Backup of Celerra CIFS with Avamar

Avamar Accelerator node is the best way.

if you done have that, you can try with UNC paths through servers with the avamar client installed.  The backups will be slower, plus each night your run a job, it will take a long time since it cannot cache information about the Celerra (like an accelerator node would).

I'm new with Avamar. How do you make the agent see the CIFS? On the agent, when I select 'Backup Now", the only option is to backup the local drive.

The CIFS are mapped via a network drive.

You have to define a dataset. Under dataset go to Options, and there is an option to traverse fixed and remote network mounts. Now create a group, assign it a dataset and make the client part of that group.

I don't know of an option to do this using the Backup Now command.

I looked into creating a new dataset. However, the options you described are not available. Under the Options tab, the only option is "Select Plug-In Type".

Obviously, I was told wrong. In that case, how do I backup my CIFS?

I have an existing Dataset with that config already. I also have an existing group in which the server (eg. Server1) is already a member of. I was told that to backup the CIFS, I need to map network drives to the CIFS in Server1, which I already did. I was expecting this network drives to show up when I need to backup Server1 (kind of, I guess, what you would see if you're using Windows Backup). However, all I see is the local drive and not the mapped drives.

Yes, mapped drives will not show up like local drives.

Select Windows File System.

In the dataset go to options, select Windows File System, and check the traverse local and mapped drives.

I set this up for a client a few months ago. The notes are from memory, so let me know if it is correct or not.

If it isn't, I'll get what work from the client.

That is what I was looking for.

Thanks!

I've included the UNC path to the NAS share. I've tried the Windows plugin and it did not work. It still just backed up the local drive. Thanks!

OK, I found my notes on how I had this working before:

1) Create an account that has access to the UNC shares, etc. (Verify shared and NTFS permissions)

2) Choose the server(s) that will be used as a client to backup the UNC paths

3) Set the Avamar service (backup agent) on the server(s) to run as the account to access the UNC shares instead of the local system account

4) Define the data set

  a) specify the UNC path under the Source Data (must type it, you cannot browse to it)

  b) Remove all plugin types

  c) Click OK to save the dataset

5)  Configure the schedule, policy, etc.

The reason you want to use UNC paths over mapped drives is that unless the user is logged in, you won't have mapped drives and therfore nothing to backup!

I'm going to get the right setup and test it, but you should use the plugin for the OS of the hosts system you will be using to gain access to the UNC path.

If the avamar client is installed on a Windows server, use Windows File System Plug-in.  Then include the UNC path to the share you will backup.