Source:SEP sesam Configuration – First Steps

Overview

Once you decided which computers you want to protect in your environment and have installed relevant SEP sesam component(s) on these computers, you can set up your backup environment. Make sure that you have an appropriate permissions (admin) to access the respective systems.

Step 1 – Location

You must first determine which computers you want to back up with SEP sesam and then configure all target computers (clients) in the SEP sesam GUI. Each client must be created within (and assigned to) a location, which can be defined as a group of clients and further specified as sub-locations. Such grouping enables large organizations at different locations to be managed and represented as a group with separate, centrally-managed units (using a tree-like structure).

You can use locations to group your clients according to their OS, data type, different geographical location, etc. The name of locations can be freely assigned and is used for orientation purposes. By default, the location is set to LOCAL. You can create a new location under Main selection -> Components -> Topology -> New Location. For details, see Configuring Location.

The following screenshot shows the backup environment, which consists of several locations.

Step 2 – Clients

Afterwards, you have to add you clients to your location or sub-location by right-clicking it (e.g., Windows) and selecting New Client. Clients may be workstations, PCs, virtual machines or file servers with gigabytes of data. For details, see Configuring Clients.

For client connection issues, see How to verify that the SEP sesam server has full access to a specific client.

Step 3 – Backup hardware: Where should the data be stored?

With SEP sesam you can use different storage devices or backup media (e.g., tape libraries, disks, etc.) for your backups. During the installation process, SEP sesam checks the SCSI-bus for connected backup hardware and enters its data in the SEP sesam database. This auto-detection works for most devices, but for certain types of loaders the connection between loader and drives cannot be recognized automatically. You have to manually verify and configure such devices. You also have to manually configure any backup device that is connected after SEP sesam installation. Note that procedure differs depending on your operating system (Linux or Windows). For details, see Configuring Loaders and Drives.

For defining storage repository SEP sesam uses a data store instead of a conventional media pool. It is a device type used for writing the savesets directly on one or several configured storage locations – into the file system. The data is still primarily backed up to a media pool, however, a data store is used underneath to save data to dynamically managed data areas, including disk backups.

You can configure different types of data stores (i.e., Path, SEP Si3 deduplication store, NetApp Snap Store, HPE StoreOnce and HPE Cloud Bank Store) according to your backup environment. In Main Selection select Components -> Data Stores -> New Data Store. For details, see Configuring a Data Store.

Additionally, you can also back up and replicate your data to the cloud. For details, see SEP sesam Extensions.

Step 4 – Tasks: What should be backed up?

A backup task defines which savesets are backed up and which data should be excluded from backup. To create a backup task, in the Main Selection -> Tasks -> By Clients, right-click the client and select New Backup Task. For more information, see Creating a Backup Task.

You can assign individual backup tasks to a task group and then trigger the start of all tasks belonging to that group with a single event. For details, see Adding a Task to the Task Group.

	Tip
	You can simplify the backup of multiple VMs by automatically creating tasks for VMs connected to the same host; you can also automatically create clients for VMs to which the created tasks and ACLs can be assigned. It is recommended to use these features when a new hypervisor is added and many new VMs need to be backed up. For details, see Automating Backup Process.

If you want to start the backup task or task group immediately, right-click the task/task group and click Immediate Start, see Immediate Start: Backup. Otherwise you have to schedule (Step 5) your backup task/task group.

Step 5 – Schedules: When should the data be backed up?

If you want to create a periodic backup, you have to schedule your backup task(s). A schedule defines the recurrence of an event and may be executed in minutes, hours, days, months or years. It can be set up to start periodically or to be executed only once. You can create a new schedule under Main Selection -> Scheduling -> Schedules -> New Schedule. For more details, see Creating a Schedule.

Examples for different schedules:

• One schedule (Diff, Mo.-Fr.) for all data (regardless of the operating system), starting at 8:00 pm

• One schedule (Full, weekly) for all data (regardless of the operating system), starting at 10:00 am

• One schedule (Full, daily) for the system, starting at 9:00 pm

• One schedule (Full, daily) for the SEP sesam self backup, starting at 07:00 am

• One schedule (Full, daily) for all databases, starting at 10:00 pm

• One schedule (Full, daily) for all virtual machines, starting at 11:00 pm

Step 6 – Backup event: How should the backup start?

After you have created a schedule, you have to link a backup event to it to configure a periodic backup. In the Main Selection -> Scheduling -> Schedules, right-click the schedule and select New Backup Event.

Configured backup events are automatically inserted into the SEP sesam calendar and executed by the SEPuler at the appointed time. For details on how to create a backup event, see Creating a Backup Event.

The system is now completely configured and will execute the new backup jobs at the appointed time. To check the status of your backups and other jobs and components, you can either use the GUI or Web UI (≥ 4.4.3 Beefalo V2).

In GUI, you can view the status of your backup jobs by selecting the option Last Backup State under the Main Selection. However, Web UI's enhanced monitoring is more intuitive and provides a lot of different monitoring and reporting options; for details, see SEP sesam Web UI. Check also Monitoring and Reporting to better understand SEP sesam reports, email notifications and other monitoring-related options.

Step 7 – Preparing for disaster recovery: Configuring SESAM_BACKUP

To prepare for a possible breakdown of the SEP sesam Server and disaster recovery, you have to perform a self-backup of the SEP sesam. Configure at least one backup task with the name SESAM_BACKUP to back up SEP sesam's <SESAM_VAR> and <SESAM_ROOT>/bin/sesam directories.

Then activate the sm_disaster interface and configure the SEP sesam email to be able to send messages after the self-backup. For more details, see Preparing for Disaster Recovery.