HP P4000 G2 manual Folder and share management, Shadow Copy Transport, Backup and shadow copies

Backup and shadow copies

Shadow copies are only available on the network via the client application, and only at a file or folder level as opposed to the entire volume. Hence, the standard backup associated with a volume backup will not work to back up the previous versions of the file system. To answer this particular issue, shadow copies are available for backup in two situations. If the backup software in question supports the use of shadow copies and can communicate with underlying block device, it is supported, and the previous version of the file system will be listed in the backup application as a complete file system snapshot. If the built-in backup application NTbackup is used, the backup software forces a snapshot, and then uses the snapshot as the means for backup. The user is unaware of this activity and it is not self-evident although it does address the issue of open files.

Shadow Copy Transport

Shadow Copy Transport provides the ability to transport data on a Storage Area Network (SAN). With a storage array and a VSS-aware hardware provider, it is possible to create a shadow copy on one server and import it on another server. This process, essentially “virtual” transport, is accomplished in a matter of minutes, regardless of the size of the data.

A shadow copy transport can be used for a number of purposes, including:

•Tape backups

An alternative to traditional backup to tape processes is transport of shadow copies from the production server onto a backup server, where they can then be backed up to tape. Like the other two alternatives, this option removes backup traffic from the production server. While some backup applications might be designed with the hardware provider software that enables transport, others are not. The administrator should determine whether or not this functionality is included in the backup application.

•Data mining

The data in use by a particular production server is often useful to different groups or departments within an organization. Rather than add additional traffic to the production server, a shadow copy of the data can be made available through transport to another server. The shadow copy can then be processed for different purposes, without any performance impact on the original server.

The transport process is accomplished through a series of DISKRAID command steps:

1.Create a shadow copy of the source data on the source server (read-only).

2.Mask off (hide) the shadow copy from the source server.

3.Unmask the shadow copy to a target server.

4.Optionally, clear the read-only flags on the shadow copy.

The data is now ready to use.

Folder and share management

The storage system supports several file-sharing protocols, including DFS, NFS, FTP, HTTP, and Microsoft SMB. This section discusses overview information as well as procedures for the setup and management of the file shares for the supported protocols. Security at the file level and at the share level is also discussed.

86 File server management