5 1 0:NetApp Storage Snapshots Backup

Overview

SEP sesam supports NetApp volume-based snapshots as backup targets.

SEP sesam has the capability to utilize hardware storage snapshots for backup. NetApp snapshots are extremely efficient, have almost no I/O overhead and allow storage of up to 255 snapshot copies per WAFL volume. Typically, they are used to keep copies of files, directory hierarchies, LUNs, and/or application data recoverable with minimal effort.

A snapshot is not an actual copy of the data, but a virtual copy. Typically, multiple snapshots are created at at different points in time to present multiple virtual views of the file system at a given point in time. However, the snapshots are stored in the same location as the original data and are therefore completely dependent on the reliability of the source. If anything happens to the volume on which a snapshot resides, the snapshot is no longer usable.

SEP sesam NetApp backup and restore integration

SEP sesam provides backup and restore integration built on NetApp Snapshot copies. You need to configure a NetApp Snap Store to use hardware snapshots as common backups (and be able to restore the system using the snapshots). By using NetApp snapshots, SEP sesam provides low-impact backups and allows you to restore individual files quickly and easily. Note that the snapshots are both a backup source and target at the same time, so it is very important to have an effective backup strategy in place.

Prerequisites

• SEP sesam Server version ≥ 4.4.3 Beefalo. Check the hardware requirements for SEP sesam Server, RDS or SEP sesam Client.
• SEP sesam data mover for NetApp on Linux that matches the version of your SEP sesam Server. For details, see SEP sesam data mover for NetApp (SDM-NA).
• Make sure that a data mover is able to mount volumes via NFS.

License requirements

This functionality requires a SEP sesam NDMP agent for NetApp license.

Configuration steps

1. Create a new data store with the type NetApp Snap Store. The data store is created on the SEP sesam Server with fixed values and is only used to save metadata.
2. Create at least one media pool for this data store.
3. Add a NetApp server as SEP sesam client with the platform UNIX and operating system NetApp.
4. Configure a backup for the NetApp snapshots:
   • In the backup task, use the NetApp (not NDMP!) task type.
   • In the backup event, select the media pool configured for NetApp Snap Store.

Configuring a NetApp Snap Store

SEP sesam NetApp Snap Store is a special data store type optimized for storing backups of hardware snapshots. Note that a special drive is required for every NetApp volume, but you only have to create one NetApp Snap Store for all your NetApp snapshots. Snap store is created on SEP sesam Server with fixed values and is only used to save metadata.

1. In the Main selection -> Components, click Data Stores to display the data store contents frame.
2. From the Data Stores menu, select New Data Store. A New Data Store dialog is displayed.
3. In the Name field, enter a name for your NetApp Snap Store.
4. From the Store type drop-down list, select NetApp Snap Store.


5. Make sure that the option Create drive is checked under the Drive parameter properties. The predefined value for the drive is automatically added to the Drive number field.
6. Select Create new drive group. You can modify the name for your NetApp Snap Store dedicated group.
7. The predefined number of channels is already displayed in the Max. channels drop-down list and cannot be changed. The number of available channels depends on your SEP sesam Server package. For more details, see Licensing.
   
8. Under the Size properties, specify or modify the following:
   • Capacity: Specify the size (in GiB) of the partition for backups.
   • High watermark: Specify the value (in GiB) for the high watermark (HWM). The HWM defines the upper value for used disk space on the data store. When this value is reached, a purge process is triggered for all EOL-free (End-of-Lifetime) savesets, freeing up the capacity of the data store.

The Disk space usage properties are used by SEP sesam to report the following:

• Used: Total used space on the partition.
• Total: Maximum available space on the partition as reported by the operating system.
• Free: Available disk space for SEP sesam.

After you have configured a data store for NetApp, you will be prompted to configure a media pool. Note that you have to create at least one dedicated media pool for NetApp Snap Store which is used for backup to disks (disk storage). You can also configure a media pool later via Main Selection -> Media Pools -> New Media Pool.

Configuring a NetApp-related media pool

In the Media Pool window, specify the required fields:

• Name: Specify a name for a media pool, for example, NetApp_day (for daily backups), NetApp_week (for weekly backups), etc.
• Drive group: From the drop-down list of all available drive groups, select a previously created NetApp drive group to which a media pool will be attached. For details on drive groups, see Drives Overview.
• Retention time [Days]: Specify the retention time for a media pool. The retention time period starts with the date a snapshot is written to the media and lasts for the period defined by the media pool's retention time (in days). When protection (EOL) expires, the expired snapshots are removed. For details, see Automatic Retention (EOL) Management.
  Click OK.

Tip

You can check which media pools are configured with a data store in the data store properties: Using the GUI: Main Selection -> Data Stores -> double-click the NetApp Snap Store -> select the Media tab -> clicking the media pool Using Web UI. Click the name of a data store to display its properties, then use the Media Pools, Media, Drives tab to view the configured media pools and media, or use the Dependencies tab to view the diagram of all dependencies of the datastore and Drives - RDS (first tab) or the datastore and Media Pools - Drive Groups - Drives - RDS (second tab). Hovering the cursor over the diagram shows a tooltip with details of each object.

Adding the NetApp server as a SEP sesam Client

1. In the Main selection -> Components -> Clients, select the desired location and then click New Client. Enter the name of your NetApp server. The name has to be resolvable either via DNS or the hosts file.
2. From the Platform drop-down list, select UNIX. Then select NetApp as the Operating system.
PROXY communication method is set by default in the Access mode.


3. Then switch to the NetApp Access and configure the access by setting the user name and password and selecting your SEP sesam Server as data mover.

Configuring NetApp snapshot backup

Once you have configured the NetApp Snap Store and dedicated media pool(s) and your NetApp server is part of SEP sesam environment, configure NetApp snapshot backup. You need to create a backup task (select a volume to back up), then set up a backup schedule (specify when you want to back up your data) and link a backup event with it (specify how to back up the data and where to back up the data). For general details on how to configure a backup and its prerequisites, see Standard Backup Procedure. However, configuring a NetApp backup differs slightly from the standard procedure and requires some NetApp-specific steps, which are described below.

	Note
	A backup task can only back up one volume at a time. If you want to back up multiple volumes, you have to create a separate backup task for each volume and then group the tasks using a task group.

1. In the Main Selection -> Tasks -> By Clients, select the NetApp client and then click New Backup Task. The New backup task window is displayed.
2. Specify the Source. Browse the NetApp system by clicking the Browse button (large arrow) and select a volume to back up from the list of volumes. You cannot back up multiple volumes with one backup task, so you have to create a backup task for each volume.
   Selecting the source automatically sets the task type to NetApp. You have to enter the task name (e.g., NetApp_vol0) manually.
3. Optionally, click the corresponding tabs in the New Backup Task window to define additional options. Then click OK to create the task.
   
   
4. Configure a schedule for your backup task, as described in Creating a schedule. You can also use an existing schedule (that you configured earlier) to link with a backup event.
5. In the Main Selection -> Scheduling select the schedule you want to use for the NetApp backup, then click New Backup Event. Note that COPY is the only supported backup level for backup to NetApp Snap Store. For more information on configuring a backup event and available options, see Creating a Backup Event.
6. Under Object, select the NetApp task (e.g. NetApp_vol0) to which you want to link this event.
7. From the Media pool drop-down list, select the NetApp media pool which you have configured for NetApp Snap Store.
8. Specify the drive number of the drive to be used to write the data. Note that a configured drive is required for each NetApp volume.

	Tip
	You can use the Follow-up Event field to configure additional events to be triggered on the SEP sesam Server once the initial event has completed. You can also use the Migration task option to select a follow-up migration task. For details, see Follow-up events.

Monitoring backup

You can view the status of your backup jobs in the GUI (Monitoring -> Last Backup State or Job State -> Backups) or SEP sesam Web UI. The backup status overview provides detailed information about the last run of backup jobs, including task name, start and stop time of the last backup, backup level, data size, throughput, assigned media pool, etc.

See also

NetApp Storage Snapshots Restore – NetApp CIFS Backup – Follow-up Events

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