Source:HPE StoreOnce Replication - Jaglion

Overview

You can use Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) StoreOnce Catalyst stores as backup storage. HPE StoreOnce fully controls backup data and enables efficient replication, deduplication, encryption and recovery. SEP sesam supports replication of savesets from one HPE Catalyst store to another, and from HPE Catalyst store to an external object storage – HPE Cloud Bank Storage (HPE StoreOnce v. ≥ 3.18) or HPE Cloud Volumes Storage (HPE StoreOnce v. ≥ 4.2.3).

HPE Cloud Bank Storage

SEP sesam supports HPE Cloud Bank Storage as a Catalyst copy target for replicating your data. HPE Cloud Bank Storage stores data to public or private cloud storage from various services, i.e., Amazon AWS S3, Microsoft Azure, and Scality, as opposed to regular HPE StoreOnce Catalyst stores where data is written to disk in the HPE StoreOnce system. It is especially suitable for long-term retention and archiving of backups and offsite backup copies intended for disaster recovery. It also allows you to follow the 3-2-1 backup strategy. For details, see SEP sesam HPE StoreOnce Configuration.

HPE Cloud Volumes

With v. 5.0.0 Jaglion, you can also back up and replicate data from local Catalyst store (not Cloud Bank store) to HPE Cloud Volumes. Note that replication from HPE Cloud Volumes to local HPE StoreOnce Catalyst store or Cloud Bank Storage is not supported. For details, see Backup to HPE Cloud Volumes.

Configuration

Configuring Cloud Bank store and HPE Cloud Volumes storage as replication targets is pretty straightforward and does not differ much from the configuration of a regular Catalyst store.

• Before you configure SEP sesam replication for HPE StoreOnce, your HPE StoreOnce backup appliance must be set up properly with all requirements met (e.g., minimum supported version of HPE system, required licenses for HPE StoreOnce Catalyst store and HPE Cloud Bank store, etc.), as described in HPE StoreOnce Configuration.
• When replicating to HPE Cloud Volumes, some special requirements and restrictions also apply.

HPE StoreOnce replication workflow

The replication process uses the following workflow:

1. Catalyst store is created in the StoreOnce system.
2. All backed up data is sent from the backup server (SEP sesam Server or RDS) to StoreOnce, where the data is deduplicated and stored in the HPE Catalyst store.
3. The deduplicated data is replicated to a secondary HPE StoreOnce Catalyst store, HPE Cloud Bank Store, or HPE Cloud Volumes.

Configuring HPE StoreOnce replication with SEP sesam

SEP sesam HPE StoreOnce replication enables you to replicate data between the HPE Catalyst store and another HPE (remote) Catalyst store, HPE Cloud Bank store or HPE Cloud Volumes. SEP sesam replication only searches for new blocks of data in the source media pool and replicates these changes to a target media pool according to a defined schedule. Replication means that only changed data blocks are sent over a network and replicated to the target server. This reduces the data transferred over the network and gives you the ability to control your network usage by scheduling replication. For details on SEP sesam replication and its prerequisites, see About Replication.

	Tip
	If you prefer to watch a video, you can learn all the steps of the replication procedure by watching Catalyst-based backup, replication and restore of HPE StoreOnce with SEP sesam on the SEP sesam YouTube channel.

Step-by-step procedure

To replicate data from HPE remote Catalyst store to HPE Cloud Bank store (recommended), HPE remote Catalyst store or HPE Cloud Volumes (in v. ≥ 5.0.0 Jaglion), proceed as follows:

1. Create HPE StoreOnce Catalyst store.
2. In order to replicate to HPE Cloud Bank Storage, first set up the HPE Cloud Bank store(s) using the HPE StoreOnce Management Console and enter the required credentials (for Amazon AWS S3 or Microsoft Azure object store, respectively).
3. In SEP sesam, configure two different HPE StoreOnce data stores according to your HPE StoreOnce Catalyst stores configuration (local, remote, Cloud Bank, or HPE Cloud Volumes).
4. Create media pools for your HPE StoreOnce stores; replication requires one source media pool and one target media pool.
5. Run a test backup to make sure that your backup works properly.
6. Then create a replication task for the HPE Catalyst store.

Creating HPE StoreOnce Cloud Bank store

• As of v. 4.4.3 Beefalo V2 (HPE StoreOnce v. ≥ 4.1), SEP sesam supports HPE Cloud Bank (public or private cloud) storage as a Catalyst copy target for replicating or restoring your data.
• With v. 5.0.0 Jaglion you can also use HPE Cloud Volumes to replicate your data.

Creating the Cloud Bank store is similar to creating a Catalyst store with some additional steps described below.

1. In the StoreOnce menu -> Data Services -> Cloud Bank Stores, click the Create Store option in the top right corner. The Create Store window opens.
2. Enter the name for your Cloud Bank store. The exact name is needed to add the Cloud Bank to the SEP sesam environment later, so write it down. Use underscores (_) or hyphens (-) instead of spaces.
3. From the Service Provider drop-down list, select the target object store, e.g., Amazon, Azure, etc. The available options depend on the selected service provider.
4. Enter the Storage Account Name/Access Key and Account Key/Secret Key of your object store storage account.
5. Enter the Container Name/Bucket Name of the object store storage account container.
Click OK.
6. Optionally, under Security Settings and Advanced Settings, set other configuration settings, e.g., StoreOnce encryption, transfer policy, etc., as described in Creating an HPE StoreOnce Catalyst store.


7. Click Create to create your first Cloud Bank store. Then repeat the procedure to create additional Cloud Bank stores.

Once your Cloud Bank store is created, configure its Client Access permission, as described in Creating an HPE StoreOnce Catalyst store.

Configuring HPE StoreOnce data stores

Once your HPE StoreOnce appliance is set up and Catalyst stores and Cloud Bank stores are created, you can configure HPE data stores in the GUI. SEP sesam HPE StoreOnce data store is a special device type used for writing savesets directly to HPE StoreOnce Catalyst stores.

You have to configure two different HPE StoreOnce data stores for replication. The first data store (Catalyst store) is used as the replication source and the second as the replication target (remote Catalyst store, Cloud Bank store or HPE Cloud Volume store). You can also replicate the data from the remote Catalyst store or Cloud Bank store back to the Catalyst store.

	Note
	Replication from HPE Cloud Volumes store to local HPE StoreOnce Catalyst store or Cloud Bank store is not supported.

When configuring the stores, you have to select the relevant store type HPE StoreOnce or HPE Cloud Bank Store and specify your credentials, as described in SEP sesam HPE StoreOnce Configuration.

Creating media pools

Each data store requires a media pool. Note that you can create media pools during the data store configuration by clicking the Create Media Pool button or later in the HPE StoreOnce/Cloud Bank/HPE Cloud Volume data store properties, as described here.

Replication requires a source and a target media pool to where the data is replicated.

1. Double-click the relevant HPE StoreOnce data store and in the Properties window click Create Media Pool.
2. Enter a media pool name, for example, MP_source_StoreOnce_weekly.
3. Set the Retention time for which the media in the pool are protected from writing (see Managing EOL).

	Note
	If immutability (retention) period is set when the Catalyst store is created, the data is protected for the specified period of time even if the SEP sesam EOL has expired. If the SEP sesam EOL is longer than the defined immutability period, the data is protected as defined by SEP sesam.

Once you created a source media pool, create another - target media pool for your second HPE StoreOnce/Cloud Bank store, for example, MP_target_StoreOnce_weekly.

Testing your backups

To make sure that your data is backed up properly, test the backup on both HPE StoreOnce stores.

1. Create a new backup task: In the Main Selection -> Tasks -> By Clients, select your HPE StoreOnce client and then click New Backup Task.
2. Configure your backup task and save it. For details, see Creating a backup task.
3. Test the backup on the source and target HPE StoreOnce data store: From the menu bar, select Activities -> Immediate start -> Backup. In the Immediate start: Backup dialog, select a source/target media pool as the target media pool for backup. Click Start and check if your backup performed successfully.

Creating a replication task

If your test backups finished successfully, create a replication task for your Catalyst store.

1. In Main selection -> Tasks -> Replication Tasks, click New Replication Task. The Replication Task window is displayed.
2. In the Name field, enter a meaningful name for the replication task, e.g., rep-source_StoreOnce_mediapool-to-target_StoreOnce_mediapool.
3. Under Media Pool, specify the following:
• Pool: Select the source media pool from which the data will be replicated, e.g., MP_source_StoreOnce_weekly.
• Drive: Select the drive number of the drive that will be used to read the data. By selecting the source media pool, the drive number is set automatically. However, you can also select another drive from the drop-down list.
• Interface: Optionally, from the drop-down list select the network interface of the RDS through which the data transfer will be executed. Note that if the source and target HPE Catalyst stores are connected to the same RDS via Fibre Channel, you must select the interface of the target Catalyst store from the drop-down list, otherwise replication may fail.
4. Under Destination, specify the following:
• Pool: Select the target media pool to which the data will be replicated, e.g., MP_target_StoreOnce_weekly.
• Drive: Select the drive number of the drive that will be used to write the data.
• Interface: From the drop-down list select the network interface of the RDS through which the data transfer will be executed. Note that if the source and target HPE Catalyst stores are connected to the same RDS via Fibre Channel, you must select the interface of the target Catalyst store from the drop-down list, otherwise replication may fail.
5. To define the time frame of the backups that will be replicated, select Relative backup date and select the appropriate values for the From/To fields. These fields specify the number of days in the past that are considered for replication, meaning all data in the source media pool that was backed up within a given period of time is going to be considered for replication to the remote target pool. For example, to replicate all data from the last week, the Relative backup date is set to -7 while to is set to 0. Since only new data blocks are ever replicated during replication, you can specify a very high number in the From field, such as -99.999. This way all backups since the initial replication are always checked, but only the changed data is replicated.
6. In the drop-down list Based on, the Sesam days option is selected by default. The Sesam day is a backup day you define according to your backup routines. For example, your backups can run after midnight but retain the backup date of the prior day. The Sesam day/backup day is defined by the time set in the NEWDAY event. For details, see SEPuler: SEP sesam backup day.


7. Click Save to save your replication task.

If you want to start the newly created replication task immediately, right-click the name of the task and click Immediate start. Otherwise, you have to add your replication task to one or more schedules to automate your replication by clicking New Schedule under Main Selection -> Scheduling -> Schedules. Once you have configured a schedule, you need to create a new replication event for it. For details, see Scheduling replication.

You can check the status of your replication task under Main Selection -> Job state -> Migrations and Replications. The columns provide details on the status, start/stop time, media pools, replication type, etc., used for the task. You can also check the progress of the replication and see how much data is being transferred; you can check the data size, physical and nominal data in the columns Data Size, Transferred, Transferred (Brutto) and Progress respectively. For details, see Checking the replication status.

	Tip
	You can also monitor your replications online by using Web UI. For details, see Checking replication in Web UI.