lab validation report - spiceworks · 2018. 4. 13. · implementing backup and recovery for virtual...

Lab Validation Report Symantec Backup Exec 2012

Achieving Best Practices for Virtual Machine Backup and Recovery

By Vinny Choinski, Senior Lab Analyst, and Kerry Dolan, Lab Analyst

April 2013 © 2013 by The Enterprise Strategy Group, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Lab Validation: Symantec Backup Exec 2012 2

© 2013 by The Enterprise Strategy Group, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Contents

Introduction .................................................................................................................................................. 3 Background ............................................................................................................................................................ 3 Best Practices in Virtualization Protection.............................................................................................................. 4 Backup Exec 2012 ................................................................................................................................................... 4 ESG Lab Test Bed .................................................................................................................................................... 5

ESG Lab Validation ........................................................................................................................................ 6 Monitoring and Management ................................................................................................................................ 6 Multi-Hypervisor .................................................................................................................................................... 8 Deduplication ....................................................................................................................................................... 10 Fast Restore .......................................................................................................................................................... 11 Post-process Application Handling ....................................................................................................................... 14

ESG Lab Validation Highlights ..................................................................................................................... 16

Issues to Consider ....................................................................................................................................... 16

The Bigger Truth ......................................................................................................................................... 17

Appendix ..................................................................................................................................................... 18

All trademark names are property of their respective companies. Information contained in this publication has been obtained by sources The Enterprise Strategy Group (ESG) considers to be reliable but is not warranted by ESG. This publication may contain opinions of ESG, which are subject to change from time to time. This publication is copyrighted by The Enterprise Strategy Group, Inc. Any reproduction or redistribution of this publication, in whole or in part, whether in hard-copy format, electronically, or otherwise to persons not authorized to receive it, without the express consent of The Enterprise Strategy Group, Inc., is in violation of U.S. copyright law and will be subject to an action for civil damages and, if applicable, criminal prosecution. Should you have any questions, please contact ESG Client Relations at 508.482.0188.

ESG Lab Reports

The goal of ESG Lab reports is to educate IT professionals about data center technology products for companies of all types and sizes. ESG Lab reports are not meant to replace the evaluation process that should be conducted before making purchasing decisions, but rather to provide insight into these emerging technologies. Our objective is to go over some of the more valuable feature/functions of products, show how they can be used to solve real customer problems and identify any areas needing improvement. ESG Lab's expert third-party perspective is based on our own hands-on testing as well as on interviews with customers who use these products in production environments. This ESG Lab report was sponsored by Symantec.



Introduction

This ESG Lab Validation report documents hands-on testing of Symantec Backup Exec 2012’s advanced virtual server data protection. The report focuses on how Backup Exec 2012 measures up against best practices in virtual data protection.

Background

Server virtualization has taken IT by storm: In ESG’s 2013 IT Spending Intentions Survey, more than three-quarters (77%) of respondents reported that they are currently using server virtualization. It has become a mainstream technology because of its tremendous benefits: primarily, the reduced equipment and management costs of consolidating multiple applications onto fewer physical servers. In our survey, increasing server virtualization remains in the top three most important IT priorities reported by respondents, as it has been for several years—just below another perennial favorite, improving data backup and recovery. 1 These two tend to go hand in hand, as virtualization complicates the backup landscape.

As a result, IT organizations often struggle to find the best methods for protecting virtual machines (VMs), which is borne out in ESG research. As Figure 1 shows, more than half (51%) of respondents to a recent ESG survey rated implementing backup and recovery for virtual servers as a top-five data protection challenge, and 9% rated it as their most significant data protection challenge.2

Figure 1. Virtual Backup and Recovery Rank as Data Protection Challenge

Source: Enterprise Strategy Group, 2013.

1 Source: ESG Research Report, 2013 IT Spending Intentions Survey, January 2013.

2 Source: ESG Research, Virtual Server Data Protection, September 2011.

Our most significant data protection challenge, 9%

One of our top 5 data protection challenges, 51%

One of our top 10 data protection challenges, 27%

Not a top data protection

challenge, 13%

Don’t know, 1%

Relative to all of your organization’s data protection challenges, how would you rate implementing backup and recovery processes for virtual servers? (Percent

of respondents, N=183)

http://www.esg-global.com/research-reports/research-report-2013-it-spending-intentions-survey/



Many organizations believe (mistakenly) that they must use virtualization-only or hypervisor-specific solutions for virtual server backup. A common result is that they manage two or more data protection solutions, accompanied by greater complexity and increased TCO.3

Best Practices in Virtualization Protection

Virtualization can complicate backup and recovery. When assessing virtualization backup solutions, it can be helpful to leverage the experience of experts in the field. ESG Senior Analyst Jason Buffington recently developed a set of high-level best practices for virtualization protection:4

Management and Monitoring. Virtual backup solutions should be easy to deploy and manage, with automation across the stack. The ease of spinning up VMs—often without IT involvement—necessitates not just automated discovery for protection, but the ability to tailor workflows by VM. Integration with hypervisor consoles is essential.

Multi-hypervisor. More organizations are deploying multiple hypervisors for manageability and economic reasons, particularly as features gaps between hypervisors have closed so that they enjoy a level of parity. Backup solutions must support this new reality.

Deduplication. The ease and speed of launching VMs creates “VM sprawl” that consumes disk storage at alarming rates, due to massive amounts of duplicate data, applications, and operating systems. As a result, built-in deduplication is essential. Source-side deduplication (aided by change-block tracking, file system filtering, NTFS journals, etc.) will reduce I/O, network, and storage requirements. Global deduplication across multiple hosts will further reduce storage needs.

Fast restore. Speed of restore dictates how fast you can return to production operations. Virtual backup solutions should include fast restore as well as granularity to meet user needs, such as restoring whole VMs or application-based items such as individual files, databases, mailboxes, and e-mails.

Application-aware Handling. While some solutions deliver crash-consistent backups, they do not enable or handle log truncation and other post-backup processing and cleanup. Virtual backup solutions should facilitate post-process application handling, whether through injectable modules such as agents or recursive mechanisms, like Microsoft Windows Volume Shadow Copy Service (VSS).

Backup Exec 2012

Backup Exec 2012 continues Symantec’s long tradition of advanced data protection by providing key VM backup and recovery features. It is a single solution for virtual and physical data protection that supports VMware and Hyper-V as well as Windows, Linux, and Macintosh environments.

Virtualization-focused features

Backup Exec 2012 is integrated with VMware vCenter as well as VMware APIs for Data Protection (VADP) and Microsoft VSS. Backup Exec leverages VMware’s change block tracking feature (CBT), Windows Change Journal, and its own CBT for fast incremental/differential backups and efficient deduplication. A redesigned administrative console reflects the new server-focused (rather than job-focused) protection approach and makes the product easier to use. Backup Exec 2012 offers multiple backup and restore options, including restore from any full or incremental point in time to maximize flexibility. Agentless backup provides recovery of complete VMs while optional agents (for coordination, not data movement) enable granular recovery of virtualized applications such as Microsoft Exchange, SharePoint, Active Directory, and SQL Server. In addition:

3 For additional information, see the white paper, “Assessing the TCO of Unified vs. Parallel Backup Solutions for Virtual Environments.”

4 For more information, view the ESG video blog available at http://www.esg-global.com/blogs/what-it-pros-should-look-for-in-virtualization-

protection/ .

http://www.esg-global.com/blogs/what-it-pros-should-look-for-in-virtualization-protection/

http://www.esg-global.com/blogs/what-it-pros-should-look-for-in-virtualization-protection/



“Full Select” and Dynamic Inclusion. When a host server is fully selected, all data and applications added to that server will be added to the backup workflow, eliminating stranded, unprotected VMs and data. The dynamic inclusion feature automatically searches for VMs and other resources that require protection and backs them up.

Deduplication. Backup Exec includes integrated deduplication, enabling up to 90% reduction in storage capacity and reducing network bandwidth costs. Global deduplication can be implemented across all protected data, not just by job, ensuring maximum savings.

New management approach

The server-focused management approach makes it easier to handle growing VM environments. Backup jobs can be defined for groups of components for ease of use, while individual jobs are created in the background so that IT can customize as needed. This enables flexibility and ensures fast, easy resolution of individual VM backup failures. The sleek, new administrative console has a customizable graphical interface that is content-aware, only displaying options that are relevant to the environment and data being protected. New intelligent defaults are based on Symantec expertise and customer best practices.

In addition, the Symantec Backup Exec 3600 Appliance offers an affordable solution for easy deployment; it includes Backup Exec 2012 and all agents preinstalled on optimized hardware, and contains Critical System Protection for the hardware.5

ESG Lab Test Bed

The ESG Lab test bed was designed to demonstrate Backup Exec 2012 features for protecting virtual servers, and leveraged both VMware vSphere 5.0 and Microsoft Windows Server 2008 Hyper-V. As shown in Figure 2, the environment included a physical media server, both vSphere and Hyper-V hosts, and a physical Windows 2008 R2 file server. An additional server ran the Backup Exec 2012 software and the administrative consoles for Backup Exec 2012 and VMware vSphere over the LAN. The backup data included VMware and Hyper-V virtual machines for file serving, Exchange, SQL Server, and Active Directory, plus a physical file server.

Figure 2. ESG Lab Test Bed

5 See the companion ESG Lab Validation Report, Symantec Backup Exec 3600 Appliance, April 2013.

http://www.esg-global.com/lab-reports/symantec-backup-exec-3600-appliance/



ESG Lab Validation

ESG Lab performed hands-on evaluation and testing of Backup Exec 2012 at the Symantec facility in Heathrow, Florida. Testing was designed to demonstrate how backup Exec 2012 achieves best practices in virtual data protection.

Monitoring and Management

ESG Lab began by taking a tour of the new Backup Exec 2012 management interface, designed to simplify management with a server-focused approach. A customizable home dashboard screen displayed storage used and available, backup status, and weekly protection tasks as well as active alerts, licensing, and maintenance contracts. With servers and storage already configured, the Lab then added servers and initiated backup jobs.

ESG Lab Testing

The Backup and Restore tab is shown in Figure 3, with servers listed on the left: an Exchange VM, six additional VMware and Hyper-V VMs, and two physical Windows servers. For each server, columns display active alerts, current status, a segmented bar showing status of the last seven days of backups (with successful jobs in green), and dates/times of the last and next backups. Activity-based buttons are shown at the top for executing tasks in various categories: Views, Backups, Restores, Virtualization, Servers, and Jobs. Also of note is the Groups tab, under which administrators can define a backup job and apply it to a group of servers. Behind the scenes, Backup Exec 2012 creates individual jobs so that each job can be individually configured if necessary.

Figure 3. Backup and Restore Tab – Server-centric view

Using this GUI, the Lab was able to view the status of each server’s backup. By hovering the mouse over the green bar for server BECOMPFS6, a VMware guest machine, the Lab was able to drill down on a particular date and view a clickable, pop-up list of successful full and incremental backup jobs for that VM on that date. If multiple servers are selected, multiple job histories are viewable. It should be noted that administrators can review any and all job histories without leaving the Backup and Restore page.

Next, ESG Lab reviewed Backup Exec 2012’s enhanced visibility into VM protection workflows. Backup Exec 2012 uses a series of staging screens with arrows illustrating process steps in order. Figure 4 shows an example using backup job 00017 for the VMware vCenter host. The box on the left shows the host, and provides the opportunity to insert VM credentials (required for granular restore) if they were not previously entered. The middle box describes the initial backup tasks (in this case, a full backup and subsequent daily incrementals) along with storage



targets and retention times. The box on the right describes the final task in the workflow, scheduled duplication of the backup to any configured tape target with the tape retention period listed. Additional stages can be added to each task if necessary.

Figure 4. Workflow Staging

Why This Matters

Due to the scalability and mobility of virtual machines, ease of deployment and management with automation across the stack are best practices for virtual data protection.

ESG Lab validated that Backup Exec 2012 easily managed data protection for both VMware and Hyper VMs from a single management screen, with staging screens for better workflow visualization. VMs can be automatically discovered and added to the workflow in groups for ease of management, and each backup job can be tailored individually as needed. The significant changes in the administrative interface proved to simplify and speed VM backup task management, and also made it much easier to view high-level summaries, job status details, and process flows for protected VMs without custom scripts and add-on tools.



Multi-Hypervisor

Next, ESG Lab explored the multi-hypervisor feature of Backup Exec 2012 by selecting VMs to back up. After clicking the Add button, Backup Exec 2012 displayed the options relevant to the environment. The red box in Figure 5 shows three virtual servers that were added: a vCenter server containing multiple guest VMs (becompvc), a Hyper-V host (becomphv001), and a virtual file server (BECOMPFS3).

Figure 5. Adding Servers

Once servers were added, the Lab selected a 60GB Exchange VM from the vCenter host by right-clicking, applied the agent to enable granular restore, and clicked Go Now to initiate a backup.

Next, ESG Lab explored integration with virtual machine backup APIs. As shown in Figure 6, Backup Exec supports a large number of configuration options to back up both VMware and Microsoft Hyper-V virtual machines. Backups for VMs can be configured for image-level restores as well as granular file folder and object-level restores.

For simple file and system restores, ESG Lab configured both Microsoft Hyper-V and VMware virtual machine file servers. Backups were run for those VMs and both file level and full system restores were successfully conducted.



Figure 6. Virtual Machine Backup Options

At the application object level for virtual machines, Backup Exec supports Microsoft Active Directory, Exchange, SharePoint, and SQL. The Lab conducted both Microsoft Exchange and MSSQL backups and restores in subsequent sections of this report.

It should be noted that a number of transport modes and virtual environment API features such as Change Block Tracking are also supported. Figure 6 also shows the ability of Backup Exec to leverage SAN-based data movement for virtual data disks, the SCSI Hotadd feature, and a number of encryption options.

Why This Matters

Multi-hypervisor support is rapidly becoming a prerequisite in virtual backup solutions, as time and competition have created more parity in functionality among hypervisors. According to a recent ESG research survey, nearly two-thirds (65%) of respondents from midmarket and enterprise organizations reported using more than one hypervisor.6 Organizations often run multiple hypervisors to support certain workloads, and to minimize costs and maximize TCO of legacy products.

ESG Lab validated that Backup Exec 2012 successfully backed up and recovered VMware and Hyper-V virtual machines, with image-level and granular restores as well as integration with APIs for added features.

6 Source: ESG Research Brief, Multiple Hypervisor Usage Trends, December 2012.

http://www.esg-global.com/research-briefs/multiple-hypervisor-usage-trends/



Deduplication

Next, ESG Lab explored Backup Exec 2012’s built-in deduplication. The Lab reviewed the backup target storage utilization for a job that consisted of one full and eight incremental backups. Figure 7 shows how the Backup Exec deduplication feature maintained an almost consistent capacity on the backup target while the data being protected increased between backup jobs due to normal user interaction.

Figure 7. Backup Exec Data Deduplication vs. Protected Production Data

Table 1 shows the results of the ESG Lab deduplication testing.

Table 1. Data Deduplication Detail

First Full Incr. #1 Incr. #2 Incr. #3 Incr. #4 Incr. #5 Incr. #6 Incr. #7 Incr. #8

1.53:1 1.63:1 1.72:1 1.82:1 1.92:1 2.01:1 2.1:1 2.2:1 2.29:1

What the Numbers Mean

Backup Exec deduplication maintained an almost consistent backup target capacity as user data increased. The deduplication ratio increased from 1.53:1 to almost 2.3:1 over the short testing period. The testing period was only two days in duration. The incremental backup data added between jobs was more random than real-world data. Only one full backup of the data set was conducted during the test period. ESG Lab would expect the deduplication rate to increase significantly with a longer cycle and real-world

data.



Why This Matters

Best practices indicate the need for source-side deduplication, which alleviates much of the burden on the backup solution, plus global deduplication across hosts on the target side. Significant amounts of redundant data are generated in virtual environments, which will drive up costs without data reduction techniques.

ESG Lab validated that built-in deduplication with Backup Exec 2012 resulted in significant reduction of data stored while data being protected increased. As noted earlier, not only does Backup Exec 2012 leverage VMware CBT, it also includes Symantec’s own CBT to support workloads not supported by VMware. Data is deduplicated across all protected data, not just by backup job. (Note that testing was designed simply to prove deduplication capability, not to evaluate deduplication rates.)

Fast Restore

Next, the Lab reviewed the ability of Backup Exec 2012 to execute fast restores. The first task was to create virtual machines from backups of physical servers. As shown in Figure 8, the Backup Exec conversion wizard was launched by the Lab to create a virtual machine from a backup of server becompfile002.

Figure 8. Backup Exec P2V Conversion Wizard

The wizard directed the process by presenting clearly defined steps for each selection option. As shown in Figure 9, ESG Lab selected Microsoft Hyper-V as the hypervisor to be used for the conversion. The left side of the figure shows the Hyper-V server that will host the new VM as well as the new name of the virtual machine, VM-BECOMPFILE002. The “VM” was appended to the beginning of the virtual machine host name to distinguish it from the physical host in the environment. Lastly, the right side of Figure 9 shows the new VM running on the Microsoft Hyper-V server through the Hyper-V Manager view.



Figure 9. Microsoft Hyper-V Manager View of the P2V Conversion

Next, ESG Lab tested the granular restore options that speed recovery of specific items, using the Microsoft Exchange database we had previously backed up. Backup Exec 2012 displayed the context-specific restore options available, as shown on the left side of Figure 10; because we had used the Exchange agent-assisted backup, granular restore options were available.

ESG Lab tested two options for selecting individual e-mail messages for recovery: browsing and keyword search. The Lab browsed the Exchange mailbox directory from the VM backup of BECOMPDC, as shown in the top right of Figure 10, selected one user’s Inbox, and selected two messages from that Inbox. Next, the Lab executed a keyword search for the word “write” for all mailboxes in backups over a 24-hour period. As shown in the bottom right, Backup Exec located and displayed numerous individual messages containing the word “write.” ESG Lab selected three e-mails and restored them to a .pst file.



Figure 10. Exchange Restore Options

Why This Matters

Fast restore is essential to virtual backup best practices, as organizations must resume production operations as quickly as possible. Users are rapidly becoming accustomed to the agility of virtual environments, increasing their demand for high availability. If the restore can include only what the user needs and no more, the recovery and return to productivity is that much faster.

ESG Lab validated two specific Backup Exec 2012 capabilities that speed restore. The Lab converted a backup of a physical server to a VM, effectively reducing downtime for a server failure to just the time it takes to start up the server as virtual machine. In addition, ESG Lab used both browsing and keyword search to execute a granular recovery of individual e-mails from an Exchange database backup.



Post-process Application Handling

Next, ESG Lab performed an object-level restore of a SQL Server database backup of BECOMPFS5, a VMware guest. Using the Restore wizard, as shown in the left side of Figure 11, the Lab navigated to SQL Server and selected the Model database. Wizard windows (shown on the right) guided us through the restore process. The Lab chose the following application handling options: restore the latest backup, overwrite the existing database, and have Backup Exec 2012 automatically take the databases offline. It should be noted that the option to run additional commands before and after the SQL backup job was available, as shown at the bottom right side of Figure 11, though it was not tested in this particular SQL backup.

Figure 11. SQL Server Restore Options

Finally, ESG Lab used the CLI to create pre- and post-commands (c:\pre.cmd and c:\post.cmd) to run on a file server (BECOMPFILE002) being backed up (see Figure 12). The Lab created a full backup job of a few log files and launched it. The pre-command ran, and Backup Exec 2012 halted the application, executed the backup, and then ran the post-command. The pre and post folders created in the C: drive directory (and time stamps) proved that both commands were executed as scheduled.



Figure 12. Pre- and Post-commands

Why This Matters

Virtual backup solutions should facilitate the necessary post-process application tasks, whether using injectable agents or recursive mechanisms. This best practice enhances application awareness in the backup workflow, enabling the application to automatically perform its required log truncation and other tasks once a backup has completed.

ESG Lab validated that Backup Exec 2012 can expedite application-aware post processing. The Lab created pre- and post-backup commands that were executed properly before and after a full backup job.



ESG Lab Validation Highlights

ESG Lab found that Backup Exec 2012 fulfilled each of the virtual backup best practices as defined. The Lab also found that Backup Exec was well integrated with the latest Microsoft Hyper-V and VMware

virtual backup features, making it easy to back up virtual environments with flexible options. ESG Lab found the new server-centric view intuitive and easy to navigate. It also provided an at-a-glance

backup status via the last seven days of backup jobs icon located in the Backup and Restore server view from the GUI. This made it easy to quickly review the status of backups for each server being protected.

ESG Lab was also pleased to see that all the features the Backup Exec user has come to know and rely on are available for both physical and virtual environments.

The Lab was impressed with the addition of the physical to virtual conversion option available in the application. We used this feature to quickly and easily conduct a P2V operation.

Application protection integration remained strong with the solution. ESG Lab conducted object-level restores of Microsoft Exchange and used the new search feature to identify and recover individual e-mail messages within Exchange.

Issues to Consider

The new graphically focused administrative console is a great improvement that makes it much easier to understand all backup processes and schedules across the environment. A few additions that are currently in process will increase its value, such as more clearly distinguishing between VMs and physical hosts in the GUI, showing host ownership of VMs, displaying when the next VM backup will occur, and adding the deduplication percentage as well as the ratio.

IT can tailor the administrative console to show how much of a job’s capacity has been backed up, enabling them to use the total capacity of the job to calculate what percentage of the backup has completed. However, because “percent complete” is a popular and useful metric, ESG Lab recommends making it a default that does not require calculation.

Only full backups can be converted to VMs. The planned addition of enabling incrementals to be converted as well will enhance flexibility.



The Bigger Truth

Few realize that Backup Exec was one of the earliest backup applications to integrate with VMware. While some customers believe that virtualization-specific solutions are required to protect VMs, Backup Exec has been a leading protection provider for both physical and virtual environments for quite some time. You could chalk that up to a marketing gap on Symantec’s part—they wouldn’t be the first vendor to offer a really valuable feature without effectively telling customers about it. More likely, it is due to an abundance of caution left over from the early days of virtualization, when IT teams separated virtual backups from physical first due to architectural limitations, and later to ensure that their carefully designed and managed backup process was not adversely affected by adding VMs to the mix.

Whatever the reason, it’s worth noting that Symantec is not new to the VM backup game—a fact that was clearly demonstrated during ESG Lab testing. The latest improvements that arrived with Backup Exec 2012 ensure that customers protecting virtual machines will benefit from Symantec’s decades of experience. Management improvements make better protection possible and help to streamline administrative costs, while built-in deduplication helps minimize storage and bandwidth needs, a critical cost-saver particularly in growing virtual deployments. The extensive protection and recovery options available, in addition to application-awareness features, demonstrate Symantec’s focus on the truly important part of the protection equation: fast, easy recovery and return to business productivity.

Plenty of over-hyped technologies on the market and in the media today might or might not benefit your environment. Virtualization is definitely not one of them—without a doubt, the difference that virtualization can make in business costs and application availability cannot be overstated and as a result, it is rapidly becoming the preferred server deployment method. In addition, the density of VMs per physical host is increasing—good for TCO, but often exacerbating backup and recovery challenges for virtual environments.

For customers looking to address VM data protection, certain best practices can ensure optimal protection and recovery characteristics. These include easy and intuitive monitoring and management, multi-hypervisor integration, deduplication to deal with the consequences of VM sprawl, fast restore options, and post-process application handling.

So how would ESG Lab rate Backup Exec 2012 in terms of these best practices? Our testing indicates that Symantec has hit every best practice in the center of the target. Bullseye.



Appendix

Table 2. ESG Lab Test Bed Detail

Operating Systems and Software

Symantec Backup Exec Version: Backup Exec 2012

Microsoft Windows Server 2008 Version: Windows Server 2008 R2 with Hyper-V

VMware vSphere Version: vSphere 5.0

Microsoft MS-Exchange Version: Exchange 2012

Microsoft MS-SQL Version: SQL Server 2012

Servers

Dell Model: PowerEdge R815 CPU: AMD Opteron Memory: 24 GB RAM

Dell Model: PowerEdge R610 CPU: Quad Core Intel Xeon Memory: 24 GB RAM

Storage

Dell Model: PowerVault MD3600

20 Asylum Street | Milford, MA 01757 | Tel: 508.482.0188 Fax: 508.482.0218 | www.esg-global.com

lab validation report - spiceworks · 2018. 4. 13. · implementing backup and recovery for virtual...

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