PowerProtect Data Manager 19.9 File System Agent User Guide

Add a protection policy for centralized File System protection

With centralized protection, PowerProtect Data Manager manages all aspects of the protection process. The process of adding a protection policy is similar for all policy types. However, these instructions contain only elements and options that appear when you select the centralized protection policy type.

1. Select Protection > Protection Policies.
   The Protection Policy window appears.
2. Click Add.
   The Add Policy window appears.
3. In the Type page, specify the new protection policies group fields. For example, if you are creating a protection policy for daily backups in the Windows 2012 Server:
   1. In the Name field, specify the name of the protection policy. For example, File System Prod.
      NOTE The name that you specify here becomes part of the DD MTree entry.
   2. In the Description field, specify a short description of the protection policy. For example, File System Prod Daily Backups
   3. In the Type field, select File System.
   4. Click Next.
      The Purpose page appears.
4. To manage all protection centrally, click Centralized Protection.
5. Click Next.
   The Assets page appears.
6. Select the unprotected assets that you want to add to the backup of this protection policy group. The window enables you to filter by asset name to locate the required assets.
   Also, you can change the assets view to display all assets discovered by PowerProtect Data Manager, or a hierarchical view to display the assets in a tree structure underneath the application host. A hierarchical view might be helpful, for example, if you have added multiple File Systems, so that you can more easily identify which assets belong to which host.

   NOTE PowerProtect Data Manager does not support including CSV and non-CSV volumes in the same protection policy.
7. Click Next.
   The File Exclusions page appears.
8. Optionally, to enable exclusions, click Enable.
   1. Select one or more filters to apply, provide the parameters, and click Add Filter.

      Click Add a saved filter to use an existing filter or group of filters as a template.

      NOTE Add an exclusion filter provides more details about exclusion filters.
   2. Enter a name and description for the filter and click Save.

      The Objectives page appears.

9. On the Objectives page, select a policy-level Service Level Agreement (SLA) from the Set Policy Level SLA list, or select Add to open the Add Service Level Agreement wizard and create a policy-level SLA.
   The PowerProtect Data Manager Administration and User Guide provides instructions.
10. Click Add under Primary Backup.
    The Add Primary Backup dialog appears.
11. On the Schedules pane of the Add Primary Backup dialog:
    1. Specify the following fields to schedule the synthetic full backup of this protection policy:
       • Create a Synthetic Full...—Specify how often to create a synthetic full backup. A synthetic full backup copies only the changed data since the last backup to create a new full backup.
       • Retain For—Specify the retention period for the synthetic full backup.

         You can extend the retention period for the latest primary backup copy by using the Extend Retention schedule. For example, your regular schedule for daily backups can use a retention period of 30 days. However, you can apply extended retention to keep the full backups taken on Mondays for 10 weeks. Extended retention provides more information about extended retention.

       • Start and End—The activity window. Specify a time of day to start the synthetic full backup, and a time of day after which backups cannot be started.
         NOTE Any backups started before the End Time occurs continue until completion.
       • Click Save to save and collapse the backup schedule.
    2. Click Add Backup if you want to periodically force a full (level 0) backup, and then specify the following fields to schedule the full backup of this protection policy:
       NOTE When you select this option, the backup chain is reset.

       • Create a Full...—Specify whether you want to create a weekly or monthly full backup.
       • Repeat on— Depending on the frequency of the full backup schedule, specify the day of the week or the date of the month that the full backup occurs.
       • Retain For— By default, the retention period for the full backup is the same as that for the synthetic full backup. You can, however, specify a retention period for the full backup that is longer than the retention period for the synthetic full backup.
         CAUTION The retention period of synthetic full backups must be less than or equal to the retention period of full backup copies. If you set a shorter retention period for a synthetic full backup than for the corresponding full backup, then data loss might occur and you might be unable to recover the point-in-time copies.
       • Start and End—The activity window. Specify a time of day to start the full backup, and a time of day after which backups cannot be started.
         NOTE Any backups started before the End Time occurs continue until completion.
       • Click Save to save and collapse the backup schedule.
12. On the Target pane of the Add Primary Backup dialog, specify the following fields:
    1. Storage Name—Select a backup destination from the list of existing DD systems, or select Add to add a system and complete the details in the Storage Target window.
       NOTE The Space field indicates the total amount of space, and the percentage of available space, on the storage system.
    2. Storage Unit—Select whether this protection policy should use a New storage unit on the selected DD system, or select an existing storage unit from the list. Hover over a storage unit to view the full name and statistics for available capacity and total capacity, for example, testvmplc-ppdm-daily-123ab (300 GB/1 TB)
       When you select New, a new storage unit in the format policy name host name unique identifier is created in the storage system upon policy completion. For example, testvmplc-ppdm-daily-123cd.
    3. Network Interface—Select a network interface from the list, if applicable.
    4. Retention Lock—Move the Retention Lock slider to the right to enable retention locking for these backups on the selected system. PowerProtect Data Manager uses Governance mode for retention locking, which means that the lock can be reverted at any time if necessary. Toggling the Retention Lock slider on or off applies to the current backup copy only, and does not impact the retention lock setting for existing backup copies.
       NOTE If you enable Retention Lock for a replicated backup, set the Retain For field in the Add Replication backup schedule dialog to a period that is at least as long as the retention lock period for the primary backup, so that the replicated backup does not expire before the primary backup.
    5. SLA—Select an existing service level agreement that you want to apply to this schedule from the list, or select Add to create an SLA within the Add Service Level Agreement wizard.
       The PowerProtect Data Manager Administration and User Guide provides instructions.
13. Click Save to save your changes and return to the Objectives page.

    The Objectives page updates to display the name and location of the target storage system under Primary Backup.

    NOTE After completing a backup schedule, you can change any schedule details by clicking Edit next to the schedule.
14. Optionally, extend the retention period for the latest primary backup copy:
    Extended retention provides more information about Extend Retention functionality.
    1. Click Extend Retention next to Primary Backup. An entry for Extend Retention is created below Primary Backup.
    2. Under Extend Retention, click Add. The Add Extended Retention dialog appears.
    3. Retain the next scheduled full copy every...—Specify a weekly, monthly, or yearly recurrence for the extended retention backup schedule.
    4. Repeat on—Depending on the frequency of the full backup schedule, specify the day of the week, the date of the month, or the date of the year that the extended retention backup occurs.
    5. Retain For—Specify the retention period for the backup. You can retain an extended retention backup for a maximum of 70 years.
    6. Click Save to save your changes and return to the Objectives page.
15. Optionally, replicate these backups to a remote storage system:
    1. Click Replicate next to Primary Backup or Extend Retention. An entry for Replicate is created to the right of the primary or extended retention backup.
       NOTE

       PowerProtect Data Manager supports replicating an extended retention backup only if the primary backup already has one or more replication stages. Also, for replication of an extended retention backup, you can only select from the DDs to which the primary stage replicates.

       For example, if there are 6 DDs available (DD001-DD006), and the primary backup is on DD0001:

       • Replicate1, which is based on the primary backup, replicates to DD002.
       • Replicate2, which is based on the primary backup, replicates to DD003.
       • Extended retention backup is backed up to DD001.
       • Replicate3, which is based on the extended retention backup, must replicate to DD002 or DD003.
    2. Under Replicate, click Add. The Add Replication dialog appears.
    3. Complete the schedule details in the Add Replication dialog.
       NOTE The schedule frequency can be every day, week, month, or x hours for replication of the primary backup, and every day, week, month, year, or x hours for replication of the extended retention backup. For daily, weekly, and monthly schedules, the numeric value cannot be modified. For hourly, however, you can edit the numeric value. For example, if you set Create a Full backup every 4 hours, you can set a value of anywhere 1 to 12 hours.

       All replication copies of the primary backup schedule use the same retention period, and by default, this retention period is inherited from the Retain For value of the synthetic full backup schedule. To specify a different retention period for all of the replication copies of this primary backup schedule, click Edit, change the value in the Retain For field, and then click Save. This retention period will be applied to all of the replicated copies (synthetic full and full) of this primary backup schedule.

16. Optionally, add a cloud stage for a primary, replication, or extended retention schedule to move backups from DD storage to the cloud tier:
    NOTE To move a backup or replica to the cloud tier, schedules must have a retention time of 14 days or more. PowerProtect Data Manager also requires the discovery of a DD system with a configured cloud unit.
    1. Click Cloud Tier next to Primary Backup or Extend Retention or, if adding a cloud stage for a replication schedule that you have added, click Cloud Tier under Replicate. An entry for Cloud Tier is created to the right of the primary or extend retention backup schedule, or below the replication schedule.
    2. Under the entry for Cloud Tier, click Add.
       The Add Cloud Tier Backup dialog appears, with summary schedule information for the parent node to indicate whether you are adding this Cloud Tier stage for the primary backup schedule, the extended retention backup schedule, or the replication schedule.
    3. Complete the schedule details in the Add Cloud Tier Backup dialog, and then click Save to save your changes and return to the Objectives page.
       The PowerProtect Data Manager Administration and User Guide provides detailed instructions for adding a cloud stage for a primary, replication, or extended retention schedule.
17. Click Next.
    The Options page appears.
18. On the Options page, select the additional option if required for the policy:
    • Troubleshooting—Select this option to enable the debug logs for troubleshooting at higher debug levels. To override the default debug level, add the statement debugLevel=<N> to the addOn.cfg configuration file, where N is the desired debug level, in the range [4..9].
      NOTE Overriding the bug level in this manner may result in larger logs that may slow backup operations.

      In Windows environments, the impacted logs include:

      • FSAgentInstallPath\logs\vsscr.log
      • FSAgentInstallPath\logs\nsriscsi.log
      • FSAgentInstallPath\logs\nsrwriter.log
      • FSAgentInstallPath\logs\ddfscon.***.log
      • FSAgentInstallPath\logs\ddfssv.log

      In Linux environments, the impacted logs include:

      • /opt/dpsapps/fsagent/logs/nsriscsi.log
      • /opt/dpsapps/fsagent/logs/ddfscon.***.log
      • /opt/dpsapps/fsagent/logs/ddfssv.log

    NOTE If you have updated from an earlier File System agent version, some log files may appear with both .log and .raw extensions. Use the .log files.
19. Click Next.
    The Summary page appears.
20. Review the protection policy group configuration details. You can click Edit next to any completed window's details to change any information. When completed, click Finish.
    An informational message appears to confirm that PowerProtect Data Manager has saved the protection policy.

    When the new protection policy is created and assets are added to the protection policy, PowerProtect Data Manager performs backups according to the backup schedule.

21. Click OK to exit the window, or click Go to Jobs to open the Jobs window to monitor the backup of the new protection policy group.
    Upon requesting a backup (file-based or block-based), the status of the protection policy becomes Queued. This status switches to Running only after the system begins writing the backup to PowerProtect DD.