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Table of Contents
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WHITE PAPER
C
EC
2012 VCE Company, LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Contents
Executive summary ................................................................................................................. 4
Benefits .................................................................................................................................. 4
Objectives ............................................................................................................................... 5
Use cases: backup and recovery ........................................................................................... 5
Audience................................................................................................................................. 5
Feedback ................................................................................................................................ 5
Technology overview............................................................................................................... 6
Vblock Systems................................................................................................................... 6
EMC Avamar .......................................................................................................................... 7
EMC Avamar virtual machine image proxy ............................................................................. 7
EMC Avamar file-level recovery proxy .................................................................................... 7
VMware vCenter Server.......................................................................................................... 7
VMware ESXi ......................................................................................................................... 7
VMware VADP ........................................................................................................................ 8
VMware Changed Block Tracking ........................................................................................... 8
VMware VMDK ....................................................................................................................... 8
Data Domain target hardware ................................................................................................. 8
Data Domain Boost................................................................................................................. 9
Architecture overview .............................................................................................................10
Avamar architecture with Vblock systems ..............................................................................12
Avamar and Data Domain architecture with Vblock systems..................................................13
Avamar architecture and best practices ...............................................................................14
Integration of EMC Avamar with Vblock systems ...................................................................15
Recovery ............................................................................................................................15
Replication..........................................................................................................................19
Avamar with Data Domain architecture and best practices .................................................20
Integration of Avamar and Data Domain with Vblock systems ...............................................20
Recovery ............................................................................................................................21
Replication..........................................................................................................................21
Using Avamar/Data Domain centralized control and management .....................................22
Example One: Configure a Data Domain system within the Avamar Administrator interface
..............................................................................................................................................22
2012 VCE Company, LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Example Two: Specify a dataset policy within the Avamar Administrator interface .............27
VCE-recommended solutions for daily data Protection .......................................................30
VCE Vblock Data Protection Cabinets ...................................................................................30
Avamar-only single cabinet .................................................................................................31
Avamar-only multi-cabinet ..................................................................................................32
Avamar and Data Domain 670 single cabinet .....................................................................33
Avamar and Data Domain 890 multi-cabinet.......................................................................34
Avamar and Data Domain 890 multi-cabinet.......................................................................35
VCE-supported configuration rules for Avamar with Vblock systems, and for Avamar and Data
Domain with Vblock systems .................................................................................................37
Conclusion ..............................................................................................................................38
Next Steps .............................................................................................................................38
References ..............................................................................................................................39
Executive summary
Most corporate Information Technology departments are tasked with protecting an ever-increasing
volume of business applications and data. At the same time, budgets are not expanding to match this
growth. The only way to meet these business requirements is to do more with less. In a drive for
greater efficiency, the IT industry has moved rapidly toward server virtualization. Having now realized
the benefits of virtualization, the industry has moved to the next step for even greater efficiency:
converged infrastructures such as VCE Vblock Systems.
During the move to server virtualization, early adopters quickly discovered that the use of traditional
backup, recovery, and archiving solutions for daily data protection creates bottlenecks in a virtualized
infrastructure. Those bottlenecks not only extend the required backup window, but they also set a cap
on the number of virtual servers that can exist on each physical server blade.
The EMC Avamar data protection product on VCE Vblock systems directly addresses and resolves
the backup bottleneck problem in virtual environments. Avamar is extremely effective at delivering
backups in less time, using fewer network resources and fewer virtual server resources than other
options. In addition, it is tightly integrated with VMware. All of this translates into real capital savings
and operational benefits. For these reasons, Avamar is an excellent choice to be used with Vblock
systems.
When used along with EMC Data Domain on Vblock systems, Avamar will, in many scenarios,
expand backup scalability and further lower the cost per terabyte of data backup.
This VCE-recommended backup solution includes two options, along with best practices for each:
An Avamar-only solution on Vblock systems
A highly effective combination of Avamar and Data Domain on Vblock systems
Using the Avamar interfaces and workflows, one can quickly and easily direct enterprise-wide
backups to both of these EMC deduplication platforms, while simplifying the backup management
infrastructure. This combination offers the benefits of Data Domains scale and performance and
Avamars simplicity and efficiency, as well as Vblock systems power and scalability.
This paper highlights the specific features of these integrations, and explains how the integration of
Data Domain systems into the Avamar management framework can enhance the management and
optimization of backup operations without additional management overhead.
Described are the solutions architectures hardware, software, and best practices for each solution, as
well as the cabinet modules offered for these solutions.
This paper also explains how to use the Avamar Administrator management tools to control data
flow, and provides two examples with steps for using Avamar Administrator.
Benefits
The benefits of using the data protection solutions and best practices described in this paper include:
The best of breed compute, networking, storage, and virtualization technologies
2012 VCE Company, LLC. All Rights Reserved.
A fully virtualized environment with the inherent efficiencies and flexibilities of VMware
Elimination of bottlenecks that hamper scaling up
Greater efficiency and cost-effectiveness of the customers Vblock systems investment
Objectives
This white paper explains best practices and the Avamar Administrator tool use through scenarios
and steps for two options:
1. Avamar-only on Vblock systems
2. Avamar and Data Domain combined on Vblock systems
Audience
This white paper is intended primarily for backup systems administrators and IT administrators who
are responsible for architecting and deploying data protection solutions across the virtualized
enterprise. Knowledge of basic data deduplication concepts is assumed.
Feedback
To suggest documentation changes and provide feedback on this paper, send email to
docfeedback@vce.com. Include the title of this paper, the name of the topic to which your comment
applies, and your feedback.
Technology overview
This solution uses the following components and technologies:
Vblock Systems
EMC Avamar v6.1
EMC Avamar virtual machine image proxy
EMC Avamar file-level recovery proxy
VMware vCenter Server
VMware ESXi
VMware VMware vStorage API for Data Protection (VADP)
VMware Changed Block Tracking
VMware Virtual Machine Disk (VMDK)
EMC Data Domain target hardware
EMC Data Domain Boost
Vblock Systems
Vblock systems are enterprise- and service-provider-class IT infrastructure units that are preengineered, tested, and validated with pre-defined performance, capacity, and availability service
levels. The standardized converged infrastructure of Vblock systems is a foundation block for cloud
computing that helps customers realize the benefits of applications running in a virtualized
environment.
Vblock systems are characterized by:
Repeatable units of construction based on matched performance, operational characteristics,
and discrete requirements of power, space, and cooling
Repeatable design patterns that facilitate rapid deployment, integration, and scalability
An architecture that can be scaled for the highest efficiencies in virtualization and workload
mobility
An extensible management and orchestration model based on industry-standard tools, APIs,
and methods
A design that contains, manages, and mitigates failure scenarios in hardware and software
environments
Vblock systems provide pre-engineered, production-ready (fully tested) virtualized infrastructure
components, including industry-leading technology from Cisco, EMC, and VMware. Vblock systems
are designed and built to satisfy a broad range of customer implementation requirements.
Note:
Refer to the Vblock Infrastructure Platform Architecture Overview for detailed information on the
Vblock systems architecture.
EMC Avamar
EMC Avamar is a deduplication backup-and-recovery software and system solution. It performs
deduplication on the client, which eliminates data from backup streams before it crosses the network.
Client deduplication realizes savings on bandwidth, storage, and backup windows. VMwares
vStorage API (in vSphere as deployed in Vblock systems) also provides the ESXi hypervisor
architecture.
VMware ESXi
VMware vSphere is the virtualization platform that provides the foundation for the private cloud. The
core VMware vSphere components are the VMware ESXi enterprise hypervisor and VMware vCenter
Server for management. The VMware vSphere ESXi hypervisor runs in the Vblock systems.
VMware VADP
VMware VADP produces in-depth details of sizing, deployment, and data flow, providing a total
VMware data protection plan that can be used in conjunction with Avamar on Vblock systems.
VMware VMDK
VMware VMDK is a file format used for virtual appliances developed for VMware products. The format
is a container for virtual hard disk drives to be used in VMs like VMware Workstation or Virtualbox.
VMDK is an open format.
A VM is a tightly isolated software container that can run its own operating system and applications as
if it were a physical computer. A VM behaves exactly like a physical computer and contains it own
virtual (software-based) CPU, RAM, hard disk, and network interface card (NIC). A VM is composed
entirely of software and contains no hardware components whatsoever. As a result, VMs offer a
number of distinct advantages over physical hardware. An operating system cant tell the difference
between a VM and a physical machine, nor can applications or other computers on a network. Even
the VM thinks it is a real computer.
Architecture overview
The VCE-recommended backup solution includes two options, along with best practices for each:
Avamar on Vblock systems
Avamar with Data Domain on Vblock systems
Product
Definition
Avamar
1
2
3
Data Domain
1
2
Data Domain is a hardware target that deduplicates and stores backup data.
Data Domain requires backup and recovery software. Avamar is the VCErecommended software to use with a Data Domain target.
Data Domain performs in-line deduplication (as the data is streaming into the
target).
Certain Data Domain models are suitable for meeting archival backup
requirements.
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4
The Avamar and Data Domain targets have different backup advantages. Which of them is best for a
particular customer situation depends on the backup workload. Where certain low commonality
workloads (data that does not deduplicate well) could bog down an Avamar-only solution, the addition
of Data Domain as a target for storing the backups allows for an integrated solution that takes
advantage of each products strengths.
With Avamar, client-side deduplication of the data is done right in the server whose data is being
backed up. During the backup, the Avamar deduplication process only sends variable-length blocks
of data that have not previously been backed up to the Avamar target. This process dramatically
reduces the nightly backup load on shared network components within the virtual infrastructure. A
typical server backup runs in minutes instead of hours. Therefore, more backups can be run in parallel
and completed within a given backup window.
Alternatively, Data Domain target-based deduplication requires the files that are being backed up to
flow through shared network components to the backup hardware, where it is deduplicated in-line.
The advantage of Data Domain target-based deduplication is its consistent and predictable ingestion
rate, regardless of whether the data has high commonality, making it easy to deduplicate, or low
commonality, which means there is less to deduplicate. Large databases are the most common
backup workload with low-commonality characteristics.
The architectures for the two solutions are shown in Figures 1 and 2.
EMC Avamar NDMP Accelerator
The EMC Avamar NDMP Accelerator is a dedicated single-node Avamar client. When used as part of
an Avamar system, the accelerator provides a complete backup and recovery solution for supported
EMC VNX IP storage systems by using Network Data Management Protocol (NDMP) to communicate
with the storage devices.
Data from the storage device is not stored on the accelerator. The accelerator performs NDMP
processing and real-time data deduplication, then forwards that data to the Avamar server. The
2012 VCE Company, LLC. All Rights Reserved.
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accelerator is a full peer to other Avamar clients (for example, Avamar for Linux Clients, Avamar for
Windows Clients, and so forth) with one exception: whereas the Avamar Administrator graphical
management console can be used to browse the live filesystems of most other clients, it cannot
browse the live filesystem of storage devices; it can only browse to the volume level (Avamar 6.1 and
earlier).
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In Figure 1, Datacenter 1 has Avamar clients and proxies running on Vblock systems. During nightly
backups the Avamar agents copy the changed variable-length blocks from the Avamar grid and create
a virtual full backup from just the changed variable-length blocks.
To enable data recovery in the event of a site disaster, all data in the Avamar grid in Datacenter 1 is
replicated to an offsite Avamar grid. Not only is transmission fast and efficient, but it is much more
secure than shipping physical tapes to an offsite location.
The Avamar software is used to schedule the backup jobs and to monitor and report on both backup
and Avamar system status.
Also shown in Figure 1 is a single-node Avamar solution backing up the remote location. To protect
the data in the event of a total loss of the remote office, the single-node Avamar replicates its data to
Datacenter 1.
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In the combined Avamar with Data Domain solution, the backup jobs with low data commonality (large
databases, video files, audio files, and so forth) are routed to the Data Domain device. The metadata
for the backup is stored in the Avamar grid. Backups with high-commonality profiles are targeted to
the Avamar grid. This combined Avamar and Data Domain solution allows the backup administrator
the flexibility to use the best backup target for each backup workload.
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- In Avamar 6.1 there needs to be one proxy server for backup and recovery
- If single-file Windows recovery is desired, a second proxy server is needed
Recovery
Avamar file-level recovery proxy
An Avamar file-level recovery proxy is a VM that allows a file, or files, to be recovered into it from a full
image backup. Avamar file-level recovery proxies require a VM that is running Windows Server 2003
SP2, and EMC recommends one CPU and 1 GB of memory for this VM. This VM leverages the AvFS
to create a browseable view within a VMs VMDK file for easy, selectable recovery.
Recovery options with Avamar include guest-level recovery and image-level recovery.
Guest-level recovery
The process of guest-level recovery is the same in this solution for VMs as it is for traditional recovery
from a backup application. The administrator has the ability to recover directories, files, and
applications in the Avamar Administrator GUI.
Image-level recovery
There are three options for recovering data from an image-based backup:
Recover to original machine
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Figure 3. Choosing a name and location for the new virtual machine
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5. Select a Distributed Resource Scheduler (DRS) cluster location for the new VM.
Once a host/cluster is selected in the GUI, Avamar queries vCenter and allows the administrator to
select a different VMware data store. The administrator can choose a different destination and a
different device for housing the VMs data. See Figure 5.
This recovery method permits the administrator to choose a different storage platform and/or drive
type (to the current source) for the destination of the new VM.
Figure 5. Selecting the VMware data store where each VMDK will reside
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A systems boot drive and its data drive have different performance and storage requirements. This
wizard addresses both in one GUI, and it permits a single-step recovery to multiple locations.
Avamar also configures the creation of the container for a VM. Avamars approach to protection
protects the .VMX file of a VM, the configuration container for a VM. If Avamar did not create the
containers as it does, and should a disaster occur, the administrator would have to log on to vCenter
and create all the containers needed before conducting any recoveries. This Avamar capability is
superior to the traditional approach that relied on detailed tracking via spreadsheet listings of the VMto-container mappings.
File-level recovery from an image backup
The administrator can do file-level recoveries (FLR) for Windows VMs from the image-based backup.
To do this, Avamar leverages the VMware VM tools along with an Avamar Windows FLR proxy. The
proxy is a Windows 2003 server provided by the administrator, with code provided by Avamar. No
agents are needed within the VM for this recovery type. The key is that Avamar moves no data until
there is a need to recover data, and that no other interface nor client-side software is needed for this
recovery.
The Avamar Administrator console is used to manage and monitor FLR jobs.
When backups are selected for recovery, the FLR proxy server reads the VMDK data from the
Avamar system and creates a browse tree, as shown in Figure 6 in the Avamar Administrator Backup and Restore window.
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An administrator can recover the data in place, in order to move the data back to its original location. Or, the
administrator can perform an out-of-place recovery, which restores to a different location. As a prerequisite, the
VMware Tools need to be installed on the VM that the administrator would like to restore to. In the following
scenario there is no Avamar agent on the guest level. Therefore, the administrator logs on to that VM and uses
the browse tree for recovery. See Figure 7.
To recover the data to a different VM:
1. Log on to the VM and use the browse tree for recovery
2. Select the VM you want to recover.
3. Navigate the Browse for Folders or Directories window and select a destination for the data.
Restore requests pass from the Avamar system, through the Windows FLR proxy, to the machine that
is being protected. Recovery speed depends on the FLR proxys ability to read in the data and send it
to the machine that is the recovery destination. Consequently, large data recoveries by means of the
FLR proxy recovery are unadvisable. An image-level out-of-place recovery is more efficient.
Replication
Replication for Avamar is also managed through the Avamar Administrator console.
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When an Avamar data store is the backup target, the Avamar client installed on each host works as a
typical Avamar client that is performing client-side deduplication. It processes and sends capacityoptimized blocks, and any required metadata, over the WAN/LAN to the Avamar server. This dataflow
is not a change from the well-known implementation in previous versions of Avamar.
When specifying a Data Domain system as the backup target of a particular dataset from within
Avamar Administrator, the same Avamar client leverages Data Domain Boost (DD Boost) software
to redirect this data directly to a Data Domain system. DD Boost extends the optimization capabilities
of Data Domain solutions. It significantly increases performance by distributing parts of the
deduplication process to the backup server, and simplifies disaster recovery procedures.
Rather than performing intensive deduplication processing only on the client, DD Boost transfers the
source data in an efficient transfer method for processing by the Data Domain system.
Besides transferring backup payload data optimally to the Data Domain system, the Avamar client
simultaneously sends the relevant metadata it has generated to the Avamar server for storage. This
metadata allows the Avamar management system to direct the client in performing restore operations
directly from the Data Domain system without going through the Avamar server. This functionality,
implemented within the Avamar client software, is the same DD Boost API and technology that are
supported on many other Data Domain implementations today.
Recovery
The process of data recovery, whether from an Avamar data store or from a Data Domain system, is
completely transparent to the backup administrator. The backup administrator uses the same
recovery processes that are native to previous Avamar versions. The Avamar front end automatically
retrieves datasets that are stored on Data Domain systems. No special retrieval mechanisms or
processes are required.
Replication
As shown in Figure 2 in the architecture section, replication between primary and replica Data Domain
systems is also integrated into the Avamar management feature set. This is controlled by the
replication policy applied to each dataset in Avamar Administrator. All typical Avamar replication
scenarios are supported for datasets targeted to Data Domain. These include:
Many-to-one, one-to-many, cascading replication
Extension of data retention times
Root-to-root replication
Like the recovery process, the replication process normally configured within the Data Domain
platform is automated within the Avamar framework and is transparent to the backup administrator.
This replication functionality requires that a remote Avamar server exists, along with the remote Data
Domain system.
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Figure 10: Add Data Domain System dialog box: System tab
6. Select System (Figure 10) and enter the system name (or IP address) for the Data Domain
system to be targeted for backup.
7. Enter the DD Boost User Name. It is used for authentication. It specifies for the Avamar
environment the credentials needed to access the Data Domain system and to authenticate the
Avamar clients to write backups to the Data Domain backup target.
The DD Boost account name is created in the Data Domain Enterprise Manager during the setup
of the Data Domain system.
For systems that are already implemented and have the DD Boost license installed, this
authentication account is configured on the Data Domain system. For newly implemented Data
Domain systems with a DD Boost license, reference EMC Data Domain documentation for the
procedure to configure this account.
8. Complete the Max Streams field.
This setting indicates to the Data Domain system the total number of client backup streams
launched simultaneously from Avamar clients managed by this Avamar server. This setting is
especially important in deployments where the Data Domain system is being targeted by backup
applications besides Avamar, such as EMC Networker.
This setting assures that Avamar backup streams do not oversubscribe the Data Domain system
if other backup jobs are being targeted to it within the same backup window.
9. Click Okay.
10. Click SNMP (Figure 11). The Add Data Domain System window appears.
2012 VCE Company, LLC. All Rights Reserved.
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11. In the Getter/Setter Port Number field, the default value is usually used.
This number tells the Avamar server the port on the Data Domain system from which to receive
and on which to set SNMP objects.
12. Next, complete the SNMP Community String field.
This indicates to Avamar which community string will allow read/write access to the Data Domain
system from an SNMP perspective.
13. Enter the Trap Port Number.
This indicates the port on the Avamar server that Data Domain will use to send SNMP traps to the
Avamar server. The default number usually does not need to be changed. Refer to the Avamar
server SNMP configuration for the proper settings.
14. Click OK.
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16. To complete the provisioning of a Data Domain system for use by Avamar, verify the entries and
click OK.
26
The process of provisioning a Data Domain system for use with Avamar is easily and intuitively done.
Repeat this process for multiple Data Domain systems that may be required for a particular
Avamar/Data Domain joint solution. After adding a system, the administrator can return at any time to
the Server window (Figure 13) from the main menu for a quick dashboard view of Data Domain
system statistics such as capacity, DDOS version, and model number.
Refer to EMC Avamar Administrator documentation for creating datasets from scratch.
The example re-directs the backups of this dataset from the Avamar Data Store to the Data Domain
system provisioned in Example One.
2012 VCE Company, LLC. All Rights Reserved.
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Use the Avamar Administrator policy configuration feature, as shown in Figure 14, to edit the
dataset that is to be retargeted. Click Options on the Edit Dataset window to bring up the
configuration settings in the New Dataset dialog box, as shown in Figure 15.
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1. Click the checkbox Use Data Domain system. From the drop-down list, select the Data Domain
system target for this dataset.
The drop-down list shows all the available Data Domain systems. We have pre-provisioned only
one Data Domain system, so there is only one option in the box. If more Data Domain systems
were provisioned then multiple selections would appear.
2. Click OK.
The SQL dataset will be processed by the Avamar Windows SQL plug-in to target its data to the Data
Domain system. Upon the next backup policy execution (either manual or scheduled), the SQL
dataset will be sent to the Data Domain system for deduplication and storage.
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Description
Avamar-only multi-cabinet
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Avamar-only multi-cabinet
The Avamar-only multi-cabinet Vblock data protection module provides three times the capabilities of
the Avamar-only single cabinet, as it has 2 additional cabinets each containing the same capabilities.
The module also has three times the expansion capabilities as the Avamar-only single cabinet.
Note:
If backing up multiple Vblock systems to a single Avamar and Data Domain Data Protection Cabinet,
each Vblock system must be connected to a group of dedicated uplink ports from the Data Protection Cabinet.
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Conclusion
With the integration and control of EMC Data Domain systems within the EMC Avamar client on
Vblock systems, the backup administrator can now eliminate separate backup processes and manage
enterprise-wide backup workloads associated with each dataset from a single management interface.
Furthermore, backups of VMware virtual machines, desktops and laptops, remote offices, NAS
systems, and enterprise applications are all optimized for faster backups, maximum deduplication,
and efficient recoveries.
VCE offers on Vblock systems both Avamar and Data Domain because these data targets have
different advantages. The combination of the two addresses a broader set of data protection
requirements and delivers the most cost effective solution.
There are several ways to implement the VCE data protection solutions for daily backups. The best
possible method depends upon the exact customer requirements. The most common
recommendations are:
Use guest-level backups daily to ensure crash-consistent data recovery. Restoration of
individual files is a far more common occurrence than full server restoration.
Backup the server VMDK once per week, or whenever a virtual machine server has been
updated. This provides rapid restore capability in the event of a server crash.
Using Avamar and Data Domain as described in this white paper is a VCE-recommended solution
because it simplifies data protection AND it is a critical element for getting the maximum return-oninvestment from Vblock systems.
Next Steps
To learn more about this and other solutions, contact a VCE representative or visit www.vce.com.
38
References
VCE
Vblock Infrastructure Platforms 2010 Vblock Platforms Architecture Overview
EMC
Note:
To access this documentation EMC requires that you have registered and have a user id and password.
Contact EMC to set up your user id.
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ABOUT VCE
VCE, formed by Cisco and EMC with investments from VMware and Intel, accelerates the adoption of converged infrastructure and
cloud-based computing models that dramatically reduce the cost of IT while improving time to market for our customers. VCE,
through the Vblock system, delivers the industry's only fully integrated and fully virtualized cloud infrastructure system. VCE
solutions are available through an extensive partner network, and cover horizontal applications, vertical industry offerings, and
application development environments, allowing customers to focus on business innovation instead of integrating, validating and
managing IT infrastructure.
For more information, go to www.vce.com.
THE INFORMATION IN THIS PUBLICATION IS PROVIDED "AS IS." VCE MAKES NO REPRESENTATIONS OR WARRANTIES
OF ANY KIND WITH RESPECT TO THE INFORMATION IN THIS PUBLICATION, AND SPECIFICALLY DISCLAIMS IMPLIED
WARRANTIES OR MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.
Copyright 2012 VCE Company, LLC. All rights reserved. Vblock and the VCE logo are registered trademarks or trademarks of VCE Company, LLC, and/or its
affiliates in the United States or other countries. All other trademarks used herein are the property of their respective owners.