Veritas NetBackup™ Deduplication Guide

Last Published:
Product(s): NetBackup (8.3.0.1)
  1. Introducing the NetBackup media server deduplication option
    1.  
      About the NetBackup deduplication options
  2. Planning your deployment
    1.  
      Planning your MSDP deployment
    2.  
      NetBackup naming conventions
    3.  
      About MSDP deduplication nodes
    4.  
      About the NetBackup deduplication destinations
    5.  
      About MSDP storage capacity
    6. About MSDP storage and connectivity requirements
      1.  
        Fibre Channel and iSCSI comparison for MSDP
    7. About NetBackup media server deduplication
      1.  
        About MSDP storage servers
      2.  
        About MSDP load balancing servers
      3.  
        About MSDP server requirements
      4.  
        About MSDP unsupported configurations
    8. About NetBackup Client Direct deduplication
      1.  
        About MSDP client deduplication requirements and limitations
    9. About MSDP remote office client deduplication
      1.  
        About MSDP remote client data security
      2.  
        About remote client backup scheduling
    10.  
      About the NetBackup Deduplication Engine credentials
    11.  
      About the network interface for MSDP
    12.  
      About MSDP port usage
    13.  
      About MSDP optimized synthetic backups
    14.  
      About MSDP and SAN Client
    15.  
      About MSDP optimized duplication and replication
    16. About MSDP performance
      1.  
        How file size may affect the MSDP deduplication rate
    17. About MSDP stream handlers
      1.  
        Oracle stream handler
      2.  
        Microsoft SQL Server stream handler
    18. MSDP deployment best practices
      1.  
        Use fully qualified domain names
      2.  
        About scaling MSDP
      3.  
        Send initial full backups to the storage server
      4.  
        Increase the number of MSDP jobs gradually
      5.  
        Introduce MSDP load balancing servers gradually
      6.  
        Implement MSDP client deduplication gradually
      7.  
        Use MSDP compression and encryption
      8.  
        About the optimal number of backup streams for MSDP
      9.  
        About storage unit groups for MSDP
      10.  
        About protecting the MSDP data
      11.  
        Save the MSDP storage server configuration
      12.  
        Plan for disk write caching
  3. Provisioning the storage
    1.  
      About provisioning the storage for MSDP
    2.  
      Do not modify MSDP storage directories and files
    3.  
      About volume management for NetBackup MSDP
  4. Licensing deduplication
    1.  
      About the MSDP license
    2.  
      Licensing NetBackup MSDP
  5. Configuring deduplication
    1.  
      Configuring MSDP server-side deduplication
    2.  
      Configuring MSDP client-side deduplication
    3.  
      About the MSDP Deduplication Multi-Threaded Agent
    4. Configuring the Deduplication Multi-Threaded Agent behavior
      1.  
        MSDP mtstrm.conf file parameters
    5.  
      Configuring deduplication plug-in interaction with the Multi-Threaded Agent
    6.  
      About MSDP fingerprinting
    7.  
      About the MSDP fingerprint cache
    8. Configuring the MSDP fingerprint cache behavior
      1.  
        MSDP fingerprint cache behavior options
    9.  
      About seeding the MSDP fingerprint cache for remote client deduplication
    10.  
      Configuring MSDP fingerprint cache seeding on the client
    11. Configuring MSDP fingerprint cache seeding on the storage server
      1.  
        NetBackup seedutil options
    12.  
      Enabling 250-TB support for MSDP
    13. About MSDP Encryption using NetBackup KMS service
      1.  
        Upgrading KMS for MSDP
    14.  
      About MSDP Encryption using external KMS server
    15. Configuring a storage server for a Media Server Deduplication Pool
      1.  
        MSDP storage path properties
      2.  
        MSDP network interface properties
    16.  
      Configuring a storage server for a PureDisk Deduplication Pool
    17.  
      About disk pools for NetBackup deduplication
    18. Configuring a disk pool for deduplication
      1.  
        Media Server Deduplication Pool properties
    19.  
      Creating the data directories for 250-TB MSDP support
    20.  
      Adding volumes to a 250-TB Media Server Deduplication Pool
    21. Configuring a Media Server Deduplication Pool storage unit
      1.  
        Media Server Deduplication Pool storage unit properties
      2.  
        MSDP storage unit recommendations
    22.  
      Configuring client attributes for MSDP client-side deduplication
    23.  
      Disabling MSDP client-side deduplication for a client
    24.  
      About MSDP compression
    25.  
      About MSDP encryption
    26.  
      MSDP compression and encryption settings matrix
    27.  
      Configuring encryption for MSDP backups
    28.  
      Configuring encryption for MSDP optimized duplication and replication
    29.  
      About the rolling data conversion mechanism for MSDP
    30.  
      Modes of rolling data conversion
    31.  
      MSDP encryption behavior and compatibilities
    32.  
      Configuring optimized synthetic backups for MSDP
    33.  
      About a separate network path for MSDP duplication and replication
    34.  
      Configuring a separate network path for MSDP duplication and replication
    35. About MSDP optimized duplication within the same domain
      1. About the media servers for MSDP optimized duplication within the same domain
        1.  
          About MSDP push duplication within the same domain
        2.  
          About MSDP pull duplication within the same domain
    36. Configuring MSDP optimized duplication within the same NetBackup domain
      1. Configuring NetBackup optimized duplication or replication behavior
        1.  
          Setting NetBackup configuration options by using the command line
    37.  
      About MSDP replication to a different domain
    38. Configuring MSDP replication to a different NetBackup domain
      1. About NetBackup Auto Image Replication
        1.  
          One-to-many Auto Image Replication model
        2.  
          Cascading Auto Image Replication model
        3.  
          About the domain relationship for replication
        4.  
          About the replication topology for Auto Image Replication
        5. Viewing the replication topology for Auto Image Replication
          1.  
            Sample volume properties output for MSDP replication
      2.  
        About trusted master servers for Auto Image Replication
      3.  
        About the certificate to be used for adding a trusted master server
      4.  
        Adding a trusted master server using a NetBackup CA-signed (host ID-based) certificate
      5.  
        Adding a trusted master server using external CA-signed certificate
      6.  
        Removing a trusted master server
      7.  
        Enabling NetBackup clustered master server inter-node authentication
      8.  
        Configuring NetBackup CA and NetBackup host ID-based certificate for secure communication between the source and the target MSDP storage servers
      9.  
        Configuring external CA for secure communication between the source MSDP storage server and the target MSDP storage server
      10. Configuring a target for MSDP replication to a remote domain
        1.  
          Target options for MSDP replication
        2.  
          Configuring a NetBackup Deduplication Engine user with limited permissions for Auto Image Replication
    39.  
      About configuring MSDP optimized duplication and replication bandwidth
    40.  
      About storage lifecycle policies
    41.  
      About the storage lifecycle policies required for Auto Image Replication
    42. Creating a storage lifecycle policy
      1.  
        Storage Lifecycle Policy dialog box settings
    43.  
      About MSDP backup policy configuration
    44.  
      Creating a backup policy
    45. Resilient Network properties
      1.  
        Resilient connection resource usage
    46.  
      Specifying resilient connections
    47.  
      Adding an MSDP load balancing server
    48.  
      About variable-length deduplication on NetBackup clients
    49.  
      About the MSDP pd.conf configuration file
    50. Editing the MSDP pd.conf file
      1.  
        MSDP pd.conf file parameters
    51.  
      About the MSDP contentrouter.cfg file
    52.  
      About saving the MSDP storage server configuration
    53.  
      Saving the MSDP storage server configuration
    54.  
      Editing an MSDP storage server configuration file
    55.  
      Setting the MSDP storage server configuration
    56.  
      About the MSDP host configuration file
    57.  
      Deleting an MSDP host configuration file
    58.  
      Resetting the MSDP registry
    59. About protecting the MSDP catalog
      1.  
        About the MSDP shadow catalog
      2.  
        About the MSDP catalog backup policy
    60.  
      Changing the MSDP shadow catalog path
    61.  
      Changing the MSDP shadow catalog schedule
    62.  
      Changing the number of MSDP catalog shadow copies
    63. Configuring an MSDP catalog backup
      1.  
        MSDP drcontrol options
    64.  
      Updating an MSDP catalog backup policy
    65.  
      About MSDP FIPS compliance
    66.  
      Configuring the NetBackup client-side deduplication to support multiple interfaces of MSDP
    67.  
      About MSDP multi-domain support
    68.  
      About MSDP mutli-domain VLAN Support
    69. About NetBackup WORM storage support for immutable and indelible data
      1.  
        About the NetBackup command line options to configure immutable and indelible data
  6. Configuring deduplication to the cloud with NetBackup Cloud Catalyst
    1. Using NetBackup Cloud Catalyst to upload deduplicated data to the cloud
      1. Optimized duplication is used to copy data from an MSDP storage server to a Cloud Catalyst storage server (preferred use case)
        1.  
          MSDP storage servers fan-in to a single Cloud Catalyst storage server
      2.  
        Backups go directly to a Cloud Catalyst storage server
    2.  
      Cloud Catalyst requirements and limitations
    3.  
      Configuring a Linux media server as a Cloud Catalyst storage server
    4. Configuring a Cloud Catalyst storage server for deduplication to the cloud
      1.  
        How to configure a NetBackup Cloud Catalyst Appliance
      2.  
        How to configure a Linux media server as a Cloud Catalyst storage server
      3.  
        Configuring a Cloud Catalyst storage server as the target for the deduplications from MSDP storage servers
      4.  
        Certificate validation using Online Certificate Status Protocol (OCSP)
      5.  
        Managing Cloud Catalyst storage server with IAM Role or CREDS_CAPS credential broker type
      6.  
        Configuring a storage lifecycle policy for NetBackup Cloud Catalyst
    5.  
      About the Cloud Catalyst esfs.json configuration file
    6.  
      About the Cloud Catalyst cache
    7.  
      Controlling data traffic to the cloud when using Cloud Catalyst
    8.  
      Configuring source control or target control optimized duplication for Cloud Catalyst
    9.  
      Configuring a Cloud Catalyst storage server as the source for optimized duplication
    10.  
      Decommissioning Cloud Catalyst cloud storage
    11.  
      NetBackup Cloud Catalyst workflow processes
    12.  
      Disaster recovery for Cloud Catalyst
    13.  
      About image sharing in cloud using Cloud Catalyst
  7. MSDP cloud support
    1. About MSDP cloud support
      1.  
        Operating system requirement for configuration
      2.  
        Limitations
    2.  
      Creating a cloud storage unit
    3.  
      Updating cloud credentials for a cloud LSU
    4.  
      Updating encryption configurations for a cloud LSU
    5.  
      Deleting a cloud LSU
    6.  
      Backup data to cloud by using cloud LSU
    7.  
      Duplicate data cloud by using cloud LSU
    8.  
      Configuring AIR to use cloud LSU
    9.  
      About backward compatibility support
    10.  
      About the configuration items in cloud.json, contentrouter.cfg and spa.cfg
    11.  
      About the tool updates for cloud support
    12.  
      About the disaster recovery for cloud LSU
    13.  
      About Image Sharing using MSDP cloud
  8. Monitoring deduplication activity
    1.  
      Monitoring the MSDP deduplication and compression rates
    2. Viewing MSDP job details
      1.  
        MSDP job details
    3.  
      About MSDP storage capacity and usage reporting
    4.  
      About MSDP container files
    5.  
      Viewing storage usage within MSDP container files
    6.  
      Viewing MSDP disk reports
    7.  
      About monitoring MSDP processes
    8.  
      Reporting on Auto Image Replication jobs
  9. Managing deduplication
    1. Managing MSDP servers
      1.  
        Viewing MSDP storage servers
      2.  
        Determining the MSDP storage server state
      3.  
        Viewing MSDP storage server attributes
      4.  
        Setting MSDP storage server attributes
      5.  
        Changing MSDP storage server properties
      6.  
        Clearing MSDP storage server attributes
      7.  
        About changing the MSDP storage server name or storage path
      8.  
        Changing the MSDP storage server name or storage path
      9.  
        Removing an MSDP load balancing server
      10.  
        Deleting an MSDP storage server
      11.  
        Deleting the MSDP storage server configuration
    2. Managing NetBackup Deduplication Engine credentials
      1.  
        Determining which media servers have deduplication credentials
      2.  
        Adding NetBackup Deduplication Engine credentials
      3.  
        Changing NetBackup Deduplication Engine credentials
      4.  
        Deleting credentials from a load balancing server
    3. Managing Media Server Deduplication Pools
      1.  
        Viewing Media Server Deduplication Pools
      2.  
        Determining the Media Server Deduplication Pool state
      3.  
        Changing Media Server Deduplication Pool state
      4.  
        Viewing Media Server Deduplication Pool attributes
      5.  
        Setting a Media Server Deduplication Pool attribute
      6. Changing a Media Server Deduplication Pool properties
        1.  
          How to resolve volume changes for Auto Image Replication
      7.  
        Clearing a Media Server Deduplication Pool attribute
      8.  
        Determining the MSDP disk volume state
      9.  
        Changing the MSDP disk volume state
      10.  
        Inventorying a NetBackup disk pool
      11.  
        Deleting a Media Server Deduplication Pool
    4.  
      Deleting backup images
    5.  
      About MSDP queue processing
    6.  
      Processing the MSDP transaction queue manually
    7.  
      About MSDP data integrity checking
    8. Configuring MSDP data integrity checking behavior
      1.  
        MSDP data integrity checking configuration parameters
    9.  
      About managing MSDP storage read performance
    10. About MSDP storage rebasing
      1.  
        MSDP server-side rebasing parameters
    11.  
      About the MSDP data removal process
    12.  
      Resizing the MSDP storage partition
    13.  
      How MSDP restores work
    14.  
      Configuring MSDP restores directly to a client
    15.  
      About restoring files at a remote site
    16.  
      About restoring from a backup at a target master domain
    17.  
      Specifying the restore server
  10. Recovering MSDP
    1.  
      About recovering the MSDP catalog
    2.  
      Restoring the MSDP catalog from a shadow copy
    3.  
      Recovering from an MSDP storage server disk failure
    4.  
      Recovering from an MSDP storage server failure
    5.  
      Recovering the MSDP storage server after NetBackup catalog recovery
  11. Replacing MSDP hosts
    1.  
      Replacing the MSDP storage server host computer
  12. Uninstalling MSDP
    1.  
      About uninstalling MSDP
    2.  
      Deactivating MSDP
  13. Deduplication architecture
    1.  
      MSDP server components
    2.  
      Media server deduplication backup process
    3.  
      MSDP client components
    4.  
      MSDP client - side deduplication backup process
  14. Troubleshooting
    1. About unified logging
      1.  
        About using the vxlogview command to view unified logs
      2.  
        Examples of using vxlogview to view unified logs
    2. About legacy logging
      1.  
        Creating NetBackup log file directories for MSDP
    3.  
      NetBackup MSDP log files
    4. Troubleshooting MSDP installation issues
      1.  
        MSDP installation on SUSE Linux fails
    5. Troubleshooting MSDP configuration issues
      1.  
        MSDP storage server configuration fails
      2.  
        MSDP database system error (220)
      3.  
        MSDP server not found error
      4.  
        License information failure during MSDP configuration
      5.  
        The disk pool wizard does not display an MSDP volume
    6. Troubleshooting MSDP operational issues
      1.  
        Verify that the MSDP server has sufficient memory
      2.  
        MSDP backup or duplication job fails
      3.  
        MSDP client deduplication fails
      4.  
        MSDP volume state changes to DOWN when volume is unmounted
      5.  
        MSDP errors, delayed response, hangs
      6.  
        Cannot delete an MSDP disk pool
      7.  
        MSDP media open error (83)
      8.  
        MSDP media write error (84)
      9.  
        MSDP no images successfully processed (191)
      10.  
        MSDP storage full conditions
      11.  
        Troubleshooting MSDP catalog backup
      12.  
        Storage Platform Web Service (spws) does not start
      13.  
        Disk volume API or command line option does not work
    7.  
      Viewing MSDP disk errors and events
    8.  
      MSDP event codes and messages
    9. Troubleshooting Cloud Catalyst issues
      1. Cloud Catalyst logs
        1.  
          Error messages in esfs_filesystem
      2. Problems encountered while using the Cloud Storage Server Configuration Wizard
        1.  
          Unable to select the desired media server
        2.  
          Unable to select the Deduplication option
        3. Storage Server Creation Status errors
          1.  
            Login credentials or certificate failed message
          2.  
            Failure to add credentials
      3. Disk pool problems
        1.  
          Disk pool creation problem due to timeout issue
        2.  
          One disk pool for each Cloud Catalyst storage server
      4. Problems during cloud storage server configuration
        1.  
          Media server not available in Media Servers tab to add credentials
        2.  
          Add credentials failed message for media server
      5.  
        Status 191: No images were successfully processed
      6.  
        Media write error (84) if due to a full local cache directory
      7.  
        Troubleshooting restarting ESFS after the Cloud Catalyst storage server is down
      8.  
        Restarting the vxesfsd process
      9.  
        Problems restarting vxesfsd
      10.  
        Unable to create CloudCatalyst with a media server that has version earlier to 8.2
      11. Cloud Catalyst troubleshooting tools
        1.  
          esfs_cleanup.sh script
        2.  
          esfs_check consistency checking tool
        3.  
          setlsu_ioctl tool
        4.  
          cred_ioctl tool
    10.  
      Unable to obtain the administrator password to use an AWS EC2 instance that has a Windows OS
    11. Trouble shooting multi-domain issues
      1.  
        Unable to configure OpenStorage server from another domain
      2.  
        MSDP storage server is down when you configure an OpenStorage server
      3.  
        MSDP server is overloaded when it is used by multiple NetBackup domains
  15. Appendix A. Migrating to MSDP storage
    1.  
      Migrating from PureDisk to the NetBackup MSDP
    2.  
      Migrating from another storage type to MSDP
  16.  
    Index

About MSDP fingerprinting

NetBackup uses a unique identifier to identify each file and each file segment that is backed up. The deduplication plug-in reads the backup image and separates the image into files. The plug-in separates the files into segments. For each segment, the plug-in calculates the hash key (or fingerprint) that identifies each data segment. To create a hash, every byte of data in the segment is read and added to the hash.

NetBackup 8.0 and previous versions use fingerprinting calculations that are based on the MD5-like algorithm. Starting with NetBackup 8.1, the fingerprinting calculations are based on a more secure SHA-2 algorithm. On a system that is upgraded to the 8.1 version, every new segment is computed with the SHA-2 algorithm. A data rolling conversion task works in the background to convert the existing MD5-like fingerprints to SHA-2 fingerprints, gradually.

See About the rolling data conversion mechanism for MSDP.

NetBackup 8 .1 can handle both fingerprint types, and the new server is compatible with old clients and old servers. When you perform a backup from an old client to a new server or when you duplicate data from an old server to a new server, conversion from MD5-like to SHA-2 occurs inline on the new server before the data is saved to the disk. Similarly, when you duplicate data from a new server to an old server, conversion from SHA-2 to MD5-like occurs inline on the new server before the data is sent to the old server.

Notes and restrictions that there are some known issues for the compatibility support.

  • The fingerprint conversion requires additional computation time. The interaction between old clients and old servers and new server is slower than if both the client and the server are new.

  • You cannot restore data that is backed up using SHA-2 algorithm on a media server that uses the MD5-like algorithm. However, you may choose to restore the SHA-2 fingerprint data on a new media server.

  • Similarly, you cannot use client-direct restore to restore data that is backed up using Client Direct deduplication on a media server that uses the MD5-like algorithm. However, you may choose to restore the data on a new media server.

  • If you are using two types of media servers for load balancing, where one media server uses MD5-like algorithm and the other media server uses the SHA-2 algorithm, the initial backup may lose deduplication ratio. Therefore, split the old media servers and the new media servers into different groups, and create different storage unit for each of them.

  • When data is backed up from a NetBackup 7.5 or previous version client, using Client Direct deduplication, most of the data is transferred over the network and deduplicated on the server. This may save storage, but it does not reduce network throughput. It is recommended that you upgrade the NetBackup client to the latest version.

More Information

About the MSDP fingerprint cache

Media server deduplication backup process

MSDP client - side deduplication backup process