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Solstice Backup 5.1 Administration Guide

Chapter 1 Introduction

This chapter contains information about the features provided by your Backup Backup software and a suggested roadmap to follow to configure and learn how to use Backup.

This chapter consists of the following sections:

What Is Backup?

It is important to back up computer systems to protect them from the loss of valuable data. In a networked environment, where users depend on shared data and the amount of data grows rapidly as systems are added to the network, the need to manage data becomes crucial.

Solstice Backup is a network storage management solution that protects and helps manage data across an entire network of computers. Backup saves valuable administrator time by speeding up and simplifying daily storage management operations. A graphical user interface (GUI) guides you through administering and configuring your network for storage management. As Backup manages your data, it creates a database of saved data, making it easy to locate data for recovery. Furthermore, as the network and amount of data grow, Backup provides the capacity and performance to handle the load.

Backup features include a storage management application that directs high performance to a wide range of storage devices. The Backup software product is made up of the following components:

You can configure your Backup software to back up data to storage devices that are directly connected to the Backup server, or you can create a Backup storage node, which is a separate machine with one or more storage devices connected. The Backup server maintains the resources and files that keep track of Backup data. The storage node machine controls the storage devices and media.

You can direct backup, archive, and HSM data to specific collections of volumes, according to particular data characteristics.

Note -

You must perform a full backup before you can archive the data.

As data are written to storage media, Backup creates a database to track the location of all managed data. Backup monitors data status and automatically rotates data through the tracking system as it reaches different levels of obsolescence, as defined by you.

You and your users can browse an index of recoverable files, create reports that describe the status of data or media, and recover data to a point in time specified by the user. In response to a data recovery request, the Backup storage management system locates the volume that contains the requested data and either directs a device to mount the appropriate volume for retrieval, or sends a message to the operator to request the volume by name. In this way, Backup manages all storage volume operations.

Cross-Platform Management

Backup is a cross-platform storage management product. You can administer a Backup server from a workstation running UNIX, Windows NT, Windows 95, MacOS, or NetWare, if the workstation has Backup installed and is connected by a network. Additionally, a Backup client on one platform can back up its data to a Backup server of a different platform.

Backup can direct and conduct administration services for any client or server on the network that has the Backup software installed and is recognized by the Backup server. The Backup interface offers you only the options that are relevant to a particular Backup client, so you do not need to know the configuration of individual machines before you start a monitoring session.

Performance

Backup has many standard and optional performance features:

Ease of Use

Backup provides tools to make protection of critical data easy to manage. With Backup, you can:

Scalability

You can add to your current Backup software purchase as your storage management needs grow. For example, you can:

Backup Product Family

SunSoft has a large product family of server, client, database, and related backup-and-recover software.

Server Products

All Backup clients (and servers, which can function as clients themselves and back up their own data) can be backed up by Backup server software, which runs on the following platforms:

Backup server products are available in three distinct versions:

Client Products

Some Backup clients are included with the server products. Refer to the Solstice Backup 5.1 Installation and Release Notes for the clients packaged with your particular software package, and for instructions explaining how to install them. Support for platform-specific clients is also sold separately as Backup ClientPak software. Presently, SunSoft produces clients for the following platforms and operating systems:

Other Products

SunSoft offers other products to enhance your storage management needs:

Additional server, client, database, and add-on products might become available in the future. The Sun web site (http://www.sun.com/) contains the latest product information.

How Backup Works

The Backup server is the machine on your network that runs the Backup server software, stores the client indexes and media database, and provides backup and recover services to the clients on the network. You can connect storage devices to the Backup server or attach them to storage node machines. The Backup clients must have the client software installed and must be included in the server's list of clients. All server and storage node machines that you want a client to back up to must be listed in the nsrhost file, which is created when you install the client software.

Backup backs up client data in increments called Failed Cross Reference Formats. A save set typically comprises all the backed-up data from a single filesystem or logical disk. Save sets are saved to a Failed Cross Reference Format (for example, tapes or optical disk) mounted in a backup device attached to the server. Backup uses a Failed Cross Reference Format to sort specific data to preselected volumes to help manage your data and collection of volumes.

Backup maintains records of the client save sets and the volumes in a Failed Cross Reference Format for each client and a Failed Cross Reference Format on the server. Backup uses these records to track the saved files and the volumes on which the files are stored. The client file index and media database contain the tracking information for all data controlled by the Backup server, whether the data is written to a device attached to the server or a device attached to a storage node.

When Backup backs up files, you might receive a request to mount a writable volume in the server's backup device. When Backup recovers files, you receive a request to mount a specific volume by its name. To fulfill either request, you only need to mount the requested volume or volumes in the device attached to the server. If you back up to an autochanger, the requested volume is automatically loaded if it is stored in the autochanger.

This guide uses the term Failed Cross Reference Format to refer to a variety of robotic libraries, including jukebox, autoloader, carousel, library, nearline storage, and datawheel devices.

Backup supports many of the latest backup devices that provide the highest performance and most reliable solutions for your network backup and recovery requirements. Refer to the Legato Compatibility Guide, available from the Legato web site (http://www.legato.com), for the current list of supported devices.

Backup Software License Modes

Backup software is distributed on CD-ROM. The CD-ROM include binaries and electronic versions of Backup documentation.

You can use the software products in one of three software license modes:

Evaluation mode software is distributed on a free, trial basis for 30 days. You can use and evaluate the software without entering an enabler code for 30 days after you install the software on your machine. If you decide that you want to continue to use Backup, you must purchase the appropriate enabler code for all the features you want to keep. If you do not enter the proper enabler codes before the evaluation period ends, the Backup software does not allow further backups or configuration to take place. You can still, however, recover any data that was written to a Backup device during the 30-day evaluation.

If you already have a Backup product installed and enabled, and you want to evaluate additional product features, you must enter a special evaluation enabler for each feature. You do not need to enter the special evaluation enabler codes if you are also evaluating Backup. Refer to the Solstice Backup Installation and Release Notes for the evaluation enabler codes for this release of Backup. When you enter the special evaluation enabler codes, you can evaluate and use the software for 45 days.

Enabled mode requires a code that is included with the purchased product on an Enabler Certificate. The code that enables the Backup Server is referred to as a base enabler. Enabler codes are generic to the product release and are entered on the Backup server. Enabled mode enables you to use Backup for 45 days beginning the day you enter the enabler code. After you enter the enabler code for the product, you must register the product to continue to use the software after the 45 days expire. Refer to the Solstice Backup Installation and Release Notes for instructions about how to print the required product registration document. Your product registration information contains the host ID of the Backup server machine, which the Licensing Center incorporates into a unique authorization code to bind the license agreement to a specific machine. If you do not register the product and then obtain and enter the authorization code during the 45-day enabled period, the Backup software does not allow further backups or configuration to take place.You can still recover previously backed-up data after the software expires.

Authorized mode begins when you enter the authorization code provided by the Licensing Center is entered. After you enter the authorization code for your Sun products, the software is available for permanent use for the given machine. If you need to transfer the software to another machine (or transfer the machine to another IP address), you must get a Host Transfer Affidavit from the Licensing Center and submit the form to Sun. If you do not receive new authorization codes after you move the Backup software, the software disables itself in 15 days.

Caution - Caution -

You must remove the server software from the machine you transferred from or shutdown the nsrd daemon. If you start the nsrd daemon on another machine with the same base enabler, you will receive a copy violation error message and the software is disabled.

Roadmap of Backup Configuration Tasks

This section provides a suggested roadmap for you to follow to set up and configure Backup for your environment. Cross-references to instructions found elsewhere in this Administrator's Guide are included.

  1. Install and enable Backup according to the instructions in the Solstice Backup Installation and Release Notes.

  2. Configure the Backup server.

    See "Basic Configuration for the Backup Server " for more information.

  3. Configure one or more devices:

  4. Configure the client resource for the server and any additional clients that connect to the server.

    See "Clients Resource ".

  5. Register your Backup software and enter the authorization code returned to you within 45 days of enabling.

    See "How to Register and Authorize Your Software " for more information.

  6. The Backup software includes default configurations that allow you to back up data without further configuration.

    Chapter 2, Getting Started provides the basic information you need to configure and use your Backup software, including default configuration values.

    After you become familiar with Backup and your storage management needs expand beyond the coverage of the default configurations, you can customize the following components:

    • Backup groups

      To spread the backup task load on your server, you create a scheduled backup group and assign the appropriate clients to the group. See "Backup Group Configuration " for instructions about configuring a group and "How to Create a New Client" for client configuration.

    • Pools and label templates

      To segregate backed-up data according to its characteristics, such as which client it comes from or what level of backup it is from, you configure a Backup pool for a backup group to associate with. See "Pools " for information about how to create custom pools to hold the segregated data and "How to Customize Label Templates " to configure the internal labels that are placed on the volumes.

    • Backup schedules and policies

      To customize a backup cycle with defined backup levels, see d for a discussion about how backup levels help manage the number of volumes required for backups and recoveries. See "How to Customize Policies " for instructions on how to define customized policies for save set browsing and retention in order to help manage the data life cycle.

    • Customized directives

      To apply a specific set of instructions to a client's save sets, see "Creating Customized Directives " for information about how to define a customized directive to apply to the appropriate client resource.

    • Notifications

      To receive information about Backup activities, such as, registration, index size, tape mount, and completion of scheduled backups, see "Event Notification".