nbu 7.6 best practices: protecting databases and...

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NBU 7.6 Best Practices: Protecting Databases and Applications - 1727 Praveen Vunnava, Sr. Lead Architect Claudia Rudolph, Technical Product Manager

NBU 7.6 Best Practices: Protecting Databases and Applications

SYMANTEC VISION 2014

Agenda

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Large Database Application Backup Challenges 1

Best Practices - Oracle 2

Best Practices - DB2 5

Best Practices – SAP HANA 6

Best Practices - Microsoft SQL 3

Best Practices - Microsoft Exchange 4

General DB Protection – Best Practices 7



Large Database Application Backup Challenges

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Data Loss Downtime

Slow Recovery Time (RTO) Tighter Recovery Points (RPO)

Recovery needs to be quicker

Backups need to happen more frequently

Tight Backup Window

Backup can’t complete in the allotted time

Data has outgrown the backup window

Protecting mission critical data

Unexpected data growth

Database/Application Availability

Large Amounts of data

Disaster Recovery is Difficult

Trucking Tapes Has Risk and High Operational Cost

Array Based Replication Increases Storage Cost and is the most Expensive

Application Replication is incomplete and hard to manage with lots of apps



Application Protection with NetBackup

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Application Integration API

Storage Target

Local Snapshot

Off Host Instant Recovery SAN

Application Protection Policies

Backup Transport

Network

Application Protection managed by NetBackup can be streamed over LAN or SAN directly to multiple secondary storage targets (Tape, Disk, Dedup Disk, etc)

Less primary storage used -- eliminates the “dump to disk”. (Of course “dump to disk” is still available via standard file system backup, but it is not a best practice.)

Leverages vendor capabilities by integration with the vendors’ API’s, directly in NetBackup Application Protection Policies.

Granular recovery enables recovery of individual mailboxes, documents, files, etc. with a single backup.

Various transport options - can leverage the Network or SAN to better match cost with performance requirements.

Various storage options - better match costs with performance requirements.

Application integration reduces storage costs, simplifies management, and speeds recovery.


SYMANTEC VISION 2014 NBU 7.6 Best Practices: Protecting Databases and Applications 5

Database Protection: Best Practices

Oracle


Best Practices: Oracle Backup & Recovery – Strategy # 1

Stream based backup (Based on NBU for Oracle Agent and RMAN)

• Traditional RMAN backups using NBU Oracle agent. RMAN is the data mover.

• Provides granular recovery (table space, data files, point-in-time).

• Increase number of channels within the RMAN script for faster backup & restore performance.

• Modify _BACKUP_FILE_BUFCNT, _BACKUP_FILE_BUFSZ, maxopenfiles for better backup & restore performance.

Refer to Oracle Support Note 1072545.1 for more details on RMAN Performance Tuning using buffer/memory parameters.

• Utilize filesperset (FPS) = 1 in RMAN script for good deduplication rates

Note: For Oracle 11g R2 and ASM databases, all these buffers are automatically tuned for optimal performance.

6 NBU 7.6 Best Practices: Protecting Databases and Applications



File Based Backup (Based on NBU for Oracle Agent and RMAN PROXY with NBU Snapshot Client)

• RMAN Proxy Copy gathers a list of all of the Oracle data that needs a backup and passes it to NBU, which in turn creates a snapshot (using the specified snapshot method) and backs up the snapshot.

• Provides only full backups unless BLI (BLOCK LEVEL INCREMENTAL) is selected.

• Enables off-host backup depending on the type of snapshot.

• Instant Recovery from snapshots for quick rollback.

• Leverage NB_ORA_PC_STREAMS with in the RMAN script to generate concurrent backup jobs for better backup & restore performance.

• Not supported for Oracle databases leveraging ASM. (RMAN Proxy Copy does not support ASM.)

Note: Leverage this strategy for databases which require faster RTO. NBU 7.6 Oracle Intelligent Policy automates script creation.


SYMANTEC VISION 2014 8

Primary Storage

NBU Server

Media

Fibre

Channel

S A N

Database

NetBackup Client

Database

NetBackup Client

Database

NetBackup Client

Database

NetBackup Client

1 RMAN proxy backup initiated

2 DB into hot backup mode

3 RMAN provides a list of DB objects

8 Perform off-host backup

7 Snapshot mounted to Media Server

6 DB out of hot backup mode

2 3 6

7 8

1

9 NBU Catalog updated

4

5

Snapshot initiated

4

10

Snapshot created

RMAN catalog updated

5

9

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Off-host Backup with Snapshots




File Based Backup (Based on NBU for Oracle Agent and RMAN PROXY with no snapshots)

• RMAN Proxy Copy gathers a list of all the Oracle data that needs a backup and passes it to NBU to be backed up.

• Only Full backups are available with this strategy. Control file will be backed up using traditional RMAN stream-based method.

• Leverage NB_ORA_PC_STREAMS variable to generate more streams resulting in better overall backup & restore performance.

• Provides best backup performance and de-duplication rates.

• Provides granular recovery.

• Not available for Oracle databases leveraging ASM. (RMAN Proxy Copy does not support ASM.)

Note: Oracle Intelligent Policy with NBU 7.6 leverages this method by default, if the Oracle database is not utilizing ASM and dedup storage is selected.



Best Practices: Oracle Backup & Recovery – Best Practices

• Utilize Advanced Disk as the initial backup destination for faster backups &

restores. Leverage SLPs to duplicate the backup to a deduplication pool.

• Implement Advanced disk on the media server or NBU 5230 appliance for

faster backup/restore performance on the initial backup (copy 1).

• Backup performance: ~500-600 MB/sec (with NBU SAN Client,

Fibre Transport (FT) connection between the Oracle Server and

the NBU 5230 appliance)

• Restore performance: ~300-450 MB/sec (with FT connection

between the Oracle server and NBU 5230 appliance)

Note: Please remember that you would still need to leverage FPS setting to get

good dedup rates if your final destination is a deduplication storage pool.



Best Practices: Oracle Guided Application Recovery/ Cloning

• NBU OpsCenter provides Guided Application Recovery, including Cloning for Oracle database applications.

• Free. Part of OpsCenter which is available at no charge.

• Self-service. You can give this to the Oracle DBA, who can then do recovery and cloning as needed.

Role-based privileges can be configured with in OpsCenter, to provide the Oracle DBA with View level access for Oracle servers only.

• Requires collection of Oracle metadata during database backups.

NB_ORA_METADATA = YES ( can be part of either RMAN script)

OR:

ORACLE_METADATA in bp.conf file as well

• Provides automated restore of Oracle database including recovery by leveraging run time environment as defined in OpsCenter.

• Enables Oracle database cloning to the same server with different name OR to a different server, different DBID and different instance ID utilizing existing backups.




Oracle Intelligent Policy


Oracle Intelligent Policy

Simplify policy management and administration:

– Supports all three strategies discussed above.

– Automatically discover Oracle instances.

– RMAN scripts are automatically generated at run time.

– Allow users to create a single policy to protect multiple Oracle instances across both Windows and Unix clients.

– Create a better policy paradigm that better matches applications being protected.

– Reduce confusion around schedule types and retentions by removing the need for application backup schedules.

– Backup schedule type corresponds to the backup being performed. (A Full is a Full and an Incremental is an Incremental.)

– Create archive redo log schedules that allow scheduling granularity in minutes.



Oracle Intelligent Policy – Backup Selection Types

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• Whole database

– Backs up the entire database, including the database control file.

– Includes a separate control file backup.

• Tables spaces

– Backs up individual table spaces.


• Data files

– Backs up specific data file paths.


• Flash Recovery Area (FRA)

– Creates an RMAN copy of the FRA in NBU.

– Does not include a separate backup of the control file.



Oracle Intelligent Policy – RMAN Parameters



Oracle Intelligent Policy – Instance Group

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• Allows you to create Instance Groups for Oracle instances which have similar backup & recovery requirements.

• Credentials can be applied to all instances in the Group.




Microsoft SQL


Best Practices: Microsoft SQL Server Backup & Recovery – Strategy # 1

Stream based backup (Based on NBU for MS SQL Agent)

• Standard backups are stream-based, which means that SQL Server provides data to NetBackup buffer-by-buffer that constitutes a backup stream

• Traditional MS SQL database backups supporting full backups, differential backups (database differentials, filegroup differentials), and transaction log backups

• Provides granular recovery

• Supports all recovery models:

• Full

• Simple

• Bulk logged



Best Practices: Microsoft SQL Server Backup & Recovery – Strategy # 2

File based backup (Based on NBU for MS SQL Agent and NBU Snapshot Client)

• NetBackup determines the file list that constitutes the SQL Server object and backs it up asynchronously with respect to SQL Server

• On the other hand, standard backups are stream-based, which means that SQL Server provides data to NetBackup buffer-by-buffer that constitutes a backup stream. The key role of SQL Server in file-based backups is to provide the mechanism to freeze database activity. NetBackup can then invoke a so-called snapshot provider that creates volume snapshots of the files.

• Utilizes SQL Server VDI (virtual device interface) to affect a momentary freeze on database activity while a snapshot is created

• Does not support database differential backups, file group differentials and transaction log backups with Snapshot technology. Leverage traditional stream based backups for differential and transaction log backups

• Provides Instant Recovery from snapshots for quick rollback

• Enables Off-host backup depending on type of snapshot



Best Practices: Microsoft SQL Server Optimizing Performance

• Perform SQL server database backups to a NULL disk device to get statistics on maximum achievable backup speed in your environment.

• STRIPES – This parameter determines the number of simultaneous backup streams per single backup operation. Utilize multiple stripes for faster backups. Be cautious while going above 8 for STRIPES parameter.

• BLOCKSIZE – Leverage the BLOCKSIZE parameter while performing SQL database backups. By default, SQL utilizes 512 bytes as BLOCKSIZE while writing backups to disk. It is recommended to leverage the same for BLOCKSIZE while performing backups to a de-duplication pool.

• BUFFERCOUNT defines number of I/O buffers leveraged for a backup process. Utilize 2 buffers per stripe for faster backup.

• MAXTRANSFERSIZE – Leverage this parameter for faster backups. Be careful; make sure you have enough memory while defining both BUFFERCOUNT and MASTRANSFERSIZE. Otherwise, the backups could result in error 11’s and 13’s.

• BATCHSIZE – Utilize this parameter to protect multiple databases in parallel



Best Practices: Microsoft SQL Server Optimizing Performance

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– Backup block size (bytes)

– Size of read into buffer

– Keyword - BLOCKSIZE

• Maximum transfer size (bytes)

– Size of buffer

– Keyword – MAXTRANSFERSIZE

• Client buffers per DBMS stripe

– Used for managing transfer speed

• Refer to this article for more information:

http://www.symantec.com/docs/HOWTO69642

Following parameters can be set in the NetBackup client properties dialog box




Best Practices: Microsoft SQL Server Deduplication Best Practices

• Defragmentation of the SQL databases will also impact the deduplication rates. With SQL databases, the more frequently defragmentation is performed, lower the deduplication rates. Instead of performing defragmentation regularly, only perform when certain thresholds are reached.

• Recommended to back up transaction logs to an Advanced Disk storage unit (copy #1) for faster backups and restores without having to rehydrate the data from a deduplication storage. Configure the Advanced Disk storage unit on the NBU 5230 appliance and leverage SLPs to duplicate the logs to deduplication storage for longer retention.

• Ensure COMPRESSION is set to 1 and MATCH_PDRO = 0 in pd.conf file on the media server or NBU 5230 appliance for better deduplication rates.



Best Practices: Microsoft SQL Server General Best Practices

• Multiple stripe backups to multiplexing tape drive is not recommended

• In a VMware environment, the NetBackup client software must be installed on the virtual machines that have SQL Server running

• NetBackup uses the NetBackup Client Service and the NetBackup Legacy Network Service to access the SQL Server when it performs backups and restores. The logon account NetBackup uses for these services must have the fixed server role "sysadmin." Both services must use the same logon account.

• Choose a logon account for the NetBackup services as follows:

• For SQL Server 2008 and earlier, the sysadmin role is automatically applied to the NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM and BUILTIN\Administrators groups. You can use Local System for the logon accounts for the NetBackup services.

• For SQL Server 2012, you must first apply the sysadmin role manually to the NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM or the BUILTIN\Administrators group. Then you can use Local System for the logon accounts for the NetBackup services.

• Refer to this technote to configure the NetBackup services for SQL Server backups and restores: http://www.symantec.com/docs/HOWTO85432





Best Practices: Microsoft SQL Server MS SQL Database restores

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• Redirecting a SQL database to a different location on a different host: http://www.symantec.com/docs/HOWTO85320

• Step-by-step procedure for using NetBackup to restore a Microsoft SQL Full Backup using a MOVE script: http://www.symantec.com/docs/TECH51062

• Performing SQL Server page-level restores: http://www.symantec.com/docs/HOWTO69794

• Restoring a SQL transaction log image without staging a full recovery: http://www.symantec.com/docs/HOWTO85280

• A comprehensive list of solutions for the most common NetBackup for Microsoft SQL Server database agent backup and restore issues: http://www.symantec.com/docs/TECH74475

• Preparing for disaster recovery of SQL Server: http://www.symantec.com/docs/HOWTO69655





http://www.symantec.com/docs/TECH51062
















Microsoft Exchange


Best Practices : Microsoft Exchange Backup & Recovery – Strategy # 1

Stream based backup (Based on NBU for Exchange Agent)

• Exchange database backups supporting full backups, incremental backups, copy-only backups, and transaction log backups.

• Provides Granular Restore Technology (GRT).

• Protects Exchange data at both database and mailbox level.

• Enhanced Support for VMware backups along with Accelerator that protect Exchange within a virtual machine.

• Granular Recovery is automatically provided for any VMware backups that protect Exchange.



Best Practices : Microsoft Exchange Backup & Recovery – Strategy # 2

File based backup (Based on NBU for Exchange Agent and NBU Snapshot Client)

• Snapshot backups are only supported for full Information Store or storage groups.

• Snapshot backups are not supported for individual mailboxes or public folders but can perform Granular Recovery from snapshot backups of the databases.

• Instant Recovery from snapshots for quick rollback.

• Backups are supported on a passive VSS database copy of an Exchange 2007 LCR/CCR configuration, avoiding i/o impact on active node.

• Best deduplication rates with snapshot based backups .



Virtual Host

NetBackup for Microsoft Exchange Protecting Exchange in VMware

Network

NetBackup

Virtual Machines

4

3 1

2

1. Install the NetBackup 7.6 client software on the virtual machine .

2. Install the Symantec VSS Provider on the virtual machine.

3. Configure the client and the server privileges for GRT.

4. Configure a VMware policy that has the applicable attributes selected



Microsoft Exchange Supported Exchange versions, backup and restore types

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*NetBackup does not support granular recovery of Exchange 2013 objects. Support for this

is planned for a future release of the product.

Exchange Version

Backup type Restore Type

2007

• Snapshot • Streaming • Individual mailboxes and public folders

(MAPI) • LCR and CCR

• Full database restore • Full database restore to a

Recovery Storage Group (RSG) • Individual mailbox item restore

from MAPI/GRT protected backups

2010 and 2013

• Snapshot (Using VSS only) • For a Database Availability Group (DAG),

NetBackup supports backups of the active and the passive database copies of a (DAG).

• Full database restore • Full database restore to a

Recovery database (RDB) • Individual mailbox item restore



• For faster GRT, implement Storage Lifecycle policies (SLP) to backup Exchange databases to disk based storage unit and duplicate to tape or dedup disk.

• Leverage SYMC VSS provider for Exchange databases running in VMware environment.

• Avoid making the Exchange server a domain controller.

• Place transaction logs on disk which is separate from the database.

• Back up all the Host Server(s) for Exchange.

• For Exchange 2010/2013, use a Database Availability Group with at least one passive database copy for each database.

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Best Practices: Microsoft Exchange



• Leverage multi-streaming for faster backups and restores.

• Leverage “bpduplicate –bc_only” to catalog any backup to disk for mailbox level restore (GRT)

• For better deduplication rates, make sure compression and encryption are not enabled on the Exchange servers.

• Best Practices for configuring NetBackup for Exchange over a backup network:


• When upgrading to NetBackup 7.6 (NetBackup for Exchange), configure the logon account for the NetBackup Client Service:

http://www.symantec.com/docs/HOWTO85842 31

Best Practices: Microsoft Exchange






• On all Exchange granular clients, verify that the client has an available drive letter on which to mount the backup image.

• Enable or configure NFS for your environment as per Technote 85389

• Configure the NetBackup Client Service.

• Create an Exchange mailbox to associate with a domain account that is used for NetBackup change operations.

For more information, refer to http://www.symantec.com/docs/HOWTO85692

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Microsoft Exchange Requirements for GRT (Granular Recovery)






• Note that you cannot browse or recover granular items (GRT) from GPT disks (GUID partition table).

• For restores of a cluster (including CCR and DAG), select the virtual Exchange server name for the source client, and initiate the restore from the master or media server.

• Following disk/volume types are not supported for recovery inside the guest:

– Dynamic disk set

– ReFS

– Independent disks

• In some cases (like backing up DAG)the Primary VM identifier in the VMware policy does not match the NetBackup client name that is configured for the VMware host. In this case, you must configure the client to perform a redirected restore. For more information on this, review the article: http://www.symantec.com/docs/HOWTO86315

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Best Practices: Microsoft Exchange Restoring Exchange data from a VMware backup






DB2


Stream based backup (Based on NBU for DB2 Agent)

• Traditional DB2 database backups supporting full backups, incremental backups and transaction log backups

• Utilize BUFFERS, BUFFER size, SESSIONS & PARALLELISM parameters to improve backup & restore performance:

• SESSIONS parameter allows NetBackup to generate multiple jobs during backup & restore.

• BUFFER number (number of buffers allocated during backup & restore) – Should always be twice the number of sessions.

• BUFFER size (size of the buffer allocated during backup & restore) – Should always be a multiple of the extent size of the tablespaces.

• PARALLELISM defines the number of tablespaces that can be read within a single backup job.

• UTIL_HEAP_SZ - A DB2 parameter that can be modified for better performance.

• Most of the above parameters are auto tuned with DB2 9.7 & above

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Best Practices: DB2 Backup & Recovery – Strategy # 1



File based backup (Based on NBU for DB2 Agent and NBU Snapshot Client with DB2 proxy)

• The process:

1. bpdb2proxy (script-builder) enumerates the database and calls commands to “quiesce” the database.

2. NBU Snapshot Client creates the snapshot.

3. bpdb2proxy, calls commands to “unquiesce” the database and starts file based backup of the database.

• Provides Instant Recovery from snapshots via quick rollback.

• DB2 proxy method only supports database backup. Does not support individual tablespace backups, container file backups and transaction log backups both using VENDOR method or USEREXIT method.

• Best deduplication rates with proxy based backups of DB2 database

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Best Practices: DB2 Backup & Recovery – Strategy # 2



Best Practices: DB2 Deduplication Best Practices

• Leverage DB2’s new parameter “DEDUP_DEVICE” which allows for the DB2 backup command to identify that the data is being sent to a de-dup device, hence resulting in better de-dup rates. This requires DB2 database version to be at least 9.5 Fix Pack 8 and above.

• Do not utilize COMPRESS parameter with db2 database backup script, for better deduplication rates.

• Database fragmentation could negatively impact the deduplication rates. It is highly recommended to verify the DB2 database is defragmented.




SAP HANA


Stream based backup (Based on the NBU for SAP HANA Agent)

→ Leverages the SAP backint (hdbbackint) API to enable SAP database backups and restores.

• Supports only full backups.

• Supports both disk and tape.

• Backups/Restores can only be initiated via SAP HANA Studio Console. No NBU GUI support yet (planned for future).

– Backups can be scheduled in NBU by creating & using a “pre-script” within the NBU policy. Please see the following tech-note for details:


• Provides point in time recovery but only full database recovery.

• SAP HANA limits backups & restores to a single pipe (single stream/job) per SAP HANA service/server running on a specific SAP HANA node.

• Four SAP HANA services are typically running on a specific SAP HANA node, (Index server, Name server, Statistics server, and XS Engine).

• Alternate client restore is not supported using backint interface.

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SAP HANA Backup & Recovery





• Leverage disk on the media server for log backups

• To utilize different policies for data and log backups:

– Utilize data_backup_parameter_file parameter in “global.ini” file to define a separate “.utl” file for data backups using a different policy

– Utilize log_backup_parameter_file parameter in “global.ini” file to define a separate “.utl” file for data backups using a different policy

• SAP HANA’s “SYSTEM_COPY” method should be leveraged for alternate client restore .

• NBU for SAP HANA White Paper (http://www.symantec.com/docs/TECH208919 )

• NBU for SAP HANA “hdbbackint” configuration (How To) http://www.symantec.com/docs/HOWTO88623

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SAP HANA Backup & Recovery Best Practices







General Database Protection Best Practices


General Database Protection Best Practices

• Leverage NBU database agent where available for better backup & recovery performance, as well as deduplication.

• Data Classification to clearly identify structured data and unstructured data.

• Clearly identify the backup and restore SLA’s for all data types so that appropriate tuning parameters can be utilized as part of the design / implementation of the solution (SAN Client vs. Snapshot Client, etc.)

• If using deduplication storage for backend, leverage “like” de-duplication pools for “like” data (instead of leveraging the same pool for all data types).

For example, Oracle data would not deduplicate well against traditional file system data or Exchange data, etc.

• Utilize Storage Lifecycle policies to protect transaction log backups to Advanced Disk for the initial backup (copy 1) for faster backups & restores, then duplicate to deduplication disk/tape for long term retention.

• Do not compress data before sending to deduplication pool.

• Do not encrypt before sending to deduplication pool


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NBU 7.6 Best Practices: Protecting Databases and Applications 44

Praveen Vunnava, [email protected]

Claudia Rudolph, [email protected]

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