4 4 3:NDMP Backup

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Icon archived docs.png This is not the latest version of SEP sesam documentation and, as such, does not provide information on features introduced in the latest release. For more information on SEP sesam releases, see SEP sesam Release Versions. For the latest documentation, check NDMP documentation.


Overview

This article describes SEP sesam NDMP backup, introduced in version 4.4.3. For details on backing up the NetApp NFS volumes via NFS, see NetApp Volume Backup.

SEP sesam enables you to protect and manage your storage file servers by providing support for Network Data Management Protocol (NDMP). NDMP is a common protocol for backing up and restoring data on storage devices that do not support installation of a backup agent. It ensures interoperability between NAS file servers and SEP sesam, and is used as an interface that enables SEP sesam to backup various NAS appliances and copy this data to a SEP sesam Server or Remote Device Server. SEP sesam supports version 4 of the NDMP protocol. For a list of supported NAS appliances, see the support matrix.

SEP sesam provides NDMP remote configuration, where the data from the NDMP host is backed up and transferred over a TCP/IP connection to SEP sesam Server's connected storage, e.g., disk storage or a virtual tape library that is used for data protection and archiving. SEP sesam provides the SEP sesam Data Management Application (SDMA) as a session master that is responsible for initiating and managing backup and restore operations of NDMP compliant systems. Each such operation is called an NDMP session. The SDMA cannot directly access source data; it serves as a remote NDMP client. Access to the source data and the destination of the backed up data is provided by NDMP data services. NDMP data service on NDMP host provides an interface to the source – the primary data storage, e.g., filers that store "live" data on an active file system. During backup, it converts the content of the file system into a data stream and sends it via the NDMP data connection to the SEP sesam Server or RDS. NDMP data service can only back up whole file systems in SEP sesam v. 4.4.3, while 4.4.3 Tigon supports backing up a single directory. Note that the backup data format depends on the NDMP appliance and user-defined configuration of this format. During restore, it reads the data stream and recreates the file system. Another NDMP data service is located on the SEP sesam NDMP host (SNDMP) and provides the interface to the SEP sesam storage. During backup, it writes a data stream to the SEP sesam Server or RDS. During restore, it reads content from data storage and converts it into a data stream in an NDMP data connection.

The SDMA establishes and manages connection and communication between the source and the destination NDMP data services. SDMA uses NDMP control connection to issue commands to the servers while the data stream flows via the NDMP data connection, thus ensuring fast and efficient communication between the remote services.

The following figure shows the SEP sesam NDMP remote configuration.
NDMP.png

Key features

Supported backup formats

The NDMP protocol does not specify a backup data format, it depends on the used NDMP applliance. For a list of supported NAS appliances, see the support matrix.

The following backup formats are supported depending on appliance:

  • dump: Backs up files and directories to tape. It is not deduplication and compression aware and does not preserve deduplication when backing up data.
  • smtape: This format is only supported by NetApp. An image level backup that backs up blocks of data of the origin volume. It is deduplication aware and preserves dedup when backing up and restoring data.
  • zfs: This format is only supported by Oracle Solaris ZFS. Share-based for both filesystems and volumes. Does not support file history or direct access recovery (DAR), but may be faster for some datasets. Therefore restore is only supported for whole filesystem or volume.

For example, with NetApp you can choose between the normal NDMP dump and smtape backup.

SDMA is implemented on all supported Linux and Windows systems.

SEP sesam NDMP integration advantages

  • The NDMP protocol allows for backup and restore operations of heterogeneous filers and excludes the necessity of mapping a drive on an alternate server and then backing up.
  • SEP sesam provides centralised and automated backup and restore of data residing on remote NAS systems that do not have locally attached libraries.
  • NDMP backups can be stored to all SEP sesam supported storage devices. Si3 deduplication can also be used for NDMP data and can significantly reduce the size of NAS NDMP backups.
  • SEP sesam allows storage sharing between different NAS systems as well as combined NDMP and non-NDMP backup, thus optimizing storage space.

NDMP restrictions

The NDMP restrictions differ slightly depending on your SEP sesam version. For example, 4.4.3 Tigon already supports all backup level types and provides selective restore.

  • NDMP data can only be restored to the same vendor and a NAS device running the same or higher OS version as the NAS device that was used to make the backup.
  • NAS deduplicated or compressed data is uncompressed before being sent across the network to a SEP sesam Server or RDS in uncompressed form.
  • Supported backup type: Only FULL NDMP backups are possible in SEP sesam version 4.4.3. Version 4.4.3 Tigon supports all backup types (COPY, FULL, INC, and DIFF).
  • Supported restore type: Only complete restore is possible in SEP sesam version 4.4.3. Version 4.4.3 Tigon supports restoring single files from dump backups.
  • NDMP backups might be time-consuming in large NAS configurations with large volumes.

Prerequisites

  • SEP sesam Server version 4.4.3 or higher. Check Hardware requirements for SEP sesam Server or RDS.
  • NDMP must be configured on your NAS appliance. Refer to your NAS appliance documentation for configuration instructions. Some basic information are provided below in the section Configuring NDMP host.
  • You must ensure the bidirectional communication between the SDMA and NAS. The NAS appliance will attempt to connect to SDMA, which needs access to port 10000 on the NDMP data server (NAS) and on the SDMA host system. Once the connection is established, unlimited ports must be opened to allow the transfer of the information to SEP sesam. Therefore, there must be no firewall between NAS and SDMA.
Information sign.png Note
NDMP uses port 10000 by default. But the server may listen on a different port. To specify a different port for the NDMP server, enter the following option in the backup task properties -> tab Options -> field Save options:
-a port=<value>
  • It is recommended that 10 gigabit Ethernet (10GbE) is available for larger NDMP backups.
  • The target media pool for backing up your NAS device must have sufficient space to contain the NAS data, which is always backed up to the pool uncompressed.
  • An additional NDMP license is required for SEP sesam with NDMP. For more information, contact SEP sesam support at support@sep.de.

Installing SEP sesam NDMP backup package

As of SEP sesam version 4.4.3, the SEP NDMP module is included in the installation packages.
SEP sesam NDMP (sbc_ndmp) must exist on the system which serves as your data mover. SEP sesam with NDMP requires an additional NDMP license. For more information, contact SEP sesam support at support@sep.de. See also Licensing.

Configuring NDMP host

NDMP configuration involves several steps, including authentication with the NDMP server. Typically, you should use the root password or non-root user with a system-generated, NDMP-specific password. Refer to your NAS appliance documentation for configuration instructions! NDMP configuration steps for NetApp are described in NetApp-specific NDMP configuration.

Adding NDMP host as a SEP sesam client

If you want to protect your NDMP-ready system, you must configure your NDMP host as a SEP sesam client.

  1. From Main Selection -> Components -> Topology, select the location of your choice, e.g., Storage systems, and click the New client button. The New client window opens.
  2. Enter the client Name. From the Platform drop-down list, select NDMP. From the Operating system drop-down list, select your system, for example NetApp. Then select PROXY as the Access mode for the SEP sesam server-client communication.
  3. NDMP new client 4.4.png
  4. Click the newly displayed NDMP Access tab. Enter the NDMP username and password. For the data mover, select the system where the SDMA is running.
  5. NDMP access.png
  6. Click OK to add your NDMP host as a new client.

Configuring NDMP backup

For NAS backup, the SEP sesam Server acts as a backup session master responsible for managing media, scheduling and monitoring NDMP backup and restore. To configure the NDMP backup, you must create a backup task (select the data to be backed up), then set up a backup schedule (specify when you want to back up your data) and link a backup event to it (specify how to back up the data and where to back it up to). For general details on how to configure a backup and its prerequisites, see Standard Backup Procedure. However, configuring an NDMP backup differs slightly from the standard procedure and requires some NDMP-specific steps, which are described below.

Depending on your appliance, you can configure a traditional NDMP dump backup or smtape backup (NetApp specific option). The backup task creation is similar for all NDMP backups, the main difference is that you must define additional arguments for smtape backup in the backup task properties -> tab Options -> Save options field.

With any NDMP backup, you have to create a separate backup task for each volume. Note that the options for dump backup differ slightly depending on your SEP sesam version. Version 4.4.3 Tigon also supports exclude lists and setting a single directory as a backup source.

> Dump backup with v. 4.4.3 Tigon

> Dump backup with v. 4.4.3

Dump backup v. 4.4.3 Tigon

  1. From Main Selection -> Tasks -> By clients, select the NDMP host to be backed up and click New backup task. The New backup task window opens.
  2. Select the Source. Click the Browse button (big arrow) and select a volume or enter a directory that you want to back up.
    SEP Tip.png Tip
    Some NDMP implementations only allow to select/display volumes, therefore SEP sesam cannot expand the tree structure to display and select the underlying directories. However, you can set a directory as a backup source manually, e.g., /volume/vol1:/directory1.
    By selecting the source, the backup type and task name are set automatically.
  3. NDMP new backup task tigon.png
  4. You can exclude files from backup. Switch to the Options tab and under additional call arguments (Expert options) in the Save options field specify the file names or patterns which you do not want to back up with the exact name. You must use integrated common parameter -x to work as exclude list, for example -x \dir1,\dir2. Note that a file or directory name must be preceded with a backslash and followed by a comma, if there are more items listed. The exclude list can contain up to 32 names. For details on various exclude options, see Creating Exclude List.
  5. To enable selective restore in 4.4.3 Tigon, specify the direct access recovery (DAR) index command by switching to the Options tab -> Save options and entering the following:
  6. -o DAR=1
    Information sign.png Note
    As of version 4.4.3 Grolar, DAR is enabled by default (no configuration is required). For details, see NDMP Backup in v. 4.4.3. Grolar.
  7. Save your task.
  8. Configure a schedule for your backup task, as explained in Creating a schedule. Once you have configured a schedule, you must create a new backup event for it.
    SEP Tip.png Tip
    You can also add your backup task to an existing schedule by double-clicking the backup task, selecting the tab Schedules and adding it to one or more schedules.
  9. Go to Main Selection -> Scheduling and select the schedule you created for NDMP backup, then click New Backup Event. Select Backup type (COPY, FULL, DIFF, INC) from the drop-down list. For more information on configuring a backup event and available options, see Creating a backup event.

Dump backup v. 4.4.3

  1. From Main Selection -> Tasks -> By clients, select the NDMP host to be backed up and click New backup task. The New backup task window opens.
  2. Select the Source. Click the Browse button (big arrow) and select a volume that you want to back up. Note that you can only back up one volume per backup task. You must configure a separate backup task for each volume that you want to back up. By selecting the source, the task type and task name are set automatically.
  3. NDMP new backup task.png
  4. Save your task.
  5. Configure a schedule for your backup task, as explained in Creating a schedule. Once you have configured a schedule, you must create a new backup event for it.
    SEP Tip.png Tip
    You can also add your backup task to an existing schedule by double-clicking the backup task, selecting the tab Schedules and adding it to one or more schedules.
  6. Go to Main Selection -> Scheduling and select the schedule you created for NDMP backup, then click New Backup Event. Select Backup type (FULL) from the drop-down list. For more information on configuring a backup event and available options, see Creating a backup event.

smtape backup

smtape (SnapMirror-To-Tape) is only supported by NetApp. It is an image-based high-performance disaster recovery solution from Data ONTAP that backs up blocks of data of the origin volume. It is deduplication aware and preserves dedup when backing up and restoring data.

  1. Create the task as described in the above procedure. Before saving the task, click the tab Options. In the Save options field, enter:
  2. -a ndmp_tape_format=smtape
  3. Save your task.
  4. Configure a schedule and create a new backup event for it: Select the schedule you created for NDMP backup, and then click New Backup Event.

You can view the status of your NDMP backup job by selecting Last backup state in the Main selection window. The backup status overview provides detailed information on the last run of backup jobs, including the task name, start and stop time of the last backup, backup type, data size, throughput, assigned media pool, etc.

If you have any problems with NDMP backup, check the Troubleshooting Guide.

What is next?

NDMP Restore

See also

Backup 4.4Standard Backup ProcedureSchedules 4.4Troubleshooting Guide