Transition from Replication Director to NetBackup Snapshot Manager Replication

Starting with NetBackup version 10.1.0 NetBackup Admin can use the NetBackup Snapshot Manager for Data Center to replicate the storage array snapshots that are taken by NetBackup. Refer the NetBackup Snapshot Manager for Data Center guide for more details on storage array replication 

This technote mentions the steps that you need to follow to transition from the existing Replication Director (RD) based solution to the new replication solution based on NetBackup Snapshot Manager.

Description

High level workflow 

Mentioned below are the high-level steps for using the NetBackup Snapshot Manager Replication. These are generic steps that apply to all the workloads that support replication. Each workload could require additional steps specific to that workload. 

Transition a Standard or MS-Windows policy protecting NAS volumes 

If you are using a Standard policy to protect the NAS volumes i.e they are NFS-mounted on a UNIX/Linux client, then you need to use the NAS-Data-Protection policy to protect the NFS shares. Similarly, if you are using a MS-Windows policy to protect the NAS volumes by means of CIFS / SMB shares, then you need to use the NAS-Data-Protection policy to protect the CIFS / SMB shares. Below table briefly mentions the policy to be used for new replication solution 

The NAS-Data-Protection (D-NAS) policy supports protection of NFS and SMB shares both. For more details about the D-NAS policy, refer the NAS admin guide. 

Before you configure a D-NAS policy, ensure that you have the following pre-requisites on the NetApp storage array: 

• Ensure that the NetApp shares are configured using an active junction_path. 

• For replication, data-protection volume should also have the active junction_path configured. Replication Director created these data-protection volumes at the time of backup. You need to identify these data-protection volumes created by Replication Director or create new volumes 

• Ensure that you assign a different export policy (other than the default) to the shares being protected by D-NAS policy and the data-protection volumes used for replication 

Steps to configure a D-NAS policy for replication 

1. Upgrade the entire NetBackup environment to NetBackup version 10.1.0 and above. Upgrade the master servers, media servers and clients 

2. Install the NetBackup™ Snapshot Manager for Data Center. For more details, refer the Veritas NetBackup™ Snapshot Manager Install and Upgrade Guide. 

3. Configure the NetBackup Snapshot Manager server in NetBackup. For more details, refer the "Installation and configuration" chapter in NetBackup™ Snapshot Manager for Data Center Administrator's Guide. 

4. Configure the NetApp storage array plug-in. For more details, refer the NetApp section under "Storage array plug-ins for snapshot manager for datacenter" chapter in NetBackup™ Snapshot Manager for Data Center Administrator's Guide. 

5. Add the backup hosts to a backup host pool. A backup host pool is required by D-NAS policy for data streaming. See the topic on “Configuring a backup host pool” in the NAS admin guide 

• If your intent is to backup the NAS volume using NFS protocol, then create a backup host pool with Linux hosts in it. 

• If your intent is to backup the NAS volume using SMB protocol, then create a backup host pool with Windows hosts in it. 

6. Configure the SLP to use NetBackup Snapshot Manager replication. For more details, refer "Configuring storage lifecycle policies for snapshots and snapshot replication" chapter in the NetBackup™ Snapshot Manager for Data Center. Choose the following as the value for replication destination for each replication step in the SLP 

• Auto to allow NetBackup to identify the destination and replicate the snapshot to that destination 

• NetApp_SnapMirror to replicate the snapshots to a NetApp SnapMirror destination 

• NetApp_SnapVault to replicate the snapshots to a NetApp SnapVault destination 

7. Configure the D-NAS policy to perform replication of the NAS volumes 

8. Configure the options on the policy Attributes tab. 

• Policy storage: Select the SLP that is created in step (6) above. 

• Use Accelerator: (Optional) Select this option to accelerate backup operations 

• In the Dynamic Data Streaming Attributes section, the Allow dynamic streaming option is selected by default. Configure the following attributes 

• Maximum number of streams per volume 

The number of streams per volume must be between 1 to 20. The default value is 4 

• Maximum number of files in a batch 

The number of files in a batch must be between 1 to 2000. The default value is 300. 

9. The Perform snapshot backups option is selected by default. Configure the snapshot options 

• Snapshot Type: Select the appropriate snapshot type. By default, Auto option is selected which enables NetBackup to automatically determine the snapshot type to be used for array snapshot 

• Snapshot Manager: Select the NetBackup Snapshot Manager host which communicates with the storage array to perform the snapshot operations 

10. On the Clients tab 

• Select NetApp Storage Array from the NAS Vendor list. 

• On the NAS Array and Array Head Selection page, select the array and the SVM on which the NAS volumes being protected by Replication Director exist 

11. On the Backup Selections tab, select the preferred protocol 

• NFS - If your intent is to backup the NAS volume using NFS protocol 

• SMB - If your intent is to backup the NAS volume using SMB protocol 

• If you want to want to use volumes that support both NFS and SMB protocol, select the Include Mixed Volume check box. 

12. Select the Backup Host Pool that is created in step (4) above. 

13. In the Backup Selection dialog box, Browse and select the preferred volumes. The volumes selected should be the same that are protected with Replication Director using the Standard or MS-Windows policy. 

14. Save the policy. 

Transition a VMware policy 

You can use the NetBackup Snapshot Manager along with VMware policy to replicate the hardware snapshots of virtual machines. For more details, refer "Protecting VMs using hardware snapshot and replication" chapter in the WebUI guide for VMware. 

Before you configure a VMware policy, ensure that you have the following pre-requisites on the NetApp storage array: 

• Ensure that the NetApp shares are configured using an active junction_path. 

• For replication, data-protection volume should also have the active junction_path configured. Replication Director created these data-protection volumes at the time of backup. You need to identify these data-protection volumes created by Replication Director or create new volumes 

• Ensure that you assign a different export policy (other than the default) to the shares being protected by VMware policy and the data-protection volumes used for replication 

This section mentions the steps that are applicable for protecting VMs using NetBackup Snapshot Manager replication. 

Steps to configure a VMware policy for replication 

1. Upgrade the entire NetBackup environment to NetBackup version 10.1.0 and above. Upgrade the master servers, media servers and clients 

2. Install the NetBackup™ Snapshot Manager for Data Center. For more details, refer the Veritas NetBackup™ Snapshot Manager Install and Upgrade Guide. 

3. Configure the NetBackup Snapshot Manager server in NetBackup. For more details, refer the "Installation and configuration" chapter in NetBackup™ Snapshot Manager for Data Center Administrator's Guide. 

4. Configure the NetApp storage array plug-in. For more details, refer the NetApp section under "Storage array plug-ins for snapshot manager for datacenter" chapter in NetBackup™ Snapshot Manager for Data Center Administrator's Guide. 

5. Configure the SLP to use NetBackup Snapshot Manager replication. For more details, refer "Configuring storage lifecycle policies for snapshots and snapshot replication" chapter in the NetBackup™ Snapshot Manager for Data Center. Choose the following as the value for replication destination for each replication step in the SLP 

• Auto to allow NetBackup to identify the destination and replicate the snapshot to that destination 

• NetApp_SnapMirror to replicate the snapshots to a NetApp SnapMirror destination 

• NetApp_SnapVault to replicate the snapshots to a NetApp SnapVault destination 

6. Configure the VMware policy to use replication 

7. Configure the options on the policy Attributes tab. 

• Policy storage: Select the SLP that is created in step (5) above. 

• Use Accelerator: (Optional) Select this option to accelerate backup operations 

• Perform snapshot backups: Enable this option to automatically select other options which are required for the snapshot backup. 

• Perform snapshot backup options: Click Options button to view the Snapshot Options dialog box and the default configuration Parameters as follows 

1. Snapshot Type: Select the appropriate snapshot type. By default, Auto option is selected which enables NetBackup to automatically determine the snapshot type to be used for array snapshot 

2. Snapshot Manager: Select the NetBackup Snapshot Manager host which communicates with the storage array to perform the snapshot operations 

8. Use the Clients tab to create a query for the automatic selection of virtual machines. The selected VMs must reside on the NFS datastore. Select the VMs those are protected with Replication Director. 

9. Use VMware tab to select the virtual machine backup options 

• Select Enable block-level incremental backup (BLIB) option to perform block level incremental backups.  

10. Save the policy.