Introducing the Arcserve Backup NDMP NAS Option › NAS Filer to Server Considerations

NAS Filer to Server Considerations

The NAS filer to server feature is an enhancement to the existing Arcserve Backup NDMP NAS Option. Filer to Server means you can back up the NAS filer directly to the Arcserve Backup server, where the destination of the NAS filer backup job can be any device attached to the backup server. NAS filer to server restore jobs restore NAS data back to a NAS filer from any type of Arcserve Backup media or migrated media. For example, if you back up NAS data to tape and then migrate it to disk, you can restore the data directly from the disk. You do not have to copy the data back to the tape and then restore it from the tape.

Consider the following when submitting a NAS filer to server job:

• Backup
  • Any device, such as a file system device, staging device, deduplication device, tape, or virtual tape library, attached to the Arcserve Backup server can be used as the destination for a NAS filer to server backup job.
  • If the destination is a DDS device (shared device via SAN), when the job is submitted, you are asked to select if you want to run the job with the data that was sent to the backup server (NAS filer to server backup job) or retain the backup at the NAS filer (regular NAS backup job). If you modify the job, and the destination is still a DDS device, you are asked again to select whether to submit a filer to server backup job.
  • If the destination is only attached to the NAS filer, the job runs as a regular NAS backup job. If the destination is only attached to the Arcserve Backup server, the job runs as a NAS filer to server backup job.
  • Both tape staging and disk staging can be enabled for filer to server backup jobs.
  • Rotation and GFS Rotation schemes can be used in a filer to server backup job.
  • One NAS session can span multiple tape sequences.
• Backward Compatibility
  • Provides backward compatibility for NAS sessions created in Arcserve releases r15, r16, and r16.5.
• Merge
  • Session details of filer to server sessions can be recreated by the merge job.
• Multistreaming
  • Source node level multistreaming is supported. Volume level multistreaming is not supported.
• Primary/Member Server
  • The NDMP NAS option is only installed on the primary server.
  • NAS filer to server jobs can be run on the primary or member server, but regular NAS jobs are still run on the primary server only.
  • The following jobs can run on the member server:
    • Backup
    • Restore
    • Scan
    • Merge
  • Restoring from a SAN device behaves the same way as it always did. You are able to select from which server to run the restore job.
• Restore
  • Sessions created by the filer to server backup job can be restored to the original location or to an alternate location.
  • You can restore directly from the following:
    • Non-NAS connected tapes
    • File system device, staging device, deduplication device
    • Cloud device
  • Individually selected files can be restored easily.
  • NAS sessions that span on several tapes can be restored.
  • When submitting a restore job, you do not need to indicate if it is a filer to server restore job. It is automatically detected based on the backup job.
• Server Side Encryption
  • NAS filer to server jobs support server side encryption, however, regular NAS jobs do not support server side encryption.
  • In a filer to server job, data is written by the tape engine at the backup server side. Therefore, server side encryption/compression is supported.
  • If you submit a non-filer to server job (regular NAS job) with encryption, encryption is skipped for NAS backups and you are prompted with a message to click OK to continue. If you submit a filer to server job with server side encryption, the message is suppressed.
  • Can also be used in a staging job.
• Agent Side Encryption
  • Not supported for NAS sessions.
• Session Password Management
  • A session password can be stored in a filer to server backup job.
  • A session password can be retrieved in a restore job for a filer to server session.
  • A session password can be retrieved in a merge job for a filer to server session.
• Additional functions supported:
  • Deduplication
  • Migration
  • Tapecopy