Dell NetWorker 19.9 Administration Guide

FTD

A file type device (FTD) is a basic disk device type that has been available for many years. FTDs have limited use and support and this chapter describes them for legacy purposes only.

AFTD

Advanced file type devices (AFTDs) support concurrent backup and restore operations and require the NetWorker DiskBackup Option (DBO) license. AFTDs are supported for the following configurations:

• A local disk on a NetWorker storage node.
• A network-attached disk device that is NFS-mountable to a NetWorker storage node running a Linux or UNIX operating system.
• A network-attached disk device that is CIFS-mountable to a NetWorker storage node running on Windows.

The Client Direct feature enables NetWorker clients to back up directly to AFTDs over a CIFS or NFS network, bypassing the storage node. For Client Direct backups, the storage node manages the devices but does not handle the backup data unless the Client Direct workflow is not available.

DD Boost devices

DD Boost devices reside on Data Domain storage systems that have the DD Boost features enabled. These devices are similar to AFTDs except they store backup data in a highly compressed and deduplicated format. The DD Boost API accesses the DD Boost devices over a network. NetWorker can perform DD Boost backups through either the NetWorker storage node workflow or the Client Direct file access workflow.

The Client Direct workflow enables NetWorker clients with distributed segment processing (DSP) and network access to deduplicate their own backup data and send the data directly to the DD Boost devices. This method bypasses the storage node and frees up network bandwidth. The storage node manages the devices but does not handle the backup data workflow if the Client Direct workflow is available.

If Client Direct backup is not available, NetWorker automatically routes the backup through the storage node where it is deduplicated and sent to the DD Boost devices for storage. Restore operations work similarly. If Client Direct is not available for a restore, then NetWorker performs a traditional storage node recovery.

This guide does not cover DD Boost operations. The NetWorker and Data Domain Boost Integration Guide provides details on DD Boost devices

The Data Domain Smart Scale feature provides a capability of pooling multiple Data Domain resources into a unified namespace with automatic load balancing and appropriate data placement across participating nodes. Smart Scale manages, protects, and recover data efficiently, with high performance, security, simplicity, agility, and flexibility.

One of the major characteristics of the Data Domain Smart Scale feature is that the Mobile Storage Units (MSUs) on which NetWorker Smart Scale volumes reside can be migrated to another node during technology refresh, or for load balancing. NetWorker 19.8 onwards, Paused Migration support is added to migrate MSUs within the system pool to avoid manual shutting down of NetWorker service.

The NetWorker Management Web User Interface Online Help provides information on creating Smart Scale devices.

The NetWorker and Data Domain Boost Integration Guide provides more information on configuring NetWorker for Smart Scale devices.