NETWORKER 8.1 THE NEXT BIG THING - Dell€¦ · being seen as the next big thing in the backup industry. In this article, I discuss the new features Scalable Robust Heterogenous Platform

NETWORKER 8.1 THE NEXT BIG THING

Anuj Sharma

2014 EMC Proven Professional Knowledge Sharing 2

Table of Contents

Abstract...................................................................................................................................... 4

NetWorker 8.1 upgrade considerations ...................................................................................... 6

Introduction of VMWARE Backup Appliance .............................................................................10

High Level Deployment Process ............................................................................................10

EMC Backup and Recovery appliance best practices ............................................................11

VBA-Patented Deduplication Technology ..............................................................................12

Variable vs. Fixed-Length Data Segments ..........................................................................12

Logical Segment Determination ..........................................................................................12

VBA-Enabled Backups as Compared to NetWorker 7.6 / 8.0 .................................................13

Block-Based Backups ...............................................................................................................13

Operating systems on x64 .....................................................................................................13

Process workflow for deploying Block-Based Backups ..........................................................14

DD BOOST Over Fibre Channel ...............................................................................................15

Process Flow for Configuring DD BOOST FC ........................................................................15

DD Server Side Process Flow ............................................................................................16

DD Boost Client side Process Flow ....................................................................................17

Performance Advantage ........................................................................................................17

Revamped snapshot management............................................................................................17

Virtual Synthetic Full Backups and Immediate Cloning ..............................................................19

NMM 3.0 Enhancements ...........................................................................................................20

Taking Advantage of NetWorker 8.1 .........................................................................................21

Avoiding common backup failure issues....................................................................................22

References ...............................................................................................................................23

Glossary....................................................................................................................................23


Figure 1 VBA Deployment .........................................................................................................10

Figure 2 VBA Deployment .........................................................................................................11

Figure 3 Block-Based Backups .................................................................................................15

Figure 4 DD Boost over FC .......................................................................................................16

Disclaimer: The views, processes, or methodologies published in this article are those of the

author. They do not necessarily reflect EMC Corporation’s views, processes, or methodologies.


Abstract

Data is an organization’s most important asset. IDC’s new Digital Universe study predicts there

will be 40 Zettabytes of data on the planet by 2020, an amount that exceeds previous forecasts

by 14%. The study found that 2.8 ZB of data will have been created and replicated in 2012 and

that the total amount of data will double every two years between now and 2020. By 2020, IDC

estimates nearly 40% of data will be stored or processed in a cloud between a byte’s origination

and consumption. To put that into a real world context, 40 ZB is equal to 57 times the number of

all the grains of sand on all the beaches on earth. As data grows exponentially, significant

architectural changes are being made to applications handling this huge amount of data.

Database Vendors, Middleware Vendors, Application Vendors, and Operating System Vendors

are evolving to support exponential data growth. Thus, it’s mandatory for organizations to invest

in a robust and scalable Backup Solution. While deciding upon the Backup Solution, Enterprises

should look for the important characteristics of a Backup Solution as shown below to align the

Backup Solution with the evolution of data growth.

NetWorker 8 was launched with major underlying architectural changes. These changes have

been made to make the product more stable, flexible, efficient, robust, and interoperable with

cloud infrastructures. Enhancements introduced in NetWorker 8.0 made it the first choice for

Enterprises. Continuing with the success of NetWorker 8.0, EMC introduced version 8.1 that is

being seen as the next big thing in the backup industry. In this article, I discuss the new features

Scalable Robust Heterogenous

Platform Support

Secure Multiple

Application Support

Effidient Agile


of NetWorker 8.1, best practices to implement the features, and how organization can take

maximum advantage of NetWorker 8.1. Topics discussed in detail in this article include:

NetWorker 8.1 Upgrade Considerations

VMware Backup Appliance

Improved Data Domain Integration

Improved Snapshot Management

Block-Based Backups

DD Boost over Fibre Channel (DFC)

NetWorker MM 3.0 Enhancements

Virtual Synthetic Full Backups

NetWorker Environment Implementation and Operation Best Practices


NetWorker 8.1 upgrade considerations

Verify the NetWorker 8.1 Compatibility Matrix for the OS Compatibility with the current

OS on which current NetWorker is running. For example, NetWorker 8.1 is not

compatible with Windows 2003 and OS needs to be upgraded first before proceeding

further with the NetWorker Upgrade.

All Storage Nodes need to be upgraded first to 8.1 before upgrading NetWorker Server.

Check the NetWorker 8.1 Storage Node OS Compatibility as you might need to

downgrade Storage Node to client if the current OS is not compatible with NetWorker 8.1

Storage Node. For example, while NetWorker 8.1 Storage Node package is not

compatible with Windows 2003 OS, client is.

Check the NetWorker Modules running on the clients for their compatibility with

NetWorker 8.1 Server and upgrade accordingly. For example, all NetWorker MM 3.0

running clients need to be upgraded to 2.4.1 or higher.

NetWorker Server cannot be upgraded directly from 7.5 to 8.1. A phased upgrade

approach, i.e. 7.5 7.6 8.1 is required.

Before proceeding with the NetWorker Server upgrade, take a bootstrap backup of the

Backup Server and make note of the media ID along with save set ID.

If possible, shut down the NetWorker services and take the backup of nsr directory to a

network share.

If possible, as a best practice, install the current version of NetWorker Server on another

standby server and restore the nsr directory on that server so if issues occur during the

upgrade, the standby server can be renamed to the current backup server name and

redirect the backups as a backup plan.

Backups performed using NetWorker 8.1.x to a pre-NetWorker 8.1.x client cannot be

recovered.


Refer to this quick reference table while planning for upgrade.

When updating Interoperability Information

7.6.x and earlier storage nodes NetWorker 8.1.x server supports NetWorker

8.0.x and later storage nodes only.

Update all NetWorker 7.6.x storage nodes to

version 8.1.x before updating the NetWorker

server. This includes storage nodes that are

operating on standalone servers and

dedicated storage nodes operating on

application servers. Update storage nodes

embedded within the EMC Disk Library (EDL

SN) to NetWorker 8.0.x. EDL SN does not

support NetWorker 8.1.x.

Note: A NetWorker 8.1.x server disables

NetWorker 7.6.x and earlier storage nodes.

7.5.x NetWorker server You cannot directly update a NetWorker 7.5.x

server to NetWorker 8.1.x.

Use the following method to update the hosts

in a NetWorker 7.5.x data zone:

Update the NetWorker 7.5.x server to

version 7.6.x

Update each NetWorker storage node

to version 8.1.x. Note: Update an EDL

SN to NetWorker 8.0

Update the NetWorker 7.6.x server to

version 8.1.x


Update the NetWorker clients to version 8.1.x.

8.0.x or 8.1 NetWorker server with synthetic

full backups

Starting with NetWorker 8.1 SP1, you cannot

set the synthetic full (synth_full) backup level

for a group. When you update the NetWorker

server to 8.1 SP1, the backup level for a group

that was configured to use the synth_full

backup level will be blank. Before you update

the NetWorker server software from 8.0.x or

8.1 to 8.1 SP1 and later, change the backup

level from synth_full to incr_synth_full for

Groups and scripts that perform synthetic

backups by using the savegrp command.

7.5.x Console server Update a NetWorker 7.5.x Console server

directly to NetWorker 8.1.x when the Console

server is not the NetWorker server.

NMM 2.3 clients NetWorker 8.1.x does not support NetWorker

MM 2.3. Update hosts to NMM 2.4 before you

update the NetWorker server and storage

nodes.

Storage node NetWorker 7.6.x and 8.0.x server supports a

NetWorker 8.1.x storage node.

Console server Console server 8.1.x supports NetWorker

7.6.x and 8.0.x servers.

When the Console server is not the NetWorker

server, update the Console server before you

update the NetWorker server. NetWorker 7.6.x

and 8.0.x Console servers do not support

NetWorker 8.1.x servers.


Clients NetWorker 8.1.x server supports NetWorker

8.0.x and 7.6.x clients.

The Client Configuration Wizard supports

NetWorker 7.6 SP4 or later client only.

NetWorker 7.6.x and 8.0.x servers and storage

nodes support NetWorker 8.1.x clients.

Operating system Update the operating system first, and then

update the NetWorker software.


Introduction of VMware Backup Appliance

Figure 1: VBA Deployment

EMC introduced VMware Backup Appliance (VBA) as .ova appliance to ease the

administration overhead of backing up a VMware environment. VBA is deployed on one

of the ESX Servers portion of the VMware form. Backup policies are defined in NMC

and then VM’s to be backed up are associated to the policies from the VBA interface.

Advantages of VBA include:

Ease of deployment

CBT-aware backups

Patented deduplication technology that significantly reduces the backup window.

One VBA can back up 8 VM’s in parallel and additional proxies can be deployed

as per environment size

File-level recoveries as well as Image-level recoveries are supported

High Level Deployment Process

1. Treat VBA as a “module” for NetWorker

2. Download VBA OVA from PowerLink

3. Deploy VBA VM


Assign vCenter resources

(storage, datastore, etc.)

Select keyboard mapping

Configure network

(DNS is a must)

4. Register VBA with vCenter

5. Register VBA with NetWorker

Server

6. Configure Backup Protection Policies in NetWorker MC.

7. Add VM’s to the Protection Policy From VBA.

EMC Backup and Recovery appliance best practices

1. Deploy the EMC Backup and Recovery appliance on shared VMFS5 or higher to

avoid block size limitations.

2. Avoid deploying VMs with IDE virtual disks; using IDE virtual disks degrades

backup performance.

3. License the ESXi hosts for hotadd mode if using ESXi 4.1 or 5.0. ESXi 5.1

includes this feature by default.

4. Use hotadd transport mode for faster backups and restores and less exposure to

network routing, firewall, and SSL certificate issues. To support hotadd mode,

deploy the EMC Backup and Recovery appliance on an ESXi host that has a

path to the storage holding the virtual disk(s) being backed up.

Note: Hotadd mode will not work if the VMs backed up contain any independent

virtual hard disks.

5. When planning for backups, ensure that EMC Backup and Recovery supports

the disk types. Currently, EMC Backup and Recovery does not support the

following disk types:

• Independent

• RDM Independent - Virtual Compatibility Mode

• RDM Physical Compatibility Mode

Figure 2: VBA Deployment


6. In order to support CBT:

• Ensure that all VMs run VMware hardware version 7 or higher.

• If you add a disk or dynamically expand a disk on a VM, you must take a new

full backup for CBT to function.

7. Install VMware Tools on each VM that you want to back up using the EMC

Backup and Recovery plug-in user interface. VMware Tools adds additional

backup capability that quiesces certain processes on the guest OS prior to

backup. VMware Tools is also required for some features used in File Level

Restore.

VBA-Patented Deduplication Technology

Variable vs. Fixed-Length Data Segments

A key factor in eliminating redundant data at a segment (or subfile) level is the

method used to determine the segment size. Snapshots and some deduplication

technologies commonly use fixed-block or fixed-length segments to determine

segment size. Unfortunately, even small changes to a dataset, for example,

inserting data at the beginning of a file, can change all fixed-length segments in a

dataset, despite the fact that very little of the dataset has been changed. EMC

Backup and Recovery uses an intelligent variable-length method to determine

segment size, which examines the data to determine logical boundary points and

increases efficiency.

Logical Segment Determination

EMC Backup and Recovery uses a patented method to determine segment size

that yields optimal efficiency across all systems. The algorithm analyzes the

binary structure of a data set to determine the context-dependent segment

boundaries. Variable-length segments average 24 KB in size and EMC Backup

and Recovery further compresses the segments to an average size of 12 KB.

EMC Backup and Recovery works for all file types and sizes and intelligently

deduplicates the data by analyzing the binary structure within the VMDK files.


VBA-Enabled Backups as Compared to NetWorker 7.6 / 8.0

• 25% faster initial backup

• 600%+ faster subsequent backups

(forever incremental)

• 100%+ faster restore

• On average, each VM takes ~5 min for backup which equals 100

VMs/hour per proxy.

Block-Based Backups

A block-based backup solution is needed because of the large number of files that have to be

backed up in a file system. Some file systems contain upwards of 100 million plus files. For

some backup solutions the problem is compounded due to frequent incremental backups that

must be taken. File-based backups will not suffice in many situations because they take longer

to back up when dealing with hundreds of millions of files. Applications must ‘walk’ the entire file

system to get the list of files to be backed up, read through each file, and then perform the

backup. File walking is an expensive operation both in respect to CPU and time. As the number

of files increase, the time to complete backups during the backup window becomes more

difficult. Consequently, file-based backup solutions can result in unpredictable backup times.

Also, while reading the files, data access can be random which can add to the backup time.

Block-based backup, a solution introduced with the release of NetWorker 8.1, is faster in cases

where hundreds of millions of files must be backed up. It is faster because it does not have to

walk a file system and also does not have to generate a file index. Block-based backup

operates at the image level and only backs up used blocks in full backups and changed blocks

in incremental backups.

Block-based backups support backup and recovery of the following operating systems and

NetWorker Releases:

Operating systems on x64

Windows client 8.1

Windows client 8

Windows Server 2012 R2

Windows Server 2012

Windows Server 2008 R2


Process workflow for deploying Block-Based Backups

Install the NetWorker Client Package on the Client.

Reboot the Client

Create a client resources with Client Direct and Block Based Backup Option Checked.

Create AFTD/DD Boost Device for backups and make sure that both full backups and

incremental backups are routed to the same device.

Note: Selecting any backup level apart from full results in performing a virtual full backup. Block

Based Backup enables you to perform 38 virtual full backups only, after which the subsequent

backup shifts to the full backup. The virtual full backups are applicable only to the Data Domain®

devices. When performing an incremental backup to a Data Domain device, the backup is

performed as a virtual full backup. However, the type of backup performed is displayed as full. A

virtual full backup backs up only the changed blocks from its previous full backup while

referencing the unchanged blocks to the corresponding blocks of the previous full backup. Also,

the subsequent backup of the host after reboot will be promoted to full.

We have seen file system backups completes up to 5x faster than a traditional file backup, and

recovery operations are 2-4x faster. It is highly recommended to use Block Based Backups of

host with filesystems consisting of millions of files. Figure 3 shows test results obtained for

NetWorker using Block Based Backups in comparison to other backup technologies.


Figure 3: Block Based Backups

DD BOOST Over Fibre Channel

With NetWorker 8.1 and DDOS 5.3, EMC introduced DD BOOST over FC. This is a significant

advancement making backup data flow to DD Boost Devices over Fibre Channel Media.

Process Flow for Configuring DD BOOST FC

Storage node or client must be zoned to DDR

VHBA is a pseudo device on the DDR, acts as SCSI target

DFC client is SCSI Initiator and DFC presents a LUN on a client

Enable Fibre Channel for the device

Enable client to use DDFC


Figure 4: DD Boost over FC

DD Server Side Process Flow

A LUN acts as an artificial destination object for all SCSI requests and DFCUser process acts

as a Terminus for SCSI requests directed to LUN. DFCUser process creates a virtual

connection (DFC_VC) and redirects traffic to local TCP socket on DDFS. Enhanced VHBA

kernel-mode driver enables the DDR to function as VTL product (FCP/SCSI) and leverage

layers in this stack to support DFC. DDFS provides the data store on the DD server. DFCUser

communicates with Portmap or DDFS to initiate DFC_VC session.


DD Boost Client side Process Flow

Initiator HBA facilitates the connect over SCSI interface. DFC Transport Layer provides support

for standard SCSI commands and performs device discovery and connects to DFCUser. On DD

Boost layer there is no change in existing DD Boost API’s.

Performance Advantage

On average, 20% better for initial full backup compared to VTL.

Up to 250% faster for subsequent backups as compared to VTL (client-side DDBoost

reduces data transfer)

Revamped snapshot management

NetWorker Snapshot Module has revamped SnapShop Management by leveraging Local and

Remote Replication technologies of VNX® and VMAX®. This significantly reduces the

management overhead of both Storage and Backup teams. Instead of writing scripts, Snapshot

and Clones can be automated by NSM and can be rolled over to tape for long term storage.

Sample VMAX Time Finder® Workflow

Create a SG with name NsrSnapSG on VMAX and add the mirror devices to this SG.

Make these devices available to the mount host.

Use Client Wizard to create the client for which we require Snap/Clone to be scheduled.

Select NSM and then select the array type as VMAX and select the mount host.

Select the type of replication i.e., SNAP/Clone


The Snapshot window will appear. Give snapshot policy a name along with the number

of snapshots to take and number of snapshots to retain along with the Snapshot

schedule. Also, any snapshot that we want to roll over to backup storage can be

mentioned.

When executed, the policy will use NetWorker’s intelligent parining alogrithm to initiate

the clone/snap of the soure LUN to the appropriate mirror LUN in the NsrSnapSG.

Thus, the process is automated and reduces administrative overhead along with chance

of mistakes.


Virtual Synthetic Full Backups and Immediate Cloning

In NetWorker 8.0, Synthetic Backup followed the process used by other vendors of reading

every incremental followed by the last full backup and then combining it to a synthetic full.

However, synthetic full backups using Data Domain are automatically promoted to Virtual Full,

completing backups nearly 30X faster as the internal process of Data Domain makes changes

to the metadata in a proprietary mechanism. Also, immediate cloning is made at saveset level,

i.e. cloning starts immediately once the backups of saveset completes therefore saving time for

cloning because NetWorker does not need to wait for the backup of the group to complete.

475

13 33 77 7

Full incr1 incr2 incr5 Next FULL

Tim

e Ta

ken

(m

in)

30X Faster


NMM3.0 Enhancements

Installs of top of NetWorker Client. Does not replace it.

NMM is only used for Application Backups and file system backups are initiated by

NetWorker Client Program whereas in earlier version those were handled by NMM that

required change in configuration.

NMM 3.0 adds support for SQL 2012 Always ON, Exchange 2013, and Hyper-V 2012.

NMM 3.0 adds support for DFC.

NMM 3.0 supports MS Exchange Federated Backups so we schedule only the Virtual

DAG name for backups and, as per the application information, backups are started.

Application Information attribute –A NSR_FEDERATED_BACKUP

yes to indicate federated backup

Application Information attribute –A NSR_EXCH_BACKUP

active

passive

preferred (all can be used as well)

Stands for preferred passive.

Will back up passive databases (replicas).

If no passive copy, will back up active database.


Taking Advantage of NetWorker 8.1

Using Block-Based Backups for Windows 2012 will lead to significantly faster backups.

Using NMM 3.0 Federated Backups for Exchange Backup will remove overhead of

backing up all the nodes and coordinating with the Exchange Admin to check on the

location of active/passive databases.

Use NMM 3.0 to avoid creating separate clients for disaster recovery backups and file

system backups.

Use NetWorker 8.1 for CSV backups as the workload if offloaded to a proxy for faster

backups.

Use DD Boost over FC instead of VTL as we achieve faster backups and higher

deduplication ratios. Along with this it removes the hassle of managing the tape pools

and labelling.

Use NDMA 1.5 for efficient Oracle Backups and Restores.

Use NetWorker 8.1 to take the advantage of Virtual Synthetic Full on DD Boost devices

which can lead upto 30X faster backups.

Use NetWorker Snapshot Management for easier Snap/Clone management of EMC

Arrays which adds automatic scheduling of snaps and clone removing administrative

overhead from the administrators .


Avoiding common backup failure issues

For SQL backup, UAC should be disabled to avoid any issues.

NetWorker packages should be installed with the account with admin privileges.

Windows Firewall should either be tuned for NetWorker backups or turned off.

Anti-Virus exclusion should be properly set as per different Antivirus vendors.

Today, along with Hardware Firewall, we have Network Software Firewalls. Both

firewalls should allow traffic for backups and NetWorker should be tuned accordingly for

ports.

For NDMP backups, the ndmp password should be based on MD5 encryption.


References

NetWorker 8.1 Admin Guide

Support.emc.com

Glossary

Backup Server

NetWorker Server is the controlling backup entity that directs client backups and stores tracking

and configuration information.

Client

NetWorker Client is the most fundamental host. NetWorker Client component is installed on all

servers that need to be backed up through NetWorker.

Cluster

A computer cluster is a group of linked computers, working together closely so that in many

respects they form a single computer. The components of a cluster are commonly, but not

always, connected to each other through fast local area networks. Clusters are usually deployed

to improve performance and/or availability over that provided by a single computer, while

typically being much more cost-effective than single computers of comparable speed or

availability.

Deduplication

Data deduplication (often called "intelligent compression") is a method of reducing storage

needs by eliminating redundant data. Redundant data is replaced with a pointer to the unique

data copy. For example, a typical email system might contain 100 instances of the same one

megabyte (MB) file attachment. If the email platform is backed up or archived, all 100 instances

are saved, requiring 100 MB storage space. With data deduplication, only one instance of the

attachment is actually stored; each subsequent instance is referenced back to the one saved

copy. In this example, a 100 MB storage demand could be reduced to only 1 MB.

Disaster Recovery

Disaster recovery is the process, policies, and procedures related to preparing for recovery or

continuation of technology infrastructure critical to an organization after a natural or human-

induced disaster. Disaster recovery planning is a subset of a larger process known as business


continuity planning and should include planning for resumption of applications, data, hardware,

communications (such as networking), and other IT infrastructure.

Firewall

A firewall is a set of related programs located at a network gateway server that protects the

resources of a private network from users from other networks. (The term also implies the

security policy that is used with the programs.) An enterprise with an intranet that allows its

workers access to the wider Internet installs a firewall to prevent outsiders from accessing its

own private data resources and for controlling what outside resources its own users have

access to service and source ports.

LUN

In computer storage, a logical unit number (LUN) is simply the number assigned to a logical

unit. A logical unit is a SCSI protocol entity, the only one which may be addressed by the actual

input/output (I/O) operations. Each SCSI target provides one or more logical units, and does not

perform I/O as itself, but only on behalf of a specific logical unit.

NAS

Network-attached storage (NAS) is file-level computer data storage connected to a computer

network providing data access to heterogeneous network clients. A NAS unit is essentially a

self-contained computer connected to a network, with the sole purpose of supplying file-based

data storage services to other devices on the network. The operating system and other software

on the NAS unit provide the functionality of data storage, file systems, and access to files, as

well as management of these functionalities.

NDMP

Network Data Management Protocol (NDMP) is meant to transport data between NAS

devices—also known as filers—and backup devices. This removes the need for transporting the

data through the backup server itself, thus enhancing speed and removing load from the backup

server.


EMC believes the information in this publication is accurate as of its publication date. The

information is subject to change without notice.

THE INFORMATION IN THIS PUBLICATION IS PROVIDED “AS IS.” EMC CORPORATION

MAKES NO RESPRESENTATIONS OR WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND WITH RESPECT TO

THE INFORMATION IN THIS PUBLICATION, AND SPECIFICALLY DISCLAIMS IMPLIED

WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.

Use, copying, and distribution of any EMC software described in this publication requires an

applicable software license.

Documents

NETWORKER 8.1 THE NEXT BIG THING - Dell€¦ · being seen as the next big thing in the backup industry. In this article, I discuss the new features Scalable Robust Heterogenous Platform