Which License I need to purchase?

There are 3 types of host in a Networker system; the Networker server controls the backups and stores tracking data as to what has been backed up; the Networker storage node is the part of Networker that moves data to backup media (the Networker server is also a storage node but you may have additional storage nodes to remove load from the backup server); lastly the Networker client is the software installed on the hosts you are backing up which communicates with the backup server and sends backup data to the storage node (the client will also be installed on the server and the storage node).

A storage node will accept backup data from other clients and send them to backup devices which are attached to it.  However the license cost for a storage node is quite expensive.  There is however another option, there is a lower cost license called the dedicated storage node which will only backup the client on which it is installed; since your hosts have connectivity to your autochanger this may be the option for you.

Presumably your autochanger is a physical tape library rather than a virtual tape library.  You will have a number of tape devices in the autochanger; without any additional licenses you can dedicate tape devices to a particular host but that tape device will not be usable by other hosts; since a tape device is quite an expensive resource it is usually more cost effective to share the devices between (dedicated) storage nodes - to do this you need to purchase the dynamic drive sharing license.

Hi,

I agree with David. You'll need one Dynamic Drive Sharing license for each tape drive. Also, one Dedicated Storage Node for each client (backup server has the ability itself). If you have databases or mail servers at these clients, you'll need to purchase additional licenses to backup these apps online. Could you explain if that is your scenario?

Regards.

Claudio

Dear all,

thanks so much, I understand more in Networker product now.

I captured my server license information for our discussion. we have DDS License and DSN Licnese but seem not activated. Any setting I missed?

You have none used, probably because you have not configured the drives yet.  Are you installing this yourself or did you have EMC or an EMC partner carry out the work for you?

I installed it myself.

Do you have a copy of your design?  Did EMC approve it or did they just sell you the licenses you asked for?  How have you gone about configuring your drives, do you know how to set up DDS?

We have 4 servers and one of them installed Legato client + server, which control two tape libraries.

4 servers data are located in SAN Storage, and all of those devices are attached in same Fibre Switch.

Besides, I have no idea to install DSS, any recommended document i can take a look?

Hi,

I don't see any mention of Storage Nodes in your diagram.  Which hosts are Storage Nodes?  Either way, here's some documentation that should help you:

White Paper: Shared Library with EMC NetWorker — A Detailed Review

NetWorker 7.6 Administration Guide page 104 - 'Dynamic Drive Sharing'

-Bobby

Dynamic Drive Sharing (DDS) is covered in the Networker Administrator Guide that can be downloaded from Powerlink.  You would probably do best to log a call with EMC and have them talk you through it.  The key thing to bear in mind is that the drives will be recognised as similar by their hardware ID so Networker will know that the same drive appears in different locations and should only be used once at a time.  From what it seems though, you have tried to cut costs by doing the design yourself but may well have increased costs by having an inappropriate solution, on top of this it seems like you are using the forum as a substitute for consultancy...  Looking at your design I cannot see why you need two libraries here to backup 4 clients, one being the backup server - a library like this would commonly backup hundreds of clients - do you have very short backup windows or extreme volumes of data?

Bobby - Take a look further up and there are details of the licenses used....

To configure the dedicated storage nodes you need to configure the devices (tape drives) as such by setting the dedicated storage node attribute there to yes.  If all the drives are configured so then Networker will use a dedicated storage node license instead of a storage node license.  Looking at the license configuration it appears you have not done this yet...

I agree with David that I think you'd be better off getting a consultant to examine all the elements of your environment and come up with the most efficient way of backing up the data.  This would likely save you a lot of time and money in the long run.

-Bobby