PowerProtect Data Manager 19.11 File System User Guide

Software compatibility

Software compatibility information for the PowerProtect Data Manager software and the File System agent is provided in the E-Lab Navigator.

Windows and Linux limitations

• File System agent block-based backups exclude the following:

  • Application files such as Microsoft SQL Server and Microsoft Exchange Server files.

    NOTE For file-based backups, application data such as Microsoft SQL Server and Microsoft Exchange Server data is backed up, but you can explicitly exclude the data through the exclusion filters in the policy. It is recommended that you exclude the application data from file system backups if you use the corresponding application agent to back up the data. File System agent backups do not involve any database writer, regardless of whether or not the application data is excluded. The backups do not interfere with the database backup chaining.
  • HyperVisor files. You cannot run a Hyper-V server in a VMware virtual machine.
  • Data belonging to individual application writers.
  • Unsupported application writer files.
• It is recommended to use different mount points for each drive. Reusing mount points might cause unexpected issues during file system discovery.
• The File System agent supports operating systems in only the following languages:
  • English — full support.
  • Japanese — the File System agent can be used for all protection and restore operations on a Japanese-language operating system, provided that volume asset names are in English. Only file and folder names can be in Japanese.
• If a Windows or Linux file system host is unregistered from PowerProtect Data Manager and then re-registered with a different FQDN, because PowerProtect Data Manager recognizes the registration as a new host by its new name, duplicate asset entries appear in the UI—those for the host that is registered earlier, as well as for the host that is registered by the new name. This does not impact backup and restore functionality on the new host.
• The File System agent and application agents use the FQDN for registration. If the File System agent coexists with the Microsoft SQL, Oracle, or SAP HANA application agent, both agents must use the FQDN.
• For a protection policy backup with assets from different hosts, the backup status appears as Failed in the UI if the backup of one asset within the policy fails.
• Running the ddfssv and ddfsrc commands to perform self-service backup and restore of file systems fails if you provide the DD hostname (instead of IP) for the DFA_SI_DD_HOST variable.
• If the Bytes of sector sizes of the source and target volumes are different, PowerProtect Data Manager does not support block-based image recoveries. For example, you cannot perform a block-based image recovery of a volume that has 4096 as the Bytes of sector size to a volume that has 512 as the Bytes of sector size, and vice versa.

Windows Limitations

• The file-level restore of a folder can result in the loss of the sparse flag of any sparse files within the folder. To preserve the sparse flag of these files, restore the files individually.

Linux limitations

• On the Linux hosts that have the UEFI Secure Boot option enabled, block-based backup drivers do not load, and the error message insmod: ERROR: could not insert module /lib/ modules/ 3.10.0-693.el7.x86_64/ extra/nsrbbb.ko: Required key not available appears. As a workaround, you can disable the Secure Boot option.
• A file system backup might fail with the error Insufficient space exists in the volume group for creating shadow of the volume when there is not enough space in the volume group for a block-based backup to succeed. Each volume group on LVM2 or VxVM must have at least 10% free space.
• On Linux, performing an image-level restore of a block-based backup volume to an alternate location changes the GUID for the volume. As a result, PowerProtect Data Manager displays duplicate assets on the Infrastructure > Assets pane, where the older asset has a status of Deleted or Not Detected. To ensure continued protection, replace the old asset in the protection policy with the new asset. 

AIX limitations

• On AIX, PowerProtect Data Manager supports only file-based backups. Block-based backups are not supported.