Best practice for FastBack WAN deduplication disaster recovery

procedure

Notices First edition (June 2011) International Business Machines Corporation provides this publication “as is” without warranty of any kind, either express or implied. Some states do not allow disclaimer of express or implied warranties in certain transactions; therefore this statement may not apply to you. This publication may contain technical inaccuracies or typographical errors. While every precaution has been taken in the preparation of this document, the publisher and author assume no responsibility for errors or omissions. Nor is any liability assumed for damages resulting from the use of the information contained herein. Changes are periodically made to the information herein; these changes will be incorporated in new editions of the publication. IBM may make improvements and/ or changes in the product(s) and/or the program(s) described in this publication at any time. Trademarks IBM, the IBM logo, ibm.com, Tivoli, and FastBack are trademarks or registered trademarks of International Business Machines Corporation in the United States, other countries, or both. If these and other IBM trademarked terms are marked on their first occurrence in this information with a trademark symbol (® or ™), these symbols indicate U.S. registered or common law trademarks owned by IBM at the time this information was published. Such trademarks may also be registered or common law trademarks in other countries. A current list of IBM trademarks is available on the web at “Copyright and trademark information” at www.ibm.com/legal/copytrade.shtml. Other company, product, or service names may be trademarks or service marks of others. Copyright IBM 2011. All rights reserved.

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Contents

1. INTRODUCTION ......................................................................................4

2. INSTALLATION AND CONFIGURATION................................................5

Installation ..............................................................................................................................................5

Configuration..........................................................................................................................................7 1. Configure the Tivoli Storage Manager server ............................................................................7 2. Configure the FastBack Disaster Recovery Hub server ...........................................................11 3. Configure the FastBack server .................................................................................................16

3. PERFORMING A FULL SHIPMENT ......................................................19

Create a copy of the local repository data ..........................................................................................20

Deploy the replicated data ...................................................................................................................21

Work with the disaster recovery procedure.......................................................................................22

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Best practice for FastBack WAN deduplication disaster recovery procedure The following description is a best practice procedure for replicating data from a remote branch to a centralized data center site. The remote branch uses a local IBM® Tivoli® Storage Manager FastBack server. The data center uses an IBM Tivoli Storage Manager server as the target for the data.

1. Introduction

This document is for customers and IBM Business Partners who install, configure, and maintain FastBack servers in remote branches, and perform data replication from those servers. The data is replicated into a centralized data center, which uses a Tivoli Storage Manager server as the destination for the data. The document assumes that the reader has administrative knowledge of both Tivoli Storage Manager server and FastBack. For detailed information about these products, use the information centers or user guides. The document is intended to provide the necessary information to perform the disaster recovery procedures, and does not replace the official user guide.

FastBack disaster recovery with WAN deduplication is a remote office data protection procedure that provides replication and disaster recovery to remote branches. In each branch, the FastBack server performs data replication to a single Tivoli Storage Manager server, which is located in the data center. The replicated data is managed by a FastBack Disaster Recovery Hub server, which is located in the data center. A single Tivoli Storage Manager server can be the target for the replication data of several branches, as shown in Figure 1. Where necessary, the replicated data from the Tivoli Storage Manager server can be used to offload data onto tapes. It can also be used to mount a snapshot and to back up data in file format to Tivoli Storage Manager. The replicated data can be used to perform a recovery operation in the data center location. The data that is sent from the branches to the data center location is deduplicated. As such, the data requires less network resources than when compared to earlier replication procedures. When data is replicated from several branches onto a Tivoli Storage Manager server to the same storage pool, the data is deduplicated across branches. Therefore there is a potential for saving more network resources. When used with FastBack storage deduplication and Tivoli Storage Manager deduplicated storage pools, the process provides an end-to-end deduplication. Thus, savings are generated of both network and storage resources.

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Figure 1: A typical deployment of a WAN deduplication solution FastBack disaster recovery with WAN deduplication is supported on Tivoli Storage Manager version 6.1.1 or later. Tivoli Storage Manager server, version 6.2 or later, is required as the target server for the deduplication procedure.

2. Installation and configuration

To ensure that the disaster recovery procedure for the FastBack WAN deduplication is correctly set up, follow the instructions in the correct order.

Installation

Ensure that the following installation requirements for the WAN deduplication procedure are met in each location.

a. Each branch office. A FastBack server, from version 6.1.1 or later, must be

installed, including the disaster recovery component from the FastBack server installation package.

The following table describes the hardware requirements to install a FastBack server.

Table 1. Hardware requirements for a FastBack server

Component Minimal requirement Preferred

System 3 GHz Dual Intel® Pentium® D processor or compatible

For a FastBack server with data deduplication enabled. The preferred

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Table 1. Hardware requirements for a FastBack server

Component Minimal requirement Preferred

requirement is a four processor core at 3 GHz Intel® Xeon® or compatible.

Memory 2 GB RAM, 2 GB virtual address space

8 GB RAM, 2 GB virtual address space

Available hard disk

200 MB for Documents and Settings folder. For a FastBack server with data deduplication enabled, the minimum requirement is 1 GB.

2 GB

NIC card 1 NIC – 100 Mbps 1 NIC – 1 Gbps

b. Data center location. A Tivoli Storage Manager server, version 6.2 or later,

from any operating system type, must be installed in the data center location. The primary storage pool of Tivoli Storage Manager server must be a sequential-access disk (FILE) storage pool. The storage pool must be enabled for data deduplication and have enough free space to serve as the destination of the replication process. See the Installation Guide of Tivoli Storage Manager server for the server hardware requirements. In addition, a Windows server is needed in the data center to serve as the FastBack Disaster Recovery Hub server. This server requires a FastBack Disaster Recovery Hub server, version 6.1.1 or later, from the FastBack installation package.

The following table describes the hardware requirements to install a FastBack Disaster Recovery Hub server.

Table 2. Hardware requirements for FastBack Disaster Recovery Hub server

Component Minimal requirement Preferred

System 3 GHz Dual Intel Pentium D processor or compatible

Not applicable

Memory 2 GB RAM, 2 GB virtual address space

3 GB RAM, 2 GB virtual address space

Available hard disk

200 MB for Documents and Settings folder

Not applicable

NIC card 1 NIC – 100 Mbps 1 NIC – 1 Gbps

c. Network resources. Special care must be taken when planning the network

that connects the branches and the data center location. It is difficult to predict the deduplication efficiency because it is closely connected to the specific workload and to the deduplication across the branches. Also, the amount of data that is sent over the network is only the incremental changes that were accumulated since the previous successful replication procedure. During the initial setup, when the local amount of repository

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data is significant, it might be required to perform a full shipment procedure. For more details, see section 3.

Configuration

To ensure that the configuration completes successfully, follow the instructions in the correct order. 1. Configure the Tivoli Storage Manager server 2. Configure the FastBack Disaster Recovery Hub server 3. Configure the FastBack server

1. Configure the Tivoli Storage Manager server In the data center location, open the administrative command line of Tivoli Storage Manager, and perform the following steps:

1. Define a domain to use for Tivoli Storage Manager FastBack WAN deduplication. For example, use FBWAN as the domain name.

define domain FBWAN

2. Define a policy set for this domain. For example, use FBWANPS as the policy set name.

define policyset FBWAN FBWANPS

3. Define a management class for this policy set. For example, use FBWANMC as the management class name.

define mgmtclass FBWAN FBWANPS FBWANMC

4. Create a directory to be used as the destination of the replicated data. For example:

g:\tsm

5. Define the destination for the replication procedure by using a FILE device class, which is located on disk. For example, use FBWANDC as the device class name.

define devclass FBWANDC devtype=file mountlimit=256 dir=g:\tsm

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In the example, g:\tsm is the disk-based directory to be used as the destination of the replicated data. For other operating systems and configurations, different parameters might be required.

The usual value for mountlimit is 256. For more information, see the Tivoli Storage Manager user guide.

6. Define a storage pool for the copy group. For example, use FBWANSP as the storage pool name.

define stgpool FBWANSP FBWANDC maxscratch=size deduplicate=yes

The value for maxscratch specifies the maximum number of scratch volumes that the Tivoli Storage Manager server can request for this storage pool.

The value of size is the amount of storage that is reserved for replicated data. For more information, see the Tivoli Storage Manager user guide.

7. Define a copy group for the management class. For example, use the default of copygroup as the value.

define copygroup FBWAN FBWANPS FBWANMC destination=FBWANSP

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8. Update the copy group with the following Tivoli Storage Manager server parameter values: update copygroup FBWAN FBWANPS FBWANMC verexists=1 verdeleted=0 retextra=nolimit retonly=0

For more information, see the Tivoli Storage Manager user guide.

9. Assign FBWANMC as the default management class:

assign defmgmtclass FBWAN FBWANPS FBWANMC

10. Activate the FBWANPS policy set:

activate policyset FBWAN FBWANPS

11. Register two nodes in the Tivoli Storage Manager server, one for the connection of FastBack servers and one for the FastBack Disaster Recovery Hub server.

a. register node FBservers FBserverspass maxnummp=100 backdel=yes deduplication=clientorserver domain=FBWAN

In the example, FBservers is the node name and FBserverspass is the password for the node for the connection of FastBack servers. The usual value for maxnummp is 100. For an advanced configuration, see the user guide.

b. register node FBDRserver FBDRserverpass maxnummp=100 backdel=yes deduplication=clientorserver domain=FBWAN

In the example, FBDRserver is the node name and

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FBDRserverpass is the password for the connection of the FastBack Disaster Recovery Hub server. The usual value for maxnummp is 100. For an advanced configuration, see the user guide. Note: If multi-tenancy is later required, more advanced configuration can be performed. For more details, see the user guide.

12. Grant proxy node status to the FastBack Disaster Recovery Hub server node, for example, FBDRserver. With this command, the FastBack Disaster Recovery Hub server node, for example, FBDRserver, can operate as a proxy node for the node of the FastBack server. grant proxynode target=FBservers agent=FBDRserver

13. Set the maximum number of active sessions on the Tivoli Storage Manager server: setopt maxsessions 1000 The usual value for maxsessions is 100. For an advanced configuration, use the following calculations.

Maximum number of sessions that are started during the disaster recovery replication is the sum of the following:

o Maximum number of sessions that are started by each FastBack server: num_agent_threads * 3

o Maximum number of sessions that are started by the FastBack Disaster Recovery Hub server: (4 * num_branches * num_agent_threads) + (6 * num_branches)

Maximum number of sessions for FastBack Mount, instant restore, and IBM Tivoli Storage Manager FastBack for Bare Machine Recovery:

o One session each, or n, where n represents each different node name that is used. Additional sessions can be used for instant restore operations that run in parallel.

Maximum number of sessions that are started by Central Control Station:

o n, where n is the number of different nodes.

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Verify the server You can verify that the configuration is set up correctly by running queries against the parameters to validate that the values are set as required.

2. Configure the FastBack Disaster Recovery Hub server FastBack Disaster Recovery Hub server is installed in the data center on a Windows system. The system is usually a dedicated machine, which serves as the data management facilitator. While data is sent directly to the Tivoli Storage Manager server, the FastBack Disaster Recovery Hub server monitors and controls the data on the server.

1. To configure the FastBack Disaster Recovery Hub server on the Windows system, use DRHubConfigurator.exe. Click Start→Programs→Tivoli Storage Manager→FastBack→DRHubConfigurator.

2. Set the location type to Tivoli Storage Manager. Choose menu option 1, and then choose option 2, which is TSM. If the location is already set, use the menu to make sure Tivoli Storage Manager is the location setting.

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3. Set the Tivoli Storage Manager server IP address. Choose menu option 6, and specify the IP address of the Tivoli Storage Manager server. You can also specify a resolvable host name.

4. Set the Tivoli Storage Manager port. The default Tivoli Storage Manager port number is 1500. For another port number, choose menu option 7, and specify the port number.

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5. Set the Tivoli Storage Manager hub node. Choose menu option 8, and specify the same node name that is associated with the FastBack Disaster Recovery Hub server. For example, choose FBDRServer.

6. Set the Tivoli Storage Manager password. Choose menu option 9, and specify password for the node name that is associated with the FastBack Disaster Recovery Hub server. For example, specify FBDRserverpass as the password for node FBDRServer.

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7. Add Tivoli Storage Manager branch notes. Choose menu option 10, and specify the same node name that is associated with the FastBack servers. For example, select FBServers. In a multi-tenancy configuration, you can add several nodes.

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For more details and advanced configuration information, see the FastBack user guide.

8. Exit the FastBack Disaster Recovery Hub configuration. Select menu option 14 to exit.

9. Restart the FastBack Disaster Recovery Hub server service. Open a command-line prompt, and issue the command: net start "Fastback DR Hub Server"

The FastBack Disaster Recovery Hub server is now configured for WAN deduplication.

Verify the server Verify that the FastBack Disaster Recovery Hub server is functioning correctly and is successfully connected to the Tivoli Storage Manager server, by inspecting the logs. The logs are located at C:\Documents and Settings\All

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Users\Application Data\Tivoli\TSM\FastBack\drhub or C:\ProgramData\Tivoli\TSM\FastBack\drhub on Windows 2008. For more details about the logs, see the user guide.

If the FastBack Disaster Recovery Hub server was upgraded from version 6.1.0.x, verify the eight registry key of IBM Global Security Kit. Make sure that HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\IBM\GSK8\CurrentVersion\CryptLibPath specifies C:\Program Files\IBM\GSK8\lib.

Notes:

The deduplication option for any destination storage pool that is used in FastBack Disaster Recovery WAN deduplication must be set to yes.

The deduplication option for all nodes used in FastBack Disaster Recovery WAN deduplication must be set to clientorserver.

Make sure that the files to be included in data deduplication are not excluded from the client deduplication processing of Tivoli Storage Manager. See the client exclude.dedup option settings for details. By default, all files are included in data deduplication.

3. Configure the FastBack server

The disaster recovery component of the FastBack server replicates data from the local FastBack repository to the Tivoli Storage Manager server in the data center location. The disaster recovery component is part of the FastBack server, and it is installed in each remote branch, which is the advanced installation option. To configure the disaster recovery component of the FastBack server in each remote branch, perform the following steps. Note: If a full shipment procedure is required, you can perform the full shipment procedure before you continue with the FastBack server configuration.

1. Open FastBack manager, and log on as the administrator. 2. In the Configuration tab of FastBack manager, select General

ConfigurationDR Configuration. 3. In DR target type, select TSM. 4. In DR parameters, specify the following values:

o TSM server address: Specify the IP address of the Tivoli Storage Manager server. You can specify a resolvable host name.

o TSM server port: Specify the port number of the Tivoli Storage Manager server. The default value is 1500.

o Tivoli Storage Manager server credentials: Specify the connection settings between the disaster recovery component of the FastBack server and the Tivoli Storage Manager server. The node is previously configured as part

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of the Tivoli Storage Manager server configuration.

a. Node name: Specify the node name of the FastBack server that is used to access the Tivoli Storage Manager server, for example, FBServers. This name is the same node name that is used when you configure the FastBack Disaster Recovery Hub server. In typical single-tenancy configurations, all branches connect to a single Tivoli Storage Manager server node, and all FastBack servers, therefore, use the same node name.

b. Password: Specify the password that is associated with the previously configured node, for example, FBserverspass.

c. As node name: Leave this field blank. It is used for advanced configurations.

o Branch name: Specify the branch name of the FastBack server. The branch name is used by Tivoli Storage Manager server node to identify the FastBack server branch. The name is not one of the branch server names that are already configured. This name must be unique between branches that replicate data to the same Tivoli Storage Manager server node. The unique name is part of the file space names on the Tivoli Storage Manager server. To see the name, issue the command ”q filespace” in the administrative command line of Tivoli Storage Manager. The name is also used to restore data from the replicated snapshot by using FastBack Mount.

o Enable deduplication: Make sure the check box is selected.

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5. Click Apply to save the configuration settings.

The WAN deduplication is now configured and ready for use.

Verify the server

To verify the configuration, click Test Configuration. The verification procedure might take several minutes to complete. When the verification is successful, the message DR test configuration completed successfully is given. The message confirms that the Tivoli Storage Manager server, the FastBack Disaster Recovery Hub server, and the FastBack server are correctly configured for replication.

If process errors occur, error messages are given. Complete troubleshooting actions and test the configuration again, as required.

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3. Performing a full shipment

Full shipment is a process that is used to initially transfer data from a local branch to a disaster recovery location. This process is performed when a local branch repository is significant in size. The process is intended to overcome the time loss that can occur while transferring large quantities of data over the WAN.

Full shipment is one possible procedure that is used at the primary stages of the FastBack disaster recovery preparation. The procedure is performed before the FastBack disaster recovery is started by using automated schedules and planning.

The full shipment is a manual process of copying and physically shipping large quantities of previously backed-up data. The data is copied on removable storage and shipped from the FastBack server repository of a remote office to the disaster recovery site. A physically removable disk is required for this task. In addition, a temporary server is required in the branch, which has the FTP server application installed.

Note: FastBack Disaster Recovery Hub server can support branches that are initially created using the full shipment and branches that do not use that procedure. A FastBack Disaster Recovery Hub server that already protects existing branches can also be used.

The initial full snapshot of the FastBack disaster recovery usually replicates almost all of the data that is stored on the FastBack server. As a result, the replication of such an amount of data across a WAN might require a considerable amount of time to complete. The full shipment involves the following procedures:

Creating a copy of the local repository data that is to be replicated by: o Setting up a local FTP server in the branch o Performing the FTP disaster recovery procedure locally over the LAN

to the local FTP server and to the removable media Physically transferring the removable media to the remote disaster recovery

site Deploying the replicated data in the remote disaster recovery site Activating the scheduled disaster recovery procedure

Perform the following tasks before the full shipment:

1. Calculate the quantity of the backed-up data which is stored in the branch repository that is currently used by the FastBack server.

2. If the repository consists of several repository locations, such as disks, volumes, or folders, calculate the total value. Summarize the used data size values that are taken from every repository pool unit to get the total value.

3. Prepare the removable storage with sufficient storage to accumulate the local repository branch data.

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Create a copy of the local repository data

1. To create a copy of the local repository, you need a local FTP server. The FTP server is a stand-alone server that is located in the branch and which is part of the same network LAN as the FastBack server.

2. Connect the removable media that is used to transfer the data to the local FTP server. Configure a volume, and keep a folder on the removable media as the target of the FTP server. Prepare a volume with sufficient storage space to contain the repository for the full branch.

For example: F:/ftproot

Note: In situations that require a significant amount of data to be moved, you can configure a single dynamic disk volume from several physical disks.

3. Follow the instructions in the disaster recovery section of the FastBack user guide to configure the local FTP server as a destination of the disaster recovery procedure.

4. Perform the FTP disaster recovery replication process only once:

a. Run the FTP disaster recovery of all disaster recovery policies. b. When the disaster recovery operations complete, disable FTP disaster

recovery on your FastBack server.

When you perform the disaster recovery to a local FTP server over the LAN, make sure that compression and encryption are disabled. The same applies when the FastBack Disaster Recovery Hub server is installed on the same machine.

5. Disconnect the removable media and transfer it to the disaster recovery site. a. Stop the local FastBack Disaster Recovery Hub server. b. Stop the local FTP server. c. Physically transfer the volume that is used by the local FastBack

Disaster Recovery Hub server to the remote disaster recovery site.

6. Do not perform the cleanup process until all data is located on the Tivoli Storage Manager server and the first disaster recovery session is successfully completed.

Notes:

If the FastBack repository size is bigger than the removable storage capacity, you can divide the data into several removable storages. Enable disaster

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recovery for only some of the policies and perform the procedure. Replace the removable storage and select other policies for the next procedure.

You can configure the local FTP server on the FastBack server system. In this situation, because the removable storage is plugged in to the FastBack server, use DiskOpen.exe to enable writing data to it.

Example:

In the example, 5 is the disk number to be opened.

Deploy the replicated data

1. Attach the removable media that was physically transferred to the disaster recovery site to the FastBack Disaster Recovery Hub server in the disaster recovery site. The FastBack Disaster Recovery Hub server is located at the data center facility. Make sure that the drive with the removable media is visible in the FastBack Disaster Recovery Hub server and you can see the replicated data.

2. Copy the branch data to Tivoli Storage Manager server and the remote disaster recovery site:

a. On the FastBack Disaster Recovery Hub server, open a command prompt, and locate the Tivoli Storage Manager FastBack utilities directory. The usual location for the directory is: C:\Program Files\Tivoli\TSM\FastBack\utilities.

b. Use the FBDRCopy.exe utility to copy the branch data onto your Tivoli Storage Manager server by providing:

1. The local folder that contains the replicated branch data, for example: F:/ftproot/REP_MyBranch

2. The Tivoli Storage Manager server IP address and port 3. The branch node name, for example, FBservers, and the

password

For example:

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.\FBDRCopy.exe -m; "F:/ftproot/REP_MyBranch" "TSM;TCPS:9.148.228.65;TCPP:1500;NODE:FBservers;PASSWORD:FBserversPass;FILEPATH:"

3. Finalize the disaster recovery setup on the local branch: a. On the FastBack server of your local branch, modify the disaster

recovery settings to communicate with the Tivoli Storage Manager server on the remote site, as described in section 2.

b. Follow the instructions in section 2 to verify that the disaster recovery procedure is configured.

4. Make sure to the resume the cleanup, if it is paused.

Work with the disaster recovery procedure

The disaster recovery procedure for WAN deduplication is one of the methods to perform disaster recovery from a FastBack server to a remote location. The disaster recovery process is a scheduled process that is configured by using FastBack manager and controlled by using the FastBack server. The process replicates only those policies that are marked as 'DR enable' in the policy configuration of FastBack manager. For more details on the scheduling and configuration of the disaster recovery process, see the FastBack user guide. Additionally, you can use the monitoring facilities that are provided by FastBack to trace the behavior of the disaster recovery process:

1. Central Control Station. Use this monitoring utility, which is deployed in the disaster recovery site, to monitor and control the behavior of the disaster recovery process. See the FastBack user guide for more

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information about configuring Central Control Station with the Tivoli Storage Manager server connected.

2. FastBack manager. As part of the FastBack manager capabilities, you can monitor the disaster recovery process in the following ways:

While the disaster recovery process is running or in an idle

state, you can use the disaster recovery indicator. The indicator is located at the lower right of the FastBack manager page.

Use the customer logs for more detailed information about the activities of the disaster recovery process.

3. Email notification. As part of the FastBack manager capabilities, you can

use the periodic email notification.