Upload the configuration by running the following command:

UNIX: /usr/openv/netbackup/bin/admincmd/bpsetconfig –h hostname

file.txt

Windows: install_path\NetBackup\bin\admincmd\bpsetconfig –h

hostname file.txt

103Configuring OpenStorageSetting NetBackup configuration options by using bpsetconfig

Configuring OpenStorageSetting NetBackup configuration options by using bpsetconfig

104

Managing OpenStorage


■ Managing OpenStorage storage servers

■ Managing OpenStorage server credentials

■ Managing OpenStorage data movers

■ Managing OpenStorage disk pools

■ Monitoring OpenStorage storage capacity and usage

■ Viewing OpenStorage disk reports

■ About catalog backups to OpenStorage devices

■ About restoring from backup copies

Managing OpenStorage storage serversAfter you configure OpenStorage, you can perform various tasks to manage storageservers.

See “Changing OpenStorage storage server properties” on page 106.

See “Deleting an OpenStorage storage server” on page 106.

See “Determining OpenStorage storage server state” on page 106.

See “Removing OpenStorage storage server attributes” on page 107.

See “Setting OpenStorage storage server attributes” on page 107.

See “Updating an OpenStorage storage server” on page 108.

See “Viewing OpenStorage storage servers” on page 109.

12Chapter

Changing OpenStorage storage server propertiesYou can change the OpenStorage storage server properties. The storage vendorexposes the properties that you can change.


To change deduplication storage server properties

1 In the NetBackup Administration Console, expand Media and DeviceManagement > Credentials > Storage Server

2 Select the storage server.

3 On the Edit menu, select Change.

4 In the Change Storage Server dialog box, select the Properties tab.

5 To change a value, select it in the Value column and then change the value.

6 When finished changing values, click OK.

7 Click OK.

Deleting an OpenStorage storage serverIf you delete a storage server, NetBackup removes it from your configuration.

If a disk pool is configured from the disk volumes that the storage server manages,you cannot delete the storage server.

Warning:Do not delete a storage server if its storage contains unexpired NetBackupimages; if you do, data loss may occur.

To delete an OpenStorage storage server

1 In the NetBackup Administration Console, in the left pane, expand Mediaand Device Management > Credentials > Storage

2 On the Edit menu, select Delete.

3 Click Yes in the confirmation dialog box.

Determining OpenStorage storage server stateUse the NetBackupnbdevquery command to determine the state of an OpenStoragestorage server.

To determine OpenStorage storage server status

◆ Run the following command:

Managing OpenStorageManaging OpenStorage storage servers

106

nbdevquery -liststs -stype server_type -storage_server server_name

-U




For the server_type, the storage vendor provides the string that identifies theserver type.

The State field shows either UP or DOWN.

Setting OpenStorage storage server attributesYou may have to set or clear attributes on your storage server. Usually, you setattributes to add or remove functionality.

If you set attributes on the storage server, you also must set the same attributeson the existing disk pools. Any disk pools that you create after you set attributeson the storage server inherit the new functionality.

To set an OpenStorage storage server attribute


nbdevconfig -changests -storage_server hostname -stype server_type

-setattribute attribute

For hostname, use the name of the disk appliance host. For server_type, theOpenStorage vendor provides the string that identifies their storage type.For attribute, use the name of the attribute you want to set.




Removing OpenStorage storage server attributesYou may have to remove attributes from your storage server. Usually, you removeattributes to change or remove functionality.

If you remove attributes on the storage server, you also must remove the sameattributes on the existing disk pools. Any disk pools that you create after youupdate the storage server inherit the storage server functionality.

107Managing OpenStorageManaging OpenStorage storage servers

To remove an OpenStorage storage server attribute


nbdevconfig -changests -storage_server hostname -stype server_type

-clearattribute attribute

For hostname, use the name of the disk appliance host. For server_type, theOpenStorage vendor provides the string that identifies their storage type.For attribute, use the name of the attribute you want to clear.




Updating an OpenStorage storage serverYou may have to update your storage server. For example, if your vendor providesan updated plug-in, you must update the storage server so NetBackup can readthe appliance capabilities. The vendor may provide an updated plug-in to add orchange functionality.

If you update the storage server, you also must update existing disk pools so theyuse the new functionality. Any disk pools that you create after you update thestorage server inherit the new functionality.


To update an OpenStorage storage server in NetBackup

◆ Run the following command on the master server or on one of the mediaservers:

nbdevconfig -updatests -storage_server storage_server

-stypeserver_type -media_server media_server




See the following descriptions of the options that require arguments:

The name of the disk appliance.-storage_server

storage_server

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108

The storage vendor provides the string that identifies theserver type.

-stype server_type

A NetBackup media server that connects to the storageserver. The media server queries the storage server for itscapabilities. The vendor plug-in must be installed on themedia server. If the plug-in resides on more than one mediaserver, you can specify any one of them.

-media_server

media_server

Viewing OpenStorage storage serversUse the NetBackup Administration Console to view a list of storage servers alreadyconfigured.

To view OpenStorage storage servers

◆ In the NetBackup Administration Console, in the left pane, expand Mediaand Device Management > Credentials > Storage Server.

The right All Storage Servers pane shows all configured storage servers.OpenStorage storage servers show the vendor string that identifies the storagetype in the Disk Type column.

Managing OpenStorage server credentialsYou can perform various tasks to manage existing credentials in NetBackup.

See “Adding OpenStorage server credentials ” on page 109.

See “Changing OpenStorage server credentials” on page 110.

See “Deleting the OpenStorage server credentials of a data mover ” on page 110.

See “Determining if OpenStorage server credentials exist ” on page 111.

Adding OpenStorage server credentialsYou can add a media server as a data mover to your OpenStorage configuration.If you do, you must add the storage server credentials to that media server.

See “Adding an OpenStorage data mover” on page 111.


109Managing OpenStorageManaging OpenStorage server credentials

To add OpenStorage server credentials


2 Select the storage server, then select Edit > Change.

3 Select the Media Servers tab.

4 Select the media server you want to add. Also select the media servers thatare configured as data movers already.

5 Enter the credentials.

6 Click Set and then click OK.

Changing OpenStorage server credentialsYou can change the credentials that the media servers that function as data moversuse. The credentials are for the storage server.


To change OpenStorage server credentials




4 Select the media servers that function as data movers.

5 Change the credentials.

6 Click Set and then click OK.

Deleting the OpenStorage server credentials of a data moverIf you remove a media server as a data mover, you must delete the storage servercredentials of the media server.

If the host failed and is unavailable, you can use the tpconfigdevice configurationutility in menu mode to delete the credentials. However, you must run thetpconfigutility on a UNIX or Linux NetBackup server.

For procedures, see the NetBackup Administrator’s Guide for UNIX and Linux,Volume II.

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110

To delete OpenStorage server credentials of a data mover




4 Select the media server for which you want to delete the credentials.

5 Click Remove and then click OK.

Determining if OpenStorage server credentials existYou can determine which media servers have credentials configured for the atorageserver.

To determine if the storage server credentials are configured already




The media servers for which credentials are configured are identified in theMedia Servers Status column.

Managing OpenStorage data moversIn OpenStorage, NetBackup media servers function as the data movers. A datamover is an entity that moves data between the primary storage (the NetBackupclient) and the storage server.

For an existing OpenStorage environment in NetBackup, you can do the following:

■ Add a media server as a data mover.See “Adding an OpenStorage data mover” on page 111.To add an OpenStorage data mover, see the procedure later in this section.

■ Retire a media server as a data mover.See “Retiring an OpenStorage data mover” on page 112.


Adding an OpenStorage data moverUse the following process to add an OpenStorage data mover.

111Managing OpenStorageManaging OpenStorage data movers

Table 12-1 Process to add an OpenStorage data mover

DescriptionTaskStep

See the NetBackup Installation Guide for UNIX andLinux or the NetBackup Installation Guide forWindows.

Install and configure the NetBackup media serversoftware.

Step 1

See “About installing the disk appliance plug-in”on page 78.

For disk appliance storage, install the OpenStoragevendor software plug-in on the media server

Step 2

Beyond the scope of the NetBackup documentation.For disk appliance storage, connect the NetBackupmedia server to the OpenStorage appliance.

Step 3

See “Adding OpenStorage server credentials ”on page 109.

Add the storage server logon credentials for themedia server.

Step 4

In the NetBackup Administration Console, in theleft pane, select NetBackupManagement>Storage> Storage Units.

For every storage unit that points to a disk pool ofthat storage server, verify that the new media serverappears. The storage unit dialog box includes amedia servers list.

For every storage unit that is configured to use anyavailable media server, the new data mover isallowed access to the storage server automatically.

Step 5

In the NetBackup Administration Console, in theleft pane, select NetBackupManagement>Storage> Storage Units.

For every storage unit that specifies Use one of thefollowingmediaservers, update the storage unit soit uses the correct data movers.

This step is not required if the storage unit isconfigured to use any available media server.

Step 6

Retiring an OpenStorage data moverUse the following process to retire an OpenStorage data mover.

Table 12-2 Process to retire an OpenStorage data mover

WhereWhat

See the NetBackup Installation Guide forUNIX and Linux or the NetBackupInstallation Guide for Windows.

For every NetBackup storage unit thatspecifies that data mover (that is, mediaserver), clear the checkbox that specifies themedia server.

This step is not required if the storage unitis configured to use any available mediaserver.

Managing OpenStorageManaging OpenStorage data movers

112

Table 12-2 Process to retire an OpenStorage data mover (continued)

WhereWhat

See “Deleting the OpenStorage servercredentials of a data mover ” on page 110.

On the media server to be retired, delete thecredentials for the storage server.

Managing OpenStorage disk poolsAfter you configure OpenStorage, you can perform various tasks to manage yourOpenStorage disk pools.

See “Adding volumes to an OpenStorage disk pool” on page 113.

See “Changing OpenStorage disk pool properties” on page 114.

See “Changing OpenStorage disk pool state” on page 115.

See “Changing OpenStorage disk volume state” on page 116.

See “Deleting an OpenStorage disk pool” on page 116.

See “Determining OpenStorage disk pool state” on page 117.

See “Determining OpenStorage disk volume state” on page 117.

See “Merging OpenStorage disk pools” on page 118.

See “Removing a volume from an OpenStorage disk pool” on page 119.


See “Viewing OpenStorage disk pools” on page 120.

Adding volumes to an OpenStorage disk poolIf you add disk volumes to the storage appliance, NetBackup does not add thosevolumes to an OpenStorage disk pool automatically. To use the additional diskvolumes in an existing disk pool, you must add those volumes to the disk pool.

(By default, NetBackup automatically increases disk pool capacity if the capacityof the underlying disk volumes increases. Similarly, NetBackup decreases thecapacity of a disk pool if the underlying disk volume capacity decreases.)

The NetBackup storage units that use the disk pool automatically use the additionalstorage capacity. You do not have to change the storage units.

113Managing OpenStorageManaging OpenStorage disk pools

Table 12-3 Add volumes process for OpenStorage disk pool

ProcedureTask

See “Configuring an OpenStorage disk pool”on page 89.

Configure a disk pool from the new diskvolumes on the storage server.

See “Merging OpenStorage disk pools”on page 118.

Merge the disk pools.

When you merge the disk pools, specify theoriginal disk pool as the primary one.NetBackup deletes the secondary disk poolafter the merge.

Changing OpenStorage disk pool propertiesYou can change the properties of a disk pool.

To add volumes to a disk pool, you must use a different procedure.

See “Adding volumes to an OpenStorage disk pool” on page 113.

To change OpenStorage disk pool properties

1 In the NetBackup Administration Console, in the left pane, expand Mediaand Device Management > Devices > Disk Pools.

2 In the right pane, select the disk pool you want to change.

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114

3 Click Edit > Change.

4 In the Change Disk Pool dialog box, change properties.

See “OpenStorage disk pool properties” on page 90.

5 Click OK.

Changing OpenStorage disk pool stateDisk pool state is UP or DOWN.

To change the state to DOWN, the disk pool must not be busy. If backup jobs areassigned to the disk pool, the state change fails. Cancel the backup jobs or waituntil the jobs complete.

To change OpenStorage disk pool state


2 At the bottom of the right pane, select the Disk Pools tab.


4 Select either Actions > Up or Actions > Down.


Changing OpenStorage disk volume stateUse the NetBackup nbdevconfig command to change disk volume state. The stateis UP or DOWN.

To change the state to DOWN, the disk pool in which the volume resides must notbe busy. If backup jobs are assigned to the disk pool, the state change fails. Cancelthe backup jobs or wait until the jobs complete.

NetBackup jobs still read from and write to a disk pool that has a downed volume,but the downed volume is unavailable.

To change OpenStorage disk volume state

1 Determine the name of the disk volume. The following command lists allvolumes in the specified disk pool:

nbdevquery -listdv -stype server_type -dp disk_pool_name





2 Change the disk volume state using the following command syntax:

nbdevconfig -changestate -stype server_type -dp disk_pool_name

–dv vol_name -state state






Deleting an OpenStorage disk poolIf you delete a disk pool, NetBackup removes it from your configuration.

If a disk pool is the storage destination of a storage unit, you must first delete thestorage unit.


116

Warning: Do not delete a disk pool that contains unexpired NetBackup images; ifyou do, data loss may occur.

To delete an OpenStorage disk pool

1 In the NetBackup Administration Console, in the left pane, select Mediaand Device Management > Devices > Disk Pools.

2 Select a disk pool.

3 Click Edit > Delete.

4 In the Delete Disk Pool dialog box, verify that the disk pool is the one youwant to delete and then click OK.

Determining OpenStorage disk pool stateDisk pool state is UP or DOWN.

To determine OpenStorage disk pool state


2 At the bottom of the right pane, select the Disk Pools tab.


4 The state is displayed in the Status column.

Determining OpenStorage disk volume stateUse the NetBackup nbdevquery command to determine the state of volumes inOpenStorage disk pools.

To determine OpenStorage disk volume state

1 Determine the name of the disk volume. The following command lists thevolumes in the specified disk pool:

nbdevquery -listdv -stype server_type -dp disk_pool_name






To display the disk volumes in all OpenStorage disk pools on that vendor'sstorage, omit the -dp option.

2 Display the volume state by using the following command:

nbdevquery -listdv -dv disk_volume -stype server_type


Merging OpenStorage disk poolsUse the NetBackup nbdevconfig command to merge existing disk pools.

NetBackup updates the catalog records to show the correct location of the backupimages in those disk pools.

The following are the prerequisites:

■ The volumes in the two disk pools must have unique names.OpenStorage requires that vendors use unique names for disk volumes in adisk appliance.

■ All volumes must be from the same storage server.

■ If the secondary disk pool is referenced by storage units, you must delete thosestorage units.

To merge OpenStorage disk pools

1 Change the state of each disk pool to DOWN.


If backup jobs are assigned to a disk pool, the state change fails. Cancel thebackup jobs or wait until the jobs complete.

2 Merge the disk pools. The following is the command syntax. The primary diskpool is the one you want to retain; nbdevconfig deletes the secondary diskpool after the merge.

nbdevconfig –mergedps –stype server_type -primarydp disk_pool_name

-secondarydp disk_pool_name




3 Change the state of the primary disk pool to UP.



118

Removing a volume from an OpenStorage disk poolUse the NetBackup nbdevconfig command to remove a volume from a disk pool.The following are the prerequisites:

■ NetBackup image fragments cannot exist on the disk volume.

■ NetBackup jobs cannot be active on the disk volume.

By default, NetBackup automatically decreases disk pool capacity if you removea disk volume.

To remove a volume from an OpenStorage disk pool

1 Change the disk volume state to DOWN.

See “Changing OpenStorage disk volume state” on page 116.

2 Change the disk pool state to DOWN.


3 Remove the volume by using the nbdevconfig command. The following isthe command syntax:

nbdevconfig -deletedv -stype server_type -dp disk_pool_name -dv

vol_name





4 Change the disk pool state to UP.


Updating an OpenStorage disk poolYou may have to update your existing disk pools. For example, if you update thestorage server, you must then update the existing disk pools. Usually, you updatethe storage server when your vendor provides an updated plug-in that exposesnew functionality.

Any disk pools that you create after you update the storage server inherit the newfunctionality.



To update an OpenStorage disk pool in NetBackup

◆ Run the following command on the master server:

nbdevconfig -changedp -dp disk_pool_name -stype server_type

-setattribute attribute




See the following descriptions of the options that require arguments:

The name of the disk pool.-changedp

disk_pool_name

The storage vendor provides the string that identifiesthe server type.

-stype server_type

Theattribute is the name of the argument that representsthe new functionality.

For example, OptimizedImage specifies that theenvironment supports the optimized synthetic backup.SpanImages specifies that backup images can spanacross volumes on the disk appliance.

-setattribute

attribute

Viewing OpenStorage disk poolsUse the NetBackup Administration Console to view configured disk pools.

To view disk pools

◆ In the NetBackup Administration Console, in the left pane, expand Mediaand Device Management > Devices > Disk Pools.

Monitoring OpenStorage storage capacity and usageTo monitor storage capacity and usage, see the following:

The DiskPools window displays a value that was stored when NetBackup polled the diskpools. The value may not be as current as the value that is displayed in theStorageServerwindow.

To display the window, in the NetBackupAdministrationConsole, in the left pane, selectMedia and Device Management > Devices > Disk Pools.

The NetBackupAdministration ConsoleDisk Pools window.

Managing OpenStorageMonitoring OpenStorage storage capacity and usage

120

See “Viewing OpenStorage disk reports” on page 121.The NetBackup Disk Poolstatus report.

The storage server view displays real-time values.

To display the window, in the NetBackupAdministrationConsole, in the left pane, selectMedia and Device Management > Credentials > Storage Servers.

NetBackupAdministration ConsoleStorage Server window

The summary of active capacity-based license features in the NetBackup License Keysdialog box. The summary displays the storage capacity for which you are licensed andthe capacity used. It does not display the amount of physical storage space.

To open the dialog box, in the NetBackupAdministrationConsole, select Help > LicenseKeys.

The NetBackup LicenseKeys dialog box.

The NetBackup OpsCenter also provides information about storage capacity andusage.

See the NetBackup OpsCenter Administrator's Guide.

Viewing OpenStorage disk reportsThe NetBackup disk reports include information about the disk pools, disk storageunits, disk logs, images that are stored on disk media, and storage capacity.

Table 12-4 describes the disk reports available.

Table 12-4 Disk reports

DescriptionReport

The Images on Disk report generates the image list present on thedisk storage units that are connected to the media server. The reportis a subset of the Images on Media report; it shows only disk-specificcolumns.

The report provides a summary of the storage unit contents. If a diskbecomes bad or if a media server crashes, this report can let you knowwhat data is lost.

Images on Disk

The Disk Logs report displays the media errors or the informationalmessages that are recorded in the NetBackup error catalog. The reportis a subset of the Media Logs report; it shows only disk-specificcolumns.

Disk Logs

121Managing OpenStorageViewing OpenStorage disk reports

Table 12-4 Disk reports (continued)

DescriptionReport

The Disk Storage Unit Status report displays the state of disk storageunits in the current NetBackup configuration.

For disk pool capacity, see the disk pools window in MediaandDeviceManagement > Devices > Disk Pools.

Multiple storage units can point to the same disk pool. When the reportquery is by storage unit, the report counts the capacity of disk poolstorage multiple times.

Disk Storage Unit

The Disk Pool Status report displays the state of disk pool storageunits. This report displays only when an Enterprise Disk Option licenseis installed.

Disk Pool Status

To view disk reports

1 In the NetBackup Administration Console, in the left pane, expandNetBackup Management > Reports > Disk Reports.

2 Select the name of a disk report.

3 In the right pane, select the report settings.

4 Click Run Report.

About catalog backups to OpenStorage devicesBeginning with NetBackup 6.5.4, both full catalog recovery and partial catalogrecovery is possible from a primary hot catalog backup copy on disk storage.Therefore, you can write a hot catalog backup to an OpenStorage disk applianceand then recover the catalog from the primary copy. Caveat: the recovery mustbe in the domain in which the catalog was created.

NetBackup 6.5.4 and later also support duplication of the catalog by using a StorageLifecycle Policy. However, limitations exist for recovery from non-primary copiesof the catalog backup or from catalog copies in other domains. More informationabout the limitations and catalog recovery is available, as follows:

See Symantec Technote 327439: http://entsupport.symantec.com/docs/327439

See Symantec Technote 327572: http://entsupport.symantec.com/docs/327572

Managing OpenStorageAbout catalog backups to OpenStorage devices

122

About restoring from backup copiesBy default, NetBackup restores from the primary copy of an image. If you wantto restore from an optimized duplication copy or a direct to tape copy of a backupimage, you must specify the copy.

See “Restoring from a specific backup copy” in the Backup, Archive, and Restorehelp.

123Managing OpenStorageAbout restoring from backup copies

Managing OpenStorageAbout restoring from backup copies

124

TroubleshootingOpenStorage


■ About OpenStorage log files

■ Troubleshooting OpenStorage credentials creation

■ Troubleshooting Nirvanix storage pool creation

■ Troubleshooting the encryption plug-in

■ Troubleshooting Nirvanix backups and restores

About OpenStorage log filesYou can monitor NetBackup OpenStorage activity and status by viewing theNetBackup log files.

Some NetBackup commands or processes write messages to their own log files.Other processes use Veritas unified log (VxUL) files.

The following are the identifiers for log messages for OpenStorage:

■ An sts_ prefix relates to the interaction with the storage vendor softwareplug-in.

■ Anirvanix.comprefix relates to interaction with the Nirvanix Storage DeliveryNetwork.

■ An encrypt prefix relates to interaction with the encryption plug-in.

■ An KMSCLIBprefix relates to interaction with the NetBackup Key ManagementSystem.

13Chapter

Most interaction occurs on the NetBackup media servers.

Table 13-2 shows the NetBackup legacy logs for OpenStorage activity. For legacylogging, the log directories must exist so that the utility can write log messages.

See “Creating NetBackup log file directories” on page 84.

Table 13-1 NetBackup legacy logs

Processes that log the activityActivity

Messages appear in the log files for the following processes:

■ The bpbrm backup and restore manager.

■ The bpdbm database manager.

■ The bpdm disk manager.

■ The bptm tape manager for I/O operations.

Backups and restores

The bpstsinfo utility writes information aboutconnections to the Nirvanix storage server in its log files.

Connection operations

The tpconfig utility. The tpconfig command writes logfiles to the tpcommand directory.

Credentials configuration

Table 13-2 shows the NetBackup VxUL originator IDs (OIDs) for the processesthat write VxUL log messages. VxUL uses a standardized name and file formatfor log files. To view VxUL log files, you must use the NetBackup vxlogview

command. The following is an example of how to view the most recent 20 minutesof log entries for the NetBackup Remote Manager and Monitor Service:

vxlogview -o 222 -t 00:20:00

Information about how to view and manage VxUL log files is available.


Table 13-2 NetBackup VxUL logs

Processes that use the OIDOIDActivity

The nbjm Job Manager.117Backups andrestores

The the Remote Manager and Monitor Service is the processthat creates the Nirvanix storage pool and child accounts.RMMS runs on media servers.

222Nirvanix SDNaccountconfiguration

The nbemm process.111Deviceconfiguration

Troubleshooting OpenStorageAbout OpenStorage log files

126

Table 13-2 NetBackup VxUL logs (continued)

Processes that use the OIDOIDActivity

The Disk Service Manager process that runs in theEnterprise Media Manager (EMM) process.


The Storage Server Interface process that runs in theRemote Manager and Monitor Service. RMMS runs on mediaservers.


The Remote Disk Service Manager interface (RDSM) thatruns in the Remote Manager and Monitor Service. RMMSruns on media servers.


Troubleshooting OpenStorage credentials creationThe NetBackup tpconfig command creates the credentials for the storage server.

To troubleshoot credentials problems

◆ Examine the log files for the tpconfig command



Troubleshooting Nirvanix storage pool creationThe NetBackup tpconfig command creates the Nirvanix storage pool and childaccounts.

127Troubleshooting OpenStorageTroubleshooting OpenStorage credentials creation

To troubleshoot Nirvanix storage pool creation problems

1 Examine the log files for the tpconfig command



2 Look for a 50002 reponse code. The following is an example:

<Respones>

<ResonseCode>50002</ResponseCode>

<ErrorMessage>Unauthorized storage pool creation due to node access.</ErrorMessage>

</Response>

To use the Nirvanix Storage Delivery Network, you must have defaultnode-replication policy settings for your Nirvanix account. New storage poolsinherit the default policies, but you can adjust them for each storage pool tofit your business needs.

For more information or to verify that your account has the proper settings,please contact Nirvanix Customer Support using the Nirvanix ManagementPortal.

See “About Nirvanix storage requirements and limitations” on page 75.

Troubleshooting the encryption plug-inFor the NetBackup encryption plug-in for Nirvanix storage, you can verify theconnectivity to the storage server and the existence of encryption keys.

To verify Nirvanix connectivity

1 Run the following command on the media server from which you want toverify the connectivity:

bpstsinfo –si –storage_server nirvanix.com –stype nirvanix_e

The following is the path to the bpstsinfo command:


Troubleshooting OpenStorageTroubleshooting the encryption plug-in

128


2 If the command fails to show connectivity, examine the bpstsinfo commandlog files to determine why connectivity was not made with nirvanix.com.Examine the log files on the media server on which you want to verify theconnectivity.



To verify the encryption keys in the Key Management System

1 Run the following NetBackup command on the NetBackup master server:

nbkmsutil –listkeys –kgname nirvanix.com:child_account_name

The following is the path to the nbkmsutil command:



2 Verify the following:

■ That the key group exists.

■ That the encryption keys exist in that key group.

■ That the current state of the keys key is ACTIVE.


Troubleshooting Nirvanix backups and restoresThe following information may help you troubleshoot Nirvanix backup and restoreproblems.

■ Determine if backups exist on Nirvanix storage.See “To determine if backup images exist on Nirvanix storage” on page 130.

■ If backups do not exist, examine the bptm command log files.

Examine the bptm log files for failure information.

See “ To find backup and restore failure information” on page 130.

Look for the following:

■ If backup jobs fail with error 84 or 87 in the NetBackup Activity monitor,examine the job details in the Activity Monitor or the bptm logs. Thewrite_image call or the close_image call should show an out of space

message.

129Troubleshooting OpenStorageTroubleshooting Nirvanix backups and restores

The error indicate that you reached your CHILD_ACCOUNT_SIZE setting. TheCHILD_ACCOUNT_SIZE setting is a storage server value.


■ If you find an 80006 reponse code, the buffer size may be too large. Thefollowing is an example:

<Respones>

<ResonseCode>80006</ResponseCode>

<ErrorMessage>Session not found: bf0c4fd-0483-4ccd-8c40-849c27cf2615</ErrorMessage>

</Response>

Reduce the buffer size and try the backup again.

See “To determine if backup images exist on Nirvanix storage” on page 130.

To determine if backup images exist on Nirvanix storage

◆ Run the following command on the media server that was assigned the backupjob:

bpstsinfo –ii –storage_server nirvanix.com –stype storage_type

For storage_type, use eithernirvanix for nonencrypted backups ornirvanix_efor encrypted backups.

The following is the path to the bpstsinfo command:



To find backup and restore failure information

◆ Examine the bptm command log files on the media server that was assignedthe backup job.



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130

SharedDisk option

■ Chapter 14. Introducing SharedDisk

3Section

Introducing SharedDisk


■ About SharedDisk support in NetBackup 7.0 and later

About SharedDisk support inNetBackup 7.0 and laterThe SharedDisk option is not supported beginning with the NetBackup 7.0 release.

You can use a NetBackup 7.0 or later master server to configure, manage, andoperate SharedDisk on NetBackup 6.5 media servers.

For information about using SharedDisk, see the documentation for yourNetBackup 6.5 release.

With these changes, the following behavior is to be expected in NetBackup 7.0:

■ All configuration attempts to a SharedDisk storage server on a 7.0 or latermedia server fail with a storage server not found error.

■ All read or write requests to a SharedDisk disk pool use 6.5 media servers only.If no 6.5 media servers are available, the requests fail.

■ If you upgrade a 6.5 SharedDisk media server to 7.0 or later, NetBackup marksthe storage servers as DOWN. It no longer functions as a SharedDisk storageserver.To ensure that the media server is not considered for SharedDisk jobs, do oneof the following: Restart the Enterprise Media Manager service after theupgrade or remove the storage server from all disk pools and then delete it.

■ You can delete the SharedDisk disk pools and the SharedDisk storage serversthat reside on 7.0 and later media servers. However, all delete operations onimages fail. To delete images, do the following:

■ Expire the images and delete them from the catalog by using one of thefollowing bpexpdate commands:

14Chapter

bpexpdate -backupid backupid -d 0 -nodelete

With this command, NetBackup does not run an image cleanup job. Youcan use NetBackup Management > Catalog to determine the backupid.bpexpdate -backupid backupid -d 0 -force

With this command, NetBackup attempts an image cleanup job. It fails witherror 174; you can ignore the error. You can use NetBackupManagement> Catalog to determine the backupid.bpexpdate -stype SharedDisk

With this command, NetBackup attempts an image cleanup job. It fails witherror 174; you can ignore the error.

■ Delete the fragments of the expired images by using the following command:nbdelete -allvolumes -force

Note: Symantec recommends that you use solutions other that SharedDisk. TheAdvancedDisk storage option is another solution.

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Shared Storage Option

■ Chapter 15. Introducing the Shared Storage Option

■ Chapter 16. Licensing the Shared Storage Option

■ Chapter 17. Configuring the Shared Storage Option

■ Chapter 18. Using the Shared Storage Option

■ Chapter 19. Troubleshooting the Shared Storage Option

4Section

Introducing the SharedStorage Option


■ About the Shared Storage Option

■ About Shared Storage Option components

■ About reserving or releasing shared devices

■ How to share robotic libraries without using the Shared Storage Option

■ Shared Storage Option terms and concepts

About the Shared Storage OptionThe Shared Storage Option allows multiple NetBackup media servers to shareindividual tape drives (standalone drives or drives in a robotic library). NetBackupautomatically allocates and unallocates the drives as backup and restore operationsrequire.

The Shared Storage Option is a separately licensed and a separately pricedNetBackup software option which allows drive sharing. The license key is theShared Storage Option key.

The Shared Storage Option is required only if multiple hosts share drives. Forexample, multiple NDMP hosts may share one or more drives.

The Shared Storage Option requires appropriate hardware connectivity, such asFibre Channel hubs or switches, SCSI multiplexors, or SCSI-to-fibre bridges.

You can use Shared Storage Option in the following environments:

■ Fibre Channel SANs

15Chapter

■ Environments that do not use Fibre Channel, such as SCSI switches ormulti-initiator configurations

See “Frequently asked questions about Shared Storage Option” on page 165.

About Shared Storage Option componentsThe NetBackup Enterprise Media Manager (EMM) manages media information.The Enterprise Media Manager also is the device allocator (DA) for shared drives.

Figure 15-1 shows an example of a shared drive configuration.

Figure 15-1 Shared Storage Option example

Host A

EMM ServerDevice allocation host

Data path

Data path

Data path

Data path

Host adapter

Host adapter

Robot TLD (0)

Robot control

DRV1 DRV2

Hardwareconnection

Host B

Scan host

(avrd)

(ltid)

(avrd)

(ltid)

(nbemm / DA)(vmd)

Path

Control

Hardware

(vmd)

In this figure, the following describes Host A:

■ It is connected to drives DRV1 and DRV2 through SAN hardware.

■ Host A is the first host in the environment to come online with a non-zeroscan ability factor. Therefore, it is the initial scan host for its drives.See “About scan hosts” on page 139.

In this figure, the following describes Host B:

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138

■ It is connected to drives DRV1 and DRV2 through SAN hardware.

■ It is configured to be the EMM server, which is also the device allocation hostSee “About the device allocation host” on page 141.

■ It controls the robotics. Except for ACS or TLM robot types, only one robotcontrol host exists for each robot.

■ It can be configured (optionally) as a highly available (HA) server.

For a process flow diagram of Shared Storage Option components, see theNetBackup Troubleshooting Guide.

About SAN media serversNetBackup Shared Storage Option.

SAN media servers are NetBackup media servers that back up their own data. SANmedia servers cannot back up the data that resides on other clients.

SAN media servers are useful for certain situations. For example, a SAN mediaserver is useful if the data volume consumes so much network bandwidth that itaffects your network negatively.

When you define a backup policy for a SAN media server, add only the SAN mediaserver as the client.

The NetBackup Shared Storage Option can use NetBackup SAN media servers.

About SSO and the NetBackup EMM serverTo coordinate network-wide allocation of tape drives, the NetBackup EnterpriseMedia Manager (EMM) manages all shared tape requests in a SAN. EMM respondsto requests from multiple instances of NetBackup master servers, media servers,and NetBackup SAN media servers.

For shared drive configurations, the host that is configured as the EMM server isalso known as the device allocation host.

See “About the device allocation host” on page 141.

EMM maintains shared drive and host information. Information includes a list ofhosts that are online and available to share a drive and which host currently hasthe drive reserved. The Media Manager device service (ltid) requests shared driveinformation changes.

About scan hostsScan hosts are a component of the NetBackup Shared Storage Option.

139Introducing the Shared Storage OptionAbout Shared Storage Option components

Each shared drive has a host that is identified as the scan host. A scan host is thehost from which the automatic volume recognition process (avrd) scans unassigneddrives. (The robotic daemons scan assigned drives.) A scan host must have datapath access to the drive.

The EMM database contains the shared drive information; that informationincludes the scan host. Media servers receive drive status information from theEMM server.

EMM determines scan hosts; a scan host may be differentfor each shared drive. The first host in the environment tocome online with a non-zero scan ability factor is the initialscan host for its drives.

To configure the scan ability factor of media servers, usethe nbemmcmd command. For more information, seeNetBackup Commands Reference Guide.)

How the scan host isdetermined

A scan host is assigned for a shared drive until someinterruption occurs.

For example, if one of the following occurs, EMM choosesa new scan host:

■ The socket connection, the host, the drive, the drive path,or the network goes down.

■ The drive is logically placed in the Down mode.

The scan host temporarily changes to hosts that requesttape mounts while the mount is in progress. Scan hostchanges occur so only one host at a time has access to thedrive path.

The scan host can change

If a drive has multiple paths that are configured on theselected scan host, EMM selects a scan path as follows:

■ The first local device path it finds in its database in theUP state.

■ The first NDMP-attached drive path it finds in itsdatabase in the UP state.

Drive paths for the scan host

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For shared tape drives, only the scan host polls drives untila mount request is received from NetBackup. During amount request, NetBackup uses the host that requests themount to poll the shared drive.

This design enables NetBackup to support Dynamic LoopSwitching or SAN zones. Each tape drive needs to bedetected only from a single host. Each tape drive canpotentially have its own scan host that switches dynamicallyto process errors and continue availability. A central devicearbitrating component manages scan host assignments forshared drives. The arbitrating component also provides anetwork drive reservation system so that multipleNetBackup media servers can share a drive.

Polling a shared tape drive allows dynamic loop switchingand reduces the number of device accesses and reduces CPUtime. However, it cannot detect connectivity breaks (forexample, discontinuity in the Fibre Channel fabric) untilI/O occurs.

Shared tape drive polling

About the device allocation hostThe device allocation host is another name for the EMM server, when the EMMserver performs device allocation tasks for Shared Storage Option.

About reserving or releasing shared devicesThe Shared Storage Option does not load firmware in SAN devices or communicatewith hub or switch APIs. The Shared Storage Option can communicate with hubor switch APIs if you use the NetBackup shared_drive_notify script.

NetBackup runs the shared_drive_notify script when a shared drive is reservedor released.

The script requires the following parameters:

■ The name of the shared drive.

■ The name of the current scan host.

■ The operation, which is one of the following:

The host on which the script is executed needs SCSI access to thedrive until it is released.

RESERVED

141Introducing the Shared Storage OptionAbout reserving or releasing shared devices

Informational only. It does not change the fact that the host thatreserved the drive needs SCSI access.

ASSIGNED

Only the scan host needs SCSI access to the drive.RELEASED

The host that executes the script has become the scan host. A hostshould not become a scan host while the drive is RESERVED.

The scan host may change between a RESERVED operation and aRELEASED operation.

SCANHOST

The script resides in one of the following directories:

Windows: Install_path\VERITAS\Volmgr\bin

UNIX: /usr/openv/volmgr/bin/shared_drive_notify

Note: The script must be executable by the root user.

The script exits with status 0 upon successful completion.

How to share robotic libraries without using theShared Storage Option

You can share robotic tape libraries among multiple NetBackup media servers byusing any of the following methods:

■ Shared library supportNetBackup allows different drives within the same robotic library to beconfigured on different media servers. This capability is termed shared librarysupport. Robot types that support shared library are ACS, TL8, TLD, TLH, TLM.

■ Partitioned librariesSome robot vendors also let you partition libraries. One partitioned view ofthe robotic library includes one set of drives, while the other view has adifferent set of drives in the library. Partitions let two robotic control daemonson different control hosts manage the robotic library — possibly each for adifferent NetBackup master and media server environment.

■ Multiple master serversUse multiple NetBackup master servers that share a common media and devicemanagement domain. This means that the master servers use the same EMMserver.

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142

These capabilities are not related to Shared Storage Option and should not beconfused with Shared Storage Option.

Shared Storage Option terms and conceptsTable 15-1 describes the terms and the concepts relevant to understanding theShared Storage Option.

Table 15-1 Shared Storage Option terms and concepts

DefinitionTerm

The NetBackup Shared Storage Option is not the same as theSymantec Backup Exec Shared Storage Option. The Backup ExecSSO does not include support for UNIX servers and uses a differentmethod for drive arbitration.

Backup Exec SharedStorage Option

A NetBackup SAN media server backs up its own data to shareddrives. It cannot back up data on other NetBackup hosts or clients.Symantec licenses NetBackup SAN media servers.

SAN media servers

When the Shared Storage Option is installed, a tape drive that isshared among hosts is termed a shared drive. For the drives thatare attached to NDMP hosts, each NDMP attach host is consideredan additional host.

Shared drive

143Introducing the Shared Storage OptionShared Storage Option terms and concepts

Introducing the Shared Storage OptionShared Storage Option terms and concepts

144

Licensing the SharedStorage Option


■ About the Shared Storage Option license key

■ Licensing the Shared Storage Option

About the Shared Storage Option license keyThe Shared Storage Option is a feature that is licensed separately from baseNetBackup. The NetBackup Shared Storage Option license key is based on thenumber of physical tape drives to share. The key activates NetBackup to sharethe specific number of physical drives for which you are licensed.

See “Licensing the Shared Storage Option” on page 145.

Licensing the Shared Storage OptionNo special installation is required for the Shared Storage Option. When NetBackupsoftware is installed, the Shared Storage Option software also is installed. However,you must activate the feature by entering the Shared Storage Option license key.

Note:Enter the license key on the NetBackup master server. Also enter the licensekey on each NetBackup media server that you use for the Shared Storage Option.

16Chapter

To license SharedDisk

1 To add a license to a specific server, on the File menu, click Change Serverand then select the server.



4 Click Close.


See “About the Shared Storage Option license key” on page 145.

Licensing the Shared Storage OptionLicensing the Shared Storage Option

146

Configuring the SharedStorage Option


■ About Shared Storage Option prerequisites

■ About hardware configuration guidelines

■ About installing and configuring drivers

■ Verifying the connectivity

■ About configuring the Shared Storage Option in NetBackup

■ Verifying your Shared Storage Option configuration

About Shared Storage Option prerequisitesTo configure your hardware for use with Shared Storage Option, you must do thefollowing prerequisites:

■ Configure your SAN environment.

■ Attach robots and drives.

■ Ensure that all of the servers recognize the shared devices. Device recognitionmay depend on operating system configuration, as follows:

■ On UNIX or Linux servers, you may have to modify configuration files,such as the sg driver on Solaris systems.

■ On Windows servers, Windows recognizes devices automatically. However,in some instances you may have to install device drivers.

Some of the following tasks may be optional depending on your hardware:

17Chapter

■ Determine the physical location of each drive within the robot. Location usuallyis shown on the connectors to the drives or in the vendor documentation.This task may not be required if NetBackup device discovery accuratelydetermines drive location within the robot.

■ Connect all drives and all robots.

■ Install SAN connecting hardware (for example, bridges, switches, or hubs).

■ If fiber is part of your configuration and you use a SCSI-to-fiber bridge,determine the SCSI-to-Fibre Channel mapping for your tape devices.Hard-wired SCSI IDs are converted to Fibre Channel logical unit numbers(LUNs) that the hosts read. To ensure correct drive assignments, you shouldknow which LUNs map to which physical SCSI IDs. Use persistent LUN mappingif possible.Familiarity with the hardware and various vendor configuration tools helpyou accomplish this task. See the vendor documentation for your bridge.

■ Record the physical configuration.When you set up a Shared Storage Option configuration, record your hardwareinformation. Record the adapter, SCSI addresses, World Wide Names (WWNs),and Fibre Channel LUNs to which you connected each drive. Also, record theversion levels of firmware and drivers.

■ Install and configure the appropriate drivers. See your vendor documentationfor instructions.

■ On UNIX or Linux servers, create any device files that are needed. Dependingon the operating system, a reconfiguration system start (boot -r) may createthese files automatically.Create the device files for each drive; use the Fibre Channel LUNs of the drivesand adapters in the device file names. Add the names of the device files to yournotes to complete the correlation between device files and physical drivelocation.Use the NetBackup Device Configuration Guide and the man pages that areavailable with the operating system.

■ On UNIX servers, customize the operating system by modifying the appropriatesystem configuration files. This task requires knowledge of the system filesthat use the Shared Storage Option environment and their formats. Forexample, on Sun Solaris systems you may need to modify the sg, st, and HBAdriver files.Modify the HBA driver files to bind Fibre Channel devices (WWN) to a specifictarget ID. For procedures, see the operating system documentation.

■ For instructions on how to configure the HBA on Windows servers, see theHBA documentation from the vendor.

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148

■ Use any available hardware configuration interface to configure and ensurethat the configuration is what you expect. For example, on Windows serversyou can use the Hyperterminal interface to configure SCSI-to-fibre bridges.

Use the following order when you configure and verify the hardware:

■ Robot and shared drives

■ Bridges

■ Hub or switches

■ Hosts

■ If errors occur and you suspect the operating system, refer to the operatingsystem logs as described in your operating system documentation.

About hardware configuration guidelinesThe following are hardware configuration guidelines:

■ If you use SAN hardware from multiple vendors, problems may occur. Alwaysuse a SAN configuration and use firmware levels that the hardware vendorsupports.

■ Consult SAN device, HBA, and operating system documentation to determinehow to configure operating system tape drivers and pass-through drivers todetect your SAN devices.

■ Check your hub timer settings.

■ Use hard arbitrated loop physical addresses rather than soft addresses. Consultwith hardware suppliers to verify the recommended usage of their products.

■ Check the firmware levels of all your Fibre Channel hardware (for example,bridges). Use the most recent firmware level that is known to operate withother SAN hardware devices.

■ Try to duplicate SAN issues and problems using commands and utilities onthe host operating system.

■ Test both backup and restore capabilities. Backup jobs may completesuccessfully, but the data may be corrupted. For example, incorrect switchsettings may cause problems.

■ Ensure that your hardware and SAN configuration are operational and stablebefore adding Shared Storage Option software.

■ Test backup and restore capabilities with dedicated tape drives before youconfigure them as shared drives.

149Configuring the Shared Storage OptionAbout hardware configuration guidelines

■ For large configurations, begin drive sharing with a few tape drives and twoor three media servers (or NetBackup SAN media servers).

■ Configuration and troubleshooting processes are easier on smallerconfigurations. If possible, create multiple and independent Shared StorageOption configurations with subsets of servers sharing subsets of SAN-attacheddrives.

■ Use the correct start order for your Fibre Channel hardware, as follows:

■ Robots or drives

■ Bridges

■ Hubs or switches

■ Hosts

■ The start sequence is longer for some devices than others. To verify that thehardware starts completely, examine indicator lights. A green light oftenindicates a completed start sequence.

About installing and configuring driversOn the media server systems, install and configure drivers and modify theappropriate system configuration files.

Guidance about the NetBackup requirements is available.

See the NetBackup Device Configuration Guide.

Verifying the connectivityTest your hardware configuration before you configure Shared Storage Optionin NetBackup. This task is very important and is often overlooked.

Note the following points:

■ Verify that all of your servers (master and media) can communicate with oneanother. To do so, use the ping command from each server to every otherserver. Be sure to pingby host name to verify that the name resolution methodsfunction properly.

■ Use the NetBackup bpclntcmd utility to resolve IP addresses into host names.For more information, see the NetBackup Troubleshooting Guide and theNetBackup Commands Reference Guide.

■ Use operating system and NetBackup commands and tools to verify that thedevices are configured correctly. Make sure that the operating system detects

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150

the devices on the SAN before you configure the Shared Storage Option. If theconfiguration does not work in the operating system, it does not work for theShared Storage Option.For example, on Solaris systems you can use the mt -f tapename status

command to determine tape drive status.

■ For more information and examples, see the appropriate operating systemchapter in the NetBackup Device Configuration Guide.

About configuring the Shared Storage Option inNetBackup

You must configure your shared drives, storage units, and backup policies.

See “About configuring SSO in NetBackup”on page 151.

About configuring SSO in NetBackup

See “Configuring Shared Storage Optiondevices in NetBackup” on page 151.

Configuring Shared Storage Option devicesin NetBackup

See “About adding Shared Storage Optionconfiguration options” on page 152.

About adding Shared Storage Optionconfiguration options

See “About configuring NetBackup storageunits and backup policies” on page 152.

About configuring NetBackup storage unitsand backup policies

About configuring SSO in NetBackupSymantec recommends that you use the Device Configuration Wizard to configureShared Storage Option in NetBackup. Identifying devices when you configureshared devices is difficult, and the wizard increases the likelihood of a successfulconfiguration.

With the Device Configuration Wizard, you should configure all shared drivesfrom one host (usually the master server). Launch the wizard only one time withthe current host set to the master server. You then indicate a list of media serversor NetBackup SAN media servers (in the Device Hosts screen). The wizardconfigures devices on all of the media servers you selected, and these hosts readthe shared configuration information.

Configuring Shared Storage Option devices in NetBackupSymantec recommends that you use the DeviceConfigurationWizard to configureshared drives. The wizard guides you through the steps to configure shared drives.

151Configuring the Shared Storage OptionAbout configuring the Shared Storage Option in NetBackup

Be sure to review the limitations of the wizard in the wizard help.

To start the Device Configuration Wizard

1 In the NetBackup Administration Console, expand Media and DeviceManagement.

2 Click Configure Storage Devices.

About adding Shared Storage Option configuration optionsYou can fine-tune your configuration by adding Shared Storage Option optionsto the vm.conf Media Manager configuration file.

For more information, see "The Media Manager configuration file" in the following:

■ NetBackup Administrator’s Guide for UNIX and Linux, Volume II

■ NetBackup Administrator’s Guide for Windows, Volume II.

About configuring NetBackup storage units and backup policiesYou must configure storage units and policies for your shared drives. If you usedthe Device Configuration Wizard to configure the shared drives, you may haveconfigured storage units and policies already.

For more information, see the following:


■ NetBackup Administrator’s Guide for Windows, Volume I.

Configure storage units and backup policies as follows:

In each storage unit definition, logically define the robotand the shared drives for that media server. For theMaximum concurrent drives used for backup, specify thetotal number of all shared drives in the robot. When youconfigure storage units, select a single media server.Alternatively, you can allow NetBackup to select the mediaserver to use at the time of the backup. For example, youcan configure a single storage unit that any media serverthat shares the storage unit can use.

Configuring storage units foreach media server

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152

How you define a policy for a media server depends on yourmedia server license, as follows:

■ For a media server that is licensed for Shared StorageOption, the policy can back up the media server and anyother NetBackup clients.

■ For a NetBackup SAN media server, only the SAN mediaserver can be backed up.

A license for a regular media server provides the greatestflexibility; a license for a NetBackup SAN media server ismore restrictive.

For a policy for the clients that you want to back upanywhere in your configuration, you can choose anyavailable storage unit. Alternatively, you can use storageunit groups (prioritized storage units).

Configuring a backup policyfor each media server

Verifying your Shared Storage Option configurationIn a Shared Storage Option configuration, a shared drive must have the samelogical name (drive name) on all of the NetBackup media servers. If the driveresides in a robotic library, it also must use the same drive number in the library.This section describes some tools you can use to verify your configuration.

How you verify that your configuration is set up correctly depends on your devicesand how you configured Shared Storage Option, as follows:

■ If you have serialized devices, Symantec recommends that you use the DeviceConfiguration Wizard. The wizard verifies your configuration.

■ If you have non-serialized devices, see the Symantec support site for a technote with instructions about how to verify your configuration. The tech notetitle is "Verifying a Shared Storage Option (SSO) Configuration withNon-Serialized Devices."

■ If you have serialized devices but you did not use the Device ConfigurationWizard , use the following procedure to verify your configuration.

The verification procedures use the NetBackup scan and tpconfig commands.

These commands are located in the following directory:

■ usr/openv/volmgr/bin (UNIX and Linux)

■ C:\Program Files\VERITAS\Volmgr\bin (Windows)

In the following example the ADIC robotic library has six drives, but only drives5 and 6 are configured on this particular host.

153Configuring the Shared Storage OptionVerifying your Shared Storage Option configuration

Perform the verification on all of the NetBackup servers in your configuration.Ensure that each shared drive has the same logical drive name and same drivenumber ID on each media server that shares the drive.

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154

To verify a manually-configured Shared Storage Option configuration

1 Execute tpconfig -d or tpconfig -dl. For NDMP devices, use tpautoconf-probe -ndmp_host_name host_list.

The output from tpconfig shows the logical names NetBackup assigns totape drives. The following example shows drive number 5 is namedQUANTUM.DLT7000.000 and drive number 6 is namedQUANTUM.DLT7000.001:

Id DriveName Type Residence

Drive Path Status

***************************************************************

0 QUANTUM.DLT7000.000 dlt TLD(0) DRIVE=5

/dev/st/nh3c0t5l0 UP

1 QUANTUM.DLT.7000.001 dlt TLD(0) DRIVE=6

/dev/st/nh3c0t1l0 UP

Currently defined robotics are:

TLD(0) robotic path = /dev/sg/h3c0t0l0

EMM server = norway


2 Execute the scan command. The scan output shows the robot and the driveproperties.

The following is example output:

*************************************************************

********************** SDT_TAPE **************************

********************** SDT_CHANGER **************************

*************************************************************

Device Name : "/dev/sg/h3c0t0l0"

Passthru Name: "/dev/sg/h3c0t0l0"

Volume Header: ""

Port: -1; Bus: -1; Target: -1; LUN: -1

Inquiry : "ADIC Scalar 100 3.10"

Vendor ID : "ADIC "

Product ID : "Scalar 100 "

Product Rev: "3.10"

Serial Number: "ADIC009K0340314"

WWN : ""

WWN Id Type : 0

Device Identifier: ""

Device Type : SDT_CHANGER

NetBackup Robot Type: 6

Removable : Yes

Device Supports: SCSI-2

Number of Drives : 6

Number of Slots : 50

Number of Media Access Ports: 10

Drive 1 Serial Number : "PXB03S0979"

Drive 2 Serial Number : "PXB03S0913"

Drive 3 Serial Number : "CXA04S2051"

Drive 4 Serial Number : "PXA31S1787"



Flags : 0x0

Reason: 0x0

------------------------------------------------------------

Device Name : "/dev/st/nh3c0t5l0"


Volume Header: ""


Inquiry : "QUANTUM DLT7000 2561"

Vendor ID : "QUANTUM "

Product ID : "DLT7000 "


156

Product Rev: "2561"

Serial Number: "PXA37S3261"

WWN : ""

WWN Id Type : 0


Device Type : SDT_TAPE

NetBackup Drive Type: 9

Removable : Yes


Flags : 0x4

Reason: 0x0

------------------------------------------------------------

Device Name : "/dev/st/nh3c0t1l0"


Volume Header: ""


Inquiry : "QUANTUM DLT7000 296B"

Vendor ID : "QUANTUM "

Product ID : "DLT7000 "

Product Rev: "296B"

Serial Number: "PXA50S2276"

WWN : ""

WWN Id Type : 0


Device Type : SDT_TAPE

NetBackup Drive Type: 9

Removable : Yes


Flags : 0x4

Reason: 0x0

3 For each tape drive in the tpconfig output, do the following:

■ Use the device file name from the tpconfig output to locate the tape drivein the scan output.

Step 1 shows device file pathnames /dev/st/nh3c0t5l0 and/dev/st/nh3c0t1l0.

■ Determine the serial number of the drive in the scan output. "Tape" in thedevice type field identifies a tape drive.Step 2 shows example scan output shows the following:

The drive /dev/st/nh3c0t5l0 serial number is PXA37S3261.The drive /dev/st/nh3c0t1l0 serial number is PXA50S2276.


■ Verify that the serial number for the drive matches the serial number inthe output from the robot section of scan. "Changer" in the device typefield identifies a robot.In the previous examples, the serial numbers match.


158

Using the Shared StorageOption


■ Device Monitor and Shared Storage Option

■ Viewing SSO summary reports

■ About adding SSO configuration options

Device Monitor and Shared Storage OptionYou can use the NetBackup Administration Console Device Monitor to obtaininformation about your Shared Storage Option configuration and manage yourshared drives. See the following:

For more information about the Device Monitor, see theNetBackupAdministrator’sGuide, Volume I.

Table 18-1 describes information you can glean from the NetBackupAdministration Console Device Monitor.

Table 18-1 Device Monitor information

InformationAction

The Control and DeviceHost columns contain shared driveinformation.

Drive Status pane

For a shared drive, the Change Mode dialog contains a listof all paths to the selected drive. You can choose any numberof paths to which the mode change applies.

Changing the operating modefor a shared drive

18Chapter

Table 18-1 Device Monitor information (continued)

InformationAction

For a shared drive, the Change Drive Comment dialog boxcontains the following:

■ A list of all paths to the selected drive

■ The current drive comment for each combination.

You can choose any number of paths to which the changesapply.

Adding or changing acomment for a shared drive

The three available drive cleaning functions are used withshared drives are as follows:

■ Clean NowIn the list of hosts that share the drive, you can chooseonly one host on which the function applies.

■ Reset Mount TimeIn the list of hosts that share the drive, you can chooseany number of hosts on which the function applies.

■ Set Cleaning FrequencySupported for shared drives.

Performing drive cleaningfunctions for a shared drive

Viewing SSO summary reportsYou can view Shared Storage Option Summary reports.

See “Shared Storage Option summary reports” on page 161.

To view SSO summary reports

1 In the NetBackup Administration Console, in the left pane, expand Mediaand Device Management > Device Monitor.

2 On the Actions menu, select View Status of Shared Drives.

3 In the Status of Shared Drives dialog box, select a device allocation host (orhosts) from the list.

4 Use Add to move the host to the list of hosts to scan.

5 Click OK.

The Shared Drive Summary and Device Allocation Host Summary appearin the two lower panes of the dialog.

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160

Shared Storage Option summary reportsThe following topic applies only to NetBackup Enterprise Server.

The following two reports contain the following information about the drives andhosts:

■ The Shared Drive Summary shows the following:

■ Drive name

■ Device allocation host

■ Number of registered hosts

■ Drive reservation status

■ Hosts that reserve the drive

■ Current scan host

■ The Device Allocation Host Summary shows the following:

■ Device allocation host

■ Host name of the registered host

■ Number of registered and reserved drives

■ Availability status

■ Scan ability factor

■ Scan status (if the host is scan host for at least one SSO drive)

About adding SSO configuration optionsYou can fine-tune your configuration by adding Shared Storage Option optionsto the vm.conf Media Manager configuration file.

For more information, see "The Media Manager configuration file" in the following:

■ NetBackup Administrator’s Guide for UNIX and Linux, Volume II

■ NetBackup Administrator’s Guide for Windows, Volume II.

161Using the Shared Storage OptionAbout adding SSO configuration options

Using the Shared Storage OptionAbout adding SSO configuration options

162

Troubleshooting the SharedStorage Option


■ Operating system assistance

■ Common configuration issues with Shared Storage Option

■ Frequently asked questions about Shared Storage Option

Operating system assistanceIf errors occur during the installation or configuration of the shared devices andyou suspect problems with the operating system, refer to the following:

■ Operating system logs, as described in the operating system documents.

■ NetBackup logs.

■ Operating system man pages (UNIX or Linux servers only).

■ The NetBackup Device Configuration Guide.

Common configuration issues with Shared StorageOption

If you cannot obtain full functionality after you configure SSO, consider thefollowing:

■ Verify that the SAN hardware uses current firmware or drivers. Hardwareincludes hubs, switches, HBAs, and bridges.

19Chapter

■ Verify that the JNI HBA failover value was set to zero to avoid I/O hangs. Thisvalue applies to bridges and HBAs.

■ Verify that the HBAs with the SCSI-3 protocols are compatible with theoperating system drivers.

■ Verify that your cluster configuration is supported.For more information about cluster configuration, see theNetBackup ReleaseNotes

■ Verify that all of your Fibre Channel devices support your Fibre Channeltopology. For example, in a switched fabric topology, ensure that all devicessupported switched fabric.

■ Verify that Shared Storage Option is licensed on each server. To do so, selectHelp > License keys from the NetBackup Administration Console on eachserver. To enable Shared Storage Option, enter the Shared Storage Optionlicense key on each server.

■ Verify that you configured Shared Storage Option from the master server. Youmust configure SSO from the master server not from a media server (or SANmedia server).

■ Verify that you configured the same robot control host on every host.Remember that except for ACS and TLM robot types, only one host controlsthe robot.

■ Verify that you used the Device Configuration Wizard rather than thetpconfigutility to configure Shared Storage Option. The wizard coordinatesconfiguration with all hosts that share the drives. The tpconfig utility maycreate inconsistent configurations.

■ Verify that you selected the appropriate device hosts in the DeviceConfiguration Wizard , including the host with robotic control.

■ Fibre Channel connections to the drives and the robots cause increasedcomplexity in a NetBackup device configuration. On some operating systems,SCSI-to-fibre bridges may result in inconsistencies in the device paths whenyou restart a host. After a restart of the host, the device configuration shouldbe verified.

■ Verify that names across all systems that share the drives are consistent.

■ Test the drive paths on every media server.

■ Define NetBackup storage units for each media server. Do not select anyavailable media server in the storage units.

Troubleshooting the Shared Storage OptionCommon configuration issues with Shared Storage Option

164

■ Verify that you did not interrupt a data path during a backup. If you do, theNetBackup job fails. It can fail with media write errors or it may hang and haveto be terminated manually.

■ Verify that you do not use Berkeley-style close on the tape path (UNIX or Linuxservers only).

■ On Solaris systems, verify the following:

■ That you added tape configuration list entries in /kernel/drv/st.conf (ifneeded).

■ That you defined configuration entries for expanded targets and LUNs insg.links and sg.conf files. If you see problems with the entries in the/etc/devlink.tab file (created from sg.links), verify the following:

The first entry uses hexadecimal notation for the target and LUN. Thesecond entry uses decimal notation for the target and LUN.Use a single tab character between the entries; do not use a space or a spaceand a tab character.

■ That you configured the operating system to force load the sg/st/fcaw

drivers.

For more information, see the Solaris chapter of the NetBackup DeviceConfiguration Guide.

Frequently asked questions about Shared StorageOption

Q. What combinations of SAN hardware components are supported for SharedStorage Option?

A. Shared Storage Option works with many hardware combinations. Symantechas an open policy on hardware support for Shared Storage Option. Consult yourhardware suppliers to verify the interoperability of their products.

A list of SAN components that have been tested with NetBackup is available onthe Symantec support Web site:

http://entsupport.symantec.com

Q. If NetBackup allocates four drives to a server and it finishes with two of thedrives, does NetBackup reallocate the two drives? Or does NetBackup wait untilthe backup schedule that uses the four drives is completely finished before itreallocates the drives?

A. The two available drives are reallocated and used. NetBackup monitors drivestatus and notifies the NetBackup scheduler of drive availability.

165Troubleshooting the Shared Storage OptionFrequently asked questions about Shared Storage Option

Q. Does NetBackup Shared Storage Option use the IP protocol or the SCSI protocol?

A. Both. IP protocol is used to provide coordination between servers. SharedStorage Option uses SCSI protocol (SCSI reserve) as an added layer of protection.

Troubleshooting the Shared Storage OptionFrequently asked questions about Shared Storage Option

166

AACS or TLM robot types 139AdvancedDisk

and CIFS 23and NFS 23license key for 20

Arbitrated Loop Physical Address (ALPA) 149

BBackup Exec 143bpclntcmd utility 150

CCloud storage 72configuring

devices 147configuring OpenStorage optimized synthetic

backups 102

Ddevice

configuration wizard 151drivers 147–148files 148

device allocation host 139, 141disk appliance

plug-in 62duplicating images to another NetBackup domain

about 64, 66

Eexamples

SSO components configuration 138

Ffirmware levels 148–149

HHyperTerminal 149

Iinstalling

the OpenStorage vendor plug-in 78

Llicense key

for AdvancedDisk 20for Shared Storage Option 145

license keys 137

Mmaximum concurrent drives for backup 152Media server storage unit setting 34, 93

Nnbemm 138nbemm/DA

definition 138Nirvanix 72

changing storage server properties 85the Nirvanix vendor plug-in 62

OOpenStorage

installing the vendor plug-in 78Nirvanix 72plug-in 62

OpenStorage disk poolupdating 119

OpenStorage optimized synthetic backupsabout 66configuring 102

OpenStorage storage serverupdating 108

OpenStorage volume spanningabout 63

optimized duplicationconfiguring behavior for OpenStorage 97OpenStorage 64

Index

optimized synthetic backupsconfiguring OpenStorage 102OpenStorage 66

overview ofshared drives 137

Pplug-in

for a disk appliance 62for Nirvanix storage 62

Rreplication

about duplicating images to another NetBackupdomain 64, 66

robotsharing without SSO 142

SSAN media server 139, 143SAN Shared Storage Option (see SSO) 137scan host 138, 140scripts

shared_drive_notify 141SCSI-to-fibre

bridges 149Servers

SAN media server 139shared drives

definition 143shared drives (see SSO) 137shared library support 142shared robots

without SSO 142Shared Storage Option. See SSO

license key for 145shared storage option

key 137shared_drive_notify script 141SharedDisk storage units 133spanning volumes

OpenStorage 63SSO

definition 137device allocation host 139, 141Device Allocation Host Summary 161hardware requirements 137scan host 138, 140

SSO (continued)Shared Drive Summary 161supported SAN hardware 165terminology 143

Storage area network (SAN) 137, 143, 147, 149storage server

about OpenSorage 61changing properties for Nirvanix 85

storage unit propertiesOpenStorage 92

storage unit recommendationsOpenStorage 94

supportedSAN hardware 165

Symantec Backup Exec 143

Ttested SAN components 165troubleshooting

AdvancedDisk disk failure 52AdvancedDisk volume state changes to DOWN

when volume is unmounted 52multiple AdvancedDisk storage servers on

Windows 51unable to access AdvancedDisk storage 51

Uupdating an OpenStorage disk pool 119updating an OpenStorage storage server 108

Vvolume spanning

OpenStorage 63

Wwizard

device configuration 151shared drive configuration 151

Index168

netbackup shared storage guide

Documents

installpathnetbackupbinadmincmd

installpathnetbackupdbconfig

low water

veritas unified

high water

directs higher

nirvanix management

netbackup