SLPs, Almost a Beginner’s Guide

Scott HolowinskiSenior Backup AdministratorOneNeck IT Services

SLPs, Almost a Beginner’s GuideWho Am IMy EnvironmentWhat is a SLPCreating SLPsDeleting SLPsBest PracticesQuestions?

Who Am INetBackup administrator for the

last 5 years3+ years with current

environmentBegan using SLPs in 2009 with

NBU 6.5.3

My EnvironmentWindows Master Server8 Windows Media Servers900 Hosts1700 Backup Policies150 SLPs15000 jobs a day15-25TB of backups a day

What is a SLPStorage Lifecycle Policy

◦A plan or map of where backup data will be stored and for how long.

◦Focuses management on individual images

◦Very flexible when making multiple copies and using multiple retentions

Creating a SLPArticle: HOWTO34771Administrator’s Guide 1, Chapter

14

Creating a SLP

Adding Storage Destinations

How My Data Flows

A Basic SLP

Hierarchical SLP

Give Me More SLPWhy so many SLPs?

◦Retention◦Backup destination◦Duplicate destination(s)

Hurts batching and SLP processing takes longer

Removing a SLPRemove from all backup policiesAll active jobs completed – wait

or cancelCancel any pending duplications

◦nbstlutil cancel –lifecycle <name>Delete SLP

◦May need to wait several minutes after last job completes

Removing a SLP◦click on desised SLP◦Right-Click and select Delete and

confirm

Doing it CLI StyleNBSTL

◦add/modify◦remove◦list

Example of an addnbstl TEST-PRD-UNX-STD -add -dp

70000 -uf 0,1,1 -residence DSSU_UNX,DD-UNX,TAPE-TEST -pool __NA__,__NA__,TEST-Offsite -source 0,0,0 -managed 2,0,0 -rl 0,4,1

Best PracticesTECH153154 – 7.1and later NetBackup 7.1 Best Practice

Using Storage Lifecycle Policies and Auto Image Replication

TECH75047 – 7.0.1 or earlierBest practices for configuring

NetBackup with Storage Lifecycle Policies

Best PracticesPlan for duplication time

◦Duplication may take as long as original backup or longer

◦Duplication requires twice the hardware (Reading and Writing)

◦NBRB gets hit twice as hard as well

Best PracticesIntroduce SLPs into the

environment gradually ◦Don’t switch everything to SLPs at once

◦Do limit duplications initially◦SLP duplications require bandwidth and hardware

◦You may need to re-evaluate hardware requirements

Best PracticesBe conservative when using

storage unit groups with Media Server Load Balancing ◦Negative impact on NBRB◦Every queued job gets evaluated◦More servers = slower resource allocations

Best PracticesBe conservative when using

storage unit groups with Inline Copy◦More load on NBRB

Evaluates possible server and space every evaluation cycle for queued jobs

◦Monitor closely when adding servers or storage units

Best PracticesUse Duplication Job Priority

to give backups priority over duplications ◦or the inverse, depends on your situation

◦Or just don’t share resources if possible

Best PracticesAvoid increasing backlog

◦Oldest files get duplication jobs first

◦Have to duplicate faster than backups to catch up “the behinder you get the more you

get behind” Could be over 1 day, 3 days, a week,

you decide.

Best PracticesBacklog Questions

◦How soon should duplications be completed? SLAs?

◦How will you measure the backlog?

◦What about downtime?◦How will you recover from a backlog?

My Backlog

Tuning FilesThe LIFECYCLE_PARAMETERS

file◦/usr/openv/netbackup/db/config -unix

◦netbackup\db\config\ -windows

Tuning Files

◦LIFECYCLE_PARAMETERS Values

MIN_GB_SIZE_PER_DUPLICATION_JOB 8 MAX_GB_SIZE_PER_DUPLICATION_JOB 25 MAX_MINUTES_TIL_FORCE_SMALL_DUPLICATI

ON_JOB 30 DUPLICATION_SESSION_INTERVAL_MINUTES 5 IMAGE_EXTENDED_RETRY_PERIOD_IN_HOURS

2DUPLICATION_GROUP_CRITERIA 1TAPE_RESOURCE_MULTIPLIER 2

Tuning FilesNBRB.conf

◦TECH57942EMM.conf

◦TECH137761server.conf

◦HOWTO34665 or HOWTO33625

May need to contact support for help with these

Any questions?

scott.holowinski@oneneck.com