HP DATA PROTECTOR V5.0 User Manual

HP OpenView Storage Data Protector

Concepts Guide

Manual Edition: August 2002

Manufacturing Part Number: B6960-90059

Release A.05.00

© Copyright 2002 Hewlett-Packard Company.

Legal Notices

Hewlett-Packard makes no warranty of any kind with regard to this
manual, including, but not limited to, the implied warranties of
merchantability and fitness for a particular purpose. Hewlett-Packard

shall not be held liable for errors contained herein or direct, indirect,
special, incidental or consequential damages in connection with the
furnishing, performance, or use of this material.

Warranty. A copy of the specific warranty terms applicable to your
Hewlett-Packard product and replacement parts can be obtained from
your local Sales and Service Office.

Restricted Rights Legend. All rights are reserved. No part of this
document may be photocopied, reproduced, or translated to another
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Company. The information contained in this document is subject to
change without notice.

Use, duplication or disclosure by the U.S. Government is subject to
restrictions as set forth in subparagraph (c) (1) (ii) of the Rights in
Technical Data and Computer Software clause at DFARS 252.227-7013
for DOD agencies, and subparagraphs (c) (1) and (c) (2) of the
Commercial Computer Software Restricted Rights clause at FAR 52.227­19 for other agencies.

Hewlett-Packard Company
United States of America

Copyright Notices. ©Copyright 1983-2002 Hewlett-Packard Company,
all rights reserved.

Reproduction, adaptation, or translation of this document without prior
written permission is prohibited, except as allowed under the copyright
laws.

©Copyright 1979, 1980, 1983, 1985-93 Regents of the University of
California

This software is based in part on the Fourth Berkeley Software
Distribution under license from the Regents of the University of
California.

©Copyright 1986-1992 Sun Microsystems, Inc.

ii

©Copyright 1985-86, 1988 Massachusetts Institute of Technology
©Copyright 1989-93 The Open Software Foundation, Inc.
©Copyright 1986-1997 FTP Software, Inc. All rights reserved
©Copyright 1986 Digital Equipment Corporation
©Copyright 1990 Motorola, Inc.
©Copyright 1990, 1991, 1992 Cornell University
©Copyright 1989-1991 The University of Maryland
©Copyright 1988 Carnegie Mellon University
©Copyright 1991-1995 by Stichting Mathematisch Centrum,

Amsterdam, The Netherlands
©Copyright 1999, 2000 Bo Branten
Trademark Notices. UNIX® is a registered trademark in the United

States and other countries, licensed exclusively through X/Open
Company Limited.

X Window System is a trademark of the Massachusetts Institute of
Technology.

Motif is a trademark of the Open Software Foundation, Inc. in the U.S.
and other countries.

Windows NT™ is a U.S. trademark of Microsoft Corporation. Microsoft®,
MS-DOS®, Windows® and MS Windows® are U.S. registered
trademarks of Microsoft Corporation.

Oracle®, SQL*Net®, and Net8® are registered U.S. trademarks of
Oracle Corporation, Redwood City, California. Oracle Reports™,
Oracle7™, Oracle7 Server™, Oracle7 Backup Utility™, Oracle8™,
Oracle8 Server Manager™ and Oracle8 Recovery Manager™ are
trademarks of Oracle Corporation, Redwood City, California.

Java™ is a U.S. trademark of Sun Microsystems, Inc.
Adobe® and Acrobat® are trademarks of Adobe Systems Incorporated.
ARM® is a registered trademark of ARM Limited.
X/Open® is a registered trademark, and the X device is a trademark of X/

Open Company Ltd. in the UK and other countries.
VisiCalc® is a U.S. registered trademark of Lotus Development Corp.

iii

HP-UX Release 10.20, HP-UX Release 11.00 and later (in both 32 and
64-bit configurations) on all HP 9000 computers are Open Group UNIX
95 branded products.

Netscape and Netscape Navigator are U.S. trademarks of Netscape
Communications Corporation.

OpenView® is a registered U.S. trademark of Hewlett-Packard
Company.

Other reserved names are trademarks of the respective companies.

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Contents

1. About Backup and Data Protector

In This Chapter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

About Data Protector. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

Introducing Backups and Restores . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

What Is a Backup? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

What Is a Restore? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

Backing Up a Network Environment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

Direct Backup . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

Data Protector Architecture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

Operations in the Cell. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

Backup Sessions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

Restore Sessions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14

Enterprise Environments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15

Splitting an Environment into Multiple Cells . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16

Media Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19

Backup Devices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20

User Interfaces. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21

Data Protector GUI. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22

Overview of Tasks to Set Up Data Protector . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23

2. Planning Your Backup Strategy

In This Chapter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26

Backup Strategy Planning. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27

Defining the Requirements of a Backup Strategy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27

Factors Influencing Your Backup Strategy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29

Preparing a Backup Strategy Plan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29

Planning Cells . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32

One Cell or Multiple Cells? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32

Installing and Maintaining Client Systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33

Creating Cells in the UNIX Environment. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34

Creating Cells in the Windows Environment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35

Creating Cells in a Mixed Environment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36

Geographically Remote Cells . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37

Understanding and Planning Performance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38

The Infrastructure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38

Configuring Backups and Restores . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40

Disk Performance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42

SAN Performance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43

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Contents

Media Management Performance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43

Online Database Application Performance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43

Planning Security. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44

Cells. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44

Data Protector Users Accounts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45

Data Protector User Groups. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45

Data Protector User Rights . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46

Visibility of Backed Up Data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46

Data Encoding. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46

Who Owns a Backup Session? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47

Clustering. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48

Cluster Concepts. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48

Cluster Support. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51

Example Cluster Environments. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51

Full and Incremental Backups . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61

Full Backups . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61

Incremental Backups . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62

Considering Restore . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64

Backup Types and Scheduling. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66

Keeping Backed Up Data and Information About the Data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67

Data Protection. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67

Catalog Protection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68

Logging Level . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68

Browsing Files for Restore . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69

Backing Up Data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71

Creating a Backup Specification . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73

Selecting Backup Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73

Backup Sessions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74

Media Sets or Backup Sets. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74

Backup Types and Scheduled Backups . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74

Scheduling, Backup Configurations, and Sessions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75

Scheduling Tips and Tricks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76

Automated or Unattended Operation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81

Considerations for Unattended Backups . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81

Restoring Data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83

Restore Duration. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83

Operators Are Allowed to Restore . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84

End Users Are Allowed to Restore. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85

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Contents

Disaster Recovery. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86

Consistent and Relevant Backup. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89

Process Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89

Manual Disaster Recovery Method . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91

Disaster Recovery Using Disk Delivery. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92

Enhanced Automated Disaster Recovery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94

One Button Disaster Recovery (OBDR). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96

Overview of Disaster Recovery Methods . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98

Disaster Recovery Methods and Operating Systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101

Alternative Disaster Recovery Methods . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103

3. Media Management and Devices

In This Chapter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106

Media Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107

Media Life-Cycle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109

Media Pools. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110

Free Pools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112

Media Pool Usage Examples . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114

Implementing a Media Rotation Policy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117

Media Management Before Backups Begin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120

Initializing or Formatting Media. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120

Labeling Data Protector Media . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120

Location Field . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121

Media Management During Backup Sessions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122

Selecting Media for Backups . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122

Adding Data to Media During Backup Sessions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123

Calculating Media Condition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126

Media Management After Backup Sessions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127

Copying Media . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127

Vaulting. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128

Restoring from Media in a Vault . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129

Devices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131

Device Lists and Load Balancing. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131

Device Streaming and Concurrency . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132

Segment Size. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133

Block Size . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135

Number of Disk Agent Buffers. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135

Device Locking and Lock Names . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136

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Contents

Standalone Devices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137

Small Magazine Devices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138

Large Libraries. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139

Handling of Media . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139

Size of a Library . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139

Sharing a Library with Other Applications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140

Enter / Eject Mailslots . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140

Barcode Support . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140

Cartridge Memory Support . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141

Cleaning Tape Support. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141

Sharing a Library with Multiple Systems. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 142

Data Protector and Storage Area Networks. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 144

Storage Area Networks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 144

Fibre Channel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145

Device Sharing in SAN. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 148

Indirect and Direct Library Access . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149

Device Sharing in Clusters. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151

4. Users and User Groups

In This Chapter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 154

Increased Security for Data Protector Users . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155

Access to Backed Up Data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155

Users and User Groups . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 156

Using Predefined User Groups . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 157

Data Protector User Rights . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 157

5. The Data Protector Internal Database

In This Chapter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 160

About the IDB . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 161

The IDB on the Windows Cell Manager . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 161

The IDB on the HP-UX and Solaris Cell Managers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 162

The IDB in the Manager-of-Managers Environment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 162

IDB Architecture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163

Media Management Database (MMDB) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 164

Catalog Database (CDB) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 165

Detail Catalog Binary Files (DCBF) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 166

Session Messages Binary Files (SMBF) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 166

Serverless Integrations Binary Files (SIBF). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 167

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Contents

IDB Operation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 168

Overview of IDB Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 170

IDB Growth and Performance. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 171

Key Database Growth and Performance Factors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 171

IDB Growth and Performance: Key Tunable Parameters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 172

IDB Size Estimation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 176

6. Service Management

In This Chapter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 184

Overview. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 185

Data Protector and Service Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 186

Native Data Protector Functionality . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 187

Application Response Measurement Version 2.0 (ARM 2.0 API). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 188

Integration with HP OpenView Operations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 189

Integration with ManageX . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 189

SNMP Traps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 190

The Monitor. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 190

Reporting and Notification. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 190

Event Logging and Notification. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 192

Windows Application Log. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 193

Java-Based Online Reporting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 193

Data Protector Checking and Maintenance Mechanism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 193

Central Management, Distributed Environment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 194

Using the Data Provided by Data Protector . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 194

Service Management Integrations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 195

Data Protector-OVO-OVR Integration. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 195

Data Protector-OVO-SIP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 198

Data Protector-SIP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 198

Integrating Data Protector with HP OpenView Service Desk . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 199

7. How Data Protector Operates

In This Chapter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 202

Data Protector Processes or Services . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 203

Backup Sessions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 204

Scheduled and Interactive Backup Sessions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 204

Backup Session Data Flow and Processes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 204

Pre-Exec and Post-Exec Commands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 207

Queueing of Backup Sessions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 208

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Contents

Mount Requests in Backup Sessions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 208

Backing Up with Disk Discovery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 209

Restore Sessions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 210

Restore Session Data Flow and Processes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 210

Queueing of Restore Sessions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 211

Mount Requests in a Restore Session . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 212

Parallel Restores . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 212

Fast Multiple Single File Restore . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 213

Media Management Sessions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 215

Media Management Session Data Flow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 215

8. Integration with Database Applications

In This Chapter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 218

Overview of Database Operation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 219

Filesystem Backup of Databases and Applications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 222

Online Backup of Databases and Applications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 223

9. Direct Backup

In This Chapter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 228

Overview. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 229

Direct Backup . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 230

How Direct Backup Works . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 231

Direct Backup Process Flow. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 234

Requirements and Support . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 236

Supported Configurations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 237

Three Hosts: CM, Application, Resolve . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 237

Two Hosts: Cell Manager/Resolve Agent and Application . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 238

Basic Configuration: Single Host. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 238

10. Split Mirror Concepts

In This Chapter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 240

Overview. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 241

Supported Configurations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 245

Local Mirror - Dual Host . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 245

Local Mirror - Single Host . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 246

Remote Mirror. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 246

Local/Remote Mirror Combination . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 248

Other Configurations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 249

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Contents

11. Virtual Array Backup

In This Chapter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 252

Overview. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 253

Supported Configurations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 257

Basic Configuration: Single Virtual Array - Dual Host . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 257

Other Supported Configurations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 258

Other Configurations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 261

A. Backup Scenarios

In This Appendix . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .A-2

Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .A-2

Company XYZ. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .A-5

Environment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .A-5

Backup Strategy Requirements. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .A-8

Proposed Solution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .A-9

Company ABC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .A-22

Environment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .A-22

Backup Strategy Requirements. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .A-24

Proposed Solution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .A-27

B. Further Information

In This Appendix . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .B-2

Backup Generations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .B-3

Internationalization. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .B-5

Localization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .B-5

File Name Handling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .B-5

Glossary

Index

xi

Contents

xii

Printing History

The manual printing date and part number indicate its current edition.
The printing date will change when a new edition is printed. Minor
changes may be made at reprint without changing the printing date. The
manual part number will change when extensive changes are made.

Manual updates may be issued between editions to correct errors or
document product changes. To ensure that you receive the updated or
new editions, you should subscribe to the appropriate product support
service. See your HP sales representative for details.

Table 1 Edition History

Part Number Manual Edition Product

B6960-90102 November 2001 OmniBack II Release A.04.10

B6960-90059 August 2002 Data Protector Release

A.05.00

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xiv

Table 2

Conventions

The following typographical conventions are used in this manual.

Convention Meaning Example

Italic Book or manual

titles, and manual
page names

Provides emphasis You must follow these steps.

Specifies a variable
that you must supply
when entering a
command

Bold New terms The Data Protector Cell

Computer Text and items on the

computer screen

Command names Use the grep command ...

File and directory
names

Process names Check to see if Data

Refer to the HP OpenView

Storage Data Protector
Integration Guide for more

information.

At the prompt type:
rlogin your_name where
you supply your login name.

Manager is the main ...

The system replies: Press

Enter

/usr/bin/X11

Protector Inet is

running.

Window/dialog box
names

Computer
Bold

Keycap Keyboard keys Press Return.

xv

Text that you must
enter

In the Backup Options
dialog box...

At the prompt, type: ls -l

Data Protector provides a cross-platform (Windows and UNIX) graphical
user interface. Refer to the HP OpenView Storage Data Protector
Administrator’s Guide for information about the Data Protector
graphical user interface.

Figure 1 Data Protector Graphical User Interface

xvi

Contact Information

General
Information

Technical Support Technical support information can be found at the HP Electronic Support

Documentation
Feedback

Training
Information

General information about Data Protector can be found at
http://www.openview.hp.com/products/data_protector/

Centers at
http://support.openview.hp.com/support.jsp
Information about the latest Data Protector patches can be found at
http://support.openview.hp.com/patches/patch_index.jsp
For information on the Data Protector required patches, see the HP

OpenView Storage Data Protector Software Release Notes

HP does not support third-party hardware and software. Contact the
respective vendor for support.

Your comments on the documentation help us to understand and meet
your needs. You can provide feedback at

http://ovweb.external.hp.com/lpe/doc_serv/

For information on currently available HP OpenView training, see the
HP OpenView World Wide Web site at

http://www.openview.hp.com/training/
Follow the links to obtain information about scheduled classes, training

at customer sites, and class registration.

xvii

xviii

Data Protector Documentation

Data Protector documentation comes in the form of manuals and online
Help.

Manuals Data Protector manuals are available in printed format and in PDF

format. Install the PDF files during the Data Protector setup procedure
by selecting the User Interface component on Windows or the

OB2-DOCS component on UNIX. Once installed, the manuals reside in the
\<Data_Protector_home>docs directory on Windows and on the
/opt/omni/doc/C/ directory on UNIX. You can also find the manuals in

PDF format at http://ovweb.external.hp.com/lpe/doc_serv/

HP OpenView Storage Data Protector Administrator’s Guide

This manual describes typical configuration and administration tasks
performed by a backup administrator, such as device configuration,
media management, configuring a backup, and restoring data.

HP OpenView Storage Data Protector Installation and Licensing
Guide

This manual describes how to install the Data Protector software, taking
into account the operating system and architecture of your environment.
This manual also gives details on how to upgrade Data Protector, as well
as how to obtain the proper licenses for your environment.

HP OpenView Storage Data Protector Integration Guide

This manual describes how to configure and use Data Protector to back
up and restore various databases and applications.
There are two versions of this manual:

• HP OpenView Storage Data Protector Windows Integration Guide
This manual describes integrations running the Windows operating

systems, such as Microsoft Exchange, Microsoft SQL, Oracle, SAP
R/3, Informix, Sybase, NetApp Filer, HP OpenView Network Node
Manager and Lotus Domino R5 Server.

• HP OpenView Storage Data Protector UNIX Integration Guide
This manual describes integrations running on the UNIX operating

system, such as: Oracle, SAP R/3, Informix, Sybase, NetApp Filer, HP
OpenView Network Node Manager and Lotus Domino R5 Server.

xix

HP OpenView Storage Data Protector Concepts Guide

This manual describes Data Protector concepts and provides background
information on how Data Protector works. It is intended to be used with
the task-oriented HP OpenView Storage Data Protector Administrator’s
Guide.

HP OpenView Storage Data Protector EMC Symmetrix/Fastrax
Integration Guide

This manual describes how to install, configure, and use the EMC
Symmetrix and EMC Fastrax integrations. It is intended for backup
administrators or operators.

• The first part describes the integration of Data Protector with the
EMC Symmetrix Remote Data Facility and TimeFinder features for
Symmetrix Integrated Cached Disk Arrays. It covers the backup and
restore of filesystems and disk images as well as online databases,
such as Oracle and SAP R/3.

• The second part describes the integration of Data Protector with the
EMC Fastrax. It covers the backup and restore of disk images as well
as Oracle8i and SAP R/3 systems, using direct disk to tape technology.

HP OpenView Storage Data Protector HP SureStore Disk Array
XP Integration Guide

This manual describes how to install, configure, and use the integration
of Data Protector with HP SureStore Disk Array XP. It is intended for
backup administrators or operators. It covers the backup and restore of
Oracle, SAP R/3, Microsoft Exchange, and Microsoft SQL.

HP OpenView Storage Data Protector HP SureStore Virtual Array
Integration Guide

This manual describes how to install, configure, and use the integration
of Data Protector with HP SureStore Virtual Array. It is intended for
backup administrators or operators. It covers the backup and restore of
Oracle, SAP R/3 and Microsoft Exchange.

xx

HP OpenView Storage Data Protector Integration Guide for HP
OpenView

This manual describes how to install, configure, and use the integration
of Data Protector with HP OpenView Service Information Portal, HP
OpenView Service Desk, and HP OpenView Reporter. It is intended for
backup administrators. It discusses how to use the OpenView
applications for Data Protector service management.

HP OpenView Storage Data Protector MPE/iX System User Guide

This document describes how to install and configure MPE/iX clients,
and how to back up and restore MPE/iX data.

HP OpenView Storage Data Protector Integration Guide for HP
OpenView Operations

This document describes how to monitor and manage the health and
performance of the Data Protector environment with HP OpenView
Operations (OVO), HP OpenView Service Navigator, and HP OpenView
Performance (OVP).

HP OpenView Storage Data Protector Software Release Notes

This document gives a description of new features of HP OpenView
Storage Data Protector A.05.00. It also provides information on
supported configurations (devices, platforms and online database
integrations, SAN configurations, EMC split mirror configurations, and
HP SureStore XP configurations), required patches, limitations, as well
as known problems and workarounds. An updated version of the
supported configurations is available at
http://www.openview.hp.com/products/data_protector/specifications/inde
x.asp.

Online Help Data Protector provides online Help for Windows and UNIX platforms.

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xxii

In This Book

The HP OpenView Storage Data Protector Concepts Guide describes Data
Protector concepts. Read this manual to fully understand the
fundamentals and the model of Data Protector.

Audience

The manual is intended for users interested in understanding the
concepts of Data Protector operation and for people who plan company
backup strategies. Depending on the required level of detail, you can also
use this manual together with the HP OpenView Storage Data Protector
Administrator’s Guide.

xxiii

Organization

The manual is organized as follows:

Chapter 1 “About Backup and Data Protector” on page 1.
Chapter 2 “Planning Your Backup Strategy” on page 25.
Chapter 3 “Media Management and Devices” on page 105.
Chapter 4 “Users and User Groups” on page 153.
Chapter 5 “The Data Protector Internal Database” on page 159.
Chapter 6 “Service Management” on page 183.
Chapter 7 “How Data Protector Operates” on page 201.
Chapter 8 “Integration with Database Applications” on page 217.
Chapter 9 “Direct Backup” on page 227.
Chapter 10 “Split Mirror Concepts” on page 239.
Chapter 11 “Virtual Array Backup” on page 251.
Appendix A “Backup Scenarios” on page A-1.
Appendix B “Further Information” on page B-1.
Glossary Definition of terms used in this manual.

xxiv

1 About Backup and Data

Protector

Chapter 1 1

About Backup and Data Protector

In This Chapter

In This Chapter

This chapter provides an overview of backup and restore concepts. It
introduces Data Protector architecture, media management, user
interfaces, backup devices, and other features. The chapter concludes
with an overview of Data Protector configuration and other tasks needed
to set up Data Protector.

Chapter 12

About Backup and Data Protector

About Data Protector

About Data Protector

HP OpenView Storage Data Protector is a backup solution that provides
reliable data protection and high accessibility for your fast growing
business data. Data Protector offers comprehensive backup and restore
functionality specifically tailored for enterprise-wide and distributed
environments. The following list describes major Data Protector
features:

• Scalable and Highly Flexible Architecture
Data Protector can be used in environments ranging from a single

system to thousands of systems on several sites. Due to the network
component concept of Data Protector, elements of the backup
infrastructure can be placed in the topology according to user
requirements. The numerous backup options and alternatives to
setting up a backup infrastructure allow the implementation of
virtually any configuration you want.

• Easy Central Administration
Through its easy-to-use graphical user interface (GUI), Data

Protector allows you to administer your complete backup
environment from a single system. To ease operation, the GUI can be
installed on various systems to allow multiple administrators to
access Data Protector via their locally installed consoles. Even
multiple backup environments can be managed from a single system.
The Data Protector command-line interface allows you to manage
Data Protector using scripts.

• High Performance Backup
Data Protector allows you to back up to several hundred backup

devices simultaneously. It supports high-end devices in very large
libraries. Various types of backups, such as local, network, full,
differential, leveled incremental, online, disk image, and built-in
support of parallel data streams, allow you to tune your backups to
best fit your requirements.

• Supporting Mixed Environments
As Data Protector supports heterogeneous environments, most

features are common to the UNIX and Windows platforms. The
HP-UX, Solaris and Windows Cell Managers can control all

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About Backup and Data Protector

About Data Protector

supported client platforms (UNIX, Windows, and Novell NetWare).
The Data Protector user interface can access the entire Data
Protector functionality on all supported platforms.

• Easy Installation for Mixed Environments
The Installation Server concept simplifies the installation and

upgrade procedures. To remotely install UNIX clients, you need an
Installation Server running HP-UX or Solaris. To remotely install
Windows clients, you need an Installation Server running Windows
NT or Windows 2000. The remote installation can be performed from
any client with an installed Data Protector GUI.

• High Availability Support
Data Protector enables you to meet the needs for continued business

operations around the clock. In today's globally distributed business
environment, company-wide information resources and customer
service applications must always be available. Data Protector enables
you to meet high availability needs by:

Integrating with clusters (HP-MC/ServiceGuard, Microsoft
Cluster Server, and Veritas Cluster) to ensure fail-safe operation
with the ability to back up virtual nodes

Enabling the Data Protector Cell Manager itself to run on a
cluster

Supporting all popular online database Application Programming
Interfaces

Integrating with advanced high availability solutions like HP
SureStore Disk Array XP, HP SureStore Virtual Array or EMC
Symmetrix.

Providing various disaster recovery methods for Windows and
UNIX platforms.

• Easy Restore
Data Protector includes an internal database that keeps track of data

such as which files from which system are kept on a particular
medium. In order to restore any part of a system, simply browse the
files and directories. This provides fast and convenient access to the
data to be restored.

• Automated or Unattended Operation
With the internal database, Data Protector keeps information about

Chapter 14

About Backup and Data Protector

About Data Protector

each Data Protector medium and the data on it. Data Protector
provides sophisticated media management functionality. For
example, it keeps track of how long a particular backup needs to
remain available for restoring, and which media can be (re)used for
backups.

The support of very large libraries complements this, allowing for
unattended operation over several days or weeks (automated media
rotation).

Additionally, when new disks are connected to systems, Data
Protector can automatically detect (or discover) the disks and back
them up. This eliminates the need to adjust backup configurations
manually.

• Service Management
Data Protector is the first backup and restore management solution

to support service management. The integration with Application
Response Management (ARM) and Data Source Integration (DSI)
enables powerful support of Service Level Management (SLM) and
Service Level Agreements (SLA) concepts by providing relevant data
to management and planning systems.

The DSI integration provides a set of scripts and configuration files
from which users are able to see how to add their own queries using
Data Protector reporting capabilities.

• Monitoring, Reporting and Notification
Superior web reporting and notification capabilities allow you to

easily view the backup status, monitor active backup operations, and
customize reports. Reports can be generated using the Data Protector
GUI, or using the omnirpt command on systems running UNIX,
Windows NT, or Windows 2000, as well as using Java-based online
generated web reports.

You can schedule reports to be issued at a specific time or to be
attached to a predefined set of events, such as the end of a backup
session or a mount request.

• Integration with Online Database Applications
Data Protector provides online backup of Microsoft Exchange Server

5.5, Microsoft Exchange Server 2000, Microsoft SQL Server 7,
Microsoft SQL Server 2000, Oracle7, Oracle8, Informix, SAP R/3,
Lotus Domino R5 Server, and Sybase database objects.

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About Data Protector

• Integration with Other Products
Additionally, Data Protector integrates with EMC Symmetrix and

Fastrax, Microsoft Cluster Server, MC/ServiceGuard and other
products.

For detailed documentation describing the features of Data Protector,
including integrations, as well as the latest platform and integration
support information, consult the HP OpenView Storage Data Protector
home page at
http://www.openview.hp.com/products/data_protector/specifications/inde
x.asp.

Chapter 16

Introducing Backups and Restores

This section explains basic backup and restore concepts.

What Is a Backup?

A backup is a process that creates a copy of data on backup media. This
copy is stored and kept for future use in case the original is destroyed or
corrupted.

A high-level presentation of a backup is shown in Figure 1-1.

Figure 1-1 Backup Process

About Backup and Data Protector

Introducing Backups and Restores

In most cases, the source is data on a disk, such as files, directories,
databases, and applications. If the backup is expected to be used for
disaster recovery, it needs to be consistent.

Software that actually copies data to the destination is a backup
application. The destination is a backup device, such as a tape drive,
with media to which a copy of the data is written.

What Is a Restore?

A restore is a process that recreates the original data from a backup copy.
This process consists of the preparation and actual restore of data, and
some post-restore actions that make that data ready for use.

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Introducing Backups and Restores

Figure 1-2 Restore Process

The source is a backup copy. A restore application is software that
actually writes data to a destination. The destination is usually a disk
to which the original data is written.

Backing Up a Network Environment

During backups in a network environment, data is transferred over the
network from systems to be backed up to media on systems with backup
devices, where the data is stored.

Figure 1-3 Network Backup

To accomplish backup of a network environment you need an application
that allows you to:

• Attach backup devices to any system in the network
This enables local backups of systems with large volumes of data and

network backups in order to reduce backup device costs.

• Route backup data flow to any network path

• Route backup data away from the LAN and onto a SAN when data
volume or network traffic makes LAN transfer inefficient

• Manage backup activities from any system

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About Backup and Data Protector

Introducing Backups and Restores

• Integrate into the IT management framework

• Support many different types of systems to be backed up

Direct Backup

A direct backup is one in which you can send data directly from disk to
tape in the SAN without involving a dedicated backup server for the data
movement. Data Protector direct backup minimizes the impact of backup
on production servers by using non-intrusive, hardware-based mirroring
technologies.

Also, this solution makes use of a filesystem-independent ability to
resolve data. This ability is fully integrated with the industry-standard
XCOPY functionality that is embedded in supported disk arrays and
bridges, removing the need for a separate data mover appliance.

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About Backup and Data Protector

Data Protector Architecture

Data Protector Architecture

The Data Protector cell, shown in Figure 1-4, is a network environment
that has a Cell Manager, client systems, and devices. The Cell
Manager is the central control point where Data Protector software is
installed. After installing Data Protector software, you can add systems
to be backed up. These systems become Data Protector client systems
that are part of the cell. When Data Protector backs up files, it saves
them to media in backup devices.

The Data Protector internal database (IDB) keeps track of the files
you back up so that you can browse and easily recover the entire system
or single files.

Data Protector facilitates backup and restore jobs. You can do an
immediate (or interactive) backup using the Data Protector user
interface. You can also schedule your backups to run unattended.

Figure 1-4 The Data Protector Cell (Physical View and Logical View)

NOTE The GUI and the Cell Manager systems can run on HP-UX, Solaris

Windows NT, Windows 2000, or Windows XP operating systems; they do
not have to run the same operating system.

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About Backup and Data Protector

Data Protector Architecture

Cell Manager The Cell Manager is the main system in the cell. The Cell Manager:

• Manages the cell from a central point

• Contains the IDB
The IDB contains information about backup details such as, backup

durations, media IDs, and sessionIDs

• Runs core Data Protector software

• Runs Session Managers that start and stop backup and restore
sessions and write session information to the IDB

Systems to Be
Backed Up

Systems with
Backup Devices

Systems with a
User Interface

Installation Server The Installation Server holds a repository of the Data Protector

Client systems you want to back up must have the Data Protector Disk
Agent (DA), also called Backup Agent, installed. To back up online
database integrations, install the Application Agent. In the rest of the
manual, the term Disk Agent will be used for both agents. The Disk
Agent reads or writes data from a disk on the system and sends or
receives data from the Media Agent. The Disk Agent is also installed on
the Cell Manager, thus allowing you to back up data on the Cell
Manager, the Data Protector configuration, and the IDB.

Client systems with connected backup devices must have the Data
Protector Media Agent (MA) installed. Such client systems are also
called Drive Servers. A backup device can be connected to any system
and not only to the Cell Manager. The Media Agent reads or writes data
from media in the device and sends or receives data from the Disk Agent.

You can manage Data Protector from any system on the network on
which the Data Protector graphical user interface (GUI) is installed.
Therefore, you can have the Cell Manager system in a computer room
while managing Data Protector from your desktop system.

software packages for a specific architecture. The Cell Manager is by
default also an Installation Server. At least two Installation Servers are
needed for mixed environments: one for UNIX systems and one for
Windows systems.

Operations in the Cell

The Data Protector Cell Manager controls backup and restore sessions,
which perform all the required actions for a backup or restore,

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About Backup and Data Protector

Data Protector Architecture

respectively, as shown in Figure 1-5.

Figure 1-5 Backup or Restore Operation

Backup Sessions

What Is a Backup
Session?

How Does It Work? The Backup Session Manager process starts Media Agent(s) and Disk

A backup session, shown in Figure 1-6, is a process that creates a copy of
data on storage media. It is started either interactively by an operator
using the Data Protector user interface, or unattended using the Data
Protector Scheduler.

Agent(s), controls the session, and stores generated messages to the IDB.
Data is read by the Disk Agent and sent to the Media Agent, which saves
it to media.

Chapter 112

Figure 1-6 Backup Session

A typical backup session is more complex than the one shown in Figure
1-6. A number of Disk Agents read data from multiple disks in parallel
and send data to one or more Media Agents. For more information on
complex backup sessions, refer to Chapter 7, “How Data Protector
Operates,” on page 201.

About Backup and Data Protector

Data Protector Architecture

Chapter 1 13

About Backup and Data Protector

Data Protector Architecture

Restore Sessions

What Is a Restore
Session?

How Does It Work? After you have selected the files to be restored from a previous backup,

Figure 1-7 Restore Session

A restore session, shown in Figure 1-7, is a process that restores data
from previous backups to a disk. The restore session is interactively
started by an operator using the Data Protector user interface.

you invoke the actual restore. The Restore Session Manager process
starts the needed Media Agent(s) and Disk Agent(s), controls the session,
and stores messages in the IDB. Data is read by the Media Agent and
sent to the Disk Agent, which writes it to disks.

A restore session may be more complex than the one shown in Figure 1-7.
See Chapter 7, “How Data Protector Operates,” on page 201 for more
information on restore sessions.

Chapter 114

Enterprise Environments

About Backup and Data Protector

Enterprise Environments

What Is an
Enterprise
Environment?

A typical enterprise network environment, shown in Figure 1-8, consists
of a number of systems from different vendors with different operating
systems. The systems may be located in different geographical areas and
time zones. All the systems are connected with LAN or WAN networks
operating at various communication speeds.

When to Use an
Enterprise
Environment?

This solution can be used when several geographically separated sites
require common backup policies to be used. It can also be used when
all departments at the same site want to share the same set of backup
devices.

Figure 1-8 Large Data Protector Enterprise Environment

MoM

GUI

control

............ . MoM Cell

c

o

n

t

r

o

l

Cel l

l

o

r

t

n

o

c

Cell

Cell

Configuring and managing backups of such a heterogeneous
environment is challenging. Data Protector functionality has been
designed to highly simplify this task. For information about the Manager
of Managers (MoM), refer to “MoM” on page 16.

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About Backup and Data Protector

Enterprise Environments

Splitting an Environment into Multiple Cells

You may decide to split large environments into multiple cells for a
number of reasons:

Why Split Large
Environments into
Multiple Cells?

Figure 1-9 Single-Point Management of Multiple Cells

• Geographical grouping of systems.

• Logical grouping of systems, for example, departments.

• Slow network connection between some systems.

• Performance considerations.

• Separate administrative control.

See Chapter 2, “Planning Your Backup Strategy,” on page 25 for a list of
considerations in planning your environment.

Data Protector allows you for managing multiple cells from a single
point.

MoM Data Protector provides the Manager-of-Managers to manage large

environments with multiple cells. The MoM allows you to group multiple
cells into a larger unit, called a MoM environment that can be managed
from a single point, as shown in Figure 1-9. The MoM enables virtually
unlimited growth of your backup environment. New cells can be added or
existing ones split.

Chapter 116

A MoM environment does not require a reliable network connection from
Data Protector cells to the central MoM cell, because only controls are
sent over the long distance connections, and backups are performed
locally within each Data Protector cell. However, this is based on the
assumption that each cell has its own Media Management Database.

Figure 1-10 Manager-of-Managers Environment

About Backup and Data Protector

Enterprise Environments

Manager-of-Managers provides the following features:

• Centralized licensing repository
This enables simplified license management. This is optional but

useful for very large environments.

• Centralized Media Management Database (CMMDB)
The CMMDB allows you to share devices and media across several

cells in a MoM environment. This makes devices of one cell (using the
CMMDB) accessible to other cells that use the CMMDB. The
CMMDB, if used, must reside in the MoM cell. In this case, a reliable
network connection is required between the MoM cell and the other
Data Protector cells. Note that it is optional to centralize the Media
Management Database.

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About Backup and Data Protector

Enterprise Environments

• Sharing libraries
With the CMMDB, you can share high-end devices between cells in

the multi-cell environment. One cell can control the robotics, serving
several devices that are connected to systems in different cells. Even
the Disk Agent to Media Agent data path can go across cell
boundaries.

• Enterprise reporting
The Data Protector Manager-of-Managers can generate reports on a

single-cell basis as well as for the entire enterprise environment.

Chapter 118

About Backup and Data Protector

Media Management

Media Management

Data Protector provides you with powerful media management, which
lets you easily and efficiently manage large numbers of media in your
environment in the following ways:

Media
Management
Functionality

• Grouping media into logical groups, called media pools, which
allows you to think about large sets of media without having to worry
about each medium individually.

• Data Protector keeps track of all media and the status of each
medium, data protection expiration time, availability of media for
backup, and a catalog of what has been backed up to each medium.

• Fully automated operation. If Data Protector controls enough media
in the library devices, the media management functionality lets you
run backups without operator intervention.

• Automated media rotation policies that allow media selection for
backups to be performed automatically.

• Recognition and support of barcodes on large library devices and silo
devices with barcode support.

• Easy access to information from tape without having to physically
load and unload tape(s) using the Cartridge Memory technology.

• Recognition, tracking, viewing, and handling of media used by Data
Protector in large library devices and silo devices.

• The possibility of having information about the media in a central
place and the sharing of this information among several Data
Protector cells.

• Support for media vaulting.

What Is a Media
Pool?

Data Protector uses media pools to manage large numbers of media. A
media pool is a logical collection of media of the same physical type with
common usage policies (properties). Usage is based on the data on the
media. The structure and quantity of the pools and which pool contains
what type of data on its media, depends entirely on your preferences.

When a device is configured, a default media pool is specified. This media
pool is used if no other media pool is defined in the backup specification.

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About Backup and Data Protector

Backup Devices

Backup Devices

Data Protector defines and models each device as a physical device with
its own usage properties, such as the default pool.

This device concept is used because it allows you to easily and flexibly
configure devices and use them in conjunction with backup
specifications. The definition of the devices is stored in the Data
Protector Media Management Database.

Figure 1-11 How Backup Specifications, Devices, and Media Pools Are

Related

Figure 1-11 shows the relationship among the backup specification,
devices, and media pools. The devices are referred to in the backup
specification. Each device is linked to a media pool; this media pool can
be changed in the backup specification. For example, backup
specification 2 references the pool Dept_X instead of the default pool.

Data Protector supports various devices. Refer to the HP OpenView
Storage Data Protector Software Release Notes for more information.

Chapter 120

User Interfaces

Data Protector provides easy access to all configuration and
administration tasks using the Data Protector GUI provided to run
under X11/Motif on UNIX platforms and on the Windows platforms.
Additionally, a command-line interface is available on UNIX and
Windows platforms.

The Data Protector architecture allows you to flexibly install and use the
Data Protector user interface. The user interface does not have to be
used from the Cell Manager system; you can install it on your desktop
system. As depicted in Figure 1-12, the user interface also allows you to
transparently manage Data Protector cells with HP-UX, Solaris or
Windows Cell Managers.

Figure 1-12 Using the Data Protector User Interface

About Backup and Data Protector

User Interfaces

TIP In a typical mixed environment, install the Data Protector user interface

on several systems in the environment, thus providing access to Data
Protector from several systems.

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About Backup and Data Protector

User Interfaces

Data Protector GUI

The Data Protector GUI, depicted in Figure 1-13, is an easy-to-use,
powerful interface providing the following functionality:

• A Results Tab with all the configuration wizards, properties and lists.

• Easy configuration and management of the backup of online database
applications that run in Windows environments, such as Microsoft
SQL 7, Microsoft Exchange 2000, SAP R/3, and Oracle8 or that run in
the UNIX environments, such as SAP R/3, Oracle8, and Informix.

• A context-sensitive online Help system called the Help Navigator.

Figure 1-13 Data Protector GUI

Chapter 122

About Backup and Data Protector

Overview of Tasks to Set Up Data Protector

Overview of Tasks to Set Up Data Protector

This section provides an overview of global tasks to set up your Data
Protector backup environment. Depending on the size and complexity of
your environment, you may not need to go through all these steps.

1. Analyze your network and organizational structure. Decide which
systems need to be backed up.

2. Check if there are any special applications and databases which you
want to back up, such as Microsoft Exchange 2000, Oracle8, SAP R/3,
or others. Data Protector provides specific integrations with these
products.

3. Decide on the configuration of your Data Protector cell, such as the:

• system to be your Cell Manager

• type of backup - local backup versus network

• systems to control backup devices and libraries

• type of connections, LAN and/or SAN

4. Consider the types of devices on which the applications to be backed
are installed.

5. Purchase the required Data Protector licenses for your setup. This
way you obtain the passwords you need to be installed. Alternatively,
you can operate Data Protector using an instant-on password.
However, this is valid only for 60 days from the date of installation.
Refer to the HP OpenView Storage Data Protector Installation and
Licensing Guide for details.

6. Decide how you want to structure your backups:

• Which media pools do you want to have and how will they be used?

• Which devices will be used and how?

• Which user groups do you want to use and what will they do?

• How many backup specifications do you need and how should they

be grouped?

7. Install the Data Protector Cell Manager system and use the Data
Protector user interface to distribute Data Protector components to

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About Backup and Data Protector

Overview of Tasks to Set Up Data Protector

other systems. Also connect devices (tape drives) to the systems that
will control them. See the HP OpenView Storage Data Protector
Installation and Licensing Guide for detailed instructions.

8. Configure backup device(s). For details on this and the following
steps, see the HP OpenView Storage Data Protector Administrator’s
Guide.

9. Configure media pools and optionally prepare the media.

10.Configure backup specifications, including scheduling.

11.Configure the IDB.

12.Configure reports, if needed.

13. Consider preparing for disaster recovery if your disk fails.

14. Become familiar with tasks such as:

• How to work with failed backups

• Performing restores

• Testing disaster recovery

• IDB maintenance

Chapter 124

2 Planning Your Backup Strategy

Chapter 2 25

Planning Your Backup Strategy

In This Chapter

In This Chapter

This chapter describes backup strategy planning. It focuses on planning
Data Protector cells, performance, and security, as well as backing up
and restoring data. The chapter also discusses basic backup types,
automated backup operation, clustering, and disaster recovery.

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Planning Your Backup Strategy

Backup Strategy Planning

Backup Strategy Planning

Data Protector is simple to configure and administer. However, if you
work in a large environment with diverse client systems and huge
amounts of data to back up, plan in advance. Planning will simplify
subsequent configuration steps.

What Is Backup
Strategy
Planning?

Backup strategy planning is a process that includes the following steps:

1. Defining the requirements and constraints for backups, for example,
how often your data needs to be backed up.

2. Understanding the factors that influence your backup solution, such
as the sustained data transfer rates of the network and of backup
devices. These factors can affect how you configure Data Protector
and the kind of backup -- network or direct, for example -- that you
choose.

3. Preparing the backup strategy that shows your backup concept and
how it will be implemented.

This section provides detailed information on the preceding steps. The
rest of this guide provides important information and considerations that
will help you plan your backup solution.

Defining the Requirements of a Backup Strategy

Defining objectives and constraints of your backup strategy includes
answering questions, such as:

•What are your organizational policies regarding backups and
restores?

Some organizations already have defined policies on archiving and
storing data. Your backup strategy should comply with these policies.

• What types of data need to be backed up?
List all types of data existing in your network, such as user files,

system files, Web servers, and large relational databases.

• How long is the maximum downtime for recovery?

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Planning Your Backup Strategy

Backup Strategy Planning

The allowed downtime has a significant impact on the investments
into network infrastructure and equipment needed for backups. For
each type of data, list the maximum acceptable downtime for
recovery, that is, how long specific data can be unavailable before
recovered from a backup. For example, user files may be restored in
two days, while some business data in a large database would need to
be recovered in two hours.

Recovery time consists mainly of the time needed to access the media
and the time required to actually restore data to disks. A full system
recovery takes more time, because some additional steps are
required. See “Disaster Recovery” on page 86 for more information.

• How long should specific types of data be kept?
For each type of data, list how long the data must be kept. For

example, you may only need to keep user files for three weeks, while
information about company employees may be kept for five years.

• How should media with backed up data be stored and maintained?
For each type of data, list how long the media with data must be kept

in a vault, a safe, external location, if you use one. For example, user
files may not be stored in a vault at all, while order information may
be kept for five years, with verification of each medium after two
years.

• How much data needs to be backed up?
List the estimated amount of data to be backed up, for each type of

data. This influences the time needed for backup and helps you to
choose the right backup devices and media for backup.

• What is the projected future growth of the amount of data?
Estimate future growth, for each type of data. This will help you to

come up with backup solutions that will not be quickly outdated. For
example, if your company plans to hire 100 new employees, the
amount of users’ data and client systems’ data will grow accordingly.

• How long can a backup take?
Estimate the time needed for each backup. This directly affects the

amount of time data is available for use. User files can be backed up
at any time when the users are not working on them, while some
transactional databases may only have a few hours available for
backup. The time needed for backup depends on the type of backup
you do, full or incremental. See “Full and Incremental Backups” on

Chapter 228

Planning Your Backup Strategy

Backup Strategy Planning

page 61 for more information. Data Protector also backs up some
popular online database applications. See the HP OpenView Storage
Data Protector Integration Guide for more information.

When there is a very fast and large disk to be backed up on a slower
device, consider the possibility of backing up one hard disk through
multiple concurrent Disk Agents. Starting multiple Disk Agents on
the same disk speeds up the backup performance considerably.

Also, if there is a large volume of information to be backed up and the
available time to complete the back up is limited, consider the
possibility of using direct backup to take advantage of SAN speed,
reduced network traffic, and the lack of the backup-server bottleneck.

• How often does data need to be backed up?
For each type of data, list how often the data needs to be backed up.

For example, user working files may be backed up on a daily basis,
system data on a weekly basis, and some database transactions twice
a day.

Factors Influencing Your Backup Strategy

There are a number of factors that influence how your backup strategy
will be implemented. Understand these factors before preparing your
backup strategy.

• Your company’s backup and storage policies and requirements.

• Your company’s security policies and requirements.

• Your physical network configuration.

• Computer and human resources available at different sites of your
company.

Preparing a Backup Strategy Plan

The result of the planning is a backup strategy that must address the
following areas:

• How critical system availability (and backup) is to the company

❏ The need to keep the backed up data at a remote location in case of

a disaster.

❏ The level of business continuance

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Planning Your Backup Strategy

Backup Strategy Planning

This includes the recovery and restore plan for all critical client
systems.

❏ The security of backed up data

The need to guard premises to prevent unauthorized people from
entering. This also includes safeguarding all relevant data against
unauthorized access, using physical access prevention and
electronic password protection.

• Types of data that need to be backed up
List the company’s types of data and how you want to combine them

in backup specifications, including the time frames available for
backups. The company’s data can be divided into categories like
company business data, company resource data, project data, and
personal data, each with its own specific requirements.

• Backup policy implementation

❏ How backups are done, and which backup options are used

This defines the frequency of full and incremental backups. It also
defines the backup options that are used and whether the backups
are permanently protected and the backup media stored at a
security company.

❏ How the client systems are grouped into backup specifications

Consider how best to group backup specifications. This can be
done on the basis of departments, data types, or backup frequency.

❏ How the backups are scheduled

Consider using the staggered approach, whereby full backups are
scheduled for different clients (backup specifications) on different
days to avoid network load, device load, and time window issues.

❏ Retaining data on media, and information about backups

Consider protecting data from being overwritten by newer
backups for a specified amount of time. This protection, called
data protection, is on a session basis.

Define the period of time the Catalog Database should store
information about backup versions, the number of backed up files
and directories, and messages stored in the database. For as long
as this catalog protection has not expired, backed up data is easily
accessible.

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Planning Your Backup Strategy

Backup Strategy Planning

• Device configuration
Determine devices to be used for backups, and the client systems they

are connected to. Connect the backup devices to client systems with
the greatest amount of data, so that as much data as possible is
backed up locally and not via the network. This increases backup
speed.

Consider using a library device, if you have large amounts of data to
back up.

If you have large amounts of data to back up or if you anticipate that
your network will impair backup speed, consider configuring your
system for direct backup by attaching a library device to the SAN
through a fibre channel bridge.

• Media management
Determine the type of media to be used, how to group the media into

media pools, and how to place objects on the media.
Define how media are used for backup policies.

•Vaulting
Decide whether to store media to a safe place (a vault), where it is

kept for a specific period of time.

• Backup administrators and operators
Determine the rights of users that can administer and operate your

storage product.

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Planning Your Backup Strategy

Planning Cells

Planning Cells

One of the most important decisions in planning your backup strategy is
whether you want to have a single or multiple cell environment. This
section describes the following:

• Factors you should consider when planning cells

• How cells relate to a typical network environment

• How cells relate to Windows domains

• How cells relate to Windows workgroup environments

One Cell or Multiple Cells?

When deciding whether to have a single cell or multiple cells in your
environment, consider the following items:

• Backup administration issues
The use of multiple cells gives you higher administration freedom

within each cell. You can apply completely independent media
management policies for each cell. If you have several administrative
groups, you may, for security reasons, not want a cell to span across
these groups. A disadvantage of having multiple cells is that it can
require more administrative work or might even require a separate
administrator for each cell.

• Size of each cell
The size of a Data Protector cell affects backup performance and the

ability to manage the cell. The recommended maximum size for a
Data Protector cell is 100 client systems. Cells with more than 200
client systems are less manageable.

• Network considerations
All client systems of a cell should be on the same LAN for maximum

performance. See the sections that follow for more information about
other network considerations such as your network configuration.

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Planning Cells

•Geographical location
If the client systems you want to back up are geographically

dispersed, it may be difficult to manage them from a single cell and
there may be networking problems between the client systems.
Additionally, the security of data may be an issue.

• Time Zones
Each cell should be within one time zone.

•Security of data
Data Protector provides cell level based security. All Data Protector

administrative work is done in the context of a single cell: media,
backup devices, and backed up data belong to one cell. Note that Data
Protector lets you share devices or move media between cells, so
physical access to media must be limited to authorized personnel.

• Mixed environments
Data Protector allows you to back up client systems of diverse

platforms in a single cell. However, it may be convenient to group
client systems in a cell based on the platforms. For example, you may
have one cell with the Windows client systems and one with the
UNIX client systems. This is especially useful if you have separate
administrators and policies for the UNIX and Windows
environments.

Installation
Servers and the
Cell Manager

• Departments and sites
You can group each department or site in a separate cell. For

example, you may have one cell for the accounting, one for the IT, and
one for the manufacturing department. Even if you choose to have
several cells, Data Protector allows you to easily configure common
policies among the cells.

Installing and Maintaining Client Systems

If you have several UNIX and Windows client systems, an efficient
mechanism for the installation of Data Protector becomes important.
Local installation on every client is not feasible in large environments.

The main system in a Data Protector cell is the Cell Manager. To
conveniently distribute (push) Data Protector components to client
systems from a central location, a system holding the Data Protector

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Planning Cells

software repository is needed. This system is called the Data Protector
Installation Server. The Cell Manager is by default also an Installation
Server.

Each time you perform a remote installation, you access the Installation
Server. The advantage of using Installation Servers is that the time
required for remote installation, update, upgrade, and uninstallation of
Data Protector software is greatly reduced, especially in enterprise
environments.

There are certain hardware and software requirements that need to be
met by Installation Servers and Cell Managers before you start
installing the software. A dedicated port, generally port 5555, needs to be
available throughout the cell. See the HP OpenView Storage Data
Protector Installation and Licensing Guide for details.

The Cell Manager and Installation Servers are installed directly from
the CD. After you have installed the Cell Manager and Installation
Servers you can then install the components on various client systems
using the Data Protector Installation GUI.

When you install Data Protector for the first time, it runs with an
instant-on license, valid for 60 days, that lets you use Data Protector
before you acquire a permanent license. During this time, purchase any
required licenses.

Also during this time, you should set up and configure your Data
Protector environment and request your permanent license. To request a
permanent password string, you need to know which client systems
belong in which Data Protector cell, the number of devices connected to
the client systems, and whether you need to use any of the Data
Protector integrations.

Creating Cells in the UNIX Environment

Creating cells in the UNIX environment is easy. Based on the
considerations given in this manual, decide which client systems you
want to add to the cell and define the Cell Manager system. During
installation, root access is required to every client system. An important
prerequisite is to have a clean node name resolving setup, such that each
client system is accessible from every other client system using the same
fully qualified node name.

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Planning Cells

Creating Cells in the Windows Environment

Due to the different possible configurations (domain vs. workgroup), the
various levels of support for Windows Administrators may have some
impact on the setup of Data Protector during installation. An important
prerequisite is to have a clean node name resolving setup, so that each
client system is accessible from every other client system using the same
fully qualified node name.

Windows Domains

A Windows domain can easily be mapped to a Data Protector cell. In a
single Windows domain, use a one-to-one mapping if the size of the
domain does not exceed the recommended size of the Data Protector cell.
Otherwise, split it into two or more cells and manage these cells using
the Data Protector Manager-of-Managers.

Mapping a Data
Protector Cell into
a Windows
Domain

Mapping a Data Protector cell into a Windows domain also eases
administration within Data Protector itself. To ease administration,
distribute the software such that all the client systems can be installed
using a central Windows account in a domain organization. Other
operations, however, are not limited to a Windows domain organization
since all operations and security verifications are performed by the Data
Protector internal protocol and not by the Windows Security.

In general, there are no limitations on how and where Data Protector can
be installed. However, because of the structure of Windows and the most
common configurations, which are domain environments, some
operations are easier when Data Protector is mapped to a single domain
or a multiple domain model, where one of the domains is a master
domain, to allow a single user to manage all the client systems within
the environment (Software Distribution and User Configuration).

In a multiple cell environment with a Manager-of-Managers, this issue is
more significant because all the cells that are configured require a
central administrator that has access to the entire backup environment.
When a single domain or multiple domains with a master domain are
configured, the same global master domain user can be the
administrator of all the cells and the Manager-of-Managers
environment. If multiple independent domains are used, you need to
configure multiple users to administer the environment.

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Planning Cells

Windows Workgroups

Some of the configuration tasks require more steps in some cases,
because there are no global users as in a domain. Software distribution
requires a unique logon for every client system on which you install the
software. This means that to install 100 client systems in a workgroup
environment, you will be required to enter 100 logons. In such cases, use
a domain environment, since installation and many other non-Data
Protector related administration tasks are much easier for a large-scale
environment.

Using MoM in such an environment requires you to configure the
administrators separately for each cell, to manage the MoM environment
from any of the cells.

Again, Data Protector is not limited to a Windows domain organization.
However, it takes advantage of and simplifies the administration
procedures in the areas where user authentication is required
(Installation, User Management).

Creating Cells in a Mixed Environment

In a mixed environment, take into account the factors described in
Chapter , “Creating Cells in the UNIX Environment,” on page 34. The
more the environment is broken into multiple domains and multiple
workgroups, the more accounts and steps need to be considered to
distribute the software and to prepare the environment for
administration.

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Planning Cells

Geographically Remote Cells

Data Protector allows you to easily administer geographically remote
cells. See “Splitting an Environment into Multiple Cells” on page 16 for
more information.

Considerations for
Geographically
Remote Cells

MoM Environment A MoM environment does not require a reliable network connection from

When configuring geographically remote cells, remember the following:

• Data is not sent over a WAN.
The devices and the client systems that you are backing up are

configured locally.

• The cells are configured in a MoM.
To manage geographically remote cells centrally, you need to

configure the cells in a MoM environment.

• Consider user configurations.
All the considerations that are mentioned regarding single domain,

multiple domain, and workgroup configurations need to be taken into
account.

You can configure a single cell over geographically remote locations. In
this case, you need to ensure that data transfer from each client system
to the corresponding device is not done over a WAN. Because a WAN
network is not a stable connection, it is possible that connections are lost.

cells to the central MoM cell, because only controls are sent over the long
distance connections, and backups are performed locally within each
Data Protector cell. However, this is based on the assumption that each
cell has its own media management database.

In such a case, use the Data Protector Reconnect broken connections
backup option so that connections are re-established after they are
broken.

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Planning Your Backup Strategy

Understanding and Planning Performance

Understanding and Planning Performance

In business-critical environments, it is a key requirement to minimize
the time needed for data recovery in case of a corrupt database or a disk
crash. Therefore, understanding and planning backup performance is
extremely important. Optimizing the time required for the backup of a
number of client systems and large databases that are all connected on
different networks and different platforms is a challenging task.

The following sections give an overview of the most common backup
performance factors. Due to the high number of variables it is not
possible to give distinct recommendations that fit all user requirements.

The Infrastructure

The infrastructure has a high impact on the backup and restore
performance. The most important aspects are the parallelism of data
paths and the use of high-speed equipment.

Network versus Local Backups

Sending data over a network introduces additional overhead, as the
network becomes a component of performance consideration. Data
Protector handles the data stream differently for the following cases:

Network
Datastream

Local Datastream Disk to Memory to Device

Network
Datastream

Disk to Memory of Source System to Network to Memory of Destination
System to Device

To maximize performance, use local backup configurations for high
volume datastreams.

Network/server versus Direct Backups

Sending data over a network and through a server introduces additional
overhead, as the network and the server become performance
considerations. Data Protector handles the datastream differently for the
following cases:

Disk to Memory of Source System to Network to Memory of Destination
System to Device

Chapter 238

Direct Datastream Disk to Device

To maximize performance, use direct backup configurations for high
volume datastreams.

Devices

Planning Your Backup Strategy

Understanding and Planning Performance

Device
Performance

Performance of
Computer
Systems

Device types and models impact performance because of the sustained
speed at which devices can write data to a tape (or read data from it).

Data transfer rates also depend on the use of hardware compression. The
achievable compression ratio depends on the nature of the data being
backed up. In most cases, using high speed devices with hardware
compression improves performance. This is true, however, only if the
devices stream.

Libraries offer additional advantages because of their fast and
automated access to a large number of media. At backup time, loading
new or reusable media is needed, and at restore time the media which
contains the data to be restored needs to be accessed quickly.

High Performance Hardware other than Devices

The speed of computer systems themselves directly impacts
performance. The systems are loaded during backups by reading the
disks, handling software compression, and so on.

The diskread data rate and CPU usage are important performance
criteria for the systems themselves, in addition to I/O performance and
network types.

Using Hardware in Parallel

Using several datapaths in parallel is a fundamental and efficient
method to improve performance. This includes the network
infrastructure. Parallelism boosts performance in the following
situations:

When to Use
Parallelism

• Several client systems can be backed up locally, that is, with the
disk(s) and the related devices connected on the same client system.

• Several client systems can be backed up over the network. Here the
network traffic routing needs to be such that datapaths do not
overlap, otherwise the performance will be reduced.

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Understanding and Planning Performance

• Several objects (disks) can be backed up to one or several (tape)
devices.

• An object (disk or files) can be directly backed up to several (tape)
devices using several XCOPY engines.

• Several dedicated network links between certain client systems can
be used. For example, if system_A has 6 objects (disks) to be backed
up, and system_B has 3 fast tape devices, consider using 3 dedicated
network links between system_A and system_B.

• Load Balancing
Using this Data Protector feature, Data Protector dynamically

determines which object (disk) should be backed up to which device.
Enable this feature, especially to back up a large number of
filesystems in a dynamic environment.

Note, however, that you cannot predict to which media a particular
object will be written.

Configuring Backups and Restores

Any given infrastructure must be used efficiently to maximize
performance. Data Protector offers high flexibility to adapt to the
environment and the desired way to operate backups and restores.

Software Compression

Software compression is done by the client CPU when reading data from
a disk. This reduces the data which is sent over the network, but it
requires significant CPU resources from the client.

By default, software compression is disabled. Use software compression
only for backups of many machines over a slow network, where data can
be compressed before sending it over the network. If software
compression is used, hardware compression should be disabled since
trying to compress data twice actually expands the data.

Hardware Compression

Hardware compression is done by a device that receives original data
from a Drive Server and writes it to media in the compressed mode.
Hardware compression increases the speed at which a tape drive can
receive data, because less data is written to the tape.

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Understanding and Planning Performance

By default, hardware compression is enabled. On HP-UX systems,
enable hardware compression by selecting a hardware compression
device file. On Windows systems, enable hardware compression during
device configuration. Use hardware compression with caution, because
media written in compressed mode cannot be read using a device in
uncompressed mode and vice-versa.

Full and Incremental Backups

A basic approach to improve performance is to reduce the amount of data
to back up. Carefully plan your full and (multilevel) incremental
backups. Note that you may not need to do all the full backups of all the
client systems at the same time.

Disk Image vs. Filesystem Backups

It used to be more efficient to back up disk images (raw volumes) rather
than filesystems. This is still true in some cases, such as heavily-loaded
systems or disks containing large numbers of small files. The general
recommendation is to use filesystem backups.

Object Distribution to Media

The following are examples of object/media backup configurations
provided by Data Protector:

• One object (disk) goes to one medium
The advantage is a known fixed relationship between an object and a

medium on which it resides. This can be of benefit for the restore
process, since only one medium needs to be accessed.

The disadvantage in a network backup configuration is the likely
performance limitation due to the network, causing the device not to
stream.

• Many objects go to a few media, each medium has data from several
objects, one object goes to one device

The advantage here is the flexibility of datastreams at backup time,
helping to optimize performance, especially in a network
configuration.

The strategy is based on the assumption that the devices receive
enough data to be able to stream, since each device receives data from
several sources concurrently.

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Planning Your Backup Strategy

Understanding and Planning Performance

The disadvantage is that data (from other objects) has to be skipped
during the restore of a single object. Additionally, there is no precise
prediction as to which medium will receive data from which object.

For more information on device streaming and backup concurrency,
refer to “Device Streaming and Concurrency” on page 132.

Disk Performance

All data that Data Protector backs up resides on disks in your systems.
Therefore, the performance of disks directly influences backup
performance. A disk is essentially a sequential device, that is, you can
read or write to it, but not both at the same time. Also, you can read or
write one stream of data at a time. Data Protector backs up filesystems
sequentially, to reduce disk head movements. It also restores files
sequentially.

Sometimes this is not visible because the operating system stores most
frequently used data in a cache memory.

Disk
Fragmentation

TIP Backups are most efficient for large files with little fragmentation.

Compression If data is compressed on a disk, the Windows operating system first

Disk Image
Backups

Data on a disk is not kept in the logical order that you see when browsing
the files and directories, but is fragmented in small blocks all over the
physical disk. Therefore, to read or write a file, a disk head must move
around the whole disk area. Note that this differs from one operating
system to another.

decompresses the data before sending it across the network. This reduces
the backup speed and uses CPU resources.

Data Protector also allows you to back up UNIX disks as disk images.
With a disk image backup, a complete image of the disk is backed up
without tracking the filesystem structure. The disk head moves linearly
across the surface. Thus a disk image backup can be considerably faster
than a filesystem backup.

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Understanding and Planning Performance

SAN Performance

If large volumes of data need to be backed up in one session, the time
needed to transfer the data becomes significant. This consists of the time
required to move the data over a connection (LAN, local, or SAN) to a
backup device.

Media Management Performance

If large volumes of data need to be backed up in one session, the time
needed to change the media becomes significant. This consists of the
time required to access the desired medium, and to unmount and then
remount the device.

For example, if an operator has to change 12 media that are written to by
three drives, the media change will cause significant delays. The
operator will need to find the suitable media and react promptly on the
mount request issued by Data Protector.

If Data Protector controls enough media, then the time needed to change
the media is minimized, since Data Protector can manage this activity
directly.

Online Database Application Performance

When you back up databases and applications, such as Oracle, SAP R/3,
Sybase, and Informix, the performance of the backups also depends on
the applications. Database online backups are provided so that backups
can occur while the database application remains online. This helps to
maximize database up time but may impact application performance.
Data Protector integrates with all popular online database applications
to optimize backup performance.

See the HP OpenView Storage Data Protector Integration Guide for more
information on how Data Protector integrates with various applications
and for tips on how to improve backup performance.

Also see the documentation that comes with your online database
application for more information on how to improve backup performance.

Chapter 2 43

Planning Your Backup Strategy

Planning Security

Planning Security

When you plan your backup environment, consider security. A well
thought out, implemented, and updated security plan prevents the
unauthorized access, duplication, or modification of data.

What Is Security? Security in the backup context typically refers to:

• Who can administer or operate a backup application (Data Protector).

• Who can physically access client systems and backup media.

• Who can restore data.

• Who can view information about backed up data.

Data Protector provides security solutions on all these levels.

Data Protector
Security Features

The following features allow and restrict access to Data Protector and
the backed up data. The items in this list are described in detail in the
following sections.

• Cells

• Data Protector user accounts

• Data Protector user groups

• Data Protector user rights

• Visibility and access to backed up data

Cells

Starting Sessions Data Protector security is based on cells. Backup and restore sessions

can only be started from the Cell Manager unless you have the Data
Protector Manager-of-Managers functionality. This ensures that users
from other cells cannot back up and restore data from systems in your
local cell.

Access from a
Specific Cell
Manager

Additionally, Data Protector allows you to explicitly configure from which
Cell Manager a client system can be accessed, that is, configuring a
trusted peer.

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Planning Security

Restrict Pre- and
Post-Execution

Data Protector
User Accounts

Who Defines User
Accounts?

When Is the
Account
Checked?

For security reasons, various levels of restrictions can be configured for
pre-exec and post-exec scripts. These optional scripts allow a client
system to be prepared for the backup by, for example, shutting down an
application to obtain a consistent backup.

Data Protector Users Accounts

Anyone using any Data Protector functionality, administering Data
Protector, or restoring personal data, must have a Data Protector user
account. This restricts unauthorized access to Data Protector and backed
up data.

An administrator creates this account specifying a user login name,
systems from which a user can log in, and the Data Protector user group
membership, which defines the user rights

When a user starts the Data Protector user interface, Data Protector
checks user rights. User rights are also checked when specific tasks are
performed by a user.

See Chapter 4, “Users and User Groups,” on page 153 for more
information.

Data Protector User Groups

What Are User
Groups?

Why Use User
Groups?

When a new user account is created, the user becomes a member of the
specified user group. Each user group contains defined Data Protector
user rights. All the members of the group have the user rights set for the
group.

Data Protector user groups simplify user configuration. The
administrator groups users according to the access they need. For
example, an end-user group could allow members to restore personal
data to a local system only, while the operator group allows the starting
and monitoring of backups, but not the creating of backups.

See Chapter 4, “Users and User Groups,” on page 153 for more
information.

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Planning Your Backup Strategy

Planning Security

Data Protector User Rights

What Are User
Rights?

Why Use User
Rights?

Hiding Data from
Other Users

Data Protector user rights define the actions that a user can perform
with Data Protector. They are applied on the Data Protector user group
level and not to each user individually. Users added to a user group
automatically gain the user rights assigned to this user group.

Data Protector provides flexible user and user group functionality, which
allows the administrator to selectively define who can use a particular
Data Protector functionality. It is important to carefully apply the Data
Protector user rights: backing up and restoring data is essentially the
same as copying data.

See Chapter 4, “Users and User Groups,” on page 153 for more
information.

Visibility of Backed Up Data

Backing up data means creating a new copy. Therefore, when you deal
with confidential information, it is important to restrict access to both
the original data and to the backup copy itself.

When you configure a backup, you can decide whether during restore the
data is visible to everyone (public) or only to the owner of the backup
(private). The owner is the user who configured the backup and started
(scheduled) the backup session. See “Who Owns a Backup Session?” on
page 47 for more information about backup owners.

Data Encoding

Open Systems and public networking make data security in large
enterprises essential. Data Protector lets you encode filesystem and disk
image data so that it becomes unreadable. Data is encoded before it is
transferred over a network and before it is written to media. Data
Protector uses a fixed, built-in algorithm for this purpose.

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Who Owns a Backup Session?

Planning Your Backup Strategy

Planning Security

What Is Backup
Ownership?

Who Can Start a
Backup?

Backup
Ownership and
Restore

The Data Protector user who created a backup specification becomes the
owner of the running backup session and of the resulting backup set.
Note that this ownership refers to the Data Protector user and not to the
system (platform) user. Therefore, the backup session does not run under
the user name of the owner.

You can only run a backup specification that you have created.
Therefore, if the backup administrator created a backup specification,
other users are not able to start a backup of this backup specification.
See the HP OpenView Storage Data Protector Administrator’s Guide for
instructions on how to change a backup owner. Note that if you change a
backup owner, you allow this person to access/restore data they may not
actually own.

Ownership also affects your ability to restore data. If the private/public
option is set to private, only the owner of the backup set or the
administrators can see the data saved in the backup set.

Chapter 2 47

Planning Your Backup Strategy

Clustering

Clustering

Cluster Concepts

What Is a Cluster? A cluster is a group of two or more computers that appear on the

network as a single system. This group of computers is managed as a
single system and is designed to:

• Ensure that mission-critical applications and resources are as
highly-available as possible

• Tolerate component failures

• Support either the addition or subtraction of components

For clustering purposes, Data Protector integrates with Microsoft
Cluster Server for Windows Server, with MC/Service Guard for HP-UX,
and with Veritas Cluster for Solaris.

Figure 2-1 Typical Cluster

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Planning Your Backup Strategy

Clustering

Components:

• Cluster nodes (two or more)

•Local disks

• Shared disks (shared between nodes)

Cluster Nodes Cluster nodes are computers that compose a cluster. They are

physically connected to one or more shared disks.

Shared Disks The shared disks volumes (MSCS) or shared volume groups

(MC/SG, Veritas Cluster) contain mission-critical application data as
well as specific cluster data needed to run the cluster. In MSCS clusters,
a shared disk is exclusively active on only one cluster node at a time. In
MC/SG clusters, the other node can activate the disk in the read only
mode.

Cluster Network A cluster network is a private network that connects all cluster nodes. It

transfers the internal cluster data called heartbeat of the cluster. The
heartbeat is a data packet with a time stamp that is distributed among
all cluster nodes. Each cluster node compares this packet and determines
which cluster node is still operational so that appropriate ownership of
the package (MC/SG, Veritas Cluster) or group (MSCS) can be
determined.

What is a Package
or Group?

What Is a Virtual
Server?

A package (MC/SG, Veritas Cluster) or a group (MSCS) is a collection of
resources that are needed to run a specific cluster-aware application.
Each cluster-aware application declares its own critical resources. The
following resources must be defined in each group or package:

• Shared disk volumes (MSCS)

• Shared volume groups (MC/SG, Veritas Cluster)

•Network IP names

• Network IP addresses

• Cluster-aware application services

Disk volumes and volume groups represent shared physical disks. A
network IP name and a network IP address are resources that define a
virtual server of a cluster-aware application. Its IP name and address
are cached by the cluster software and mapped to the cluster node on

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Planning Your Backup Strategy

Clustering

which the specific package or group is currently running. Since the group
or package can switch from one node to another, the virtual server can
reside on different machines in different time frames.

What Is a
Failover?

High Availability of
the Data Protector
Cell Manager

Automatic Restart
of Backups

Each package or group has its own “preferred” node on which it normally
runs. Such a node is called a primary node. A package or group can be
moved to another cluster node (one of the secondary nodes). The
process of transferring a package or group from the primary cluster node
to the secondary is called failover or switchover. The secondary node
accepts the package or group in case of failure of the primary node. A
failover can occur for many different reasons:

• Software failures on the primary node

• Hardware failures on the primary node

• The administrator intentionally transfers the ownership because of
maintenance on the primary node

In a cluster environment there can be more than one secondary node but
only one can be the primary.

A cluster-aware Data Protector Cell Manager that is responsible for
running the IDB and managing backup and restore operations has many
major benefits over non-cluster versions:

All Cell Manager operations are always available since Data Protector
services are defined as cluster resources within the cluster and are
automatically restarted when a failover occurs.

Data Protector backup specifications that define the backup procedure
can easily be configured to be restarted in case of a failover of the Data
Protector Cell Manager. Restart parameters can be defined using the
Data Protector GUI.

Load Balancing at
Failover

A special command-line utility is provided for operations that allow
backup sessions to be aborted in case applications other than Data
Protector perform a failover. The Data Protector Cell Manager allows you
to define what should happen in such situations. If the backup is less
important than the application, Data Protector can abort running
sessions. If the backup is more important or is just ending, Data
Protector can continue the sessions. Refer to the HP OpenView Storage
Data Protector Administrator’s Guide for more information on how to
define the criteria.

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Planning Your Backup Strategy

Cluster Support

The Data Protector cluster support means the following:

• The Data Protector Cell Manager is installed in a cluster. Such a Cell
Manager is fault tolerant and can restart operations in the cell
automatically after the failover.

NOTE If the Cell Manager is installed in the cluster, its cluster critical

resources need to be configured in the same cluster package or group as
the application being backed up, in order to automatically restart failed
backup sessions which failed due to a failover. Otherwise, the failed
backup sessions must be restarted manually.

• The Data Protector client is installed in a cluster. The Cell Manager
(if not installed in the cluster) in such a case is not fault tolerant; the
operations in the cell must be restarted manualy.

The behavior of the Cell Manager after the failover is configurable as far
as the backup session (failed due to the failover) is concerned - the failed
session can be:

Clustering

• restarted as a whole

• restarted only for the failed objects

• not restarted at all

Refer to the HP OpenView Storage Data Protector Administrator’s Guide
for more information on backup session behaviour options on failover of
the Data Protector Cell Manager.

Example Cluster Environments

This section gives three example cluster configurations.

Cell Manager Installed Outside a Cluster

In the environment depicted below:

• The Cell Manager installed outside a cluster

• A backup device connected to the Cell Manager or one of the
(non-clustered) clients

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Planning Your Backup Strategy

Clustering

Figure 2-2 Cell Manager Installed Outside a Cluster

Virtual Server
Backup

When creating a backup specification, you can see three or more systems
that can be backed up in the cluster.

•Physical Node A

•Physical Node B

•Virtual Server

If you select the virtual server in the backup specification, then the
backup session will back up the selected active virtual host/server
regardless of the physical node the package or group is currently running
on.

Chapter 252

The following is the expected backup behavior under this configuration.

Table 2-1 Backup Behavior

Condition Result

Planning Your Backup Strategy

Clustering

Failover of the node before a

Successful backup

backup starts

Failover of the node during
backup activity

Filesystem/disk image backup:

The backup session fails. The
completed objects from the session
can be used for restore, the failed
(running and pending) objects
need to be backed up again by
restarting the session manually.

Application backup:

The backup session fails. The
session needs to be restarted
manually.

Cell Manager Installed Outside a Cluster, Devices Connected to the Cluster Nodes

In the environment depicted below:

• The Cell Manager installed outside a cluster

• Backup devices connected to the nodes in the cluster

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Clustering

Figure 2-3 Cell Manager Installed Outside a Cluster, Devices Connected to

the Cluster Nodes

Virtual Server
Backup

When creating a backup specification, you can see three or more systems
that can be backed up in the cluster.

•Physical Node A

•Physical Node B

•Virtual Server

If you select the virtual server in the backup specification, then the
backup session will back up the selected active virtual host/server
regardless of the physical node the package or group is currently running
on.

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Clustering

NOTE The difference with the previous example is that each of the cluster

nodes has a Data Protector Media Agent installed. Additionally, you need
to use the Data Protector load balancing functionality. Include both
devices in the backup specification. With load balancing set to min=1 and
max=1, Data Protector will only use the first available device.

The following is the expected backup behavior under this configuration.

Table 2-2 Backup Behavior

Condition Result

Failover of the node before a
backup starts

Failover of the node during
backup activity

Successful backup due to automatic
device switching (load balancing)

Filesystem/disk image backup:

The backup session fails. The
completed objects from the session
can be used for restore, the failed
(running and pending) objects need
to be backed up again by restarting
the session manually.

Application backup:

The backup session fails. The
session needs to be restarted
manually.

IMPORTANT If a failover during backup activity occurs in such a configuration, the

MA may not be able to properly abort the session. This results in the
corruption of the medium.

Cell Manager Installed in a Cluster, Devices Connected to the Cluster Nodes

In the environment depicted below:

• The Cell Manager installed in a cluster.

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Planning Your Backup Strategy

Clustering

With regard to the Data Protector application integrations, there are
two possible ways of configuring Data Protector and an application in
such a configuration:

✓ The Data Protector Cell Manager is configured to run (both during

the normal operation and during the failover) on the same node as
the application - the Data Protector cluster critical resources are
defined in the same package (MC/ServiceGuard) or group
(Microsoft Cluster Server) as the application cluster critical
resources.

IMPORTANT Only in such a configuration, it is possible to define the automated action

concerning the Data Protector sessions aborted during the failover.

✓ The Data Protector Cell Manager is configured to run (both during

the normal operation and during the failover) on nodes other than
the application node - the Data Protector cluster critical resources
are defined in some other package (MC/ServiceGuard) or group
(Microsoft Cluster Server) as the application cluster critical
resources.

• Backup device(s) connected to the cluster shared Fibre Channel bus
via an FC/SCSI MUX.

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Clustering

Figure 2-4 Cell Manager Installed in the Cluster, Devices Connected to

Cluster Nodes

Virtual Server
Backup

When creating a backup specification, you can see three or more systems
that can be backed up in the cluster.

•Physical Node A

•Physical Node B

•Virtual Server

If you select the virtual server in the backup specification, then the
backup session will back up the selected active virtual host/server
regardless of the physical node the package or group is currently running
on.

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Planning Your Backup Strategy

Clustering

NOTE Clusters do not support a SCSI bus with shared tapes. To bring high

availability also to Media Agents, the Fibre Channel technology can be
used as an interface to the device. The device itself is not
highly-available in this configuration.

This configuration allows the following features:

• Customizable automatic restart of backups in case of failover of the
Cell Manager.

The Data Protector backup specifications can be configured to be
restarted in case of failover of the Cell Manager. Restart parameters
can be defined using the Data Protector GUI.

• System load control at failover.
Sophisticated control is provided to define Data Protector behavior at

failover. A special command, omniclus, is provided for this purpose.
The Cell Manager allows the administrator to define what should
happen in such situations.

✓ If the backup is less important than the application that just

switched to the backup system, Data Protector can abort the
running sessions.

✓ If the backup is more important or it is just pending, Data

Protector continues the sessions.

Refer to the HP OpenView Storage Data Protector Administrator’s Guide
for more information on how to define these options.

The following is the expected backup behavior under this configuration.

Table 2-3 Backup Behavior

Condition Result

Failover before a
backup starts

Successful backup

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Table 2-3 Backup Behavior

Condition Result

Planning Your Backup Strategy

Clustering

Failover of the
application and
the Cell Manager
during backup
activity (Cell
Manager runs on
the same node as
the application).

Failover of the
application
during backup
activity without
Cell Manager
failover (Cell
Manager runs on
other node than
the application).

Filesystem/disk image
backup:

The backup session fails.
The completed objects
from the session can be
used for restore, the failed
(running and pending)
objects are backed up
again by restarting the
session automatically.

Application backup:

The backup session fails.
The session is restarted
automatically.

IMPORTANT

To restart the
session, the
appropriate Data
Protector option
must be selected.
Refer to the HP

OpenView Storage
Data Protector
Administrator’s
Guide for

information on
defining all possible
Data Protector
actions in case of
failover of the Cell
Manager.

Filesystem/disk image backup:

The backup session fails at failover of the node
where the filesystem is installed. The completed
objects from the session can be used for restore,
the failed (running and pending) objects need to
be backed up again by restarting the session
manually.

Application backup:

The backup session fails. The session needs to be
restarted manually.

IMPORTANT If a failover during backup activity occurs in such a configuration, the

MA may not be able to properly abort the session. This results in the
corruption of the medium.

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Planning Your Backup Strategy

Clustering

Additionally, the Data Protector cluster Cell Manager/client can be
integrated with the EMC Symmetrix or HP SureStore Disk Array XP
environment, producing a very highly-available backup environment.
Refer to the HP OpenView Storage Data Protector EMC

Symmetrix/Fastrax Integration Guide and to HP OpenView Storage Data
Protector HP SureStore Disk Array XP Integration Guide for more

information.

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Planning Your Backup Strategy

Full and Incremental Backups

Full and Incremental Backups

Data Protector provides two basic types of filesystem backups: full and
incremental.

A full backup saves all the files in the filesystem selected for backup. An
incremental backup saves only those files that have changed since the
last full or incremental backup. This section gives hints on how to choose
the backup type and how this influences your backup strategy.

Data Protector can also make incremental backups of online database
applications. These vary from application to application. On Sybase, for
instance, this type of backup is referred to as a transaction backup (a
backup of transaction logs modified since the last backup).

Note that the incremental backup concept is not related to the log level
concept, which defines the amount of information that is backed up to
the IDB.

NOTE A number of additional backup types (such as direct, split mirror, and

data mover backup) are available with Data Protector application
integrations. Refer to the HP OpenView Storage Data Protector
Integration Guides for more information.

Full Backups

Full backups always back up all selected objects, even if there are no
changes from the previous backup.

Advantages of Full
Backups

Disadvantages of
Full Backups

Full backups have the following advantages:

• They allow significantly quicker and simpler restore. To get the latest
version of your files, you only need media from the latest full backup.

• They provide higher reliability. All data is backed up in one backup
session and restoring is relatively simple.

Full backups have the following disadvantages:

• They take longer to complete.

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Full and Incremental Backups

• You have the same version of the file backed up several times, thus
occupying more space on media and in the IDB.

Incremental Backups

Incremental backups back up changes from the last still-protected (full
or incremental) backup.

Advantages of
Incremental
Backups

Disadvantages of
Incremental
Backups

Types of
Incremental
Backups

Incremental backups have the following advantages:

• They occupy less space on media.

• They occupy less space in the IDB.

• They take less time to complete because they back up smaller
quantities of data.

Incremental backups have the following disadvantages:

• The restore takes longer because data must be restored from the last
full and all subsequent incremental backups done up to the desired
date.

• The restore needs more media because the full and the subsequent
incremental backup may not be on the same media.

See also “Selecting Media for Backups” on page 122 for more
information.

See “Considering Restore” on page 64 for more information on other
factors that influence the restore.

Data Protector provides incremental backups of different types:
Inc This type of backup, shown in Figure 2-5, is based on

any previous backup, be it a full backup or an
incremental backup, which must still be protected.
This backup is also called a differential backup
because only the changes from the previous backup are
backed up.

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Inc1-9 A leveled incremental backup, shown in Figure 2-6,

depends on the last backup of the next lower level that
is still protected. For example, an Inc1 backup saves all
changes since the last full backup, while an Inc5
backup saves all changes since the last Inc4 backup.
An Inc1-9 backup never references an existing Inc
backup.

Figure 2-5 Differential Backups

Planning Your Backup Strategy

Full and Incremental Backups

Figure 2-5 and Figure 2-6 indicate various types of incremental backups.
Incremental backups depend on the last full backup. Data Protector
checks if there is a protected full backup of the backed up data whenever
an incremental backup is started. If there is no protected full backup
Data Protector starts a full backup instead.

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Planning Your Backup Strategy

Full and Incremental Backups

Figure 2-6 Leveled Incremental Backups

Considering Restore

To restore the latest data, you need media from your last full backup and
subsequent incremental backups. Therefore, the more incremental
backups you have, the more media you need to handle. This is
inconvenient if you use standalone devices, and the restore can last long.

Backup Sets Using differential and leveled incremental backups, as indicated in

Figure 2-7, will require access to all five previously completed backup
sets, up to and including the full backup. The space needed on the media
is lowest here, but the restore will be rather complex. The series of
required backup sets is also called a backup chain.

TIP Use the Data Protector Appendable on Incrementals Only option to

keep data from full and incremental backups (of the same backup
specification) on the same backup set.

Another common use of the incremental backup concept is indicated in
Figure 2-8. Here the required space on the media is slightly larger. Only
two backup sets need to be accessed to restore to the desired point in
time. Note that there is no dependency on any previous Inc1 backup set
for this restore, unless the desired restore point in time would be moved.

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Full and Incremental Backups

Figure 2-7 Media Needed to Restore from Differential and Leveled Backups

Figure 2-8 Media Needed to Restore from Leveled Incremental Backups

Note that you must set the appropriate data protection in order to get all
needed full and incremental backups for restore. If the data protection is
not properly set, you can get a broken restore chain. See Appendix B for
more information.

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Planning Your Backup Strategy

Full and Incremental Backups

Backup Types and Scheduling

You can combine full and incremental backups when you configure
unattended, scheduled backups. For example, you may run a full backup
on Sundays and then incremental backups every working day. To back up
a large amount of data and avoid the high volume peek for the full
backups, use the staggered approach. Refer to “Staggering Full Backups”
on page 76. Also see “Backup Types and Scheduled Backups” on page 74
for more information on how to effectively schedule your backups.

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Planning Your Backup Strategy

Keeping Backed Up Data and Information About the Data

Keeping Backed Up Data and Information
About the Data

Data Protector lets you specify how long to keep your backed up data on
the media itself (data protection), how long to keep information about the
backed up data in the IDB (catalog protection), and what level of
information to keep in the IDB (logging level).

Data Protector
Internal Database

What Is Data
Protection?

Restore performance depends, in part, on how fast the media required for
a restore can be found. By default, this information is stored in the IDB
to enable the highest restore performance as well as the convenience of
being able to browse the files and directories to be restored. However,
putting all file names of all backups in the IDB and keeping them for a
long time can cause the IDB to grow to unmanageable levels.

Data Protector allows you to trade off IDB growth with the convenience
of restore, by letting you specify catalog protection independently of data
protection. For example you can implement a policy that enables an easy
and fast restore within four weeks after the backup, by setting catalog
protection to four weeks. From then on restores can still be done in a less
convenient way until the data protection expires, say after one year. This
would considerably reduce the space requirements in the IDB.

Data Protection

Data Protector allows you to specify the amount of time data on media is
protected from being overwritten by Data Protector. You can specify the
protection in absolute or relative dates.

If you do not change the Data Protection backup option when
configuring a backup, it is permanently protected. Note that if you do not
change this protection, the number of media needed for backup grows
constantly.

You can set the protection independently for backed up data and for
backup information about this data in the IDB.

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Keeping Backed Up Data and Information About the Data

Catalog Protection

What Is Catalog
Protection?

Data Protector saves information about backed up data in the IDB. Since
the information about the backed up data is written to the IDB each time
a backup is done, the IDB grows with the number and the size of
backups. Catalog protection tells Data Protector how long the
information about backed up data is available to users browsing data
during restore. Once catalog protection has expired, Data Protector will
overwrite this information in the IDB (not on the media) in one of the
subsequent backups.

You can specify the protection using absolute or relative dates.
If you do not change the Catalog Protection backup option when

configuring your backup, information about backed up data has the same
protection duration as data protection. Note that if you do not change
this, the IDB grows constantly as new information is added with each
backup.

Refer to “Catalog Protection as an IDB Key Tunable Parameter” on
page 174 for more information on how catalog protection settings
influence the IDB growth and performance.

The protection model used by Data Protector can be mapped to the
concept of backup generations, which is elaborated in Appendix B,
“Further Information.”

Logging Level

What Is Logging
Level?

Logging level determines the amount of details on files and directories
written to the IDB during backup. You can always restore your data,
regardless of the logging level used during the backup.

Data Protector provides four logging levels that control the amount of
details on files and directories written to the IDB: log all detailed
information, log all except file versions, log directory names only, log
filenames only, or do not log any details.

Refer to “Logging Level as an IDB Key Tunable Parameter” on page 172
for more information on how logging level settings influence the IDB
growth and performance.

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Keeping Backed Up Data and Information About the Data

Browsing Files for Restore

The IDB keeps information about the backed up data. This information
allows you to browse, select and start the restore of files using the Data
Protector user interface. You can also restore data without this
information as long as the media are still available, but you must know
which media to use and what needs to be restored, for example, the exact
file name.

The IDB also keeps information on how long the actual data on the
media will not be overwritten.

Data protection, catalog protection and logging level policies influence
the availability of data and access time to data during restore.

Enabling the Browsing of Files and Quick Restore

To restore files quickly, both information about backed up data in the
catalog and protected data on the media, must exist. Information in the
catalog allows you to browse, select, and start the restore of files using
the Data Protector user interface and allows Data Protector to quickly
locate data on backup media.

Enabling the Restore of Files, but not Browsing

Once catalog protection has expired and data protection is still valid, you
cannot browse files in the Data Protector user interface, but you can still
restore data if you know the file name and the media. The restore is
slower as Data Protector does not know where on the media the desired
data is located. You can also import the media back into the IDB, thus
re-establishing the information about backed up data in the catalog, and
then start restoring.

Overwriting Backed Up Files with New Data

Once data protection has expired, data on the media will be overwritten
in one of the subsequent backups. Before this happens, you can still
restore the data from the media.

TIP Set data protection to the amount of time for which you must keep the

data, for example, one year.

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Keeping Backed Up Data and Information About the Data

Set the catalog protection to the amount of time you want to be able to
browse, select, and restore files quickly using the Data Protector user
interface.

Exporting Media from a Cell

Exporting media from a Data Protector cell removes all the information
about backed up data on the media and the media itself from the IDB.
You cannot browse, select or restore files from exported media using the
Data Protector user interface. You need to re-read (or add) the media
back into the Data Protector cell. This functionality is needed to move
media to a different cell.

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Backing Up Data

Backing Up Data

Backing up your data consists of some or all of the following steps:

• Selecting what to back up, from which client system - the source of
data

• Selecting how to back up - backup options

• Selecting where to back up - the destination

• Scheduling a backup for automated operation

You can specify all these when creating a backup specification.

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Backing Up Data

Figure 2-9 Backup Session

At the specified time, Data Protector starts a backup session based upon
a backup specification. The source of data is specified as a list of objects
(such as a filesystem on UNIX or disk drives on Windows systems) and
the destinations are specified (tape) devices. During the backup session,
Data Protector reads the objects, transfers data through the network,
and writes it to the media residing in the devices. The backup
specification names the devices to be used. It also can specify a media
pool. If no media pool is specified, the default media pool is used.

A backup specification can be a simple definition of the backup of a disk
to a standalone DDS drive, or a complex definition of the backup of 40
large servers to a Silo tape library with eight drives.

Chapter 272

Creating a Backup Specification

Planning Your Backup Strategy

Backing Up Data

What Is a Backup
Specification?

How to Create a
Backup
Specification?

What Is a Backup
Object?

Examples of
Backup Options

A backup specification allows you to group objects that you want to back
up in a group with common characteristics, such as scheduling, used
devices, type of backup, and backup session options.

You configure a backup specification using the Data Protector user
interface. You need to know what you want to back up, which media and
which devices you want to use for the backup, and optionally, some
desired specific behavior for the backup. Data Protector provides default
behavior that is suitable for most cases. You can customize backup
behavior using Data Protector backup options.

Data Protector can back up a client with all the disks connected to it by
discovering the disks at backup time. See “Backing Up with Disk
Discovery” on page 209.

Selecting Backup Objects

Data Protector uses the term backup object for any data you configure for
a backup. This can be a file, a group of files, a directory, a disk, or a client
system. Data Protector treats this set of data from one disk volume as
one backup object in a backup specification.

You can customize backup behavior for each individual backup object by
specifying backup options for this object. The following are examples of
backup options you can specify:

• Log level of information going to the IDB.
Data Protector provides four levels that control the amount of details

on files and directories stored in the IDB:

log names and attributes of files and directories only
log names and attributes of directories only
log fileversions of files and directories only
do not log any details

Note that changing the level of stored information affects the ability
to browse the files using the Data Protector user interface when
restoring. Refer to “Logging Level as an IDB Key Tunable Parameter”
on page 172 for more information on logging levels.

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Backing Up Data

• Automatic load balancing
Dynamic device allocation from a specified list
Data Protector dynamically determines which object (disk) should be

backed up to which device.

• Pre-exec and post-exec scripts
Processing to prepare a client for a consistent backup. For more

information, see “Pre-Exec and Post-Exec Commands” on page 207.

You can also specify the directories to exclude from a backup, or back up
specific directories only. You can also back up disks as they are added.
Thus, your backup is fully configurable and dynamic.

Backup Sessions

What Is a Backup
Session?

What Is a Media
Set?

A backup session is a process that backs up data from a client system to
media. A backup session always runs on the Cell Manager system. A
backup session is based on a backup specification and is started when a
backup is run.

During a backup session, Data Protector backs up data using default or
customized behavior.

See Chapter 7, “How Data Protector Operates,” on page 201 for advanced
information on backup sessions, and how to control sessions.

Media Sets or Backup Sets

The result of a backup session is backed up data on media, also called a
media set. Each backup session results in a media set. Depending on the
pool usage, several sessions can share the same media. When you restore
data, you need to know the media from which to restore. Data Protector
keeps this information in the Catalog Database.

Backup Types and Scheduled Backups

A scheduling policy defines when backups start and the backup types
(full or incremental).

Consider the following about the backup types:

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Backing Up Data

Backup Types • Full backups take more time to complete than incremental backups

and also require more media.

• If you use a standalone device with a single drive, you need to
manually change the media if a backup does not fit on a single
medium.

• Full backups enable simple and quick restores, without having to
provide media for each incremental.

• Full backups save more information about backed up data to the
Catalog Database, thus filling the database more quickly.

• Incremental backups monitor changes in your environment and
backup only changes made since the last backup. This can speed up
backups considerably, but can reduce restore performance.

Scheduling, Backup Configurations, and Sessions

Backup
Configuration

Backup Session When a backup session is started, Data Protector tries to allocate all

Optimizing
Backup
Performance

You always schedule backups and specify the backup type (full or
incremental) for an entire backup specification. The backup of all objects
specified in one backup specification will start at the same time.
Therefore, it is important to combine the appropriate backup objects in
one backup specification to enable efficient scheduling and backup. All
data in a single backup configuration is backed up in a single backup
session.

needed resources, such as devices. The session is queued for as long as
the required minimum resources are not yet available. Data Protector
tries to allocate the resources for a specific period of time, the timeout.
Timeout is user configurable. If the resources are still unavailable after
the timeout, the session is aborted.

To optimize the load on the Cell Manager, Data Protector by default
starts five backup sessions at the same time. If more are scheduled at the
same time, the excessive sessions are queued and started subsequently
as the others are finished.

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Planning Your Backup Strategy

Backing Up Data

Scheduling Tips and Tricks

The sections entitled, “Full and Incremental Backups” on page 61 and
“Keeping Backed Up Data and Information About the Data” on page 67
describe the concept of backup generations, data protection, and catalog
protection.

This section combines all these concepts by giving some examples of
backup schedules and some tips for efficient scheduling.

When to Schedule Backups

Typically, you schedule backups to run during lowest user activity,
usually at night. Full backups take the most time, so schedule them at
weekends.

Consider scheduling full backups for different clients (backup
specifications) on different days, as shown in “Staggering Full Backups”.

NOTE Data Protector offers reports that show available time slots from a

device-usage point of view. This allows you to pick a time where the
devices to be used are not likely to be occupied by serving already
existing backups.

Staggering Full Backups

Performing a full backup of all systems during the same day may cause
network load and time window problems. To avoid these problems, use
the staggered approach for full backups.

Table 2-4 The Staggered Approach

Mon Tue Wed ...

system_grp_a FULL Inc1 Inc1 ...

system_grp_b Inc1 FULL Inc1 ...

system_grp_c Inc1 Inc1 FULL ...

Chapter 276