NetWorker: How To Backup Microsoft Cluster Shared Volumes

This KB is intended to be a general overview of backing up Microsoft Cluster Shared Volumes, the instructions are for basic Cluster File Server configurations. When configuring a Microsoft cluster for backups, create a NetWorker client for each physical cluster node and a "virtual" client for the cluster failover service. Additional information can be found in the NetWorker Cluster Integration Guide: https://www.dell.com/support/product-details/product/networker/docs

In this KB, the example hostnames are:

1. Open your Microsoft Failover Cluster Manager.
   1. From the left pane, expand your cluster name.
   2. Expand Roles.
   3. Under Roles select your cluster failover service:

C:\Windows\system32>nslookup clusfileserv
Server:  dc.emclab.local
Address:  192.168.25.2

Name:    clusfileserv.emclab.local
Address:  192.168.25.11

2. In the NetWorker Management Console (NMC), create a client for the cluster service to back up the cluster shared volumes:

In this example, a client resource was created for the "clusfileserv" cluster service and only the cluster shared volumes were specified. To back up local drives of physical cluster nodes, create clients for each node and specify only the local drives and DISASTER_RECOVERY:\ savesets.

3. Open the client properties of the cluster client resource.
   1. Under the Apps and Modules tab, set the backup command to: 

save -c client_name

1. 2. Ensure the client_name matches the exact configuration: Use Fully Qualified Domain Name (FQDN) if configured as FQDN, or shortname if configured as shortname.

"save -c" is used on clients with multiple network interfaces, and multiple host names. Specifying the cluster client name ensures that the cluster shared volumes are indexed under the cluster service and not the active cluster node.

1. 3. Under the Globals (2 of 2) tab, set the Remote access field to contain: SYSTEM@cluster_node_name
      Where cluster_node_name is the name of the physical cluster node, you must do this for each physical node that belongs to this cluster. This should match exactly to how the physical node client was configured; if FQDN use FQDN, if shortname use shortname.

This prevents access issues when attempting to back up the cluster shared volumes. The drives belong to the cluster but are attached to a cluster node. 

4. Perform a backup of the cluster client. Once successful you can confirm that the data was backed up with: mminfo -avot -q client="cluster_client_name"
   Where cluster_client_name is the name of the cluster service client created in NetWorker.

C:\>mminfo -avot -q client=clusfileserv.emclab.local
 volume        type   client           date     time         size ssid      fl   lvl name
ddve.001     Data Domain clusfileserv.emclab.local 9/12/2018 3:55:51 PM 5 KB 328822592 cb full K:\
ddve.001     Data Domain clusfileserv.emclab.local 9/12/2018 3:55:52 PM 11 KB 345599807 cb full L:\

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