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Revision Date: 08/2013 Revision Number: MR-1WN-AVAM. 7-0.0

1 Avamar Fundamentals


This course covers an introduction to EMC Avamar. It includes an overview of Avamar terminology, features, and components, including Avamar backup and restore functions. The course reviews Avamar tools for monitoring and maintaining an Avamar system.



This module focuses on the features and functions of the Avamar backup solution.

Avamar Fundamentals 3


EMC Avamar is a comprehensive, client-server network backup and restore solution. With its unique global data deduplication technology, Avamar addresses the data protection challenges in todays IT environments.

The ever-increasing amount of data to backup presents a challenge to organizations facing the demands of shorter backup windows, quicker restore responses, consistent backups of remote sites, and regulatory requirements; all with the need to accomplish this with fewer staff and tighter budgets.

Avamar meets these challenges by re-designing backup and restore as true disk-based processes. Avamars patented global deduplication technology reduces the amount of backup data by identifying unique data at the source. Avamar stores only one copy of this common data across the backup network. This results in a dramatic reduction in the amount of data that is moved across the network and stored in backup storage. The same data is backed up as in traditional backup systems, but consumes significantly less network and backup resources as only unique data is stored. And, by using standard IP network technologies, dedicated backup networks are not required.

Avamar employs a scalable disk-based, server architecture built of modules that provide a balance of connectivity, security, processing and disk storage resources. Scheduled backup and replication functionality enable efficient backup of remote sites and provide disaster recovery of primary backup sites. Avamar provides a user-friendly interface for central management of the entire backup system.



A high percentage of data that is retained on backup media by most backup solutions is highly redundant. The typical backup process for most organizations consists of a series of daily incremental backups and weekly full backups.

Daily backups are usually retained for a few weeks and weekly full backups are retained for several months to several years. Because of this process, multiple copies of identical or slowly-changing data are retained on backup media, leading to a high level of data redundancy.

A large number of operating systems, application files and data files are common across multiple systems in an enterprise. Identical files such as Word documents, PowerPoint presentations and Excel spreadsheets, are stored by many users across an environment. Backups of these systems will contain a large number of identical files.

Additionally, many users keep multiple versions of files that they are currently working on. Many of these files differ only slightly from other versions, but are seen by backup applications as new data that must be protected.

Backing up redundant data increases the amount of backup storage needed and can negatively impact network bandwidth. Organizations are running out of backup window time and facing difficulties meeting recovery objectives due to the need to manage backup versions and a myriad of backup tapes.



Avamar differs from traditional backup and restore solutions by identifying and storing only unique, sub-file data objects. Redundant data is identified at the source, drastically reducing the amount of backup data that travels across the network to be stored and managed by the backup host. When storing data objects, Avamar takes maximum advantage of inherent hard-disk characteristics. Avamar also creates and stores trees that link all data objects from a single backup. These trees are used to re-create files for restore.



The Avamar solution includes the following key features:

Global data deduplication ensures that data objects are only backed up once across the backup environment.

Systematic fault tolerance, using RAID, RAIN, checkpoints and replication, provides data integrity and disaster recovery protection

Highly reliable, inexpensive disk storage is used for primary backup storage.

Since standard IP network technologies optimize the use of the network for backup, dedicated backup networks are not required. Daily full backups are possible using existing networks and infrastructure.

Scalable server architecture provides security and expandability. Additional storage nodes can be added to an Avamar multi-node server to accommodate increased backup storage requirements.

Flexible deployment options include Avamar Virtual Edition and Avamar Data Store. Avamar supports a wide-variety of client operating systems and applications, including: Windows, Linux, Unix, NDMP, Microsoft SQL, Microsoft Exchange, SharePoint, and Oracle. With its global deduplication technology, Avamar is an efficient backup choice for VMware and remote office backup environments.

Centralized management is also provided. Avamar Enterprise Manager and Avamar Administrator interfaces enable remote management and monitoring of Avamar servers from a centralized location via internet access. Avamar can also integrate with Data Protection Advisor and Backup & Recovery Manager for further monitoring capabilities.



There are several Avamar terms that are used throughout the course.

An object is a single instance of deduplicated data. Objects are stored and managed within stripes on the Avamar server. It is also sometimes referred to as a chunk.

A stripe is a unit of disk drive space managed by Avamar

A node is a self-contained, rack-mountable network-addressable computer consisting of both processing power and hard drive storage. Nodes run Avamar server software on the Linux operating system.

A server is a group of one or more nodes on a local, high-speed network.

A system is one or more Avamar servers and the network servers or desktop clients that back up data to those servers.



An Avamar backup is defined as a point-in-time copy of client data that can be restored as individual files, selected directories or entire file systems.

Initialization is the process of running a first backup from a client.

Restore is an operation that retrieves one or more file systems, directories or files from an existing backup and writes it to a designated location.

Encryption provides enhanced security during client/server data transfers and on the Avamar server. As part of server installation, an Avamar server can be configured to encrypt all backup data stored on the server. For Avamar client/server communication, Avamar supports two levels of encryption: Medium and High. The administrator can also choose to turn off client/server encryption entirely. The exact method and bit strength used in a given circumstance depends on several factors, including client OS and Avamar server and client versions. Please refer to the Avamar Product Security Manual for additional details.

Retention determines the length of time that a backup is available for restore. Avamar allows you to specify how long a backup is retained; unused chunks from backups that have expired are deleted from the system.

Replication is the process of storing a logical copy of Avamar server data on another Avamar server to support future disaster recovery of the source server.



The three major components of an Avamar system are the Avamar server, Avamar backup clients and the Avamar Administrator.

The Avamar Server stores client backups and provides essential processes and services required for client access and remote system administration. Avamar Administrator Server (mcs) and Avamar Data Server (gsan) run on the Avamar server.

Avamar Client software runs on each computer or network server that is being backed up. Avamar provides client software for various computing platforms. Each client consists of a client agent and one or more plug-ins.

Avamar Administrator is a user management console software application that is used to remotely administer an Avamar system from a supported Windows or client computer.



The primary building block of an Avamar system is a node.

Utility nodes are dedicated to providing internal Avamar server processes and services, including the administrator server, external authentication, Network Time Protocol (NTP), and web access.

Storage nodes include the Avamar Data Server software and are dedicated to providing backup storage.

The NDMP Accelerator is an optional specialized node that, when used as part of an Avamar system, provides a complete backup and recovery solution for NAS devices via the Network Data Management Protocol (NDMP). Avamar supports Network Appliance filers and EMC Celerra with the NDMP Accelerator.

The Media Access Node is an optional node that can be used as a pass-through device for sending Avamar backup data to tape for long term storage.



To ensure system integrity, Avamar provides systematic fault tolerance at the following levels:

RAID (redundant array of independent disks) is a method of protection for disk data corruption. RAID is a balance between performance and efficiency. Avamar servers are protected by either RAID-1 or RAID-6, depending on the configuration. Avamar also has hot-swap capability with minimum system impact for highest failure-rate components (more than 90% of expected failures)

RAIN (redundant array of independent nodes) provides failover and fault tolerance across nodes. RAIN provides uninterrupted functionality during node failure, replacement and reconstruction. In the unlikely event of a node failure, the backup data will be stored on the remaining nodes; data for recoveries is reconstructed using parity. RAIN is used to replace the failed node, reconstruct the data on the replacement node, and when expanding an Avamar server, rebalance the capacity across all nodes.

Replication protects against data loss in the event of a server loss. Efficient, scheduled replication (local or remote) ensures availability/redundancy of data if primary server is lost.

Checkpoints protect the server in the event of operational failures. They provide redundancy across time. Checkpoints are a read-only snapshot of the Avamar server taken to facilitate server rollbacks. They are created using hard-links to all the stripes. Regular checkpoint validation, including auto-repair capability, is used to ensure data integrity.

High Availability Uplink and Dual Switches provide high availability in the event of hardware failure.



Avamar supports two basic types of standard Avamar server configurations.

Non-RAIN configurations consist of a single stand-alone node. In single node configurations, both utility and data functions are provided in the single node. Most non-RAIN configurations require replication. The exception is Avamar Business Edition, which uses RAID 6 to protect against dual disk failure.

RAIN configurations include one utility node, three or more storage nodes, plus a spare storage node. Currently, the largest standard configuration consists of 16 storage nodes, 1 utility node, and 1 spare storage node. A minimum RAIN configuration is a 1x3 server.

In a multi-node system, the nodes operate together as one server. The hostname and IP address of the utility node is the identity of the Avamar server for access and client/server communication. Avamar load balances data across all available nodes in a server. With node architecture, Avamar can be easily scaled by adding more nodes.



The Avamar server runs on SUSE Linux Enterprise Server (SLES). RHEL was used in previous versions and is still supported for upgrades. The Avamar server is capable of operating on server hardware with multiple processors.

Beginning with Avamar generation 4S hardware, three sizes of storage nodes are supported: 2.0 TB, 3.9 TB, and 7.8 TB of licensable capacity. Licensable capacity includes deduplicated data plus RAIN parity protection. All storage nodes within an Avamar server must be of the same size.

The two Avamar server editions provide the flexibility to meet different customer requirements. Avamar can be deployed either as physical hardware or as a virtual machine.



Avamar Data Store simplifies the purchase and deployment of Avamar by delivering a pre-packaged solution consisting of Avamar server software installed onsite on pre-configured and pre-tested Avamar-certified hardware. Deployment time at customer sites is reduced since hardware stress tests and initial benchmark tests are performed before the hardware is shipped. Avamar Data Store is available in several configurations as listed in the slide, including multi-node and single-node servers. Multi-node servers can be expanded by adding new nodes. Avamar Data Store is deployed by EMC-trained personnel.



The EMC Avamar Virtual Edition (AVE) allows the Avamar solution to be standardized on VMware infrastructure. It is ideal for small, remote offices or small data centers, by lowering the total cost of ownership through sharing the server and storage infrastructure and reducing the cost of hardware support and maintenance.

AVE is a single-node non-RAIN Avamar server running as a virtual machine on a VMware ESX Server. The licensed capacity sizes include: 0.5 TB, 1.0 TB, 2.0 TB, and 4.0 TB. Each of these capacity versions has a set of requirements for memory, I/O, and storage. The choice of AVE version to be deployed depends on the type of data in the environment to be backed up and the expected daily change rate.

The VMware ESX Server is supplied by the customer. Installation of AVE on a virtual machine is performed by EMC-trained personnel. The AVE benchmark test must be run to ensure that server hardware and the virtual environment meet expected I/O performance benchmarks. Also, the benchmark test helps to determine the impact of AVE on other virtual machines running on the same physical server.

Note: For more information about Avamar Virtual Edition, including the currently supported ESX server versions, please refer to the EMC Avamar Virtual Edition System Installation Manual, available on EMC Powerlink. Training for AVE includes the eLearning course, EMC Avamar Virtual Edition Overview.



Because Avamar architecture is extremely flexible and scalable, Avamar is an ideal solution for distributed enterprises. Corporate backup policies can be implemented, enforced, and managed throughout the organization from a central location. Avamar supports both local area network and wide area network connections. There is minimal impact to network traffic and performance as after initialization, only changes travel over the networks.

You can backup both local and remote clients to a centralized Avamar server. As a centralized backup system, Avamar protects critical branch data without the addition of hardware or specially trained personnel at branch office sites. For sites where recovery time objective requirements must be satisfied, a local Avamar system may be employed to backup local data at the site and automatically replicate the backup data to the central data center or disaster recovery site. Additionally, the central Avamar server can be replicated to an offsite location for disaster recovery. All backup and replication activity is managed from the central data center using the Avamar Enterprise Manager and Administrator interfaces. Employing Avamar disk-based backup eliminates the need to manage a complex tape system for backups, restores, and offsite security.



Avamar administration tools provide central administrative access to the Avamar system.

The Avamar Administrator is a graphical user interface (GUI) used to configure, monitor and manage an Avamar system from one or more Windows or Linux clients.

Avamar uses a PostgreSQL database to store various kinds of data, such as backup and restore activities, events, defined groups and clients. This information is available for reporting using third-party reporting tools such as Crystal Reports, MS Query, and Microsoft Excel.

The Avamar Administrator Command Line Interface (CLI) is a Java application providing command line access to the features and functions that are available via the GUI.

Avamar provides many command-line utilities, programs and scripts that can be used to manually configure and manage Avamar server operations as well as perform manual backups and recoveries.

Backup and Recovery Manager is a separate tool that can be used to monitor Avamar, NetWorker, and Data Domain systems.

Avamar Enterprise Manager provides centralized access to the Avamar Administrator for each Avamar system in an enterprise, as well as dashboard, reporting and search capabilities. With Enterprise Manager, backup administrators can monitor and manage all Avamar servers in a distributed environment. Client Manager is a tool within Enterprise Manager used to add and update backup clients to the Avamar system.



Deduplication is a key feature of the Avamar system. Deduplication ensures that each unique object is stored only once in the Avamar storage system. Redundant backup data is eliminated at the client (source), drastically reducing the amount of data that travels across the network to be stored and managed by the Avamar backup server. As long as a data object is stored on the server, it is never re-sent to the server. This dramatically reduces network traffic and enhances backup storage efficiency, guaranteeing the most effective deduplication of the data.

Typically, deduplication commonality yields the following results:

Initial file system commonality ~65%

Initial database commonality ~35%

Day-over-day file system backups ~99.7%

Subsequent database backups ~97%



The slide depicts a high level logical process and data flow of an Avamar backup. During a scheduled backup or restore, the Avamar server generates a work order. The server then either pages the client agent or the client agent checks in with the server to pick up the work order.

1. On the client, the Avamar agent traverses each directory in the backup. For each file, the agent checks the local file cache to see if the file has been backed up before.

2. If there is no match in the file cache, the file is divided into variable-sized data objects or chunks. The chunks are compressed and hashed. The hashes are used to quickly determine if the chunks have previously been stored. The client compares each hash with the entries in the local hash cache to see if the chunk has been stored before.

3. If there is no match in the local hash cache, the client asks the Avamar Server if the hash is present on the server due to its corresponding chunk having been stored previously by a different client.

4. If there is no match on the Avamar server, the hash and the corresponding data are transferred to the Avamar server and stored. The client cache files are updated accordingly.

This process is repeated for the rest of the files included in the backup.



Hashes are used to store and find data objects. Three types of hashes are created during a backup: atomic, composite, and root. The hash created directly from a data chunk is referred to as an atomic hash. Atomic hashes are combined into composites and hashed to create composite hashes. All the composite hashes are combined and hashed once more to create a single root hash for the backup.

When data is sent to the Avamar Server during a backup, data object storage is used to manage the objects on the server. Both the chunk that has gone through the compression process and its corresponding hash are stored. Part of the number of the hash is used as an address to identify the location where the corresponding data chunk is stored on backup disk storage. Because each hash is a random and unique number, data is automatically evenly distributed across all available storage nodes and disks within an Avamar system. This type of address is called an object address. It eliminates the need for a separate file level catalog.

Once an object has been stored, it cannot be deleted until the specified retention period has expired and it is not used by any current backup. Storing data on disk, rather than on tape, streamlines the process of searching for stored objects.



Data is stored using a complex hierarchical hashing file system with an indexing structure consisting of the data elements grouped together by multiple levels of hashes, composites and root hashes. The root hash of each backup links to the data objects and hashes comprising the backup at the point-in-time when the backup occurred.

Data objects are stored on Avamar disk storage in special files called data stripes. A single data stripe can hold approximately 30,000 objects.

Composite hashes are stored in separate stripes. Root hashes, as well as information about the origin of the files (client, domain, etc.), are stored in the accounts stripes. On a RAIN system, an additional stripe file contains RAIN parity data. This data is used to reconstruct data for a failed node. These additional stripe files account for the RAIN overhead.



For restore, Avamar presents a full backup as of a single point-in-time.

Each backup has its own root hash linking to the data objects and hashes which comprise the specific backup at the point in time when the backup occurred.

For a restore, the Avamar server locates the chunks necessary to fulfill the restore request and sends the chunks to the client. The chunks are collected in the clients memory, ordered, uncompressed, and written to disk on the client.



Avamar is ideally suited for protecting clients in virtual environments by reducing the amount of backup data within and across the virtual machines. Both VMware and Hyper-V are supported. Avamar provides a high level of integration with VMware for backing up virtual environments. Avamar provides the flexibility of implementing a virtual machine backup solution in two ways. Avamar agents can be installed in the virtual machines for guest level backups. Image level backups are also available to create a backup of the virtual disk files.

VMware backups can be centrally configured, scheduled and managed with Avamar Administrator. Avamar Administrator also has the ability to browse the virtual machines in the environment and display information for each machine as shown on the slide.



Data Domain Integration

Data Domain systems can be used as storage for Avamar backup data. Backup data is sent directly from the client to the Data Domain system using DDBoost technology. Backups can then be managed through the Avamar system. This can provide faster backup and recovery, especially for large active databases. Data Domain integration is supported for File system data, NDMP data, Lotus Domino, DB2, Microsoft Exchange VSS, Hyper-V VSS, Microsoft SQL Server, Microsoft SharePoint VSS, Oracle, SAP with Oracle, Sybase, and VMware image backup and restore.

Maintenance Activities

Maintenance activities that are performed on the Avamar server are also performed on any data stored on the Data Domain. This means that a backup that has expired or been deleted on the Avamar server will be deleted from the Data Domain. Avamar garbage collection, checkpoints, rollbacks, and HFS checks and replication trigger similar processes on the Data Domain system.



Resources related to Avamar include the guides, release notes, and training courses are listed on the slide. For a complete set of product information and documentation for Avamar, as well as client and Administrator Console software, point a web browser to your Avamar utility node, or single node.

Avamar documentation is also available via the EMC support web site: support.emc.com. You can register for EMC Education Services training courses via the EMC training web site: education.emc.com.



This module covered the features and functions of the Avamar backup solution.



This module focuses on performing backups and restores using Avamar interfaces.



Avamar backup clients are the machines that contain the data to be backed up to the Avamar server. They are networked computers or workstations accessing the Avamar server via a network connection. Avamar clients are usually the file servers and database servers in an IT environment or employee computers.

Avamar Client software is installed and running on each client. Avamar provides client software for various computing platforms.

For backing up databases, the Avamar client and a specialized database plug-in are installed and run on the same machine. Databases supported with Avamar client software include: Microsoft Exchange, Lotus Domino, Microsoft SQL, SharePoint, DB2, and Oracle.

System State can also be backed with Avamar using a specialized module that is utilized by the backup client. This captures system settings, software installations, registry, networking information and shares, and more. The backup of the system state can save time if a bare metal recovery needs to be performed.



Domains are distinct zones within Avamar that are used to organize and manage backup clients. They are used to manage administration access to groups of clients. By nesting domains within domains to create a tree structure, you can create a hierarchy for managing organizations and the clients in those organizations. The highest level domain is the root domain, represented by the Avamar server in the hierarchy. When an Avamar client is added to the Avamar server, it is assigned to a specific domain within the domain hierarchy. The real power of domains is that they provide the ability to add specific users to specific levels on the client tree.



Security within the Avamar system is implemented through the use of user accounts. Users can be created at the root, domain, and client levels in the domain hierarchy. The level at which a user account is added to the Avamar system and the role assigned to the user determine the access and privileges accorded to that user. Actions performed by users are tracked and maintained in an audit log. The slide lists the roles that can be assigned to users at the following levels in the domain hierarchy.

Root users are created at the root domain. Root users can perform tasks for all domains in the hierarchy and the clients within the domains.

Domain users are created at the Avamar domain level. Users at the domain level can perform tasks for that domain, the clients assigned to the domain, and any domain/client beneath the domain in the domain hierarchy.

Client users are created for an individual Avamar client. The tasks that a client user can perform are limited to that specific client.



Avamar provides two backup types: scheduled and on-demand.

Scheduled backups are run automatically according to specifications that can be customized by the administrator using the Avamar Administrator interface.

On-demand backups can be initiated from the Avamar Administrator interface and the Management Console command line interface (MCCLI). On-demand backups can also be run from a client machine using the Desktop/Laptop interface and with the avtar command from the command line.



Avamar uses groups to implement various policies for automating backups and enforcing consistent rules across a collection of clients. Backups are scheduled to run automatically by configuring and enabling groups. A group consists of one or more clients that will be backed up, and a group policy that is used to configure settings for the backup. The group policy specifies a dataset, schedule, and retention for that group. Once a group is configured, the Avamar server will automatically perform backups of the clients within the group according to the schedule that was set for the group. The dataset settings for the group determine the data from each client is backed up, and the retention settings determine how long each backup from the group is retained.

Avamar groups should not be confused with Avamar domains. Groups are used to create automated backups for a set of clients, while domains are used to grant Avamar administration rights to a set of clients and to organize and manage sets of clients.



Clients inherit the group policy settings by means of their membership in a specific group. An Avamar user with Administrator privileges can configure persistent backup selections by creating, modifying and deleting datasets, schedules and retention policies, assigning them to a new or existing group, and then assigning clients to the group.

Datasets define the persistent backup selections for the file systems, directories or files to be included in a backup. You can also narrow the scope by specifying certain content, such as file types, to exclude or include. Datasets can be created at any domain level and can be assigned to one or more groups and clients within the assigned domain.



The Schedule for a group determines when and how often a backup will automatically be run. Schedules can be created at any domain level and can be assigned to one or more groups within the assigned domain.

Retention Policies specify how long each backup from the group will be kept. Any backups older than the specified retention are automatically dropped from the system. Retention policies can be created at any domain level and can be assigned to one or more groups and clients within the assigned domain.



On-demand backups by definition are run manually at the time that the backup request is initiated. Avamar provides multiple ways for running on-demand backups from either the client or server side. An administrator can run an on-demand backup using the mccli command line, run a group backup from Avamar Administrators Policy view, or select items to backup from Avamar Administrators Backup, Restore and Manage view, as shown on the slide. An on-demand backup can also be initiated from the client side using the avtar CLI command or using the Desktop/Laptop interface.



Desktop/Laptop provides an easy to use graphical user interface to be installed on a desktop or laptop in use by an end user. This allows the end user to perform on-demand backups and restores without help desk intervention. Desktop/Laptop is included as an option in the Avamar client installer. It is available for Windows XP, Windows Vista, and Mac.

End users can initiate an on-demand backup through the Desktop/Laptop interface. This will back up data using the dataset and retention policies set by the Avamar administrator for the client. The end user must ensure that the data to be protected resides within the a directory within the backup dataset. Desktop/Laptop can optionally be configured to allow the end user to create their own dataset and apply their own schedule. Backups and restores over VPN are supported.



You can manage backups from the Avamar Administrator Backup, Restore and Manage view. You can list the backups run for a particular client by first selecting the client in the tree and then choosing to list by date, date range or retention type. Options available from the Actions menu include changing the backup expiration date, changing the retention tag, deleting a backup, viewing completed backup statistics, and validating a backup. Validating a backup initiates a virtual restore of all files in the backup but does not actually restore any files to the client file system. Deleting a backup permanently deletes the backup from the system. Note that data referred to by other backups will not be candidates for deletion.



Avamar supports restoring one or more individual files, directories or file systems from backups stored on the Avamar server. There are two methods of initiating restores of client data: from the Avamar server or from the client. Restores can be initiated from the Avamar server using Avamar Administrator Backup and Restore or the mccli interface. Initiating the restore from the Avamar client is accomplished by the Desktop/Laptop interface or the avtar command.



Using the Avamar Administrator Backup and Restore view, the items to restore for a specific client can be selected either from a list of all backups for a particular date or of all backups containing a particular path. Restores can be performed using the Avamar Administrator by a user with Administrator privileges. Restores can be directed to the original client, or redirected to a different client.



If Desktop/Laptop is installed on the client machine, end-users can restore their own data. Using the Desktop/Laptop GUI, users can search or browse for the desired files and initiate a restore. Restores can only be performed to the client where the data originated; redirected restores are not supported with Desktop/Laptop. This user initiated restore is quicker and easier because no calls to IT need to be made. Also, no additional passwords are needed. Desktop/Laptop uses LDAP or Active Directory Authentication to ensure that the user is authorized to access their data.



Avamar provides several ways to monitor backup activity while backups are in progress and to report on backup status.

The Avamar Administrator Activity view provides a central facility to monitor backup and restore progress and status. With the Activity Monitor, you can see a listing of all activity for the last 72 hours, up to a maximum of 5,000 rows. You can also bring up activity logs and cancel an activity in progress. Options from the Actions menu include filtering the activity results display and viewing statistics for a selected activity.

Status information is also available on a Windows client with the Avamar Progress bar and Work Order Status.



This module covered backups and restores using Avamar interfaces.



This module focuses on Avamar replication, daily Avamar maintenance, and monitoring activities.



Avamar Replication is the process of logically copying backup data from one or more source Avamar servers to a destination or target Avamar server. Replication always transmits data. Data is pushed from the Avamar server executing the replicate command (source) to the target server. As with the backup process, Avamar employs deduplication methodology at the source Avamar server, transferring unique data only to the target server and encrypting the data during transmission.

Replication can be configured and run with the Avamar Administrator and the replicate utility interfaces. Replication is most often run on a scheduled basis, but can also be run on-demand.



Replication can be configured in multiple ways to meet an enterprises unique requirements. For example, replication can be used to provide disaster recovery protection of data from multiple single-node servers to a central multi-node server in a remote, branch office to home office scenario. It can also provide peer-to-peer disaster recovery protection from a single-node to single-node server and multi-node to multi-node servers.

The two basic kinds of Avamar replication are standard, also referred to as normal, and full copy or root-to-root replication.

Standard replication copies backup data from one or more source Avamar servers to a target Avamar server. Replicated data is stored within a special REPLICATE domain on the target Avamar. With standard replication, an Avamar server can be both a replication source and a target for replication. Data can be restored from replicated backups directly from the replication target Avamar server to a client activated on that server.

Full copy or root-to-root replication creates a complete logical copy of an entire source server on the destination Avamar server. Only a one to one configuration is supported with full copy replication. Full copy replication is best suited for server migrations and high availability environments.



For a quick, system-wide monitoring of multiple Avamar servers, Avamar provides the Enterprise Manager feature. The Enterprise Manager is accessible through any web browser and provides an overview of multiple Avamar servers and centralized access to Avamar system administration for each Avamar server in an enterprise. Information that is shown includes server capacity, capacity forecasts, errors, backup statistics, and reports. Each Avamar server can be selected to retrieve more detailed information. A link to launch Avamar Administrator for each server is also included. The Enterprise Manager Policy view lists policy information for each Avamar server being monitored. Using the Enterprise Manager Reports view, you can run many preconfigured reports, including reports of actual and forecasted server capacity utilization.

Further monitoring can be done from Avamar Administrator as shown in following slides.



Client Manager is a graphical user interface accessible from a link in Enterprise Manager which provides many functions for managing large amounts of clients. It provides the ability to move multiple clients between domains or servers, and to retire or delete multiple clients and to change backup groups of clients. It is especially useful in large environments as clients can be found easily through the use of search filters. Client Manager can also be used to update client software and analyze backup statistics. Activation of multiple clients can be achieved through this interface. Clients can be discovered through the use of a directory service such as Active Directory and then activated.



Avamar activities and operational status are reported as events to the administrator server. Examples of events include client registration and activation, and backup completion and restore activity. The Avamar Administrator Event Monitor displays the most recent 5,000 system events during the past 24 hours. The listing can be filtered by event code, category, type, severity, and domain. The report can be exported to a CSV file.



The Avamar Administrator Server view is a primary system status monitoring tool. With the functions within the Server view, you can suspend or resume server activity, check server capacity, review the health of nodes and disks, and manage checkpoints and hash file system checks. The Server Monitor presents a summarized view of CPU, network and hard drive performance statistics for each node.



Daily Avamar server maintenance activities include checkpoints, checkpoint validation and garbage collection. These server maintenance activities are run automatically.

A checkpoint is a read-only snapshot of the Avamar server taken to enable server rollbacks. Checkpoints are created using hard-links to all the stripes.

A hash file system (HFS) check is an operation that validates the integrity of a checkpoint. Once a checkpoint has passed an HFS check, it can be considered reliable enough to be used for a system rollback.

Checkpoints are taken twice daily and validated once daily during the maintenance window. Avamar administrators can also create and validate checkpoints at any time, as well as delete checkpoints that are not needed in order to reclaim additional server storage capacity.



Garbage collection is the process of deleting unused chunks from backups that have expired. This frees up capacity on the Avamar server.

Garbage collection runs once daily starting at the beginning of the Maintenance window.

Beginning with Avamar 7.0, backups can run during garbage collection. However, doing so should be avoided since it will negatively impact the performance of both the garbage collection and backup processes.



Avamar uses three operational windows to perform various system activities. These windows can be customized to start and end at times to meet site requirements.

The backup window is when the majority of backups are performed. Backups should be scheduled to run during this time. No maintenance activities, such as garbage collection or HFS checks, are performed by the Avamar server during the backup window.

The maintenance window is reserved for maintenance activities, primarily garbage collection, checkpoint creation, and HFS check. A limited number of backups may be initiated, but both backup time and maintenance activities will be impacted. By default, the maintenance window runs during the day from 8 am to 8 pm.

Restores can be performed during any of these windows.



New bytes are added to the Avamar server through the backup process. Old bytes are removed from the server through garbage collection of unused chunks from expired or deleted backups. The goal of managing the capacity of the Avamar server is to achieve a steady-state server capacity utilization where the rate that new data chunks are added to the server is equal to or less than the rate that expired data chunks are removed from the server.

Factors affecting capacity utilization include the amount of primary storage being protected, the initial and day-over-day backup commonality, and the length of time backups are retained.

Capacity management is an important task for the Avamar administrator to ensure that the Avamar system continues to have the capacity to store the required backup information. Avamar provides many tools and reports to assist the administrator with this task.

For daily monitoring, the Avamar Administrator Dashboard, shown on the slide, provides capacity management information, including server capacity, forecasts, and warnings. Avamar automatically issues warnings when server utilization exceeds 80% of user capacity and, at 100%, will go into read-only mode. EMC Technical Support is available to work with the administrator on all capacity management issues.



Avamar maintains logs of client and server activities. Logs are especially useful for investigating issues and troubleshooting error conditions. The slide shows an excerpt from a client log detailing an on-demand backup operation.



Many standard reports are available with the Avamar Administrator Activity Report and Manage All Reports features. Shown here is an example of one of the activity reports. You can also create reports using the read-only views of the Avamar Administrator server database.

Backend Capacity Reports can be generated to show how much capacity is used by a client or a group of clients after deduplication.



This module covered Avamar replication, daily Avamar maintenance, and monitoring activities.



This course covered an introduction to EMC Avamar, including an overview of Avamar terminology, features, components, and backup and restore functions. The course also reviewed Avamar tools for monitoring and maintaining an Avamar system.

This concludes the training. Proceed to the course assessment on the next slide.


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