NX4 NDMP backup with symantec 12.5

thanks for the reply but the customer does not want to use NDMP because you cannot restore at the file level, i was thinking of maybe doing 2 snapshots a day of the volume and using symantec backup to backup the snapshot. What is confusing me is there are conflicting doc/posts on whether symantec backup can access the data via the unc name \\celerra\data. Have you tried to backup data via this route or even a mapped drive letter ?

thanks again

paul

Hi Paul,

what do you mean ?

with NDMP you can restore single files or directories just fine.

as far as network-based backup go - it should work with a UNC path or mapped drive letter

just make sure the backup runs as domain account and NOT a local account

also keep in mind that mapped drives usually only get mapped once a user logs in

Rainer

Hi Rainer

thanks for your help, there are some confusing information out on the web :-) would you mind clarifing some things for me ?

so with NDMP backups you must backup a full volume you cannot just backup a single file but you can restore a single file or directory, is this correct ?

also is it the recommendation to have a TBU attached to the celerra to do the NDMP backups ?

do EMC recommend a specific backup product for NDMP backups for the celerra ?

again thanks for your help

Hi,

Celerra NDMP can backup subdirectories - but most customers really backup the whole file system.

I did hear that there are some "lower-end" backup backup software that only allow you to configure a NDMP backup for a complete file system (Symantec Backup Exec I think)

persoally I think there are very little reasons to backup less tha a complete file system

You can always restore single files or directories with any NDMP backup software I know (corner case is a special block-based NDMP mode called VBB and duplicated files - but that is a different matter).

If you worry about consistency - there is an option for NDMP with integrated snapshots where the Celerra will automatically create a checkpoint, back that up and delete it when the backup is done

yes, to use NDMP you either need a FC attached tape drive at the data mover or backup via NDMP to a supported backup package that is supported with 3-way NDMP

please not what with any vendors NDMP implemention a NDMP backup can only be restored on a device of the type/OS - i.e. you cannot restore a backup taken with Celerra NDMP to a Windows server or to a NAS device from another vendor.

I would suggest to take a look at the "Configuring NDMP with Celerra" manual available from Powerlink - it explains the concepts nicely.

We would of course recommend our own product - EMC (Legato) Networker - for NDMP.

There are now bundle packages called Networker Fast Start with good pricing for smaller sites.

Rainer

You can filter backups with BE 12.5 but you can only put in a single filter.  There is a Symantec document available that goes through the specifics on how to do this.  For our setup, we have some file-based databases that we want to pick up as a single unit and backup the "other" data on this file system weekly...so there are reasons why you might want to do this and the functionality is there.

And just to clarify, you can back up to a tape drive/autoloader that is attached to the BE media server ... it doesn't matter how it is attached (SCSI, FC, SAS, etc).  Get familiar with both the EMC documentation as well as the Symantec documentation for NDMP - the setup is a bit different for NDMP than you would do for a windows or linux server in BE.  

Dan

also check with Symantec which licenses are required

if you attach the drive/library to the backup server then you are doing  heterogenous 3-way NDMP - that requires a NDMP tape server software on the backup server, which is often an extra license (I dont know the Symantec licensing structure)

Rainer