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How Arcserve Backup Works in a SAN

During Arcserve Backup installation, you create your SAN domain with the specified primary SAN server and associated member SAN servers. In a SAN environment, all servers are divided into one of three groups; a primary SAN server, SAN-attached member server, or non-SAN member server.

Within a domain, there can be only one primary server and each SAN-attached member server can report to only one primary SAN server. In addition, a primary SAN server can belong to only one domain.

The following diagram shows how a SAN is configured with a primary SAN server that has Arcserve Backup and the SAN option installed:

Architecture diagram: SAN Environment

When a job is ready to run, the option reserves the device and media. Once reserved, that device and media are no longer available to any other jobs across all SAN servers.

The SAN Option enables Arcserve Backup servers to share one or more tape libraries by creating a virtual ring. Any backup or restore jobs on a server that has the option installed run as local jobs. As the backup progresses, Arcserve Backup sends data over the SAN hardware to the tape libraries for storage instead of over the LAN cabling. This provides greater speed, reduces network traffic, and maximizes backup and restore throughput.