IBM Tivoli Storage Manager Application and Database Protection in a VMware September 5, 2013 1.2 Authors: Jason Basler, Dave Cannon, Jim Smith, Greg Van Hise, Chris Zaremba Page 1 of 13
Note: Before using this information and the product it supports, read the information in the Notices section. Revision History Revision Number Revision Date Summary of Changes 1.0 2/21/13 Initial document based on data as previously documented in tabular format 1.1 7/15/13 Updated recommendations for Microsoft Active Directory based on Windows Server 2012 VM-Generation ID Support in vsphere 1.2 8/5/13 Minor update Changes marked Copyright International Business Machines Corporation 2013. US Government Users Restricted Rights - Use, duplication or disclosure restricted by GSA ADP Schedule Contract with IBM Corp. Page 2 of 13
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Contents Contents... 4 1. Introduction... 5 1.1 Hybrid Solutions... 5 1.2 Supported Products... 5 2. Microsoft SQL... 6 3. Microsoft Exchange... 7 4. File/Web/Print Server/Workstation (Unstructured Data)... 8 5. Microsoft Active Directory... 9 6. Other Applications and Databases... 10 Page 4 of 13
1. Introduction The purpose of this document is to provide high-level recommendations for using the appropriate IBM Tivoli Storage Manager and IBM Tivoli FlashCopy Manager solutions to protect virtual machines deployed in a VMware vsphere environment. This document focuses specifically on data protection for database and application products which are typically hosted in VMware virtual server environments and gives guidance on choosing between two generic types of data protection: Off-host data protection solutions which feature a backup/recovery agent which can be hosted off of the hypervisor host, specifically Tivoli Storage Manager for Virtual Environments Data Protection for VMware and Tivoli Storage Manager for In-guest data protection solutions which require the deployment of a backup/recovery agent in the guest machine: e.g., Tivoli Storage Manager for Mail Data Protection for Microsoft Exchange or Tivoli Storage Manager for Databases Data Protection for Microsoft SQL There are several considerations which need to be taken into account when choosing the appropriate data protection solution including recovery time objectives (RTO), recovery point objectives (RPO), type of storage (e.g., virtual disks vs. raw device mapping [RDM] disks), storage vendor, data layout, Tivoli Storage Manager server configuration, long-term recovery requirements, etc. While this document does not intend to provide exhaustive details on all of these factors, it is meant as a starting point in evaluating different options available. 1.1 Hybrid Solutions Use of off-host data protection and in-guest data protection techniques are not mutually exclusive. In many cases, especially for faster recovery of an entire virtual machine including the hosted database or application, it may be desirable to use both techniques, specifically by using the in-guest data protection agent to protect the database or application-specific data and off-host data protection the virtual machine s operating system. Consider a Microsoft SQL deployment in a virtual machine which has its database and log data segregated (i.e., on a separate set of virtual disks) from the operating system data. It is possible to configure an in-guest agent (Tivoli Storage Manager for Databases Data Protection for Microsoft SQL) to protect the SQL data and an off-host agent (e.g., Tivoli Storage Manager for Virtual Environments Data Protection for VMware) to protect only the operating system data. Although this document will not go into further detail on how this can be accomplished, keep in mind that such solutions are available whenever in-guest data protection techniques are discussed unless otherwise specifically noted. 1.2 Supported Products This document is intended to be used with the following product versions: - IBM Tivoli Storage Manager for Virtual Environments Data Protection for VMware V6.4 - IBM Tivoli V3.2 Page 5 of 13
2. Microsoft SQL SQL Server deployments that meet all the following conditions: No Clustering use case in-guest data protection off-host data protection Use of an in-guest backup agent is not recommended. VM level backups will Data Protection for VMware or provide sufficient protection. No need for recovery to an arbitrary PIT via transaction logs No need to restore individual DBs or have native SQL backups to virtual disk within the VM SQL Server deployments that meet any of the following conditions: Clustered servers (MSCS or VCS) Always On Availability Groups deployed Recovery to a arbitrary PIT via transaction logs is required Recovery of a single database without disrupting other databases on the same server is required In-guest agent: Data Protection for Microsoft SQL or FlashCopy Manager for Windows Use of an in-guest backup agent is recommended. Off-host data protection for SQL databases is dependent on the recovery mode that has been configured: For SQL databases configured in simple recovery mode, either Data Protection for VMware or is recommended. For SQL databases configured in standard recovery mode, Data Protection for VMware is recommended as it provides the ability to truncate logs after a successful backup operation. FlashCopy Manager are not recommended for these type of SQL deployments and use cases: Page 6 of 13
3. Microsoft Exchange use case in-guest data protection off-host data protection Data Protection for Microsoft Exchange Data Protection for VMware or FlashCopy Manager for Windows Exchange single-instance deployments that meet all the following conditions: No clustering No Database Availability Group (DAG) configurations No special RPO requirements which would necessitate log recovery Exchange deployments for which any of the following conditions exist: If you have deployed FlashCopy Manager for VMware to protect your virtual machine environment, in-guest backups are recommended. Data Protection for Microsoft Exchange or FlashCopy Manager for Windows Clustered servers Database Availability Group (DAG) configurations In-guest backups are recommended RPO requirements which necessitate log recovery In-guest backups provide the following advantages: Data Protection for VMware is recommended for stand-alone instances of Exchange Exchange transaction logs can be configured to be truncated after a successful backup operation IBM Tivoli Storage Manager FastBack for Exchange can be used in conjunction with full VM backups to achieve message level recovery FlashCopy Manager are not recommended for these type of Exchange deployments and use cases: Recovery of individual databases and/or servers can be coordinated with other resources (e.g., for clustered servers or DAG configurations) Recovery to specific point-in-time states based on log recovery can be achieved to satisfy RPO requirements Message level recovery can be achieved through the native inguest agent interfaces Page 7 of 13
4. File/Web/Print Server/Workstation (Unstructured Data) Microsoft Windows and Linux virtual servers (unstructured data) On an exception basis, consider inguest backups of Windows virtual machines hosting file/web servers (unstructured) data for the following use cases. Windows Backup-Archive client or Linux Backup-Archive client Data Protection for VMware or /or are the recommended solutions for Windows virtual machines hosting file/web servers (unstructured data). Deployment of the Windows Backup- Archive client should be considered for virtual machines that have specific backup policies on individual files/directories which cannot be satisfied by off-host backup or when administrators expect to receive a large volume of file-level restore requests. The in-guest backup should be limited to only the files/directories with special policy/management considerations. FlashCopy Manager for Windows or FlashCopy Manager for Linux These solutions provide several advantages versus in-guest backups including: Incremental forever backup provides efficient, block-level backup of virtual machine guests Block-level backups can serve for recovery of entire machine, single disk, or individual files/directories (single-pass backup) No additional management of inguest agent Other operating systems (unstructured data) Deployment of FlashCopy Manager for Windows should be considered for achieving recovery point objectives (RPO) which could not be adequately achieved using off-host backups. Note that FlashCopy Manager for Windows can only be used for RDM disks in physical-compatibility mode or iscsi attached disks. Backup-Archive client Deployment of the Backup-Archive client should be considered for virtual machines that are hosting operating systems other than Windows-based or Linux-based operating systems and there is a requirement for individual file recovery. This would also be recommended for legacy deployments of Windows and Linux that are no longer supported by the Data Protection for VMware Recovery agent, e.g., Windows 2000. Data Protection for VMware or /or are the recommended solutions for Windows virtual machines hosting file/web servers (unstructured data). The advantages of these solutions are the same as those listed above. Page 8 of 13
5. Microsoft Active Directory use case in-guest data protection off-host data protection Windows 2012 Server Windows Backup-Archive client Active Directory - stand-alone domain controller configuration Windows 2012 Server Active Directory - multiple domain controller configuration In-guest backup of Microsoft Active Directory is only recommended if the customer requires object-level recovery of Active Directory objects which is only available in the Backup-Archive client Windows Backup-Archive client In-guest backup of Microsoft Active Directory is only recommended if the customer requires object-level recovery of Active Directory objects which is only available in the Backup-Archive client Data Protection for VMware or /or are the recommended solutions for Active Directory servers deployed on stand-alone domain controllers Data Protection for VMware or /or are the recommended solutions for Active Directory servers deployed on domain controllers Windows 2008 / 2003 Server Active Directory - stand-alone domain controller configuration Windows 2008 / 2003 Server Active Directory - multiple domain controller configuration Windows Backup-Archive client In-guest backup of Microsoft Active Directory is only recommended if the customer requires object-level recovery of Active Directory objects which is only available in the Backup-Archive client Windows Backup-Archive client In-guest backups of Microsoft Active Directory is recommended when protecting Active Directory deployments on multiple domain controllers * Note - requires ESXi 5.0 Update 2 or ESXi 5.1 (or higher) Data Protection for VMware or /or are the recommended solutions for Active Directory servers deployed on stand-alone domain controllers are not recommended for this type of Active Directory deployment: The Windows Backup-Archive will notify all participating domain controllers during a recovery operation so that the Active Directory synchronization mechanism is properly notified. Object-level recovery of Active Directory objects is supported. Page 9 of 13
6. Other Applications and Databases use case in-guest data protection off-host data protection IBM DB2 for Linux, UNIX, and Windows Native DB2 Tivoli Storage Manager Agent or FlashCopy Manager for DB2 (support pending) are not recommended for protecting DB2. IBM Lotus Domino Microsoft SharePoint Oracle Database In-guest backups are recommended Data Protection for Lotus Domino In-guest backups are recommended. AvePoint DocAve In-guest backups are recommended. are not recommended for protecting Lotus Domino. are not recommended for protecting Microsoft SharePoint Data Protection for Oracle or are not FlashCopy Manager for Oracle (support recommended for protecting Oracle pending) Database applications. In-guest backups are recommended. SAP ERP Data Protection for SAP or FlashCopy Manager for Oracle (with SAP Environments) (support pending) or FlashCopy Manager for DB2 (support pending) are not recommended for protecting SAP applications. In-guest backups are recommended. Page 10 of 13
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