Is it possible to copy a backup job in Avamar?

Hi Steve,

1. can we manually copy old backups (written to Avamar nodes) to Data Domain?

     No. The data format written on Avamar is not same as Data Domain. So basically you can not manually move Avamar backup data to Data Domain.

2. can we manually copy old backups writtne to a DD, to another new DD storage?

       Yes, you can do this. It can be done by using DD replication. Depending on your requirement, you can use Directory/ Mtree/Collective replication. Once replication is completed, you need to delete the replication pair, and you can start using your destination DD/Directory/Mtree as normal.

Please let us know if you need more information on this.

Regards,

Pawan Kumawat

The question then come:

I know Avamar stores meta data, which points to the data on the old DD.

If you use DD replication, data cloned on new DD, then how would Avamar knows where is it?

This has to be done under Avamar's management, thus it will copy/update the meta data relate to the data on new DD.

I found something in Avamar document about it, seems a new feature introduced from Avamar 7.2, called "Replicas at source", in page 249 on Avamar 7.5 admin guide.

Enable Replicas at source option, then Avamar can replicate backup jobs from one DD to another, which will do DD replication and then create meta data for new backup replica.

Did not test it yet, but I think I've found the answer of my question.

Will update it here when I start to do it, and if I found any surprises.

Cheers,

Steve

Hi Steve,

After reading your latest comments, I got better understanding on your requirement.

You mentioned to copy Avamar backups manually to DD and I assumed you are mentioning to copy mtree data and use it.

I think in your case, you can integrate second DD to existing Avamar. You can actually do replication to same Avamar. you need to use advance option --checkservers=false in replication set. And then you should make new DD as default DD or you should use storage mapping option to add 2nd DD as replication target storage.

Regards,

Pawan Kumawat

Hi Pawan,

So "Replicas at source"  is not for this "internal replication between DDs on same Avamar", right?

Not sure why I misunderstood, read the document again, seems I got it wrong... 

So just setup replication with "--checkservers=false" it should do it on same Avamar?

Not sure about the other steps you mentioned "then you should make new DD as default DD or you should use storage mapping option to add 2nd DD as replication target storage"

Is there any document with detailed steps for this? I searched EMC web site and just could not find anything, everything is talking about replication between 2 Avamar zones.

So once add the 2nd DD to Avamar and set it as default storage, to do the replication we just set source and target server as same host name of Avamar right? and user ID the same too?

Say we test it with avrepl command, is it this way?:

avrepl --operation=replicate -[replscript]dpnname=myavamar --[avtar]id=myid@avamar -ap=mypassword --[replscript]dstaddr=myavamar -[replscript]dstid=myid --dstpassword=mypassword ...

Hi,

From page 43, you can find the steps to make  a DD default device for the replication and steps to do storage mapping-

https://support.emc.com/docu81548_Avamar-7.4-and-Service-Packs-and-Data-Domain-System-Integration-Guide.pdf?language=en_…

I hope this would help.

Regards,

Pawan Kumawat

Hi Pawan,

Thanks, I've read the document before, it only talks about replication between 2 Avamar systems though.

I think it's clear about how to setup DD etc., but I need more detail about how to replicate them in same Avamar.

Would you please give more detailed steps? is it just need to use "--checkservers=false" and then use same host name as source and target avamar, that's it?

I assume there should be more things like setup replication domain and authentication, etc.?

Have EMC/DELL test it and fully support it?

Should it be very fast or would bring performance impact to Avamar?

Hi Pawan,

We are trying to do the same thing as Steve.  I added two options to the replication group to get by the initial errors:

checkservers=false

[replscript]checkservers=false

But now i get the error below:

2018-12-15 04:13:49 avtar Error <5698>: Source (avamarServer) and destination (avamarServer) DPNs are the same! Replication ABORTING

Any suggestions?  Thanks!

Sean

Which DD did you set as "default replication storage"?

Seems need to set the target DD to be default, then do the replication, from what Pawan mentioned.

And where did you put the checkservers option? Isn't it suppose to have a "--" in front of it?

I still don't have chance to test it on mine yet, but just some thoughts.

Maybe try it again with command line:

avrepl --operation=replicate -[replscript]dpnname=myavamar --[avtar]id=myid@avamar -ap=mypassword --[replscript]dstaddr=myavamar -[replscript]dstid=myid --dstpassword=mypassword ...

I apologize for not catching this thread before it went completely off the rails.

Pawan_Kumawat wrote: 2. can we manually copy old backups writtne to a DD, to another new DD storage?        Yes, you can do this. It can be done by using DD replication. Depending on your requirement, you can use Directory/ Mtree/Collective replication. Once replication is completed, you need to delete the replication pair, and you can start using your destination DD/Directory/Mtree as normal.

This is incorrect. Data Domain replication is unsupported for Avamar / DD integrated backups except in a very specific configuration for Dell EMC's Cyber Recovery offering. MTree replication can be used to replace a Data Domain system with another Data Domain system but this must be done before integrating the Avamar with the replacement DD.

It is not currently possible to move a backup between DD systems attached to the same Avamar. For customers trying to migrate SOME data, we currently recommend attaching an AVE system to the target DD, replicating the data to the AVE, then deleting the backups from the source system and replicating them back from the AVE. There is an RFE open for Avamar to support migration of backups directly from one DD to another.

you need to use advance option --checkservers=false in replication set

Never do this. This option disables some really important safety checks. If you run replication with checkservers=false, you're more likely than not to spend the next week on the phone with support fixing your domain structure. Setting this flag permits the replicator to replicate a system to itself. Since the default is to replicate from / to /REPLICATE/sourcename, all your client accounts would be moved into the /REPLICATE domain, the MCS would no longer be able to find them, and backups for the affected clients would fail until the domain structure were fixed.

I found something in Avamar document about it, seems a new feature introduced from Avamar 7.2, called "Replicas at source", in page 249 on Avamar 7.5 admin guide. Enable Replicas at source option, then Avamar can replicate backup jobs from one DD to another, which will do DD replication and then create meta data for new backup replica.

The replicas at source feature just displays backups from a replication target in the GUI on the replication source. It will not migrate backups between two DD systems attached to the same Avamar.

Hi Ian,

So to get rid of my old DD but keep the data, I'll have to create another Avamar VE to connect to my new DD, and then replicate everything from existing Avamar VE to this new Avamar VE systems, right?

How about licensing, do I need to procure a new license or is it possible to transfer the license to new Avamar VE?

From my understanding, you can't copy DD backup to Avamar itself, as the format is different?

Also I can't do it anyway, cause I have 2.3 PB data on existing DD, too hard to find storage space for Avamar VE to copy it.

Hi Ian,

Thanks a lot, now it's much more clear to me.

My Avamar is an AVE, I'm now thinking of setup a new AVE and do this repilcation, but not sure if it's easy to setup, and how to deal with licensing.

If we just import the AVE into VMware and boot it up, it'll use 30 days grace period without any license needed?

About the alternative option, replicate things to new AVE, then replicate it back... but when you replicate it back, it'll be on different AVE, replicate from one MTree to another MTree, but both MTrees are on same DD, right? Would it be a problem or performance impact on the new DD and daily backup jobs still running on the AVE?

We have 2.3PB data on the existing DD, so not sure how long this replication would be.

Of course I'd like to take the easiest path... our new DD is not setup for Avamar yet.

So is there any document of detailed steps to do that?

To do this DD MTree replication, I need to manually create a MTree on new DD with name "avamar-", right?

When MTree replication completed, when we point Avamar to the MTree on new DD, would Avamar scan the content and generate metadata from it, for the restore?

Or any other operation is needed to "import" what is in the MTree, to Avamar aware?

I noticed, when you setup MTree in Avamar, it'll actually automatically create the MTree, so if the MTree is already there with name "avamar-", Avamar would not overwrite it but will take over the content?

Sorry for too many questions,

Last one:

Which version of AVE support these solutions you provided above?

Steve Li

Hello ionthegeek,

I'm pleased to migrate data from an old to a new data domain. Are your described steps still the way to migrate from old to new?  So the correct way is to configure the new DD in Avamar and to use a MTree replication? After this the old DD may be deleted and the jobs need to point to the new DD? I couldn't find any more explanation.

Is the RFE implemented?

Thanks a lot.