4 4 3 Grolar:Configuring Si3 Deduplication Store

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Docs latest icon.png Welcome to the latest SEP sesam documentation version 4.4.3 Grolar. For previous documentation version(s), check documentation archive.


Overview

SEP sesam provides a target-based (Si3T) and source-based deduplication (Si3S). For details on deduplication concept and recommendations, see Deduplication.

Both, Si3T and Si3S require a configured Si3 deduplication store. Only one Si3 deduplication store can be configured on a server. A valid licence is required for each Si3 deduplication store. Note that you can also configure an Si3 deduplication store by using a command line. For details, see Configuring and Administering Si3 Deduplication Store by using CLI.

You can download SEP Tachometer to analyse the structure of your data and calculate potential savings with SEP sesam Si3 deduplication. Check SEP Tachometer.

Prerequisites

For the minimum Si3 hardware requirements that apply to SEP sesam Si3 deduplication server, see Hardware requirements. Keep in mind that these requirements represent the demand for deduplication only. In addition, the amount of memory for the operating system and other services should be taken into account.

In addition, the following prerequisites must be met to configure an Si3 deduplication store.

Additional RAM / CPU requirements

Si3 Deduplication Hardware Requirements/en

Steps

The SEP sesam data store is a disk based storage that enables save sets (backed up data) to be backed up directly to the configured storage locations. SEP Si3 target deduplication is easily configured and ready to use by selecting Si3 deduplication data store type.

  1. In the Main selection -> Components, click Data stores to display the data store contents frame.
  2. From the Data stores menu, select New data store. A New data store dialog appears.
  3. Under the Data store properties in the Name field, enter a meaningful name for the data store.
  4. From the Store type drop-down list, select SEP Si3 deduplication store.
  5. New Si3 data store Grolar.jpg
  6. Make sure that the option Create drive for data store is checked under the Drive parameter properties. The predefined value for the drive is automatically added to the Drive number field.
  7. From the Device server drop-down list, select the device server for your data store.
  8. In the Path field, enter the location for your data store or use the Browse button to select the relevant folder. Check the relevant folder and click OK.
    When using the Browse button to select the folder, the New data store information window appears with predefined recommended values for your Si3 deduplication store size. Click OK to confirm the selected location and the recommended size values. You can modify your data store size later under the Size properties (see step 10).
  9. GUI new data store information Grolar.jpg
  10. Under the Drive group properties, select Create new drive group and enter the name for your Si3 deduplication store dedicated group.
  11. The predefined number of channels is already displayed in the Max. channels drop-down list. The number of available channels depends on your SEP sesam Server package. The standard license supports 5 concurrent streams, enabling 5 backup processes to run simultaneously. For details on licensing, see Licensing.
  12. Under the Size properties, specify or modify the following:
    • Capacity: Specify the size (in GB) of the partition for backups.
    • High watermark: Specify the value (in GB) for the high watermark (HWM). The HWM defines the upper value for used disk space. When this value is reached, a purge process is triggered for all EOL-free (End-of-lifetime) save sets, thus freeing up the capacity of the data store.
    • Si3 Repair Area: Specify the value (in GIB) for the Si3 repair area. The Si3 repair area (subdirectory trash) defines space for Si3 files (DDLs) that were identified by a garbage collection job and are no longer used. These files are still kept in the repair area to enable possible repair of Si3 if there are any structural problems (may be caused by a file system error or by a crash of an operating system). The files in the repair area will be removed automatically after the specified amount of time (SEP sesam default: 4 days) or when the disk usage threshold is reached.

    The Disk space usage properties are used by SEP sesam to report the following:

    • Used: Total used space (in GB) on the partition.
    • Total: Maximum available space (in GB) on the partition as reported by the operating system.
    • Free: Available disk space (in GB) for SEP sesam.
    • Deduplication rate: deduplication occurs once the backup process has started. SEP sesam analyses blocks of data and determines whether the data is unique or has already been copied to the Si3 data store. Only single instances of unique data are sent to the data store and replace each deduplicated file with a stub file. The deduplication rate is higher when there are copy and full backups and when there is a larger amount of data. The deduplication ratio is depicted as ratio:1.

You can view the properties of your Si3 deduplication by double-clicking relevant Si3 deduplication store.

  • You can modify existing and set additional drive options by double-clicking the first drive. In the Drive Properties window, you can browse the path for the data store, configure encryption, etc.
  • Si3 drive properties.jpg
  • You can view the status of your Si3 deduplication by clicking the Si3 State tab. You can check the last deduplication message, status of active tasks, encryption status, number of stored objects, data size before/after deduplication, DedDup ratio, saved storage space, etc.
  • Si3 state tab.jpg

What is next?

After configuring the Si3 deduplication store, configure the media pools first then set up your backup strategy.