Accelerator for VMware backup

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Today’s Challenges

• Volume of data to be backed up from VMware environments is

generally high and backup windows are small
• Traditional full backups of virtual machines on VMware platform
are slow as all data blocks need to be processed and backed up
over the network
• High network bandwidth utilization during backups
• High I/O activity and CPU overhead within the virtual machine
• Accelerator could be used in NetBackup 7.5 to back up VMware
virtual machine file system data using MS-Windows or standard
policy type provided that the NetBackup client software was
installed on the virtual machine. vStorage API or VADP based
backup could not use the accelerator feature.

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NetBackup Solution
• Accelerator for VMware introduced in NetBackup 7.6 uses VMware
Changed Block Tracking (CBT) and sends only changed data blocks
for backup.
• The NetBackup media server then synthesizes a full virtual
machine image using data from previous backups plus data from
changed blocks
• A full backup image of the VM is completed in approximately the
time it takes to run an incremental backup.
• Reduces storage requirements for backup with content-aware
deduplication
• Reduces the I/O activity and CPU load within the virtual machine.
• Uses less network bandwidth for backup data transfer
• Supports GRT for MSExchange, MSSQL and MS SharePoint
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Fastest backup + any-level recovery

Restore
• Entire virtual machine
• Files and folders
• Exchange, SharePoint and SQL databases
• Exchange Email, SharePoint items

Optimized Synthetic

vSphere Changed Block Tracking

aka Block-level Incremental

Unchanged Blocks reside in Dedupe storage

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Requirements and Prerequisites

• NetBackup 7.6 is required on NetBackup master server, media

server, and client (proxy host) systems.
• SuSe Linux (SLES), RHEL, Windows and even a NetBackup 5230
appliance can be used as a VM proxy backup host.
• VMware ESX server version 4.0.3 or greater is required.
• Requires the NetBackup Data Protection Optimization Option
license.
• MSExchange, MS SQL Server and SharePoint instances must be
in a virtual machine residing on VMDK files. A NetBackup client
must be installed in the VM to protect these instances.
• Applications must be in VMDK volumes; RDM volumes are not
supported.
• Requires that the backup storage has the OptimizedImage
attribute enabled
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Accelerator for VMware backup process

• Virtual machines running on ESX/ESXi hosts can track disk

sectors that have changed using a feature called Changed Block
Tracking (CBT).
• VMware CBT stores information about changed blocks in ctk file
under each VM folder which are associated with each vmdk and
snapshot file. CBT has to be enabled on each VM protected
using Accelerator for VMware.
• When Accelerator performs a backup, it requests transmission
of only changed blocks since the last backup by calling vSphere
APIs for Data Protection (VADP).
• Accelerator combines those changed blocks with the list of
already backed up extents, which are obtained from a state file,
stored on the VM proxy host (backup host) and on the master
server.
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Accelerator for VMware backup process contd..

• Accelerator then transfers this data and information to a

Symantec dedupe engine and generates the optimized synthetic
full backup
• The state file is updated by the media server and transferred to
the master server after each virtual disk backup completes.
• Accelerator generates only catalog data for the changes,
however, when the media server generates the synthetic full
backup, it transfers catalog information for a full backup to the
master.
• Accelerator full backup consumes as much catalog space as a
traditional full backup.

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High Level Architectural Overview

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NetBackup Process Flow and Log details

Windows & Java CLIs Changed

BPBRM BPDBM
GUI Dependency
bppllist,
Policy / Schedule bpadm,bpschedule Base
Enable / Disable CBT? Image
Query
Client Side – VM Proxy Host BPTM
BPTM Core
VMWARE bpbkar 2 3 sts_include
xlate stat 4 sts_write, etc
STS-H Interface STS-I Interface
bpfis
STSH-LIB STSI-LIB
Plug-ins Plug-ins
1 VxMS TAR Stream Any OST plugin
Handler Plugin with OptSynth

bpcd

1. VMware proxy host (backup host) requests changed blocks from VM server. OST
2. Merge new changed blocks with previous extents from state file.
3. Generate Accelerator tar stream, send to bptm.
4. Generate a full image on the storage server, using blocks from previous image and the
inline data received from the client (proxy host).
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Random Index Mapping

• Used to speed up cataloging of changed files.

• Previously VxMS would go through every file on a file system.
Using random index mapping, VxMS only analyzes files from blocks that have
been reported as changed, thereby reducing the time required to traverse file
systems to identify changed files.
• Random Index Mapping…
– Applies only when protecting a Windows-based virtual machine.
– Affects both Accelerator and non-Accelerator backups.
– For non-Accelerator backups the impact is seen for both Differential and
Cumulative Incremental schedules.
– With Accelerator enabled, Random Index Mapping applies only when using a
Differential Incremental schedules – it is disabled for Cumulative Incremental
schedules. Cumulative Incremental backups using Accelerator may be slower
than Differential Incremental backups.
State File Size

• The state file stores information about each extent of data on a

virtual disk.
– 24 bytes is needed per extent.
– The number of extents per virtual disk depends upon disk fragmentation,
allocation type, and other factors.
– In practice, there is 1-3 KB of state file for every GB of virtual disk.
• State files are cleaned up when image is expired.
• State files are transferred to and from master server by bpfis.
Virtualization State Files

• The Accelerator state file is one of many used by the virtualization

code:
bpfis.fim.[client_name]_[backup_time].1.0_[storage_server].extent
• Other state files used during backups:
– bpfis.fim.[client_name]_[backup_timestamp].1.0
– bpfis.fim.[client_name]_[backup_timestamp].1.0.changeid.xml
– bpfis.fim.[client_name]_[backup_timestamp].1.0.NBU_DATA.xml
– bpfis.fim.[client_name]_[backup_timestamp].1.0.NBU_DATA.xml.BID
• State file used during restores:
– bpfis.fim.[client_name]_[backup_timestamp].VM_ObjInfoXML.xml

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Policy Configuration

• Set the Policy type to VMware.

• The Accelerator for VMware feature is configured using the Use
Accelerator checkbox in the policy Attributes tab.

The storage unit must support optimized

synthetics, limiting the storage unit options to
MSDP, PDDO, and certain 3rd-party OST
devices. If Use Accelerator check-box is
selected, NetBackup automatically verifies that
the selected storage unit is supported for
Accelerator backups.
If the Use Accelerator check-box is greyed out and un-
selectable, verify that the NetBackup Data Protection
Optimization Option license is installed.

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VWware Policy BLI Setting

When Accelerator is enabled, the Enable block-level incremental

backup parameter setting is automatically selected.

Automatically selected when Use Accelerator

is selected. Cannot be de-selected.

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Additional Configuration

• When creating the policy, if Use Accelerator is selected, NetBackup

verifies that the selected storage unit is supported for Accelerator
backups.
Storage Unit must support optimized synthetics (MSDP, PDDO, and certain third-
party OST devices).
• SharePoint, MS-Exchange, and MS-SQL support FULL schedule
types only.
• Accelerator forced rescan option enables creating a new baseline
and helps protect against any potential omissions by underlying
VMware CBT. Run Accelerator forced rescan option enabled
backups from time to time to establish a new baseline.This option
can be enabled on a per-schedule basis. See next slide for details.

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Accelerator Forced Rescan

• Causes the entire virtual machine to be backed up, resulting in 0%

optimization and longer backup times.
• Provided as a safety net to prevent errors in VMware Changed Block
Tracking (CBT) from permanently affecting Accelerator images.
• Should not be selected on every schedule. For example, could be
optionally enabled on a schedule that runs every six months.

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Monitoring Accelerator virtual machine backups

• Accelerator Optimization reported in Activity Monitor column

(hidden by default).

Accelerator Optimization
reported in column of
• In Job Details – Status pane. Activity Monitor and in Job
Details -> Status pane.

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Thank You!

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