New Install

[NewAdm]

We're using Galaxy 6.1 that we purchased through Dell. My predecessor here raved about Commvault, but never quite got it working. Now I need to clean up his mess and get our backups going. Hopefully someone can answer my questions:

Here's what we have:
3.5TB storage
Dell TL2000 LTO4 autoloader

Here's what we want to do-
Backup 6 Server 2003 machines to disk and then to tape. We want a weekly full, with daily incrementals. We would like to retain the data for as long as possible, while keeping room for growth on the drive.
We also have 3 sql databases running on 2 sql servers. Both instances of sql server are on 1 machine.
We have 1 oracle database to backup on another machine.
Also Exchange 2003 on another machine.

1. Do we need to purchase open file handler licenses? I thought that VSS would take care of open files.

2. How many storage policies do you need to achieve our strategy?

3. Do you need to backup the commserve machine?

4. We would like all of our machines to back up to a single tape for daily backups (size permitting)

5. What's the best way to manage media that needs to go offsite? We want to move our daily backups offsite.

6. Do you need to set up multiple mount paths for different polices, or just one?

Thanks in advance for the help! I've scoured these forum for some of these answers, hopefully I haven't missed anything.

 

[bigg22]

I looks like you need Pro Services to come out and give you a site evaluation.

 

[birky]

Hi

1) VSS will handle open files (ensure that you read documentation though re VSS because you can run into problems if it's not setup correctly)
2) All depends on if all backups will have same retention and backed up to same storage destination.Fewer storage policies you have the better and you could just have 1 policy for all of these backups but from what you say I personally would do 3 Policies in your environment -
SP_Filesystem (all filesystem backups)
SP_Exchange (Mailbox, Database and Public Folders/Web Folders if you use them)
SP_Database (SQL + Oracle)
3) You don't need to backup CommServe as DR backup will do this for you (just make sure 1st phase is pointing to a network location)
4) Create Auxiliary Copies and select combine streams (if you create the 3 policies as above you would have 3 x tapes (size permitting)...for 1 tape you would need to have all backups going to 1 storage policy
5) Offsite the Auxiliary Copy tapes as most restores will probably come from disk
6) Do you mean alternative data paths?...this would only apply if you were using Gridstor for loadbalancing/failover.

 

[NewAdm]

Thanks for the quick reply birky!

2) What are the advantages of using 3 different storage policies?

In your experience, how long do you think we could hold disk backups for? We'd like to keep them available for as long as possible, but want to leave room for growth on the clients.

Is Vault Tracker a worthwhile investment?

 

[birky]

Hi

No major advantage really, you don't really need to split these into different SP's but, I prefer it for ease of administration.

For retention it all depends how much data you are going to be backing up and if you are switching on compression.

You don't really need to purchase a license for Vault Tracker as you get a cut down version from v6.1 which allows you to export media automatically....full blown VT is only really useful if you are a very large environment and you are offsiting tapes every day (ie. through Iron Mountain etc).

 

[NewAdm]

Thanks for all of your input birky. I hope that you realize what a great resource you are on this forum!

 

[birky]

no worries mate ;-)

 

[NewAdm]

Birky -

Where is the option to automatically export the daily tapes?

We most likely will be using Iron Mountain for our weekly and monthly offsites - would Vault Tracker be a good idea then?

 

[birky]

Hi

Firstly create an offsite location under locations (call it whatever you want that's relevant) and then right click on Vault tracker..you can then follow the wizard to create a VT policy, it's really simple to follow (ensure you select the auto acknowledge tick box within the wizard unless you want to confirm every action when an export occurs).

You can then schedule the policy to run at a certain time or run it manually whenever you want.

You can also create VT reports from the Reports menu within the CS console.

There's quite a bit of info in the online docs (install from cd 3 if you haven't got the docs installed).

Depends how much media you will be exporting and what your requirements are for tracking to decide whether full version of VT is worth purchasing.

 

[NewAdm]

I guess I don't get that option with the version I have. It's the E-mail & Database Server Edition which seems to be pretty stripped down.

 

[birky]

Never played with that version but, you could be right.

You will need to manually export the tapes.