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Basic principles of backup policies. Andrea Mauro. vExpert and VCDX. http://vinfrastructure.it/en Twitter : @ Andrea_Mauro. About the speaker. 17 years of experience in IT Working for Assyrus Srl – Italy Server, Storage, Networking, Security & Virtualization
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Basic principles of backup policies Andrea Mauro • vExpert and VCDX • http://vinfrastructure.it/en • Twitter: @Andrea_Mauro
About the speaker • 17 years of experience in IT • Working for AssyrusSrl – Italy • Server, Storage, Networking, Security & Virtualization • Certifications and accreditations • Italian VMUG founder and board member • VMTN Community Moderator • Blogger http://virtual-infrastructure.it/
Agenda • What is a backup policy • Design a backup plan • What defines a backup policy • What is a backup policy • Where do backups go • How will backups be performed
What is a backup policy? Amount of data principle or rule to guide decisions and achieve results procedure or protocol 1 2 • Backup policy • set of rules to achieve the required backup goals • several aspects: 1 2 • technical • non technical
Input of backup policies • Requirements • Recovery Point Objective (RPO) • Recovery Time Objective (RTO) • Constraints • Business needs • Budget • Max backup window • Technical aspects • Business Continuity Plan (BCP) Risk analysis Requirements/Constraints Backup policies Backup/Business Continuity Plan Procedures Backupsolutions and products
Properties & parameters & dependencies • What • Where • How, How much, How often • Several dependencies Wks Days Hrs Mins Secs Secs Mins Hrs Days Wks Recovery Point Recovery Time Protection Methods Recovery Methods Synthetic Backup Real Time Replication Tape Backups Vaults Archival Disk Backups Staging Off-Host Disk Restores Tape Restores Search & Retrieve Instant Recovery Bare Metal Recovery
Backup as a process Selection list Backup job Backup data + Backup policies Analysis
What – Define the sources of the backup • Required protection level • Way to handle the backup tasks • Type of sources Virtual machines Files Applications Systems • Type of “transport” at source side • Full copy • Incremental transfer • Size of the sources
Way to handle the backup tasks • Agent vs. Agent-less • Application level • VM level • Hot vs. Cold • Usually agent or specific API are needed for hot-backup • Push vs. Pull • Also other models Data transfer options important
Type of sources Files Application data – Not a simple collection of files Systems Virtual Machines – It may include also system, files and applications backup For details see specific lessons on Backup Academy Which level of consistency? • Windows • Linux / Unix • A system is not just a set of files • It may include also files and applications backup
Consistency and integrity Different levels Files Open files dilemma Windows provide VSS Application data Application that are VSS-aware Application specific solutions Systems Problem with the system state Virtual Machines Specific hypervisor functions are recommended For details see specific lessons on Backup Academy
Type of “transport” at source side • Full copy vs. incremental copy • LAN based vs. LAN-free
Size of the sources • Amount of data • How data can be transferred from the source • Full copy vs. incremental • Using of compression and/or de-duplication at source side Type of data How data changes Backup consistency Data transfer options important
Where – Which kind of backup destination • Disk based • D2D • Logical disk or network shares • Tape based • D2T • Real or “Virtual” tape • Multi-level backup • D2D2T • Other levels • Cloud
D2D • Different type of solutions • DAS or SAN • NAS • Backup Appliance • Most NAS (and sometime VTL) based • Pros of D2D • Great capacity: 1,5 TB (LTO5) vs. 2-3 TB (SATA disk) • Speed: disks IOPS could scale with RAID • Bigger scalability • Replication and disaster recovery • More flexible
D2T Type of tape based solutions Tape unit: DAS with SAS or SCSI cables Autoloader: DAS or SAN Tape library: SAN Virtual Tape Library (VTL): an appliance (hardware or software) that can be used as an autoloader or tape library but it works usually with disk instead of tapes Pros of D2T Speed: throughput of 140MBps for LTO5 Removable support with long life?
VTL • A tape that is a disk • Can be used as an autoloader or tape library but it works usually with disk instead of tapes • Implementation • Gateway appliance • Implemented in D2D appliances • But could also implemented with software based products • Virtual appliance • Pros of VTL • Migration from D2T to D2D • Could be used to scale a D2T solution • Could export to physical tape • Backup over SAN
How – Save to sources to the destinations • Multi-tier (hierarchy backup) • how data are distributed using different type of destinations • Destination “format”: • how data are saved in which format • with which kind of relations with previous data (full, incremental, differential, de-duplicated, …) • Backup frequency • how often are performed the backup jobs • Backup retention • how old data are removed from the destination • how much data must remain
Multi-tier backup strategies • More techniques, levels or hierarchy organization • D2DT • Storage Snapshots as a first level • But not a true backup! • Offline media • Replication as an additional level of protection
Destination “format” • Format of the backup data depends on the backup program • Common way to store the data • Full • Differential (Cumulative) • Incremental • Reverse incremental • Synthetic • Other aspects • Compression • De-duplication • Encryption
Backup frequency • How much • Job scheduling • Defined by • RPO and business requirements • Different schedules for different format
Backup retention • How much data must be stored? • Depends on • Source type and its size • Frequency • more backup could mean more data that could limit the retention) • “Format” type • by using deduplication or incremental backup and/or compression we can reduce the amount of backup and increase the retention • Destination type • that could define the amount of data that could be stored) • Required Recovery Point Objective (RPO) • Reclaim of expired data
Retention on D2D and D2T • D2D • Incremental model • Retention vs. Space • More disks • Compression and/or deduplication • Reclaim mean usually delete old files • D2T • Full/differential/incremental models • Retention vs. Space • Using off-line tapes • Reclaim with media rotation policies
Media rotation policy • Round Robin (FIFO) • Grandfather, Father, Son (GFS) • Tower Of Hanoi • More info on • http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Backup_rotation_scheme • http://www.computer-repair.com/Backup.htm
What we covered • What is a backup policy • What make a backup policy • What • Where • How • Why is important • To design a backup solution • Consider the backup as an entire IT process • Could be used as a documentation of the backup procedures and jobs • Could be part of a BCP • High level policy can be adapted to different type of backup products
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