A filesystem backup is required if you wish to be able to restore individual files. The system state plugin is an all or nothing restore.
VSS System State backups are intended for DR restore purposes. The registry and any critical volumes are backed up by the VSS System State plugin. Any non-critical volumes (e.g. data drives) will not be restored during the system state restore. The non-critical volumes must be restored after the DR restore using the regular filesystem client.
Best practice is to back up both filesystem and VSS System State, plus any relevant application plug-ins (e.g. Exchange, SQL, Oracle, etc.). VSS System State is used for disaster recovery, filesystem is used to restore data volumes or perform granular recoveries.
While the VSS system state plug-in and filesystem plug-in will have some overlap, any data that appears in both backups will be de-duplicated, so it will not consume additional space on the server. The vast majority of client systems complete backups within 1-2 hours (many much faster) so the runtime required to process the files twice is not normally an issue.
I don't know which policy I'll apply, my goal is to bring down at maximum the volume of my backup (question of cost obviously),but you helped me a lot.
Are they virtual servers you are trying to backup? We used to run VSS and Data backups as described above but now just run VM snapshot backups which covers everything in a single backup.
Have a look at the "EMC Avamar 6.1 for VMWare User Guide" document on powerlink as it explains VM backup fully.
The basics are: you do need to deploy a special 'Proxy' VM (template can be downloaded form your Avamar node) that transfers the VM snapshots that vSphere generates into Avamar. The Avamar node needs to be connected to vCenter with an account that has the correct rights to vSphere.
It is possible to do CBT or Changed Block Tracking VM backups so that only the changed blocks of the VM snapshot are backed up so that is sort of like a differential I guess.
ionthegeek
2 Intern
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2K Posts
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August 21st, 2013 11:00
While the VSS system state plug-in and filesystem plug-in will have some overlap, any data that appears in both backups will be de-duplicated, so it will not consume additional space on the server. The vast majority of client systems complete backups within 1-2 hours (many much faster) so the runtime required to process the files twice is not normally an issue.
DELL-Leo
Community Manager
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9K Posts
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August 21st, 2013 18:00
ianderson said is correct.
You can to refer "EMC Avamar 6.1 for Windows Server User Guide" to complete these operations.
https://support.emc.com/docu39193_Avamar-6.1-for-Windows-Servers-User-Guide.pdf?language=en_US
Limonetik
4 Posts
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August 22nd, 2013 00:00
Thank you so much you both !
Everything is clear for me now
I don't know which policy I'll apply, my goal is to bring down at maximum the volume of my backup (question of cost obviously),but you helped me a lot.
Best regards
ae86levin
70 Posts
0
August 22nd, 2013 15:00
Are they virtual servers you are trying to backup? We used to run VSS and Data backups as described above but now just run VM snapshot backups which covers everything in a single backup.
Limonetik
4 Posts
0
August 23rd, 2013 00:00
Yes it's VM hosted by a vmware server
I've no access to the host but only to my VM's where the Avamar client is installed
I don't know which plug in you're talking about : maybe Windows VMware Image ?
And what about the volume used by these backups : do they use differential backup or are they one full block ?
Thx
ae86levin
70 Posts
0
August 25th, 2013 15:00
Have a look at the "EMC Avamar 6.1 for VMWare User Guide" document on powerlink as it explains VM backup fully.
The basics are: you do need to deploy a special 'Proxy' VM (template can be downloaded form your Avamar node) that transfers the VM snapshots that vSphere generates into Avamar. The Avamar node needs to be connected to vCenter with an account that has the correct rights to vSphere.
It is possible to do CBT or Changed Block Tracking VM backups so that only the changed blocks of the VM snapshot are backed up so that is sort of like a differential I guess.
Limonetik
4 Posts
0
August 26th, 2013 00:00
Well since my Avamar solution is provided by the hoster, I've no controll on its configuration or even adding any options.
I've to use what they give me, so I think that this solution cannot be used in my case.
The other point is that my provider tried to restore one of my VSS backup and it didn't work out.
For the moment I'm waiting for them to be capable of doing a proper restore before changing anything in my backup plan.