Avamar Extended Retention tape drive usage

Hey,

Avamar Extended Retention only support one single physical or virtual tape library yet.

Currently, Avamar extended retention can export Avamar backups to a single physical or virtual tape library. The use of multiple libraries is not supported.

You can find these content from Avamar 7.0 Extended Retention User Guide on page 13.

Hope this helps.

Hi Leo

Thanks for the prompt reply. I have only one library but two tape drives in that single library. I'd like to utilize both tape drives in the single library.

Hi Adam

Good to hear from you. Not sure if you remember we worked on ATO some time back where you developed lots of features in ATO while we were implementing ATO. What a coincidence, this is for same client and now they are replacing ATO with AER.

I have split the job into two jobs and it is now using both drives but still using same pool. Thanks for your advice. Hope we will chat soon again.

Sanjesh

Not sure who your customer is but its unfortunate they switched to AER because ATO when configured properly is faster and provides several other key functional aspects which AER cannot.

For example,

1. ATO provides a fully cataloged tape backup allowing you to browse to see what is in each tape backup without the need to perform an import in its entirety just to see the logical contents

2. ATO provides file level recovery directly from tape with no dependencies on Avamar or the need for a GASN being present, with AER the AER node must be maintained for the duration of the lifespan of the data on tape

3. ATO tapes can be imported to any other instance of the tape application and be recovered in the normal fashion

4. ATO supports writing to Cloud storage eliminating the need for a tape application being present at all

I’ve already converted 2 deployed AER nodes to ATO/Networker combo and two others customers are in serious discussions to do the same due to the above deficiencies.

I realize I'm resurrecting an old thread, but what are the customers that have converted AER to ATO done about their existing tape repositories that are in AER format?  That's my biggest stumbling block when considering a move away from AER.

Paul,

This is a challenge and is very difficult/awkward to accomplish as it really cannot be automated.

If you were to import an AER export into its GSAN, you could install ATO/ADMe on that GSAN and migrate the imported BU’s normally using the ADMe process.

If the exports are actually still available within your Avamar system you could use ADMe to migrate them form there which would be considerably simpler.

However, the first scenario implies your AER node is still functional and the imports themselves would need to be performed manually via its GUI one-by-one.

If you have any inclination to switch/convert from AER to ADMe then the sooner you make the move the better off you will be with respect to this particular challenge.

Regards,

Adam

Adam,

We used the word compliance and one of EMC sales partners deployed AER for us.

we identified after some time that we are unable to leverage properly. I know the procedure to deploy ATO. What other process is involved if we want to convert AER to ATO?

thanks

Avmaint,

Just an FYI but ATO has been re-branded and is now called ADMe (Avamar Data Migration Enabler). This was done to remove the word "Tape" from the acronym and to better reflect its capabilities which are not limited to tape. For example, migrating backup copies to Cloud storage using any number of available gateways and cloud providers including the likes of Amazon S3 and ATT's Synaptic and many others. In addition, it's also capable of automating the migration of backup copies from an Avamar/GSAN based system to one with DD based storage which could be beneficial as replication from a GSAN to DD is not supported by Avamar..

But to answer your question, the effort to switch from AER to ADMe first requires a decision on your part as to whether you want to retain the current AER tapes for recovery purposes. If yes, then that means you must also retain the AER node for that purpose versus being able to redeploy it as a combined Networker/Staging server to be used by ADMe.

If you must retain the AER the steps involved would be as follows:

1. Stand up a Networker server with sufficient staging disk to be used as a combined Networker/Staging server

2. Install ADMe on your Avamar utility node and configure it to use your new server(s) mentioned in Step-1

If you can let your AER tapes go the existing AER node can be redeployed to be used by ADMe, I've done three of these so far and they perform very well with ADMe.

1. Re-build the RAID groups to support it being used as both a Networker and Staging server. There are x12  2TB disks for a total of 24 TB's capacity and their RAID setup should be arranged as follows:

• First RAID group using two drives should be configured as RAID-1
• Additional RAID groups should be configured without any RAID protection as staging disks are not used for data     protection purposes. This will maximize your staging capacity as well as contribute to improved staging performance

2. Install the new OS via its maintenance port usually Windows but that's your choice and ensure the ISO file has Intel RAID and network drivers. The older AER nodes were Dell's but the newer ones are all Intel based H/W. If you use a standard ISO file for Windows you will be stuck at the point when these drivers are needed although you can obtain shareware that allows you to dismount the ISO file and mount a folder from where you can grab the drivers, this works but can be a bit challenging.

3. Partition the RAID-1 group as follows:

• Ensure Drv-C 100 GB (For OS install) and the 100 MB drive created by Windows install are partitioned during teh install otherwise you will be left with a single driver letter that's 2 TB's in size, you do not want this.
• Drv-D 500 GB's (For Networker Software and Media DB etc.)
• The left over can be used as s staging disk or as a scratch area

4. Partition the other RAID groups as required based on size and type of data to be staged as per the ADMe Admin guide. Typically for non incremental staging we use a 2-4 TB landing area and for incremental staging for large FS or NDMP data we use a larger partition up to about 10 TB's 

5.  Assign hostname and IP address etc.

6. Install and license Networker software on Drv-D. If you have DPS licensing your Networker licenses are free but if not there will be license fee. Configure tape library and ensure persistent binding is used when fiber connect drives are involved.

7. Configure ADMe and start migrating backups

Converting the AER node is fairly involved but if you are used to building servers and installing Windows then I'm sure it will be a relatively simple task for you.

Hope this helps but if you need additional clarification feel free to contact me via email directly.

Ok,

Regarding your requirement to protect two external clients using Networker, once you convert your AER to be used by ADMe the Networker copy involved

can be used for these two clients as well as the ADMe use case so only one Networker instance is required.

Given your AER has never been deployed it makes it easier to move forward and convert it to be used with ADMe.

regards,

Adam

thanks for the extensive explanation within no time, Adam.

We have an AER node, which we haven't yet started using. So if the option of converting the same to ADMe is viable, we want to pursue that.

We also have a requirement to deploy a networker server (to protect just 2 clients)

Hope we can format the AER node and deploy Networker +ADMe on the same MAN node by removing the AER config,

We can deploy & configure the ADMe and we would love to configure the devices on our own.

We have EMC DPAD suite license.

Adam,

Can ADMe and NWR coexist on same physical server? because in our case there is no much load on NWR (just 2 backup clients) we want to leverage the same box

I remember ATO was a typical NDMP accelerator running linux, hope ADMe too runs on linux

or

is ADMe installable on Windows OS as well?

No noooooo, ADMe has changed drastically since those days.

ADMe now runs only on the utility node and can support any number of staging servers, staging server OS types, multiple MCS threads per staging server and even multiple tape applications concurrently.

You need only one Networker instance and it can be used to serve the needs of the two clients you mention as well being used by ADMe for migration of Avamar BU’s.

This same Networker server (the physical AER node) also will serve as the staging server for ADMe as it contains a lot of disk capacity.

regards,

Adam

Adam,

So we just need to deploy the ADMe on Avamar util node

format AER node to be used by Networker for

            sending Avamar backups to tape

            backup the 2 clients to tape

configuration is a task anyways to achieve our requirement           

Where do we download the software for ADMe? as per ADMe - Avamar Data Migration Enabler + Supplemental Material, I tried to click the links but they are directing me to developer content, may be this is still internal?

As I know you since the time I have been with EMC, I presume this is a valid solution which falls in support by EMC.

Do we need any license for ADMe?