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October 15th, 2024 18:53
IDAP/DD file level VSS backups and move to vm protected backups
So I am not the admin and I am new to the environment. We are discussing moving from vss file level protection to vm aware backups with Avamar. From past experience, this type of move would create new baseline's in the DDB. With no historical data in the DDB, we would have all new "CBT" based data blocks rather then "File Level". Is there a smart way to do this? Our DDB is massive enough does it make sense to start with new sorta?
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DELL - Rod K
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October 16th, 2024 22:24
Hi,
You are correct. These are unrelated backup methods and so if start new with VM Image backups they will not build upon the old file backups, and the first VM Image backups will take a lot of space similar to a Full file level- but then later Change Block Tracking will function similar to Incremental for file level but at block level.
As for backing up databases you generally would do better to NOT switch to VM Image. A lot depends on the type of DB it is. For example, for MS SQL you COULD do VM Image but it would be better to stay with File Level and VSS and there is a SQL plugin for the client to be sure transaction logs are backed up properly etc. For Oracle and other DBs there is no special plugin so it is treated like normal file and VSS (and some Oracle work on client side) unless you do VM Image.
If your DB is MS SQL then the above mentioned SQL plugin would be best. For other DB types or server roles I suggest you do some testing. Keep your current backups and then do some equivalent VM Image backups and compare the resulting size, and also test Restoring (including File Level if you think you will need it) to be sure you get the results you expect.
Sometimes with DB backups we can see the backup job status as "Completed with exceptions". This means the backup is basically good but there were some minor issues- such as permissions to certain files etc.
If your Avamar is Data Domain integrated (and most are) then all the backup data is stored on the DD and only some metadata is stored on the Av server. So when looking at potential capacity problems you mostly want to focus on the DD space. This can be seen on the av aui dashboard and/or you can ssh to DD as sysadmin and run df -h.
I am on the Support team and thus we focus on break/fix issues rather than solution architecting. One option is to ask your Dell account manager to put you intouch with Dell Professional Services and they can assist with non-support related needs such as this.
I hope this helps.
(edited)