SnapManager backup archiving
You can use SnapManager to create offline archives of Snapshot copies containing SnapManager backup sets. Archiving data enables you to create a complete, self-consistent replica of your data, should you have to recover it. You can use several methods to archive your data.
- Why organizations archive data
The main reason for archiving data is disaster recovery. Archiving helps you to recover data damaged or accidentally deleted due to human error, due to accidental deletion, hardware failure, or natural calamity. Space constraints, historical analysis, and litigation often require the older data to be archived.
- Guidelines for archiving SnapManager backups
Before you start archiving your data, consider the guidelines for choosing the type of data to be archived, naming, and using the appropriate protocols.
- Methods of archiving SnapManager backups
You can use different methods for selecting the components of your backup to archive.
- Archives created with NDMP or the dump command
You can use Network Data Management Protocol (NDMP) or the Data ONTAP dump command to archive each of the LUNs that contain data for the backup set that you want to archive directly from the storage system to the archive medium, without involving Exchange or the Exchange server at all.
- Archives created using a Windows backup utility
You can use a Windows backup utility to archive your SnapManager backups. To do so, you mount the LUNs backed up by the Snapshot copy that you want to archive, and then use Windows NTBackup or another Exchange-aware Windows backup utility to copy the archive data to your archive medium.
- Exchange backup archives created with Exchange Backup Agent
You can use Exchange backup copies to archive your SnapManager backup copies. You use NTBackup (which, in turn, uses the Exchange Backup Agent) to create a backup copies of your Exchange databases. In this case, the Exchange data itself is captured and archived.
- If you use a centralized backup model
When you use a centralized backup model, you can initiate a backup job by running a command on a centralized backup server, or by running a command on the Exchange server through the third-party agent that came with your backup software.
- Automatic backup archiving using the Run Command After Operation feature
SnapManager allows you to automatically run your own program or script after a backup or database verification operation, but only after the operation finishes successfully. This feature, called Run Command After Operation, is typically used to automatically archive a backup copy.
- Enabling the launch of SnapManager scripts from a UNC path
If SnapManager is installed on a Windows Server system and you want to launch a script from a UNC (Uniform Naming Convention) path, you need to add the host where the script is located to the Internet Explorer list of trusted sites.
