31 March 2015

How to Configure Tivoli Storage Manager for Virtual Environment (TSM for VE) ?

After the successful installation of TSM for VE package on the Vstorage backup server, you need to configure TDP for Vsphere GUI to configure VM backups. This process will automatically register required client nodes and creates required client schedule services. You can also do these steps manually. It is recommended to do it through GUI to make configuration easier and you will be sure that you did not miss any steps in between. The below screenshots are taken from IBM for your understanding.

Configuring TSM for VE for protecting Virtual Machines

1) If you chose to enable access to the GUI via a web browser during installation process, the web browser will be automatically invoked after completion of the installation. If you wish to use this feature, click continue to this website.

DP for Vsphere GUI on Web browser

You will see the below screen on a web browser, if you click Continue in the above figure. You can access the GUI via web browser by using URL https://hostname:9081/TsmVMwareUI/ or via the start menu from the vStorage backup server where the GUI is installed. Log in using vCenter Server credentials.

DP for vsphere GUI

2) If you choose to Register the GUI as a vCenter Plug-in during installation, you can also access the GUI from the Solutions and Applications section of vCenter. Whether you use the web browser access or the vCenter plug-in access, the interface will look the same.

DP for vsphere GUI in vcenter

3) When you open the GUI for the first time, it will automatically launch the Configuration Wizard as below. If you are opening it for second time or later, you need to click EDIT CONFIGURATION tab. You just need to click NEXT to start the configuration. 

DP for Vsphere configuration wizard


4) Enter your TSM Server credentials here and click NEXT.

TSM server credentials

5) TDP for VMware requires several nodes to be defined on the TSM server to protect the entire VM infrastructure. The configuration wizard will create these nodes. This screen gives the option to assign a common prefix to these nodes as well as to select a TSM policy domain. The wizard will automatically place an underscore between the prefix and the rest of the node name. Select the desired Policy Domain and then click NEXT.

assigning prefix

6) This step will register the Vcenter node in the TSM server. The first field will be pre-filled with a node name for the vCenter node in TSM. It consists of the node prefix if specified earlier followed by ‘_VC’ followed by the vCenter name as shown in the vCenter.  You may modify the name if desired or use the generated default name. Check the ‘Register Node’ box and enter a password for the new node. The new node will be registered in TSM  server automatically with the specified password & then click NEXT.

Registering Vcenter node

7) Similarly, you have to create the VMCLI node and register in the TSM server as above.

registering VMCLI node

8) Select the datacenter to be managed, you will see all the available datacenters to be managed on the right side. Select the datacenter and click NEXT

Selecting datacenter

9) This step will create the Datacenter Node and initial TSM Data Mover Node. The datacenter node name consists of the specified prefix followed by an underscore followed by the datacenter name. The Data Mover node name consists of the datacenter node name with a suffix of ‘_DM’. Each of these may be modified by highlighting the line containing the name and then either clicking on the node name or clicking on ‘Edit Node Name’.

creating datacenter node

Then you have to set the TSM node passwords for the Datacenter and Data Mover nodes. To set the password for a node, either highlight the line and click on ‘Set Password’, or click on ‘Not Set’. Enter a password for the selected node and click OK as shown below.  Repeat the Set Password process for the other node(s) until all nodes show ‘Change’ in the Password column. 


10) In this step, you have to decide whether to allow the wizard to create the Data Mover services. Note the ‘Create Services’ column with a checkbox for each Data Mover node. When this box is checked, the wizard will create the required option file and TSM client services for the Data Mover node. Remember that this checkbox should only be used for Data Mover nodes to be created on the vStorage backup server where this GUI is installed. Since this is the first Data mover node, tick the create services box and click NEXT.


When the ‘Create Services’ box is checked for a particular Data Mover, the wizard will create the required option file and TSM client services for the Data Mover node. This is optional. You may still create the option files and services manually. If you want to add a secondary vStorage backup server, the Data Mover option file and services should be created manually. If you leave the ‘Create Services’ box checked when creating the additional Data Mover node definition, the option file and services will be created on the original vStorage backup server rather than on the new server.

11) Here, the summary page will show all the nodes which are registered in the TSM server i.e  vCenter Node, VMCLI Node, Datacenter Node and Data Mover Node.


12) In the next step, you should see the Data Mover verification successful. If you receive a failure on the ‘Verify Data Mover nodes’ task, it is likely due to the creation of the TSM services not yet being completed. If you receive a failure on the ‘Verify Data Mover nodes’ task, the Datacenter will show a warning icon.


There is a known issue in the older version of vCenter plug-in which does not set the vCenter credentials. This will prevent the datamover from being successfully validated. If you got stuck in this stage, you must log into the vStorage backup server, start the BA Client GUI using the generated dsm.<datamover>.opt file and set the credentials using the preferences editor. Restart the CAD service for the datamover, then retry the validation. This is not an issue with the web browser GUI.

13) Next, open the BA Client Preference editor by using dsmc -optfile=dsm.opt and update the  Vmware Virtual Center User and Password in the VM Backup tab as shown below.


14) To check the configuration, you can login to TSM server and run query node and query proxy commands which shows the proxy relationship between the nodes which we have configured earlier.


15) A client option file will be created with the naming format dsm.<datamover>.opt in the default BA Client directory, You need to Copy the generated file to a file called dsm.opt. This the default option file used by the BA Client GUI and command line interfaces. This will allow the BA Client GUI and command line interfaces to be used for VM guest backup and full VM restore. 


Edit the dsm.opt file and add the asnodename parameter with the node name of the datacenter node as shown above. This means that the backup will be performed by Data Mover node and the actual backup will be stored under the Data Center node name in TSM server.

Next, you can start taking manual VM backups or schedule backups through DP for Vsphere GUI.

30 March 2015

How to install Tivoli Storage Manager for Virtual Environment (TSM VE) ?

Before installing Tivoli Storage Manager for VE to protect your VMware infrastructure, you need to plan and decide how many Data Protection for VMware vSphere GUI's are required based upon your size of your environment. It is recommended to know the different types of TDP VM components and their uses before installing TSM for VE package. You can follow the same procedure on both Windows & Linux.

In general, we commonly install TSM for VE package on Vstorage backup server if separate server is dedicated for VM datastores which has access to SAN, otherwise you can install it on any system which has below settings. Below are the prerequisites for installing TSM for VE package on any server.
  • The server on which you are installing this TSM for VE package should have network connectivity to both SAN (VM datastores) & LAN. 
  • Installed Vcenter server or Vcenter client.
  • Should have network connectivity to TSM Server.
  • Installed & configured TSM BA Client, you should select vmtools option while installing.
  • Configured Policy Domain and storage pool settings to hold the VM backups on TSM server.
You should also make sure that the following ports are open on the server which you are installing TSM for VE package,
  • 443  - for vCenter Server (secure HTTP), Data Protection for VMware vSphere
  • 902  - for ESXi hosts
  • 9080 - for vSphere Client,  Data Protection for VMwarevSphere GUI Server (HTTP port for access to vCenter as plug-in)
  • 9081 - for vSphere Client,  Data Protection for VMware vSphere GUI Server (secure HTTPS port for access to vCenter through web browser)
  • 22 - for Linux Data Protection for VMware Recovery Agent, Data Protection for VMware Windows "mount" host.
  • 3260 - for Linux Data Protection for VMware file-level recovery, Data Protection for VMware Windows "mount" host.
  • 3260 - for Windows target with Dynamic disk for file-level recovery, Data Protection for VMware Windows "mount" host.
  • 1500  - for vStorage Backup Server (proxy), Tivoli Storage Manager Server
  • 1501, 1581 - for httpport
  • 1582, 1583 - for webports

Installing Tivoli Storage Manager for Virtual Environments (TSM for VE) package


1) Login to the server as administrator, and extract the setup files which you have downloaded. Double click the file named Setup.

Installing TSM VE


2) Choose Typical Installation as shown in the below figure if you want to install all DP for VMware features such as Vsphere GUI, Instant Restore and Recovery Agent etc. Choose Advanced Installation for customized installation.

selecting type of TSM VE installation

3) In the next screen, select the type of protection you need. Choose Vsphere protection to protect data in a Vsphere environment or choose Vcloud Protection if you need to protect data in Vcloud Director.


Choosing protection type

4) Tick both the options so that the the DP for Vsphere GUI is registered in Vcenter as a plug-in, by which you can do backup & restore activities. Second option is for enabling access to DP for Vsphere GUI by a web browser.


registering Vsphere gui plugin

5) In this step, you have to give your Vcenter credential. TSM for VE will communicate with the Vcenter and it registers DP for Vsphere GUI in the Solutions & Applications tab.


Vcenter credentials

6) Now click NEXT to install TSM for VE packages.

ready to install

7) In between the installation, you were asked for confirmation of some IBM device drivers, click YES/OK to install them. It is recommended to read all the pop-windows which you see during this installation. Once the installation is completed, click Finish and you need to restart the server to get the changes updated.



8) TSM for VE requires automount to be disabled and the SAN policy set to OnlineAll. The TSM for VE installation process will set these automatically but the settings should be verified after installation is complete. Run the below commands 

C:\>diskpart
DISKPART> automount
DISKPART> san
DISKPART> exit

TSM for VE disk part verification

9) If the settings are not update automatically during installation or incorrect, run the following commands to update them manually.

C:\>diskpart 
DISKPART> automount disable
DISKPART> automount scrub
DISKPART> san policy OnlineAll
DISKPART> exit

10) Once the server is rebooted, DP for Vsphere GUI will automatically open on a web browser if you choose to install it or you can open  DP for Vsphere GUI plug-in within the Vcenter. Next you need to configure the VMware setup for backup using this DP for Vsphere GUI.

29 March 2015

TSM for Virtual Environments (TSM for VE) backup and restore strategies

TSM for VE offers two types of backup strategies, Incremental forever & Periodic Full backup strategy. You can also use different mode options to manage these backups. You should check which backup strategy is suitable for your requirements . Review the advantages and disadvantages of different types of VM backups before configuring VMware setup for backup.

You can use Data Protection for VMware in conjunction with the Tivoli Storage Manager
backup-archive client (include and exclude statements) to determine which disks in the VM environment are backed up and restored. Data Protection for VMware can also protects Microsoft Exchange Server, Microsoft SQL Server, and Active Directory Domain Controllers that run inside VM guests.

Incremental Forever backup strategy

An incremental forever backup strategy minimizes backup windows while providing faster recovery of your data. Data Protection for VMware provides a backup strategy called incremental forever.

Rather than scheduling weekly periodic full backups, this backup solution requires only one initial full backup. Afterward, an ongoing forever sequence of incremental backups occurs. The incremental forever backup solution provides these advantages
  • Reduces the amount of data that goes across the network.
  • Reduces data growth because all incremental backups contain only the blocks that changed since the previous backup.
  • No comparison with the backup target is needed since only changed blocks are identified.
  • Minimizes impact to the client system.
  • Reduces the length of the backup window.
  • No need to schedule an initial full backup as a separate schedule, the first issue of an incremental forever backup automatically defaults to an incremental forever full backup.

In addition, the restore process is optimized, as only the latest versions of blocks that belong to a restored backup are restored. Since the same area on the production disk is recovered only one time, the same block is not written to multiple times as implemented in prior versions of Data Protection for VMware. As a result of these advantages, incremental forever is the preferred backup strategy. However, if your backup solution requires long term storage or tape retention of your data, consider Periodic full backup strategy.

TSM for VE backup strategies

Periodic Full backup strategy

A periodic full backup strategy provides a solution for long term storage or tape retention of your data. The periodic full backup strategy backs up any VMware guests that are supported by VMware. If you have Data Protection for VMware and are using the VMware
vStorage API backup method, you can recover individual files, have a single source full VM backup, run incremental block level backups, and perform instant restore of volumes. 


TSM for VE Backup and Restore types

Data Protection for VMware provides the following types of backup and restore functions. You can also use the -vmbackuptype and -mode options with backup vm command to indicate how the backups are to be performed.

Full VM backups

Back up an entire VM in your VMware vCenter to Tivoli Storage Manager storage. This is an entire VM image snapshot, which is a single snapshot that contains all of the VM disks. All data is backed up at the disk block level. The data can then be restored to a disk, or mounted as a virtual volume for an individual file restore. These backups are managed and retained according to storage policies set up by the Tivoli Storage Manager administrator.

Incremental VM backups

Back up only the VM data that has changed since the last full backup completed. All data is backed up at the disk block level. When a full backup has not been issued for the VM, Data Protection for VMware issues a full backup by default. You can also use Data Protection for VMware to interface with the Windows backup-archive client in order to use the Change Block Tracking capabilities provided by the vStorage APIs for Data Protection (VADP).

File level restore

File level restore can be performed in-guest or off-host on supported Windows and Linux machines. Mount the volumes of the VM backup as a virtual volume. Then, copy the files that you want to restore by using operating system commands. File restore is done from a backup-archive client full or incremental VM backup. The recovery point represented by either a full or incremental backup can be mounted. Although the mounted volume is read only by default, write permissions are also available.

Instant restore

With instant restore, you can restore the content of a single volume from a snapshot. This restore uses the snapshot data that is generated by the backup-archive client. Instant restore can be done from a full or incremental VM backup. You can use the volume immediately, while the restore process continues in the background. Instant restore requires an in-guest installation.

Full VM restore

Restore a full or incremental VM backup. The entire VM is restored to the state it existed in when originally backed up.

Full VM instant restore

Data Protection for VMware also provides instant restore for the entire VM. The restored VM becomes available for instant use, either for validating the backed up VM or for restoring the VM to permanent.

28 March 2015

Tivoli Storage Manager for Virtual Environments (TSM VE) Introduction - Components and Features

Tivoli Storage Manager for Virtual Environments (TSM for VE) otherwise known as Tivoli Data Protection for VMware (TDP VMware) is used to backup & restore of the virtual machines which are on the ESXI servers. TDP VMware eliminates the impact of running backups on a VM by offloading backup workloads from a VMware ESX or ESXi-based host to a vStorage Backup server. 

Data Protection for VMware works with the Tivoli Storage Manager backup-archive client which is installed on the vStorage Backup server  to complete full and incremental backups of VMs. The client node installed on the vStorage Backup server is called the Tivoli Storage Manager data mover node. This node "moves" the data to the Tivoli Storage Manager server for storage, and for VM image-level restore at a later time. Instant restore is also available at the disk volume level and full VM level. In addition, protection of vApps and organization vDCs in a vCloud Director environment is also available.

Data Protection for VMware Components

There are several TDP VM components which are available in this product to help protect the entire VMware infrastructure. The purpose of these components must be understood before protecting the VMware setup. The below figure shows the TSM VE components.

TSM for VE components

Data Protection for VMware vSphere GUI

This component is a graphical user interface (GUI) that accesses VM data on the VMware vCenter Server. This GUI can be accessed in two ways. This GUI can be accessed as a vCenter Server extension in the Solutions and Applications panel of your vCenter Server System or in a stand-alone web browser GUI. 

You can install this Data Protection for VMware vSphere GUI on any system that has access to Vmware storage and this GUI resource requirements are minimal as it does not process I/O data transfers. But the Data Protection for VMware vSphere GUI must have network connectivity to the following systems
  • vStorage Backup Server
  • Tivoli Storage Manager server
  • vCenter Server

This is the main component of the TSM for VE through which all the backup configuration and restore activities are performed.Installing the Data Protection for VMware vSphere GUI on the vStorage Backup Server is the most common configuration. Through this Data Protection for VMware vSphere GUI, you can
  • Initiate a backup of your VMs to a Tivoli Storage Manager server, or schedule a backup for a later time.
  • Initiate a full recovery of your VMs from a Tivoli Storage Manager server.
  • Generate reports about the tasks, the most recent events that completed, backup status, and space usage.

In a multiple VM datacenters environment, you can also register multiple Data Protection for VMware vSphere GUIs to a single vCenter Server to reduce the number of VM datacenters  that are managed by a single VMware Data Protection for VMware vSphere GUI. Managing a subset of all available datacenters with multiple Data Protection for VMware vSphere GUI's will reduce the query and processing time that is required by the plug-in to complete operations. The advantages of multiple Data Protection for VMware vSphere GUIs to a single vCenter Server are
  • Each datacenter can be managed by only one installed Data Protection for VMware vSphere GUI.
  • A unique VMCLI node name is required for each installed Data Protection for VMware vSphere GUI.
  • Using unique data mover node names for each installed Data Protection for VMware vSphere GUI simplifies managing the nodes.

Data Protection for VMware Recovery Agent

With this Data Protection for VMware Recovery Agent component, you can mount any snapshot volume from the Tivoli Storage  Manager server storage. You can view the snapshot locally, with read-only access, on the client system, or use an iSCSI protocol to access the snapshot from a remote computer. In addition, the Data Protection for VMware Recovery Agent provides the instant restore function. A volume used in instant restore processing remains available while the restore process proceeds in the background. 

The Data Protection for VMware Recovery Agent is accessed with the Data Protection for VMware Recovery Agent GUI or command-line interface. The Data Protection for VMware Recovery Agent component does not support operations in a LAN-free environment

Data Protection for VMware command-line interface

The Data Protection for VMware CLI is a full-function command-line interface that is installed with the Data Protection for VMware vSphere GUI. Although the Data Protection for VMware vSphere GUI is the primary task interface, the Data Protection for VMware CLI provides a useful secondary interface. We can do all backup, restore and schedule activities through Data Protection for VMware CLI.

Data Protection for VMware vCloud GUI

This GUI is used to protect vApps and organization vDCs in a vCloud Director environment. This GUI can be accessed through a URL bookmark to the GUI web server.  The Data Protection for VMware vCloud GUI is the primary interface from which
to complete these tasks
  • Run immediate or schedule incremental forever backups of specific vApps, or vApps contained in an organization vDC to Tivoli Storage Manager server storage.
  • Restore single or multiple vApps.
  • Generate reports and status of backup and restore.

Data Protection for VMware Nodes

Data Protection for VMware communicates to VMs during backup, restore, and mount operations through Tivoli Storage Manager nodes.A node represents a system on which the Tivoli Storage Manager backup-archive client, Data Protection for VMware, or other application client is installed. Each node will have a unique node name that is used to identify the system to the Tivoli Storage Manager server.  You can use the Data Protection for VMware vSphere GUI configuration wizard or configuration notebook to set these nodes in a vSphere environment.

vCenter node 

The virtual node that represents a vCenter.

Data Mover Node

In a Data Protection for VMware vSphere production environment, the most basic node is the data mover node. This node represents a specific Tivoli Storage Manager backup-archive client (data mover) that "moves data" from one system to another. In a basic vSphere environment, where VMs are backed up by a single client, the VM data is stored directly under the data mover node. Each data mover node requires its own Tivoli Storage
Manager client acceptor and scheduler service.

Data Center Node

It is the virtual node that maps to a data center which holds the data. In some scenarios, several data movers are used to back up a complete virtual environment, such as a VMware datacenter. In this scenario, since the backup work is distributed among multiple data movers, the VM data is stored in a shared node instead of a specific data mover node. This shared node is called the datacenter node. Thus, in this large system vSphere environment, the data mover nodes store VM data into the datacenter node.

VMCLI Node

Finally, in a large vSphere virtual environment, where multiple data movers and datacenters are operative, a third node is used to communicate among the nodes and Tivoli Storage Manager server. This node connects the Data Protection for VMware command-line interface to the Tivoli Storage Manager server and the Tivoli Storage Manager data mover node. Unlike the Tivoli Storage Manager data mover node, the VMCLI node does not require its own Tivoli Storage Manager client acceptor or scheduler service.

Similarly, for VMware vCloud Director production environment, we have 
  • vCloud Director Node which represents the vCloud Director and is the top-level node.
  • Provider VDC Node which represents a provider vDC for vCloud environment.
  • Organization VDC Node which represents an organization vDC for vCloud environment.
  • Data Mover Node which represents a backup-archive client and is associated with a single provider vDC and all of its organization vDCs. It is authorized to do operations for all organization vDCs that belong to the provider vDC.
  • VMCLI Node which connects the Data Protection for VMware vCloud GUI to the Tivoli Storage Manager server and the other nodes.

Protecting VM templates and vApps

Data Protection for VMware supports backing up and restoring of both VM templates and
vApps. 
  • A VM template is a master image of a VM. This template can include an installed guest operating system and a set of applications. By using TDP VM software you can also backup these VM templates for the disaster recovery. VM templates can be restored to the original VM template, or to an alternative VM template and data store location.
  • A vApp is a logical entity that consists of one or more VMs. By using a vApp, you can specify and include all components of a multitier application. VMs that are contained in a vApp can be backed up and restored. By using TDP VM software you can also backup these vApps for the disaster recovery.

Automatic Client Failover

Starting from version TSM VE v7.1, Data Protection for VMware can automatically fail over to the secondary TSM server for data recovery when there is an outage on the primary Tivoli Storage Manager server. The Tivoli Storage Manager server that the Tivoli Storage Manager data mover node connects to during normal production processes is called the primary server. When the primary server and data mover node are set up for node replication, the client data on the primary server can be replicated to another Tivoli Storage Manager server, which is the secondary server.

During normal operations, connection information for the secondary server is automatically sent to the data mover node from the primary server during the logon process. The secondary server information is automatically saved to the client options file on the data mover node. No manual intervention is required by you to add the information for the secondary server.

Each time the data mover node logs on to the server, it attempts to contact the primary server. If the primary server is unavailable, the data mover node automatically fails over to the secondary server, according to the secondary server information in the client options file. In failover mode, you can restore any replicated client data. When the primary server is online again, the data mover node automatically fails back to the primary server the next time the data mover node connects to the server.

Tivoli Storage FlashCopy Manager for VMware 

Tivoli Storage FlashCopy Manager for VMware is a data management solution that you can use to streamline storage management in a VMware vSphere environment. It simplifies the backup, restore, and disaster recovery operations of virtual machines in a VMware environment. When you use Tivoli Storage FlashCopy Manager for VMware with Tivoli Storage Manager for Virtual Environments, you can store VMware image backups on Tivoli Storage Manager server storage. You can back up, restore, and implement disaster recovery solutions for virtual machines in a VMware environment. 

Tivoli storage Flash copy manager for vmware


With Tivoli Storage FlashCopy Manager for VMware, you can create non-disruptive off-host backups for VMware virtual machines in a vSphere environment. This off-host approach facilitates faster backup operations. This method enables block level incremental backups when VMware change block tracking feature is enabled. You can protect and back up virtual machines at the datastore level. With this feature, you can also restore a single virtual machine and virtual disk to its original location or to an alternative location. In addition, you can restore an entire datastore or datastores.

1 March 2015

Other types of TSM backups which can be used to reduce backup window timings

File List backup

Use filelist option during backup to control which files are to be backed up. The Tivoli Storage Manager client opens the file you specify with this option and processes the list of files within according to the specific command. You can use the filelist option with the following commands. ---- archive, backup group, delete archive, delete backup, expire, incremental, query archive, query backup, restore, retrieve, selective

For example:

selective -filelist=/home/filelist.txt

How it works
  • An application creates a list of files for backup and passes the list to the client.
  • The client runs a selective backup of the files that are specified in the list.
When to use
  • The scheduled backups are not completing within the allotted time.
  • The list of changed files is known.
Advantages

Selective backup eliminates the query of the server database and the scan of local file system.

Disadvantages
  • You must find a way to create the file list.
  •  You must explicitly specify the files. You cannot use wildcard characters or directory recursion in the file list.

Backup of Virtual Mount Points

Use virtual mount points to back up large, balanced, AIX, HP-UX, Linux, and Solaris file systems that can be efficiently divided into logical partitions.. You can save processing time when you define a virtual mount point within a file system because it provides a direct path to the files that you want to back up.

If the directory that you want to specify as a virtual mount point is a symbolic link, set the followsymbolic option to Yes. If that option is set to no (the default), you are not permitted to use a symbolic link as a virtual mount point. Also, if you back up a file system, then add a virtual mount point, and then do another incremental on the file system, the files and directories in the virtual mount point directory are expired, because they are logically contained within the virtual mount point directory and not the file system.

When you specify a virtualmountpoint option, the path that it specifies is added to the default backup domain (domain all-local). The virtualmountpoint path is always considered a local "mount point" regardless of the real file system type it points to. 

virtualmountpoint /tmp/userfile/home/username

How it works
  • Instead of backing up an entire file system to a single file space on the server, you can logically partition a large file system into smaller file systems, and then define mount points for backup processing.
  • The file system that are represented by the mount points can be managed as separate file spaces on the server.
Advantages

Backup processing of virtual mount points provides a balanced approach to the backup of large file systems by effectively dividing them into  smaller file systems. It is more efficient than defining the file system with the domain  option, and then specifying the exclude  option to exclude the files you do not want to back up.

Disadvantages
  • This method of backup processing is not appropriate for a single directory that contains a large number of files.
  • Virtual mount points are static and cannot be changed.
  • This method requires monitoring to ensure that new directories are still backed up in one of the virtual mount points, along with other processing that is required to maintain the virtual mount point definitions.
  • Command-line restore operations require the use of braces ( { } ) to delimit the virtual mount point name in the file specification.
  • This method is only available for AIX, HP-UX, Linux, and Solaris operating systems.


Snapshot Differential Backup

If you are backing up NetApp filer or vFiler volumes or N-Series file server volumes, you can use a snapshot differential backup to streamline the incremental backup process. Using the snapdiff option with the incremental command streamlines the incremental backup process. The command runs an incremental backup of the files that were reported as changed by NetApp instead of scanning all of the volume for changed files.

incremental -snapdiff -diffsnapshot=latest /data/datafile

How it works
  • The first time that you run an incremental backup with the snapdiff option, a snapshot is created (the base snapshot) and a traditional incremental backup is run by using this snapshot as the source. The name of the snapshot that is created is recorded in the Tivoli Storage Manager database.
  • The second time an incremental backup is run with the snapdiff option, a newer snapshot is either created, or an existing one is used to find the differences between these two snapshots. The second snapshot is called diffsnapshot. The client then incrementally backs up the files that are reported as changed by NetApp to the Tivoli Storage Manager server.
When to use
  • Use this method to back up NetApp filer or vFiler volumes or N-Series file server volumes on Windows, AIX 64-bit, and Linux x86/86_64 clients.


Advantages
  • Snapshot differential backup processing can save you time by not having to scan the whole volume for changed files.


Disadvantages

Snapshot differential backup processing has the following limitations:
  • On Windows systems, it does not work for any of the NetApp predefined shares, including C$, because the client cannot determine their mount points programmatically.
  • You must periodically take a new base snapshot with the createnewbase option to back up any files that might have been skipped.