Using NetBackup to manage SnapVault qtrees

Planning NBU SnapVault qtree locations

Planning your NBU SnapVault primary system qtrees or directories and their corresponding secondary system qtrees is helpful. Multiple primary system qtrees from multiple volumes can all be backed up to corresponding secondary system qtrees in a single NBU volume. The maximum number of secondary system Snapshot copies per volume is 255.

Primary system qtree or directory location example	Corresponding Secondary system qtree location example
systemA:/vol/vol1/qtreeAA	sv_secondary:/vol/sv_vol/qtreeAA
systemA:/vol/vol1/qtreeAB	sv_secondary:/vol/sv_vol/qtreeAB
systemB:/vol/vol1/qtreeBB	sv_secondary:/vol/sv_vol/qtreeBB
winsrvrA:K:\melzdir	sv_secondary:/vol/sv_vol/melzdir
ux_srvrB:/usrs/moz_acct	sv_secondary:/vol/sv_vol/moz_acct

Note
The K:\melzdir Windows server, and the UNIX server /usrs/moz_acct examples above represent client qtrees that reside on the primary storage system. The Windows server, K:\melzdir is a CIFS share where K: is a volume and melzdir is a qtree within that volume. The UNIX server, /usrs/moz_acct, refers to a qtree directly as a mount point, or a volume that is mounted on /usrs where moz_acct is a qtree within that volume.

All volume and qtree management is done using the VERITAS NetBackup Administration Console. See the VERITAS NetBackup System Administrator's Guide for information about using the Device Configuration Wizard to configure Data ONTAP storage systems.

NBU SnapVault policies for managing Snapshot copies

NBU SnapVault Snapshot copies are managed by Data ONTAP in response to requests from the NetBackup interface. Backup policies, however, are scheduled using the NetBackup Administration Console. Policies are a set of rules that define backup criteria for a particular client or group of clients. For example, NetBackup policies control backup intervals, number of versions, and how long to retain a particular archive.

For more information, see the VERITAS NetBackup System Administrator's Guide.

Snapshot copies and qtrees

NBU SnapVault software stores secondary qtree updates in Snapshot copies on a destination volume. To avoid the 255 Snapshot copy maximum per volume, group policies with similar backup schedules, and limit the number of backups retained to approximately 250. The reason is that SnapVault creates temporary Snapshot copies during the update process. By maintaining a limit of 250 Snapshot copies on the volume, you ensure the temporary files can be created without interrupting routine backup processes.

Note
Policies are a set of rules that define backup criteria for a particular client or group of clients. For example, NetBackup policies control backup intervals, number of versions, and how long to retain a particular archive. For more information, see the VERITAS NetBackup System Administrator's Guide.

Example

Qtree /vol/src_vol/qtree1 on the primary system contains file_a, file_b, and file_c. If this qtree is backed up to /vol/dst_vol/dst_qtree1, a destination qtree on a secondary storage system, a Snapshot copy of dst_vol on the secondary system would contain dst_qtree1, and filea, fileb, and filec. This Snapshot copy is appropriately named and appears in the following format:

SnapVaultBackup.<volname>.<snapid>.<cpcount>.yyyymmdd_hhmmss_zzz

snapid and cpcount are identifiers

yyyymmdd_hhmmss is the time at which the Snapshot copy was created, and zzz is timezone.

Note
Data ONTAP software shortens Snapshot volume names to 128 characters to ensure that a Snapshot copy names do not exceed the maximum 255 character limit.

All updates to the destination qtree content are stored as Snapshot images until they are deleted using NetBackup.