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July 7th, 2016 08:00
DD and multiple AvamarVE instances
Had a couple questions on using Avamar VirtualEdition with the DD. A full physical Avamar system was out of our price range so we have decided to save money and run multiple instances of AVE, maybe not the best move but money is tight so we do the best with what we get.
Anyways, on that note a few questions:
1) First off, I'm assuming a single DD can be used for a target for multiple AVE instances, in this case we'll most likely end up with three instances, at least I hope my assumption is correct that all three AVE's can write to the same DD.
2) How does this work, assuming again, you point all three instances at the same mgmt. IP and the DD gets the AVE instance's data pointed to the correct Storage Unit based on the DDBoost user that the AVE instance is configured with? So DDBUser1 assigned to SU1 would be configured to AVE instance 1, thus data hitting the DD would be written in the proper place, to SU1 in this case? If that makes sense. Is it feasible all three AVE instances could use the same DDBUser configured on three AVE instances sharing the same SU or even if it possible a very bad idea?
3) Provided number 2 works like I'm thinking, as far is ifgroups; can all three AVE instances be referred to the same ifgroup. We have a DD2500 with four 10g and four 1g, if we created an ifgroup with all four of the 10g interfaces in one ifgroup, would all three of the AVE instances get referred to the same ifgroup? Assuming we went with three separate DDUsers and SU's pointing to the same mgmt. IP.
Thanks for any help, I'll probably have a couple follows depending on some of my assumptions above. But will leave it at this.
ionthegeek
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July 7th, 2016 08:00
1) You can have an M:N relationship between Avamar systems (physical or virtual) and Data Domain systems. Multiple Data Domain systems can be attached to a single Avamar and multiple Avamar systems can have the same Data Domain attached.
2) Each Avamar system will create its own Avamar MTree in the format avamar-123456789, where 123456789 is the UNIX time when the Avamar software was initialized. You can use the same DDBoost credentials for all three Avamar systems or, if your DD is running a version of DD OS that supports multiple DDBoost users, you can use unique credentials for each Avamar. It's not possible for multiple Avamar systems to share an MTree; each Avamar will have its own MTree.
I'll have to defer to others about ifgroup configuration. Network communication using the DDBoost protocol is handled internally to the DD libraries so being from the Avamar side, I'm not especially familiar with it.
Clarkson14
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July 7th, 2016 09:00
Thanks Ian for the quick response.
So Avamar creates the MTree/Storage Unit automatically on the DD the first time it connects? We have an old DD and I was confused since you can create DDB M-Trees manually but I guess those may be for other DDB supported programs.
In having multiple AVE instances all with their own M-Trees, does that mean we end up with three separate DD de-dup silos or do you know if the DD will de-dup across the DDB M-Trees, I couldn't remember if the DD de-dups across multiple M-Trees or if they all end up in stove pipes of sorts.
And this is probably outside of this initial question and I can post it on the Avamar community if better suited, but was curious if there was a good way/rule of thumb on sizing out the AVE appliances. We have a partner helping us set these and cam up with the sizing so I'm taking their word we need three but having extra opinions is always nice. Thanks again.
ionthegeek
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July 7th, 2016 09:00
When you add a Data Domain system to Avamar, the Avamar Administrator Server connects to the DD and does some initial setup which includes creating the MTree.
MTrees still share the same underlying segment store so you do get de-dupe across MTrees, not just within them.
EMC provides sizing tools to both internal and partner pre-sales. Assuming the partner is using these tools, the sizing should be correct. If you'd like to get some other opinions, it couldn't hurt to post to the Avamar Support Forum. I don't know if you'll get pre-sales people (you might) but there are a number of very knowledgeable customers and partners who frequent the forums and may be able to provide their insights.