Unsolved
This post is more than 5 years old
33 Posts
0
2728
Easy way to move replays/snapshots to tape
Is there an easy method to move compellent replays/snapshots to tape without dealing with another set of agents. . if we use ReplayManager which takes the snapshots (and handles the VSS/integrity of the snapshots) - is their an easy way to just dump those snapshots to tape library. . dont even need to bother with incremental, really if that makes it simpler. .
Prefer not to deal with CommVault or BackupExec as that deals with installing more agents and what not and gets extremely costly per TB as they are all getting capacity driven. . . if I could remote mount read only all the volumes on our compelent and just dump them straight to tape as just a DR backup - i possibly would. . . I dont need to go to offsite or drive or cloud - just simple dumping offline snaps to tape. . dont even need the live snapshot capability as Replay Manager is handling that.
but seriously - what is the method most people use to backup their compellent SAN data to tape. we're looking at adding a tape library but havent determined a good way to get our SAN data off to that tape library.
DELL-Sam L
Moderator
Moderator
•
6.9K Posts
0
April 16th, 2018 09:00
Hello edefang,
You can’t backup the data to tape without using some backup software to do so. There is not a way to backup your snapshots & replays directly to a tape library from your Compellent.
Please let us know if you have any other questions.
edfang
33 Posts
0
April 16th, 2018 19:00
I was hoping to find a solution that could offload snapshots simply and take them to disk storage or tape storage without paying for another agent driven or even non agent driven backup/recovery system since we already have replay manager on the SAN. That was the reason for my inquiry
Anonymous
5 Practitioner
5 Practitioner
•
274.2K Posts
0
April 17th, 2018 05:00
Hello edefang,
If you are willing to write PowerShell Scripts you can do what you are asking for. It would not be a simple project, but you can mount a Replay to another server that has a Tape or Library attached to it. The complexity of it, is why most will buy the backup software to automate it, and have support for all the various tapes and libraries out there.
Trying to do that kind of thing withing DSM / Replay Manager would be difficult to maintain because there are so many different options out there.
Regards,
Don
edfang
33 Posts
0
April 17th, 2018 10:00
yeah, sounds kind of complex.. about all I want to get into scripts with is to 'quiet' some database activity before making a snapshot and then running it. . . .
I understand that supporting various tape options and what not would make things overly complex and perhaps something that you wouldn't want to support. . though you would figure that with a licensed product like ReplayManager that you would have some basic capability. . Even to move or back up the snapshot off the Compellent San to a local disk storage system (which wouldn't require extensive compatibility issues) that RM service was running upon would be supported. Anyhow, looks like it has to be one of those other options at this time. .
Do you know what version of backup exec we're talking about that can integrate with compellent to move snapshots ? They have a ton of different "products" and licensing levels now and its infinitely more complex thatn it was just a few short years ago..
Anonymous
5 Practitioner
5 Practitioner
•
274.2K Posts
0
April 17th, 2018 11:00
Hello,
Even backing up to local disk isn't easy. You're dealing with files and filesystems. If you're trying to backup VMware then you can't just mount the Replay to a Windows Server, it won't see any "files". Otherwise you're talking about having to dump the entire volume bit-by-bit every time. Same for restores, no single VMDK or file restore option.
Re: Backup Exec. I'm not sure if they still call it this, ADBO, Advanced Disk Backup Option. That works with Windows Servers. Another common name for this feature is "Transportable Snapshot". That a more generic term.
Regards,
Don
lolix2
1 Rookie
1 Rookie
•
88 Posts
0
February 20th, 2023 06:00
I landed here in search for speeding up our current backup to tape solution...
For the record, we're currently using the most simple "dd".
Basically, from a Linux server to which a LTO library is physically connected, we gain access to ISCSI snapshots and then do this :
backup :Take a snapshot, gain access to it, then
restore :
Create a Volume of the same size, gain access to it, then
This is not particularly efficient because it dumps the entire volume, including all zeros. But it does the job to have a out-of-band, out-of-site backups.
lolix2
1 Rookie
1 Rookie
•
88 Posts
0
February 20th, 2023 06:00
Zero are normally compressed by the LTO drive built-in compression, but it still takes time.
(BTW reCAPTCHA are killing me)