Pros and Cons of each VTL Technique ................................................................................................................. 6
Technical setup and configuration – DR VTL Container .................................................................................... 7
General setup and configuration – DR VTL Container ......................................................................... 7
DR Series appliance setup and configuration – DR VTL Container .................................................. 7
NetVault Backup nVTL setup and configuration – DR VTL Container .............................................7
Using and managing a native DR VTL Container on a DR Series appliance ................................... 8
Installing and configuring the DR Series appliance .............................................................................10
Configuring the DR VTL Container .......................................................................................................... 13
Technical setup and configuration -- nVTL ........................................................................................................ 17
General setup and configuration -- nVTL .............................................................................................. 17
DR Series appliance setup and configuration -- nVTL ....................................................................... 17
NetVault Backup nVTL setup and configuration -- nVTL ..................................................................18
Using and managing a NetVault Backup nVTL on a DR Series appliance ......................................19
Installing and configuring the DR Series appliance ........................................................................................... 21
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Introduction
Dell™ DR Series appliances are high-performance, disk-based backup-and-recovery
appliances that deliver innovative features such as inline deduplication and compression,
advanced data protection, and replication. Additionally, the management features, ease of
deployment, and architecture that enables core backup data to remain on disk and online
longer can help organizations reduce the complexity associated with backups.
For most common data types, Dell recommends using Rapid Data Access (RDA). RDA
™
provides closely knit integration with Dell
DR Series appliance. This lets NetVault Backup use the DR Series appliance as a target
location for either source- or target-side deduplication, which lets you finely tune
backups to individual environments and requirements. DR series appliances typically
reduce the quantity of data stored as backups by a 15:1 ratio as a result of deduplication
and compression.
When backing up data stored on a network-attached storage (NAS) device via Network Data
Management Protocol (NDMP) RDA is not supported. For this use case, Dell recommends
using either the DR native Virtual Tape Library (VTL Container), NetVault Backup’s Virtual Tape
™
Library (nVTL) or a Dell
NetVault™ SmartDisk (NetVault SmartDisk) configured with the DR
Series appliance. This document steps through the installation and configuration of a VTL for
both the DR4000 and DR6000 Series appliances.
NetVault™ Backup (NetVault Backup) and the
• DR Virtual tape libraries (VTL Containers) on a DR Series appliance are used to replace
or as a complement to a physical tape library as the primary storage target. Using a
combination of a DR Series appliance for a primary backup-storage target and existing tape
infrastructure for secondary backups provides a reliable, high-performance solution to
meet legal obligations or business requirements for osite storage, archiving, and disaster
recovery. DR VTL Containers provide the most ideal VTL solution for NetVault because the
VTL is created, maintained, and provided by the DR itself. Also, data is sent directly from
backups clients to the DR VTL Container. Unlike the nVTL solution which depends on 3rd
party communication protocols like CIFS or NFS.
• NetVault Virtual tape libraries (nVTLs) written to a DR Series appliance are usually used
to replace a tape drive or library as the primary storage target because the DR Series
appliances can deliver full backups and restores more eciently than traditional tape
devices. Using a combination of a DR Series appliance for a primary backup-storage
target and existing tape infrastructure for secondary backups provides a reliable, highperformance solution to meet legal obligations or business requirements for osite
storage, archiving, and disaster recovery. NetVault nVTL solutions should only be
considered when DR VTL Containers will not meet customer needs.
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• NetVault SmartDisk is a NetVault Backup technology that is occasionally considered for use
in conjunction with the DR Series appliance. NetVault SmartDisk is a post-process, targetside deduplication technology that can be configured to perform deduplication while data
is being written to disk. Because the DR Series appliance provides deduplication of the
data coming into it, using both technologies generates a significant input/output (I/O) load
with minimal storage savings. However, you can disable SmartDisk deduplication if you
want to use the DR Series appliance to provide a disk-storage target for storing backups. In
this case, replication from the DR Series appliance is not available and you might prefer to
create and use a nVTL to retain use of replication. (Dell DR VTL Container technology does
not currently support Replication of VTL data.)
This document is intended for technical sales, solution architects, backup administrators,
system administrators, and IT managers who need to understand how to design and deploy
a DR Series appliance with NetVault Backup and a VTL. Readers should have a working
knowledge of the DR Series appliance and NetVault Backup, as well as related best practices
for backup and disaster recovery operations.
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Executive Summary
This document provides detailed information about setting up a Dell™ DR Series Disk Backup
Appliance as a target for the DRs owns native Virtual Tape Library (VTL Container), and a
NetVault Backup nVTL. The goal is to define the best technique users can deploy for backing
up data to the DR Appliance. In these configurations, the VTL is configured for target-object
storage use for data-protection operations.
Figure 1 illustrates baseline scenario of the DR Series appliance native VTL container and/or
NetVault Backup nVTL.
Figure 1: DR Series appliance and the DR Series appliance native VTL Container
and/or NetVault Backup nVTL basline scenario
Notes:
The DR Series appliance build version and screen shots used for this document may vary slightly, depending
on the version of the DR Series appliance operating system.For additional information, refer to the
documentation for the DR4X00, DR6000, and NetVault Backup, and refer to the Dell NetVault Backup DR
Series Backup Appliance Application Note
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Pros and Cons for each VTL Technique
While Virtual Tape Libraries can be implemented in my ways on the Dell DR Appliance
and Dell NetVault Backup software solution some are better suited to deployment in
diering environments. In the sections below specific features that impact the decision
process regarding which VTL technique users should implement is clearly defined in a
Pro vs Con format.
Dell DR VTL Container
Pro – Dell recommended VTL technology
Pro – Native VTL technology for the Dell DR Appliance
Pro – Much easier to Setup, Configure, and Maintain than nVTL technology
Pro – Supports backup of NetVault NDMP data
Pro – Supports inline data deduplication
Pro – Does not rely on 3rd party transfer technology like CIFS or NFS
Con – Does not currently support DR VTL Container Replication
Dell NetVault Backup nVTL
Pro - Support DR VTL Container Replication
Pro – Supports backup of NetVault NDMP data
Pro – Supports inline data deduplication
Con – More dicult to Setup, Configure, and Maintain than DR VTL
Container technology
Con – Relies on 3rd party transfer technology like CIFS or NFS
Con – Requires the use of space reclamation scripts
(later described in this document)
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Technical setup and configuration DR VTL Container -- best practices
This section highlights key configuration and setup best practices to add the DR Series
appliance for the use with native VTL container instance(s).
General setup and configuration DR VTL Container -- best practices
For additional details on the following prerequisites, refer to the manufacturer’s
documentation.
• Ensure that cabling is configured correctly.
• Configure interfaces, protocol, and addressing.
- Configure the networking infrastructure to support jumbo frames (MTU=9000).
• Make sure that you have a preconfigured system to run as the NetVault Backup Server
• Make sure that you have a DR Series appliance preconfigured for use with the following
attributes established:
- Proper network connectivity with IP address or DNS name of DR Series appliance.
- DR Series appliance(s) configured with the appropriate DR VTL container.
- All authentication requirements fulfilled such as domain name, user name, and
password for users set up on the DR Series appliance.
DR Series appliance setup and configuration -- best practices
• Create NetVault Backup Server users who have full read/write access to the container. This
is a requirement for NetVault Backup to be able to manage the configuration items and
respective objects created within the applicable container during backup, provide access
during recovery, and perform deletion upon retirement.
DR VTL Container setup and configuration -- best practices
Due to various factors such as data-set size, data-set iteration or count, retention period,
and change rate, it can be dicult to determine the best VTL size and configuration for any
deduplication situation. One of the best practices is to size the VTL to no more than 10x the
physical available disk space or to assess how much data the customer has to back up and
the required retention periods for each set of data. Ensure that neither of these guidelines
is exceeded when you create the virtual media for the VTL, and set the drive count to equal
the number of desired simultaneous jobs or data streams without exceeding the maximum
guidelines set forth by the vendor.
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Example: Starting with a storage appliance with 2TB of physical disk space. Based on
the 10x usage recommendation, you can create a DR VTL Container of 20TB of total
storage. But given that the data backed up per week is 2TB and data retention is 4
weeks, the total amount of data stored at any given time would only be 8TB. Thus,
reducing the DR VTL Container to 10TB would be a more ecient use of space.
After the overall size of the VTL is determined, the number of virtual drives to create and
the granularity of the VTL is the next consideration. Most storage-appliance operating
environments can eectively handle a set number of streams. Any read or write operation
to and from a VTL virtual drive would denote a stream. Usually, the number of virtual drives
to create in the VTL should reflect what is required to support simultaneous streams, or
concurrent jobs. Creating an excessive number of drives does not yield any benefits and
could lead to performance degradation. It is also important not to exceed the number of
streams supported by the appliance vendor’s operating environment when creating VTLs and
virtual drives.
Media size is the final consideration. Unlike physical media, virtual media can be created to
any size within the allowed range set by the appliance. So proper media size selection is
important to ensure smooth operation of the VTL. Creating a small number of large media
will extend the retention of expired data and prevent proper recycling within a media pool.
Creating a large number of small media puts a strain on the NetVault Backup Media Manager
process and can cause contention between resources. Dell recommends that the media size
be made to accommodate for the media- group retention policy so that when the retention
period is expired for that group, all items on the media expire as well, thus allowing for the
reuse of the applicable virtual media.
Using and managing a DR VTL Container on a DR Series appliance
General guidelines and best practices for using a DR VTL Container on a DR Series appliance:
• Only create enough media to cope with one full cycle of backups and the relevant
retention policies.
• Set the “Automatically label BLANK media” parameter to o (clear the check box) to
prevent erroneous use of blank media and to ensure ecient use of available media within
a tape pool. A tightly managed tape pool will ease the space-reclamation process.
• To simplify the management of tape pools, pre-label media and assign a NetVault Backup
media group label. Tapes will be reused properly within a tape pool and space reclamation
can be performed in an orderly fashion.
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In our sample DR VTL Container, we can now look at grouping the data that is to be backed
up to work with media groups as target sets. For example, if we have 2TB of data to back
up, the backup is processed on a weekly Full Backup basis, and the retention is 4 weeks, we
need 8TB of media. With media at 100GB each, 80 pieces of media can be added to the
target media group. The main reason for using media groups is so we can force the DR Series
appliance to reuse media before using blank media.
NetVault Backup’s media selection algorithm is:
• Target media in a drive
• Target media in a slot
• Target blank media
• Target media marked for re-use
As you can see, blank media would be used before media marked for reuse. If we do not
reuse media, the DR Series appliance will never be able to recover the space. By reusing
media, NetVault Backup overwrites the previous contents after the header has been updated
and reuses available space that otherwise would not be reclaimable by the clean cycle of the
DR Series appliance. Keeping spare media that is not grouped blank will keep the usage of
the DR Series appliance unit as low as possible.
Because the Automatically label BLANK media option is disabled, the backup may run out
of media before it completes, especially if the data set is growing. This is the trade o when
using a DR Series appliance; media management becomes necessary to ensure best use of
the unit.
To alert administrators that a job has run out of media, you can use NetVault Backup’s global
notification to send an email to the system operator indicating that there is No Suitable
Media to complete the job. The media request can then be placed on hold in the Device
Management window. Blank media can be added to the relevant target media group, and the
media request taken o hold. While this is not ideal, it does allow the job to finish.
You could also set up an automated media utilization report (job ID 13), and have it sent
to the system operator on a reoccurring basis to track the media usage. This will allow the
system operator to add media ahead of time to help prevent the preceding scenario.
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Installing and configuring the DR Series appliance
1. Rack and cable the DR Series appliance, and power it on.
2. Log on iDRAC using the default address 192.168.0.1, user name root, and password calvin.
3. Launch the virtual console.
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4. After the virtual console is open, log on the system as user administrator with the
password St0r@ge! (the “0” in the password is the numeral zero).
5. Set the user-defined networking preferences.
6. View the summary of preferences and confirm that it is correct.
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7. Using the IP address that you just provided, log on the DR Series appliance administrator
console as the user administrator with the password St0r@ge! (the “0” in the password is
the numeral zero).
8. Join the DR Series appliance to Active Directory.
Note: If you do not want to add the DR Series appliance to Active Directory, refer to
your user’s guide for guest login instructions.
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a. In the tree in the left pane, click Active Directory.
b. Enter your Active Directory credentials.
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Configuring the DR VTL Container
1. Create and mount the container.
a. In the left pane, click Containers, and then click Create at the top of the page.
b. Enter a Container Name, select the Virtual Tape Library check box.
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b. Enter a Container Name, select the Virtual Tape Library check box. Click Next.
c. Select the Is OEM checkbox, define Tape Size, define NDMP, enter your
NetVault Backup servers IP address in the Access Control field, define
Marker type as Unix Dump. Click Next.
d. Click Create a New Container.
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e. Select on the DR VTL Container that was just created. In the upper right corner
click on Edit.
e. In the edit screen define the number of Virtual Tapes you would like your VTL
container to have. Click on Next.
f. Click on Modify this Container.
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Technical setup and configuration nVTL -- best practices
This section highlights key configuration and setup best practices to add the DR Series
appliance for the use with NetVault Backup nVTL instance(s).
General setup and configuration -- best practices
For additional details on the following prerequisites, refer to the manufacturer’s
documentation.
• Ensure that cabling is configured correctly.
• Configure interfaces, protocol, and addressing.
- Configure the networking infrastructure to support jumbo frames (MTU=9000).
• Make sure that you have a preconfigured system to run as the NetVault Backup Server and
respective nVTLs.
• Make sure that you have a DR Series appliance preconfigured for use with the following
attributes established:
- Proper network connectivity with IP address or DNS name of DR Series appliance.
- DR Series appliance(s) configured with the appropriate containers needed to host the
NetVault Backup nVTL instance.
- For each container defined, a network share exported via CIFS or NFS of appropriate
permission and size.
- All authentication requirements fulfilled such as domain name, user name, and
password for users set up on the DR Series appliance to provide full access to the
predefined containers and network share(s) for use as backup repositories. In the case
of the NetVault Backup nVTL solution, this should include full access to the NetVault
Backup Server and to all NetVault Backup SmartClients intended for use.
DR Series appliance setup and configuration -- best practices
• Create and configure each NetVault Backup nVTL instance to run within the domain of a
single DR Series appliance storage container. This enables easier management of storage
consumption.
• Create NetVault Backup Server users who have full read/write access to the container. This
is a requirement for NetVault Backup to be able to manage the configuration items and
respective objects created within the applicable container during backup, provide access
during recovery, and perform deletion upon retirement.
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NetVault Backup nVTL setup and configuration -- best practices
Due to various factors such as data-set size, data-set iteration or count, retention period,
and change rate, it can be dicult to determine the best VTL size and configuration for any
deduplication situation. One of the best practices is to size the VTL to no more than 10x the
physical available disk space or to assess how much data the customer has to back up and
the required retention periods for each set of data. Ensure that neither of these guidelines
is exceeded when you create the virtual media for the VTL, and set the drive count to equal
the number of desired simultaneous jobs or data streams without exceeding the maximum
guidelines set forth by the vendor.
Example: Starting with a storage appliance with 2TB of physical disk space. Based on
the 10x usage recommendation, you can create a VTL of 20TB of total storage. But
given that the data backed up per week is 2TB and data retention is 4 weeks, the total
amount of data stored at any given time would only be 8TB. Thus, reducing the VTL to
10TB would be a more ecient use of space.
After the overall size of the VTL is determined, the number of virtual drives to create and
the granularity of the VTL is the next consideration. Most storage-appliance operating
environments can eectively handle a set number of streams. Any read or write operation
to and from a VTL virtual drive would denote a stream. Usually, the number of virtual drives
to create in the VTL should reflect what is required to support simultaneous streams, or
concurrent jobs. Creating an excessive number of drives does not yield any benefits and
could lead to performance degradation. It is also important not to exceed the number of
streams supported by the appliance vendor’s operating environment when creating VTLs and
virtual drives.
Media size is the final consideration. Unlike physical media, virtual media can be created to
any size within the allowed range set by the appliance. So proper media size selection is
important to ensure smooth operation of the VTL. Creating a small number of large media
will extend the retention of expired data and prevent proper recycling within a media pool.
Creating a large number of small media puts a strain on the NetVault Backup Media Manager
process and can cause contention between resources. Dell recommends that the media size
be made to accommodate for the media- group retention policy so that when the retention
period is expired for that group, all items on the media expire as well, thus allowing for the
reuse of the applicable virtual media.
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Using and managing a NetVault Backup nVTL on a DR Series appliance
General guidelines and best practices for using a NetVault Backup VTL on a DR Series
appliance:
• Only create enough media to cope with one full cycle of backups and the relevant
retention policies.
• Set the Automatically label BLANK media parameter to o (clear the check box) to prevent
erroneous use of blank media and to ensure ecient use of available media within a tape
pool. A tightly managed tape pool will ease the space-reclamation process.
• To simplify the management of tape pools, pre-label media and assign a NetVault Backup
media group label. Tapes will be reused properly within a tape pool and space reclamation
can be performed in an orderly fashion.
In our sample NetVault Backup VTL, we can now look at grouping the data that is to be
backed up to work with media groups as target sets. For example, if we have 2TB of data to
back up, the backup is processed on a weekly Full Backup basis, and the retention is 4 weeks,
we need 8TB of media. With media at 100GB each, 80 pieces of media can be added to the
target media group. The main reason for using media groups is so we can force the DR Series
appliance to reuse media before using blank media.
NetVault Backup’s media selection algorithm is:
• Target media in a drive
• Target media in a slot
• Target blank media
• Target media marked for re-use
As you can see, blank media would be used before media marked for reuse. If we do not
reuse media, the DR Series appliance will never be able to recover the space. By reusing
media, NetVault Backup overwrites the previous contents after the header has been updated
and reuses available space that otherwise would not be reclaimable by the clean cycle of the
DR Series appliance. Keeping spare media that is not grouped blank will keep the usage of
the DR Series appliance unit as low as possible.
Because the Automatically label BLANK media option is disabled, the backup may run out
of media before it completes, especially if the data set is growing. This is the trade o when
using a DR Series appliance; media management becomes necessary to ensure best use of
the unit.
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To alert administrators that a job has run out of media, you can use NetVault Backup’s global
notification to send an email to the system operator indicating that there is No Suitable
Media to complete the job. The media request can then be placed on hold in the Device
Management window. Blank media can be added to the relevant target media group, and the
media request taken o hold. While this is not ideal, it does allow the job to finish.
You could also set up an automated media utilization report (job ID 13), and have it sent
to the system operator on a reoccurring basis to track the media usage. This will allow the
system operator to add media ahead of time to help prevent the preceding scenario.
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Installing and configuring the DR Series appliance
1. Rack and cable the DR Series appliance, and power it on.
2. Log on iDRAC using the default address 192.168.0.1, user name root, and password calvin.
3. Launch the virtual console.
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4. After the virtual console is open, log on the system as user administrator with the
password St0r@ge! (the “0” in the password is the numeral zero).
5. Set the user-defined networking preferences.
6. View the summary of preferences and confirm that it is correct.
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7. Using the IP address that you just provided, log on the DR Series appliance administrator
console as the user administrator with the password St0r@ge! (the “0” in the password is
the numeral zero).
8. Join the DR Series appliance to Active Directory.
Note: If you do not want to add the DR Series appliance to Active Directory, refer to
your user’s guide for guest login instructions.
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a. In the tree in the left pane, click Active Directory.
b. Enter your Active Directory credentials.
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Configuring NetVault Backup nVTL
1. Create and mount the container.
a. In the left pane, click Containers, and then click Create at the top of the page.
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b. Enter a Container Name, select the Enable CIFS check box, select the preferred client
access, and add clients as necessary.
For improved security, Dell recommends adding IP addresses for the following (not all
environments will have all components):
• Backup console (NetVault Backup Server)
• NetVault Backup SmartClient (Media Server)
®
• Hyper-V
• O-host proxies (for Hyper-V
• Backup proxies (for VMware vSphere
hosts (on-host proxy for Hyper-V® environments)
®
environments)
®
environments)
c. Click Create a New Container.
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d. Confirm that the container was added.
e. Select the container that you just added, click Edit, and note the container path,
which you will use later to target the DR Series appliance.
f. Click Cancel to exit.
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Note: This section assumes that the you have already created the required CIFS, NFS,
or CIFS/NFS container and assigned the applicable permissions described earlier in
Installing and configuring the DR Series appliance. This section also assumes that the
user is using Active Directory integration with the DR Series appliance.
2. Using a web browser, use the NetVault Backup WebUI to connect to the NetVault
Backup Server.
3. In the Navigation pane, click Change Settings, and then click Server Settings.
4. Click Plugin Options.
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5. In the Plugin Options dialog, make sure that the Allow disk libraries to have entry/exit
ports option is selected, clear the Check available disk space before creating disk libraries
option, and click Apply to save the changes.
6. Click Media Manager.
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7. Clear the Use barcodes as labels check box, and click Apply.
NetVault Backup uses SmartClients to give you the freedom to attach storage wherever
you like. By using SmartClients, both virtual and physical tape libraries can be easily
distributed through the backup environment so that backup data does not have to
pass over the network and through the NetVault Backup Server to be written to a tapebased device. You will need a license for each SmartClient that will have locally attached
physical or virtual tape devices.
On the machine that the VTL will be attached to, you must make the NetVault Backup
Process Manager Service (nvpmgr) use the login user name and password that you
intend use to connect to the DR Series appliance. As this is the process that will control
the connection mechanism, it needs to run as the same user that has access to the
CIFS share on the DR Series appliance. This is configured via the services panel on the
machine connecting to the VTL.
8. On the machine connecting to the VTL, type services.msc in either the Run command
®
prompt or the Windows
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9. In the Services window, locate NetVault Process Manager, and edit its Properties.
10. Click the Log On tab, select This account, enter a user name and password that has
Administrative rights to the shared folder on the DR Series appliance (it should also have
Administrative rights on the local machine and be able to run a process), and click OK to
save your changes.
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11. Stop and restart the NetVault Process Manager; after it has restarted, close the
services console.
12. In the NetVault Backup WebUI, click Guided Configuration, and then click
Add Storage Devices.
13. Select Virtual tape library/media changer, and click Next.
14. Select the machine that you want to attach the VTL to, and click Next.
Remember that this can be any machine in the environment that is either the NetVault
Backup Server or a SmartClient. To facilitate scaling, consider attaching multiple VTLs
to multiple machines other than the NetVault Backup Server. This allows the clients
to send data via any of the configured SmartClients to the attached VTL instead of
moving data through the backup management server.
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15. Enter the path for the container to hold the VTL that was created in step 9.e of the
previous section, Installing and configuring the DR Series appliance.
The path should look similar to the following:
\\<IPaddressOrFQDN>\<containerName>\folder. The folder must be created and
resident in the CIFS on the DR Series appliance; otherwise, NetVault Backup will be
unable to create the VTL.
16. Complete the remaining fields with the device name, barcode prefix, and sizing
requirements for the VTL, and then click Next.
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After the VTL is created, a confirmation screen appears and the VTL is ready for use as a
backup destination.
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Setting up the cleaner for the DR Series appliance
After all the backup jobs are set up the DR Series appliance, the cleaner must be scheduled.
The cleaner should run at least 6 hours per week when backups are not taking place,
generally after a backup job has completed.
Performing scheduled disk-space reclamation operations is recommended as a method
for recovering disk space from system containers in which files were deleted as a result of
deduplication.
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Monitoring deduplication, compression, and performance
After backup jobs have run, the DR Series appliance will track Capacity, Storage Savings, and
Throughput on the dashboard. This information is valuable in understanding the benefits the
DR Series appliance.
Note: Deduplication ratios increase over time; it is not uncommon to see a 2-4x
reduction (25-50% total savings) on the initial backup. As additional full backup jobs
complete, the ratios will increase. As mentioned earlier, backup jobs with 12-week
retention will usually average a 15x ratio.
Understanding NetVault Backup VTL and cleaning cycles
The DR Series appliances are capable of running a cleaning cycle on a regular basis to
recover data space that is no longer required by the deduplication process. Using a DR Series
appliance as a NetVault Backup VTL repository will require periodic maintenance to achieve
the best performance.
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Space reclamation from the virtual media of a NetVault Backup VTL hosted on the DR Series
appliance has some specific requirements. Even though NetVault Backup can locate and
blank media that is marked for reuse, the DR Series appliance will not know that NetVault
Backup has marked the media for reuse and will not reclaim the space on the next clean
cycle. This is because the NetVault Backup only updates its database information on the
media and does not scrub through and remove the old data.
To ensure that the clean cycle on the DR Series appliance can reclaim space, the markedfor-reuse media must be identified, blanked using the nvmakemedia utility, removed, and
then added again as a new file. Because the new file no longer has any content, the clean
cycle can reclaim the space. A script can be run to build a list of the media, blank it, and use
the nvmakemedia utility to re-create the files. For a sample script that can be modified for
either type of installation, see Error! Reference source not found..
Optional NetVault Backup configurations for optimum performance
To ensure optimum performance settings within NetVault Backup, complete the
following steps.
1. In the Navigation pane of the NetVault Backup WebUI, click Manage Devices.
2. Click the arrow to the left of the device that you want to configure, and then click the
icon to the right of the drive to change its settings.
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3. At the bottom of the page, click Performance.
4. In the Drive Performance Options dialog, increase the Drive Block Size (the default is
32KB) and the Drive Transfer Buer Size setting (the defaults is 257KB) to settings that
your operating system can support, and click Ok.
Important: The amount of memory assigned to transfer buers (KB) is s often referred
to as the shared memory setting. The shared memory is allocated in 32KB blocks
with one additional byte. The optimum number is dependent on the drive model, but
the minimum value to use is at least 4x the block size setting for the drive. Ensure
that there is sucient RAM (on Windows®) or Kernel Memory (on UNIX®). Use more
shared memory if available and as required.
5. Click Back to return to the Manage Devices screen, and repeat the preceding steps for
each drive as required.
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Disk-space reclamation
The blanking of used media in NetVault Backup VTLs created on the DR Series appliance
share will not reclaim physical disk space. To reclaim this space, you must use the
nvmakemedia utility to create a clean, identical “.media” file, in name and size, to replace the
old media file. Before this is done, all drives must be unloaded and the Open Door command
must be issued via the NetVault Backup WebUI in the Manage Devices > Tape Library
Management page. After all the applicable media have been cleaned, the Close Door option
can issued. Verify that all media appear correctly on the Manage Devices page. The recovered
space will be reflected after the next clean cycle completes. For more information on diskspace reclamation with a DR Series appliance, refer to the Dell NetVault Backup Command
Line Interface Reference Guide at
Due to the nature of deduplication and various factors surrounding compression yield and
disk-space utilization, you must avoid running out of physical disk space. Failing to do so will
result in erroneous behaviour with the backup software.
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Additional resources
• Dell online support resources:
- Dell technical support site:
http://support.dell.com/
- Dell TechCenter is an online IT community where IT professionals connect with Dell
customers and employees to share knowledge, best practices, and other information
about Dell products and installations:
http://delltechcenter.com/
• Dell DR Series appliance and NetVault Backup resources:
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Changing the NetVault Backup VTL storage location without data loss
This section details the process for changing the storage device path for a CIFS-mounted
NetVault Backup VTL configured on a DR Series appliance. This process uses replication to
synchronize the data prior to remapping the storage path.
1. On the first DR Series appliance with the existing NetVault Backup VTL container, use the
replication utility to replicate the container to the secondary DR Series appliance.
For information on setting up replication, refer to your DR Series System
Administrator’s Guide. Dell recommends that you use the same name as the Source
Container for the Target Container on the second appliance. This allows for a
simple change of the name in the device path in the NetVault Backup “diskdevice”
configuration file.
2. After replication is configured, click the Select button to the right of the replication task,
and then click Start to begin the replication process immediately.
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3. Click Display Statistics so you can see how long the replication will take to complete.
4. Select Time To Sync, and then click Apply Filter.
This adds the amount of time remaining till replication is complete into the bar.
5. After replication is complete, delete the container-replication task.
6. Be sure that the container on the second appliance has CIFS permissions enabled (use
®
Windows
Explorer to verify that the new container can be opened by the UNC path).
7. On the NetVault Backup Server, edit the diskdevices.cfg file located in C:\Program Files
(x86)\Dell\NetVault Backup\config to change the library and drive paths to the second DR
Series appliance container.
See the following before and after screenshots.
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Before:
After:
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8. In the Navigation pane of the NetVault Backup WebUI, click Manage Devices, and then
click Add Device.
9. Select Re-add previously generated virtual device, and select the machine with the VTL
connected to it that you want to move the storage for.
The wizard will now scan through and find the modified VTL path to the new storage
appliance.
10. Add the new VTL on the new DR Series appliance.
11. In the NetVault Backup WebUI, click Manage Devices, and remove the old VTL on the old
DR Series appliance.
12. Verify that the savesets for a client are still correctly configured.
a. Click Create Restore Job, and select a saveset.
b. Click Media List to verify the location is online and accessible. You can even browse
through a saveset to verify further that the data is still there.
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Sample scripts for management of replication
failover and reclamation of disk space
NetVault Backup nVTL physical space reclamation script
:: The following parameters must be congured for the script example provided as follows:
:: vtlpath = This should be the UNC path of the root share used to host the nVTL instance.
:: media_prex = This should be the prex of the virtual media designated for processing
:: library_name = This should be the name of the library as it has been added to NetVault Backup
:: media_size = This is the size of the media to be recreated and must be compatibly for input to the
:: nvmakemedia command
:: Look for all medias in the library with status “expired”
:: and only print lines with media infos
:: ================================================”
“%nvutil%\nvreport.exe” -class “media” -include “%%reuse = yes” -include “%%librarystatus = Online”
# The following parameters must be congured for the script example provided as follows:
# vtlpath = This should be the UNC path of the root share used to host the nVTL instance.
# media_prex = This should be the prex of the virtual media designated for processing
# library_name = This should be the name of the library as it has been added to NetVault Backup
# media_size = This is the size of the media to be recreated and must be compatibly for input to the
# nvmakemedia command
#Open le for reading exec 10</tmp/mediatmp let count=0
while read LINE <&10; do
barcodes[$count]=$(echo $LINE | awk ‘{print $3}’) tempstring=${barcodes[$count]}
barcodes[$count]=${tempstring%” “} labels[$count]=$(echo $LINE | awk ‘{print $1}’)
tempstring=${labels[$count]} labels[$count]=${tempstring%” “} groups[$count]=$(echo $LINE | awk ‘{print
$2}’) tempstring=${groups[$count]} groups[$count]=${tempstring%” “} media_avail[$count]=$LINE
((count++)) done array_num_avail=0
while [ $count -gt 0 ]; do
echo “================================================”
echo “Cleaning Media with label ${labels[$array_num_avail]}” echo “Cleaning Media from group
${groups[$array_num_avail]}”
echo “Cleaning Media with barcode ${barcodes[$array_num_avail]}” echo “================================
================”
sleep 1
echo $nvutil/nvexportmedia -barcode ${barcodes[$array_num_avail]}
$nvutil/nvexportmedia -barcode ${barcodes[$array_num_avail]}
echo “================================================” sleep 1
echo “Opening the Entry/Exit Port in $library_name”
$nvutil/nvopeneeport -libraryname $library_name
echo “================================================”
echo “Renaming media with barcode ${barcodes[$array_num_avail]} to ${barcodes[$array_num_avail]}.
disabled” echo mv $vtlpath/media/${barcodes[$array_num_avail]} $vtlpath/media/${barcodes[$array_num_
avail]}.disabled mv $vtlpath/media/${barcodes[$array_num_avail]} $vtlpath/media/${barcodes[$array_num_
avail]}.disabled
echo “================================================”
echo “Creating a new piece of media, this may take some time based on size of media”
echo $nvutil/nvmakemedia $media_size mediales $vtlpath/media/${labels[$array_num_avail]}
Best practices for setting up Dell VTL Container or NetVault Backup native virtual tape library (nVTL)
echo “closing the Entry/Exit Port in $library_name” echo $nvutil/nvcloseeeport -libraryname $library_
name
$nvutil/nvcloseeeport -libraryname $library_name wait
echo “Blanking media ${barcodes[$array_num_avail]} - ${labels[$array_num_avail]}”
echo $nvutil/nvblankmedia -barcode ${barcodes[$array_num_avail]}
$nvutil/nvblankmedia -barcode ${barcodes[$array_num_avail]}
# Wait a second before issuing label request to overcome VTL latency sleep 2
# Decide whether to relabel with tape name AND group or just name if [ ${groups[$array_num_avail]} =
“None” ]
echo “Removing the old media with barcode $vtlpath/media/${barcodes[$array_num_avail]}.disabled”
rm $vtlpath/media/${labels[$array_num_avail]}.disabled
let array_num_avail=array_num_avail+1
let count=count-1 done
# close le
exec 10>&-
# Clean up temporary rubbish left behind rm -rf /tmp/mediatmp
Best practices for setting up Dell VTL Container or NetVault Backup native virtual tape library (nVTL)
:: Look for all medias in the library with label prex
:: and delete media from the Database
:: ================================================”
echo Stage 2 - Begin: Capture Media to be processed for deletion
“%nvutil%\nvreport.exe” -class “media” -exclude “%%LIBRARYSTATUS = Online” -format “%%Label” -sort
“%%Label” |
nd “%media_prex%” > “%tmp%\~mediapurge.txt”
echo The following media will be processed for deletion:
type “%tmp%\~mediapurge.txt”
echo Stage 2 - Completed: Capture Media Media List has been dened
echo Stage 3 - Begin: Process all Media for Deletion from the Media Database
FOR /F “tokens=1 delims= “ %%i IN (%tmp%\~mediapurge.txt) DO ( SET ML=%%i
call :_expire %%i
)
echo Stage 3 - Completed: Processed all Media for Deletion from the Media Database echo Stage 4 - Begin:
Clean up from works completed\
if exist “%tmp%\~mediapurge_old.txt” erase “%tmp%\~mediapurge_old.txt”
ren %tmp%\~mediapurge.txt ~mediapurge_old.txt
echo Stage 4 - Completed: Clean up complete goto :eof
:_expire
@echo ===========================================
@echo Delete Media with Label %ML%
@echo Delete Media with Label %ML% >> “%logle%”
@echo =========================================== echo “%nvutil%\nvremovemedia.exe” -medialabel “%ML%”
“%nvutil%\nvremovemedia.exe” -medialabel “%ML%”
goto :eof
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Linux®/UNIX® platform
#!/bin/bash
# !*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*
# Specify the beginning of the barcodes of the
# media you wish to work with here.
# !*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*
# !*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*
# Gather Input from user
# !*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*
echo -n “Enter Media Label Prex to Purge: “ read name
while read media_prex
do
if [[ -z “${media_prex}” ]]
then
echo “That was empty, try again.” else
if [ $media_prex = “.” ]
then
echo “Exiting...” exit 0
echo “Executing now...with $media_prex” break
done
# End of the loop
nv_home=`head -n -1 /etc/.nv6_home` nvutil=$nv_home/util logle=/tmp/logddclean.log
rm -rf /tmp/mediapurge
:: Look for all medias in the library with barcode prex
:: and mark media for reuse - print lines with media infos
:: ================================================”
echo Stage 2 - Begin: Capture Media to be processed for reuse
“%nvutil%\nvreport.exe” -class “media” -format “%%Label %%MediaGroup” -sort “%%Label” | nd “%media_
prex%” > “%tmp%\~mediareuse.txt”
echo The following media will be processed for reuse:
type %tmp%\~mediareuse.txt
echo Stage 2 - Completed: Capture Media Media List has been dened
FOR /F “tokens=1,2 delims= “ %%i IN (%tmp%\~mediareuse.txt) DO ( SET ML=%%i
SET GL=%%j
call :_expire %%i
)
echo Stage 3 - Completed goto :eof
:_expire
@echo ===========================================
@echo Expire Media with Label %ML%
@echo Expire Media with Label %ML% >> “%logle%”
@echo =========================================== “%nvutil%\nvreusemedia.exe” -barcode “%ML%”
goto :eof
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Linux®/UNIX® platform
#!/bin/bash
# !*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*
# Specify the beginning of the barcodes of the
# media you wish to work with here.
# !*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*
# !*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*
# Gather Input from user
# !*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*
echo -n “Enter Media Label Prex to Expire: “ read name
while read media_prex do
if [[ -z “${media_prex}” ]]
then
echo “That was empty, try again.” else
if [ $media_prex = “.” ]
then
echo “Exiting...” exit 0
echo “Executing now...with $media_prex” break
done
# End of the loop
nv_home=`head -n -1 /etc/.nv6_home` nvutil=$nv_home/util logle=/tmp/logddclean.log
rm -rf /tmp/mediareuse