Backing up data with the NX1950 and other Dell NAS storage

The adoption of iSCSI storage and Dell’s NX1950 in the market place has turned

networked storage into something every organization can affordably enjoy. The benefit

of centralized storage is something no longer solely in the reach of enterprise level

customers. With more and more organizations adopting NAS such as Dell’s NX1950 and

consolidating storage, a common question comes up, “How do I backup my storage and

servers now?” Fortunately, implementing a backup solution for the Dell NAS platforms

and NX1950 can be done so with relative ease resulting in increased backup performance

and reliability while reducing costs and administration. Here’s how.

NOTE: This document primarily describes data protection with the Dell NX1950.

However, the same concepts and methodologies will work for other Dell NAS products

(e.g. Powervault 775, Windows Storage Server) unless specific NX1950 technology (e.g.

iSCSI) is referenced. Figure 1: Traditional Backup Architecture

To better

understand the benefits of

using the NX1950 as

either a target for backup-

to-disk, as storage for

production data or both,

let’s first address

“traditional” backup

architectures. Common

practice in most small

business environments is

to have a backup server

that would have a tape

device directly attached (also known as locally attached). That backup server would also

run or “host” the backup software, manage the backup jobs and ensure backup data is

written to the tape device. Backup “agents” are usually installed on other servers

connected to the network in order to back them up. The backup server protects data on

these servers by moving it across the network to the tape device attached to the backup

server.

The problem with this architecture is that data flow from the agent servers and

client PCs to the backup server can cause performance bottlenecks at a number of

locations: the LAN (blue pipe), the backup server network cards, and/or the tape device.

This document will provide a general overview about how use of the Dell NX1950, some

common best practices, and Yosemite Backup to avoid performance issues and provide

reliable, consistent and cost-effective data protection. Here’s how:

Common Best Practices

There are a number of best practices that can be implemented to provide better

backup performance and efficiency. Many are dependent upon your environment and

overall data protection goals. In this document, we’ll list a couple of the most common

employed. For more information, consult with your Dell Technical Service rep or contact

a Yosemite Sales rep.

Multiple NICs / Dedicated Backup LAN: One way to avoid performance

bottlenecks is to isolate the flow of backup data from production data. To do this, add a

dedicated network interface card (NIC) in each server and a dedicated Ethernet switch to

your LAN and then configure it so backup data flows only through this NICs and this

network. As the arrows in Figure 2 demonstrate, this architecture will allow the data to

flow freely without impact to “production” data on the primary LAN.

Figure 2: Dedicated Backup Network

Backup to Disk: The next step to improve backup performance usually involves

implementing a backup to disk strategy. This option is becoming increasingly popular

because disk performance is usually better than that of tape during backups, and

especially during restores. The random access architecture of disk greatly enhances data

seek times allowing data to be retrieved much faster.

Figure 3: Backup to disk

Yosemite Technologies offers a unique, low cost and exciting way to handle

backing up to disk. Yosemite Backup can turn any available disk storage into a Virtual

Tape Library (VTL). Virtual tape libraries are potentially one of the most comprehensive

and flexible applications of disk-based backup available because they can combine the

advantages of disk technology with traditional tape policies, the flexibility of multiple

media targets, and integration and utilization of existing backup infrastructures. However,

many third-party backup-to-disk (B2D) solutions are only available on proprietary and

costly server platforms which isolate the VTL from the backup application, effectively

limiting the potential benefits and gains from VTL technology.

The penultimate solution is a VTL embedded in the backup application and

independent of proprietary storage architectures. Benefits from this include:

1) Ability to use general purpose disk instead of proprietary VTL disk.

2) An integrated and uniform backup catalogue tracking backup data

locations regardless of storage media used

3) Utilization of existing disk capacity across heterogeneous systems

The embedded VTL included with Yosemite Backup provides the best benefits of

both disk and tape media allowing the performance advantages of B2D and use of

existing unused server storage without requiring heavy investment in proprietary single-

purpose VTL systems.

Dell NX1950: The flexibility of Dell NAS solutions such as the NX1950 and

Yosemite Backup’s VTL allow customers to take B2D to the next level. As environments

grow, simply creating a dedicated backup network and adding backup to disk are usually

not enough. Often times, the backup server itself can become the bottleneck as it attempts

to launch and manage backup jobs while also managing B2D and tape devices. To

address this issue, the best thing to do is to install a dedicated server to manage the B2D

and tape devices.

Combining Dell’s NX1950 platform and Yosemite Backup’s modular architecture

and ability to run natively on any combination of Windows, Linux, or Netware allows

customers to seamlessly deploy this solution and eliminate the backup server bottleneck.

The NX1950 platform allows the customer easily connect to the network and increase the

B2D capacity. When combined with Yosemite Backup’s modular architecture, the

NX1950 can be used as a “media” server for storing backup data to disk and/or other

storage devices.

Other Advantages of using Dell and Yosemite Backup

Replication of your data for disaster recovery: Use the NX1950s native

replication software to replicate the VTL for offsite disaster recovery, or use it for

consolidating your backup operations. Some organizations may elect to backup remote

offices to the VTL and then replicate that VTL to a central datacenter (Figure 4). Once in

the central datacenter, data can be backed up to tape or other media for archival purposes

and offsite data vaulting. This strategy can save costs in hardware and training as it

would no longer be necessary to purchase tape drives for each remote office.

Figure 4: Replication to Central Datacenter

Yosemite Backup’s Disk-to-Disk-to-Any (D2D2Ne™) option: D2D2Ne allows

for true management of data through a hierarchy of storage devices (Figure 5). With

D2D2Ne, a backup is performed from the source disk to a target disk (configured as a

VTL running internally on the backup server or on a dedicated NX1950 running as a

Yosemite Backup Media server). D2D2Ne then manages the movement of the data from

the secondary disk to tertiary storage (magnetic disk, tape, RD1000, or optical disc) using

predefined criteria, such as the VTL reaching a capacity limit or an established time

schedule. D2D2Ne provides the flexibility to create multiple storage hierarchies that can

consist of other VTLs and other mass storage devices. Using D2D2Ne, data can

seamlessly and automatically be moved to other storage devices and from there to tape

for off-site archiving.

Figure 5: Yosemite Backup’s D2D2Ne

Dell 2950 + NX1950: A slightly different approach could be taken by using a

dedicated backup server that acts as the Master and the Media server. By using, for

example, a Poweredge 2950 that has a storage volume from the NX1950, you could

install the VTL on the 2950. That VTL could then use the space allocated from the

NX1950. To backup the NX1950 itself, a remote agent would be installed on it. The

potential drawback to this solution is that when you are backing up the NX1950, you are

moving more data across the LAN. Backups from the NX1950 would happen via the

remote agent across the LAN, to the VTL. That VTL uses space via the NX, and that

data would then again be moved across the LAN. The same goes for any other server

that would have remote agents installed on them and storage space allocated via iSCSI.

To minimize the amount of data travel, we would recommend deploying the VTL directly

on the NX1950.

Figure 6: Data path using the Dell 2950 as a Master/Media server with VTL using mapped drive from NX1950.

Figure 7: Showing data path when using the NX1950 as a Master/Media server

Utilizing Advanced NX1950 Functionality: The NX1950 integrated unit

couples the MD3000 together for a versatile and powerful storage platform. The

MD3000 has optional software that allows administrators to do volume snapshots and

volume copies. More info on the MD3000 can be found at the following link

http://www.dell.com/downloads/global/power/ps2q07-20070205-Kadam-OE.pdf

Volume copies can be used for such tasks as moving the VTL to larger volume of

volume space or copying the VTL for archival on disk. It may be possible to clone

volumes of data and proceed to backup the clone only. This has the potential for shaving

time off backup jobs, as well as backing up production data at any point in the day

without impacting production servers.

Summary

Consolidating storage space and improving data backups with the NX1950

• Use of common best practices such as segmented backup LANs and additional

NICs improve performance by avoiding network traffic congestion during

backups

• Using a backup server running Yosemite Backup as the master & media server

provides backup architecture flexibility including using the NX1950 connected

via iSCSI as a backup-to-disk target.

• Using the NX1950 as a VTL host provides the benefits of consolidated storage,

improved backup performance through backup-to-disk and improves efficiency of

data movement

• Using the NX1950’s native replication software to replicate VTLs enables

organizations to cost-effectively implement strategies for DR and consolidated

backup.

• Use of the NX1950 as a VTL eliminates the need to manage isolated storage

pools for backup-to-disk targets.

• The NX1950 allows customers to consolidate all the storage space on 1 easy to

manage platform reducing management costs.

• Employing Dell servers and NAS and Yosemite Backup enables customers to

efficiently and easily protect critical data today and on into the future.