The NDMP protocol does not specify a backup data format. The appliance supports three backup types corresponding to different implementations and on-tape formats. DMAs can select a backup type using the following values for the NDMP environment variable TYPE:
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There is no standard NDMP data stream format, so backup streams generated on the appliance can only be restored on ZFS storage appliances running compatible software. Future versions of appliance software can generally restore streams backed up from older versions of the software, but the reverse is not necessarily true. For example, the "zfs" backup type is new in 2010.Q3 and systems running 2010.Q1 (or earlier) cannot restore backup streams created using type "zfs" under 2010.Q3.