Avamar Virtual Edition and Global Deduplication

A singloe node is 2Tb or latest release 3TB. You cannot add to that and global deduplication unless you make it a 4 node grid i believe. One utility node, two data nodes and spare node. Otherwise you can add another 3TB node but it will not global dedup with the original.

Thanks for your replys Ed, this is a Green fields site.

I'm trying to confirm if this is limited by AVE or just how AVE is configured on inital install.

We have 2 Data Centers and our production is spread between these, I'm a little concerned that the 2TB might not be enough so I want the flexability to grow in the future.  We were initally going to have 2 AVE's (one at each site) with Replication.

Now 3TB might just be the answer, but if in the future we need to increase capacity for deduplication, can I just add to these AVE's and utilise global deduplication or do I need a hardware solution to acheive this?

Are you suggesting that it's how the AVE in intially installed that determines how global deduplication works?

If you could point me in the direction of some detail documentation I'd be really grateful!

Thanks again,

Craig.

If the 4 AVE's are already being used as standalone nodes you cannot. You could but you would have to reconfigure and you would lose your data. You can add 3 new nodes to the existing node to make a grid and this would double you global dedupliation capacity. In a 4 node grid only 2 of the nodes would be data nodes. You will need to verify all of this with EMC.

Your questions was if you purchased another 2TB AV license can you add to the global deduiplication of the current node. The answer is no. The only way to add capacity and add to the global deduplication of a single node is to make it an Avamar grid. You need a minimum of 4 nodes to do this. If you purchase another node it will not be part of the deduplication of the existing node.

Thanks for this information, as this is not the answer I was looking for can someone else also concur?

Just adding to this question, is the following scenario possible?

Main site with large Avamar grid.

Remote site with one AVE.

Remote servers backup to local AVE

AVE replicates to Main site Avamar grid.

Will this work? I know the AVE and the Main site grid will not share the deduplication.

Ahmed Jalal

(713) 219-6742

ahmed.jalal@gcserv.com

A single node Avamar system (virtual or physical) cannot be expanded by adding nodes to it.

Read more about that in Powerlink support solution esg112034, although the link might not be available for another week or two when the
content has been reviewed

Each Avamar system (or 'GSAN') maintains a copy of each unique chunk of data on the system.  The bigger the system, the more unique chunks can be stored and the greater the likelihood that data you are backing up from a client will already exist on the Avamar server.

If you have two Avamar systems you cannot take advantage of global deduplication between the two Avamar GSANs because each Avamar instance will need to maintain its own copy of each of those unique chunks.

Given your current configuration you may want to consider building physical multi-node systems and migrating data to them from your AVEs

Just a few more Avamar questions: -

1. Can you configure AVE as muti-node non RAIN?
   
   
2. Can you configure muti-node non RAIN using Avamar software installed on existing server  hardware (not EMC hardware)? - Does anyone have a list of compatible hardware?  We've got a  lot of hardware left from our virtualisation project, we could reuse  this..
   
   Regarding licensing, do you just license per storage node, if I have an  AVE license could I just purchase an additional storage node license to  convert to an multi-node non RAIN?
   
   
3. Can you have a mixed 1x2 muti-node non RAIN using AVE and software Avamar installed on physcial servers?
4. 
   Let's say I build and use an AVE and replicate this to a second AVE offsite (this is essentially the design we intend to use), then in about 12 months our 3TB AVE begins to grown with space issues, can I create a muti-node non RAIN using my base AVE plus a physical storage node and replicate this to the same update offsite?

Look forward to your replys.

Thanks for all the responses to this forum, I really appreciate your feedback and the information you provide!

Craig.