Backup and Recovery Solution for VMware vSphere on EMC Isilon Storage

White Paper

BACKUP AND RECOVERY SOLUTION FOR
VMWARE VSPHERE ON EMC ISILON STORAGE
Using Symantec NetBackup 7.5, VMware vSphere VADP and EMC
Isilon SyncIQ Data Protection Software

Abstract
This white paper describes how a multi-tiered, multi-site backup
solution can be deployed to protect data in a VMware vSphere
environment using vSphere data protection APIs along with
Symantec NetBackup 7.5 and EMC Isilon SyncIQ. This paper also
outlines the setup, configuration, and functional testing of a
disk-to-disk backup environment.

July 2012

Copyright © 2012 EMC Corporation. All Rights Reserved.

EMC believes the information in this publication is accurate as
of its publication date. The information is subject to change
without notice.

The information in this publication is provided “as is.” EMC
Corporation makes no representations or warranties of any kind
with respect to the information in this publication, and
specifically disclaims implied warranties of merchantability or
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Use, copying, and distribution of any EMC software described in
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For the most up-to-date listing of EMC product names, see EMC
Corporation Trademarks on EMC.com.

VMware, ESX, vMotion, VMware vCenter, and VMware vSphere
are registered trademarks or trademarks of VMware, Inc. in the
United States and/or other jurisdictions. All other trademarks
used herein are the property of their respective owners.

Part Number H10879

Backup and Recovery Solution for VMware vSphere on EMC Isilon Storage 2

Table of Contents
Executive summary.................................................................................................. 5
Business case .................................................................................................................... 5
Solution overview ............................................................................................................... 6
Key results and recommendations...................................................................................... 6
Introduction ............................................................................................................ 7
Purpose .............................................................................................................................. 7
Scope ................................................................................................................................. 8
Audience ............................................................................................................................ 8
Terminology ....................................................................................................................... 8
Assumptions .................................................................................................................... 10
Data protection strategies and use cases ............................................................... 10
Data protection ................................................................................................................ 10
Use cases ......................................................................................................................... 11
Technology overview ............................................................................................. 12
Overview .......................................................................................................................... 12
VMware VADP ................................................................................................................... 12
Symantec NetBackup 7.5 ................................................................................................. 13
Isilon SyncIQ 3.0 .............................................................................................................. 13
vSphere Management Assistant ....................................................................................... 13
Body of work ......................................................................................................... 14
Configuration ................................................................................................................... 14
Process overview .......................................................................................................... 14
Solution architecture .................................................................................................... 14
Physical environment ................................................................................................... 15
Validation......................................................................................................................... 16
Scenario #1: image-level backups ................................................................................ 16
Scenario #2: recovery of a VM from local backup.......................................................... 17
Scenario #3: recovery of individual files from a VM backup image ................................ 18
Scenario #4: recovery of a VM from remote backup ...................................................... 19
Component hardware and software .................................................................................. 22
Storage configuration ................................................................................................... 22
VMware ESXi host hardware configuration.................................................................... 23
Environment resources and configurations ................................................................... 25
Conclusion ............................................................................................................ 26
Summary .......................................................................................................................... 26
Findings ........................................................................................................................... 26
Next steps ........................................................................................................................ 26


References ............................................................................................................ 27
White papers .................................................................................................................... 27
Product documentation .................................................................................................... 27
About EMC Isilon ................................................................................................... 28
Contact EMC Isilon ........................................................................................................... 28


Executive summary
As enterprise server technology becomes increasingly powerful with each new
generation of hardware, virtualization technologies and capabilities grow at the same
pace. The end result for most organizations is an ever-increasing virtualized
infrastructure. As more and larger workloads are migrated to a virtualized
environment, the data sets associated with those workloads grow in both size and
criticality.
At the same time, organizations with 24x7 service level expectations and obligations
are forced to consider strategies to keep services available at all times while ensuring
that their data is protected. While a single backup solution is sufficient for many
organizations, the ever-increasing complexity and criticality of an organization’s data,
coupled with the need to recover data against multiple failure scenarios, often
requires organizations to consider a multiple layer approach to data backup and
recovery. In the case of virtualized environments hosted on EMC® Isilon® storage,
EMC offers both native features and interoperability with enterprise-class data
protection solutions to assist customers in meeting their backup and recovery
objectives.
This white paper steps through several of those solutions to assist organizations in
creating a comprehensive data protection strategy. By using EMC Isilon SyncIQ® and
SnapshotIQ® data protection software, as well as by deploying virtualization-aware
backup and recovery solutions, customers can maintain the continuous availability of
virtualized workloads and services, while ensuring their ability to recover critical
enterprise functionality and services in the event of data loss or corruption.

Business case
For most organizations, server virtualization has yielded both significant cost savings
and service improvements. The downside in many cases is a proliferation of virtual
servers and virtualized data. Often, organizations with a high percentage of their
workloads virtualized find their traditional approach to backup and recovery is no
longer adequate. Consider the following:
• Using traditional backup agents installed in each VM results in a significant
amount of overhead on the virtualized infrastructure, as each VM runs nearly
identical processes to back up nearly identical operating system data.
• As virtualized infrastructures continue to scale up, a traditional tape-backup
system may not be able to scale at the same pace. Often, organizations find
themselves constrained by traditional tape solutions that make full backups
impossible to complete within the designated backup window.
• At the same time, as service demands and business operational requirements
increase, those same organizations are seeing their backup windows continue to
shrink.


• Application consistency can be an issue if an organization’s backup solution is
not VM-aware.
• Using multiple backup solutions independently—e.g. separate backups for
operational recovery, application consistency and disaster recoverability—often
exceed the allotted backup window, and consume excessive backup media.
• In the event of a large-scale loss of data, such as multiple concurrent hardware
failures leading to the loss of multiple LUNs—a traditional backup approach would
require a lengthy restore process to recover all VMs affected by the outage.

Solution overview
The solution described in this white paper features a multi-tiered approach to
safeguard the integrity and the recoverability of critical organizational and system
data. It takes advantage of data protection features from VMware, Symantec and EMC
to ensure that, in the event of a system or site failure, organizations who adopt a
backup and recovery strategy similar to the one enumerated in this paper can quickly
and reliably recover impacted data and services.
This solution is based on NetBackup 7.5 with deduplication from Symantec,
combined with VMware vSphere APIs for Data Protection (VADP) feature and EMC
Isilon SyncIQ. It provides a multi-layered strategy to protect vSphere data, including
onsite, disk-based data, replication to an offsite disk cluster, and multi-tiered
recovery strategies.
Validation of the solution was achieved at multiple steps along the way as well. The
steps of verifying the integrity of the overall solution included:
• Monitoring the success of the VADP-based backup policies as configured and
scheduled in NetBackup 7.5
• Checking the state of data deduplication during the backup process and
monitoring the size of backup jobs relative to the original data footprint.
• Ensuring successful replication as scheduled between the primary Isilon storage
cluster and the offsite disk cluster using Isilon SyncIQ.
• Monitoring replication size, duration and success of the SyncIQ daily
synchronization.
• Verifying the successful recovery process of a VM using the locally-stored backup
data.
• Performing a successful recovery of the same VM using the remote backup
dataset as the basis for restoring the data.

Key results and recommendations
EMC recommends leveraging the latest developments in virtualization-aware backup
technologies, and applying them to create a comprehensive data protection strategy
that is designed to protect data at multiple levels and multiple locations. The intent is


to safeguard corporate and organizational data at multiple points, including file-level,
VM-level, and site-level protection.
Additionally, while the solution itself is a straightforward design, the criticality of the
data being protected requires careful planning, implementation and testing prior to
go-live. Confirmation of the solution’s ability to deliver a complete backup solution,
one that fits within operational and organizational constraints, is necessary to
validate a stable backup environment that provides sufficient protection for the
organization’s data, and the services and processes that depend on it.
Finally, in order to ensure the continued reliability and performance of the solution,
regular monitoring of the jobs and processes that comprise the solution is essential,
as is the practice of performing regular data restoration exercises. Doing so will
validate both the data and the procedures necessary to successfully recover from
data loss or corruption.

Introduction
Purpose
The purpose of this white paper is to describe how a multi-tiered, multi-site backup
solution can be deployed to protect data in a VMware vSphere environment using
vSphere data protection APIs along with Symantec NetBackup 7.5 and EMC Isilon
SyncIQ. This Guide outlines the setup, configuration, and functional testing of a disk-
to-disk backup environment for this solution. The guide features the latest generation
of virtualization-aware backup technology, coupled with native snapshot and
replication functionality from EMC Isilon.
While the solution modeled in this guide specifically leverages Symantec NetBackup,
this is only one example of an enterprise VM data protection platform. Although this
is a specific approach to vSphere backups, EMC recognizes that the specific
requirements that drove the solution in this guide are not universal.
Many organizations have disparate industry-level and/or regulatory requirements for
data protection, so every organization will have unique requirements and challenges.
The data protection solution described in this paper, while designed to meet a
specific set of protection criteria, may not meet every need for another organization.
Rather, this guide should be used to illustrate a multi-tiered approach to data
protection, which simplifies operations while minimizing the computing overhead
frequently associated with traditional enterprise backup solutions.
The solution presented here recognizes that enterprise backup strategies need to
make use of the advancing technology that virtualization provides, while still needing
to rely on more traditional methods like multiple layers of protection across multiple
locations. A VADP-aware backup solution simplifies the backup platform by
eliminating the need to install backup agents on every VM, and the change-block
tracking feature means that only changed data needs to be backed up. At the same
time, deduplication reduces the amount of data that SyncIQ needs to replicate via


WAN link to the offsite cluster. Finally, the use of disk-based backup as the primary
offsite storage medium increases the speed at which data is transferred offsite. Taken
together, the approach described in this paper results in simplified management,
increased data protection, improved efficiency, and reduced backup windows for
most organizations that adopt this strategy.

Scope
The scope of this white paper is to describe a backup solution for capturing,
deduplicating and archiving enterprise VM data. It does not cover specific
configuration steps of the entire solution, nor does it address the need for monitoring
or verifying successful backup status. Every organization will have unique tools and
requirements for those components

Audience
This white paper is intended for backup administrators, systems engineers and
consultants to couple the next generation of virtualization-aware backup solutions
with Isilon storage for their VMware environments. It describes how Symantec backup
and deduplication tools combine with Isilon snapshot and replication software to
simplify the backup and recovery of virtual machines and accompanying data. It
assumes the reader is familiar and proficient with the following:
• Virtualization using VMware vSphere 5.0
• EMC Isilon storage design and management
• EMC SnapshotIQ and SyncIQ data protection software
• Command-line syntax for administration of VMware vSphere and the EMC Isilon
OneFS® operating system. The automation of some tasks in this guide requires the
use of the VMware vSphere Management Assistant and SSH connectivity to the
Isilon storage cluster.
• Backup and recovery software and concepts
• Microsoft Windows Server 2003 or later, including hardware-level management,
NTFS permissions, and Active Directory authentication

Terminology
This paper includes the following terminology.
Table 1: Terminology

Term Definition

Backup policy The procedures and rules used to ensure adequate data backups
can be made. As configured within most backup software, backup
policies typically include parameters such as acceptable backup
windows, the systems and data to be backed up, the type of
backup to be performed, and the destination media.


Term Definition

Backup window The time period required to complete a backup procedure.
Backup procedures typically require the same computing and
network resources as production workloads, so if a backup
procedure exceeds its allotted backup window it can have
detrimental effects on production system performance.
Additionally, backups that fail to complete in the time available
can put production data at risk if a system failure occurs before
data can be successfully backed up.

Change Block Tracking A VMware feature that helps perform incremental backups by
tracking which disk sectors within a VMDK file have changed
since the last backup. This feature can be leveraged by 3rd party
backup and recovery software.

Cumulative Incremental A backup of all changes made since the last full backup.
backup Compared to differential incremental backups, cumulative
incremental backups require a longer backup window to complete
successfully, but shorten the time necessary to restore data after
a failure or loss.

Data deduplication A data-reduction technique in which redundant data within a
given dataset is reduced to a single instance, and subsequent
occurrences of the same data are replaced with a link back to the
first instance. This technique is used to improve storage
utilization, or reduce the amount of data to be transferred via
network link.

Differential Incremental A backup that contains only the data that has changed since the
backup more recent backup. Compared to cumulative incremental
backups, differential incremental backups require a shorter
backup window, but lengthen the recovery time after a loss of
data.

Full backup A complete backup of all selected data on a given system.

Recovery Point Objective Abbreviated as RPO, the maximum amount of data loss,
expressed in units of time, that an organization can afford to
sustain. For example, a 12-hour RPO for a given organization
means that the organization can afford up to lose up to 12 hours
of data in the event of a major incident. In designing a data
protection strategy, the RPO determines the frequency of the
backup cycle that an organization must plan for, the frequency
and size of the offsite synchronization process and the computing
and network infrastructure necessary to support the designated
RPO.

Recovery Time Objective The RTO is the duration of time allowed for system and data
recovery in order to restore business functions after a service
disruption.


Term Definition

Snapshot A point-in-time capture of the state of a file or file system.
Snapshots streamline access to stored data and can speed up the
process of data recovery.

Synchronization The process of making sure that two or more locations contain the
same up-to-date files.

Assumptions
The following conditions were applied to the test setting. Results may vary if these
same conditions are not in effect in the customer’s environment.
• This guide assumes the use of Windows Server 2003 or later guest operating
systems. Results may not be consistent with Linux or earlier versions of Windows.
• An Active Directory domain authentication source is necessary for the NetBackup
Master and Media servers to communicate with one another.
• Symantec NetBackup 7.5, VMware vSphere 5 and EMC Isilon OneFS 6.5.x with
Isilon SyncIQ 3.0 were used in this environment. Other versions of these platforms
may yield different results.
• Specific components leveraged in this solution may require additional licensing to
enable and use the full feature set of capabilities necessary for the multi-tiered
data protection strategy outlined in this document.
Additionally, the implementation and test procedures outlined in this document do
not give exact instructions for each step. It is assumed that the audience is familiar
enough with the tools and interfaces of the different products in this solution to
perform them without explicit guidance.

Data protection strategies and use cases
Data protection
As the name implies, ‘data protection’ as a term refers to the safeguarding of
important data against corruption, alteration, or loss. A well-planned and well-
executed data protection strategy can protect critical organizational data against any
or all of these scenarios. It can also serve as a defense against a disaster event, in
which critical infrastructure and data is permanently inaccessible or destroyed. For
many organizations, in a number of industries, an effective data protection strategy is
required by law, and organizations must ensure that their overall approach is
compliant with appropriate legal and regulatory requirements.
The elements necessary for sufficiently thorough data protection are driven in part by
the size and nature of the organization. It requires a multifaceted approach that
includes a combination of technology, business processes and overall best practices.
The specific mix of practices, processes and technologies necessary for an


appropriate strategy is driven in part by the size of the organization, and in part by its
nature. For any organization, the objective of a data protection strategy is to minimize
the risk of adverse business impact or loss resulting from inaccessible or unverifiable
business data.
The practices to consider in planning and implementing a data protection strategy
include:
• Backup and recovery
• Backup integrity verification
• Offsite data replication
• Storage system security
• Data Lifecycle Management
Backup and recovery refers to the protection of data by making one or more offline
copies of the data to be restored in the event of disaster or data loss. Backup integrity
verification requires the regular recovery of backup datasets to an alternate location
to ensure the validity and accessibility of system and data backups.
Offsite data replication is the real-time or near-real-time moving of data to a remote
site, external to the primary storage system, to enable recoverability in the event of
physical damage to systems and facilities. The two most common forms of this
technique are remote copy and replication. These techniques duplicate data from one
system to another, in a different location.
Storage system security refers to taking appropriate measures to ensure the
protection of the storage system itself against improper access. Minimally
appropriate measures include the following: physical security of the facility in which
the storage is housed, network access control to safeguard against improper data
access, alteration, or theft, and antivirus software to protect against data corruption.
Data Lifecycle Management is the automated movement of critical data to online and
offline storage. Potential aspects of include moving data considered to be in a final
state onto read-only storage, where it cannot be changed, and moving data to
different tiers of storage based on its age.
While this document focuses primarily on the technologies necessary to support a
comprehensive data protection solution, it is not intended to serve as a universal
guide for all organizations or all requirements.

Use cases
The solution described in this guide is designed to address the following data
protection scenarios and objectives:
• Disaster recoverability
• Business continuity
• Disk-to-disk backup


• Disk-to-tape backup
• Offsite data protection
Disaster recoverability requires the implementation of processes and mechanisms to
enable the recovery and continuation of technology infrastructure and critical
business data in the event of a large-scale disaster. At a minimum, disaster
recoverability requires a reliable, accessible offsite data repository located at a
sufficient distance from the primary site to be unimpacted by the initial disaster
event. Business continuity refers to the necessary steps to ensure that critical
business functions will remain available in the event of a disaster.
Disk-to-disk (D2D) backup is the backing up of data from one disk to another, rather
than to removable media such as tape. Relative to tape-based backup, D2D offers
higher backup speeds and capacities, which can reduce backup times. Because D2D
provides nonlinear access to data, it can significantly decrease recovery times as
well. Disk-to-tape (D2T) backup typically refers to the transfer of data from disk to
removable media, which can then be disconnected and stored offline.
Offsite data protection refers to the sending of critical data from the primary site as
part of a disaster recovery plan. Data is either transported via tape or optical media,
or replicated to an offsite storage array through a wide-area-network link. This
ensures the recoverability of critical data in the event of a disaster or system failure.

Technology overview
Overview
The solution described in this white paper leverages the following technologies as
part of a comprehensive data protection strategy for a vSphere infrastructure.
• VMware vStorage APIs for Data Protection
• Symantec NetBackup 7.5
• EMC Isilon SyncIQ

VMware VADP
Beginning with vSphere 4.0, VMware introduced the vStorage APIs for Data Protection
(VADP) as a means for offloading backup processing from the host. Not only does
VADP allow for easier access to a VM's virtual disk file, but it also contains features
that can improve backup speeds, such as Changed Block Tracking (CBT). CBT keeps
track of any blocks that have changed since the last backup. As a result, a backup
application can simply query the VMkernel to identify the specific blocks needing to
be backed up. This means the backup application no longer needs to track this,
resulting in much quicker incremental backups. VADP provides a much more efficient
mechanism for backing up when used with backup applications that take full
advantage of them.


Symantec NetBackup 7.5
NetBackup for VMware provides backup and restore of the VMware virtual machines
that run on vSphere servers. NetBackup leverages VADP to offload backup processes
from the ESXi hosts to a designated vSphere backup server. It includes the following
capabilities:
• Off-host backup of virtual machines. This reduces the backup processing load on
the ESXi host(s).
• Increased backup speeds relative to standard file-order backup methods.
• Automatic creation of quiesced snapshots of Windows virtual machines using
Windows Volume Shadow Copy Services (VSS). It can also create quiesced
snapshots of Linux virtual machines if an appropriate utility (e.g. SYMCquiesce) is
installed.
• Use of snapshot technology to keep virtual machines 100% available to users.
• Full and incremental backups, including block-level incremental backups, of
virtual machines regardless of the VM’s power state.
• VM- and file-level restore capabilities.
• NetBackup offers deduplication at a number of levels.

Isilon SyncIQ 3.0
EMC Isilon SyncIQ replicates data in an Isilon storage environment from a primary site
to a secondary, local or remote site, creating an offline copy of the data for disaster
recovery, business continuance, disk-to-disk backup, or remote archiving purposes.
SyncIQ delivers high-performance, asynchronous replication of data over both short
(LAN) or long (WAN) distances, providing protection from site-specific and regional
disasters. It includes a robust, policy-driven engine that allows for the customization
of replication datasets to minimize system impact while still satisfying data
protection requirements.

vSphere Management Assistant
The vSphere Management Assistant (vMA) from VMware is a Linux-based virtual
machine that includes prepackaged software such as the vSphere command-line
interface, and the vSphere SDK for Perl. vMA allows administrators to run scripts or
agents that interact with ESXi hosts and the vCenter server through a single portal.
Using the vMA, administrators can manage vCenter services and hosts, as well as
connect via SSH to other command-line administrative consoles, including the Isilon
storage cluster, either for automating management tasks via script or for single-
console access to multiple systems.


Body of work
Configuration
This section describes the solution as configured. Specific hardware and software
configuration details are provided in Component Hardware and Software section of
this guide.

Process overview
Backup of the vSphere infrastructure in this solution uses Symantec NetBackup
Symantec and EMC Isilon SyncIQ according to the following processes:
1. The Master Server coordinates with the vSphere infrastructure, using VADP, to
create snapshots of the VMs in the cluster for backup to one or more Media
Servers. Specific backup settings are defined in one or more backup policies on
the Master Server.
Examples of settings defined in NetBackup policies may include:
a. Backup schedule
b. Scope of backup, e.g. all drives, specific volumes, exclusion of pagefiles, etc.
c. Type(s) of backup, such as Full, Incremental, or Differential.
d. Staging of backup data to the Media Server(s), including location,
deduplication settings, etc.
2. Data from the snapshot(s) created in Step 1 is then streamed to the Media Server.
3. The Media Server stages the backup data to one or more storage repositories as
defined in backup policies on the Master Server. In this solution, backup data is
also deduplicated at the time of staging in order to reduce the storage footprint of
the backup data.
4. Using SyncIQ, the deduplicated data is replicated to an offsite Isilon storage
cluster for archival and potential disaster recovery purposes.
5. Additional offline archival takes place as data is backed up to tape. This can also
be configured from the primary cluster.

Solution architecture
Figure 1 below illustrates the physical and process architecture of the backup
solution described in this guide.


Figure 1: vSphere Infrastructure Solution Architecture with NetBackup Data Protection
Physical environment
This section describes the physical components of the environment

Hardware configuration:
• At the primary site, the backup solution utilizes five vSphere ESXi hosts, running
on a 9-node Isilon cluster composed of three Isilon S-Series nodes, three Isilon X-
Series nodes, and three Isilon NL-Series nodes.
• At the secondary site, three vSphere ESXi hosts connect to five NL-Series nodes
which replicate with the primary Isilon cluster using SyncIQ.
• The NetBackup 7.5 infrastructure in this solution consists of two Windows Server
2008 R2 VMs at the primary site, one configured as the Master Server, and the
other set up as the Media Server.

Software configuration
• The Master Server manages backup policy creation along with the creation,
configuration, scheduling, and execution of backup jobs. It communicates with
the vCenter server for VADP tasks, and with the Media Server on the actual
streaming of VM data for backup.


• The Media Server manages connections to the individual ESXi hosts in the
vSphere infrastructure to receive VM data for backup and deduplication. It also
provides connections to the storage pools that are used for staging backup data.

Validation
The following operational test cases were used as part of the validation process to
verify the reliability and performance of the solution design as described in this
document. These tests were intended to verify and document the ability of the
solution to protect organizational data against multiple failure scenarios:
• Image-level backups
• Recovery of an individual VM from local backup
• Recovery of individual files from within a backed-up virtual machine
• Recovery of individual server from offsite copy
This section describes the test procedures as executed against the design for all of
the failure and recovery scenarios described above.

Scenario #1: image-level backups
Using VADP to connect to vSphere, NetBackup 7.5 creates a VMware-level snapshot
of the virtual machine, and then presents it to the Media Server which backs up the
VMDK files that make up the VM. Properly configured, this enables the option of
either performing image-level recovery or file-level recovery from a single backup
process.

Test objectives
The purpose of this test is to ensure the reliable backup of all VMs configured in the
test backup policy according to the policy settings. These include a full weekly
backup and a daily incremental backup per VM within the designated backup
window. It also validates the deduplication of the VM data at the time of backup to
the Media Server in order to minimize disk space used and the necessary bandwidth
to replicate the backup data to the remote site.
In this scenario, a policy was created in which the VMs on the test vSphere cluster
were configured for daily backups. The policy was configured to perform full backups
once per week, with incremental backups for each VM occurring on the other days. To
minimize disk space, the NetBackup Media Server was configured to deduplicate
backup data as it streamed from the individual VMs. This reduced both the amount of
disk space necessary at the primary site to store the local backup data, as well as the
amount of data that needed to replicate via WAN link to the secondary site.

Test procedures
1. Create a 1TB VMDK file and attach it to the Media Server. From within the Media
Server’s guest operating system, mount the volume as E:. Using the NetBackup
Administration Console on the Master Server, create a storage unit on the Media


Server, assign it a name, set the storage unit type to Disk, and set the disk type to
PureDisk. Configure disk deduplication from the NetBackup Administrative
Console.
2. From the NetBackup Master Server, create a new VMware Backup Policy. Within
the policy, configure the Policy Name, VMware backup host, backup options (e.g.
block-level backups, exclusions, transport modes, and application protection
settings as applicable). Select the virtual machine(s) to be backed up as part of
the policy. Enable full backups and differential incremental backups as part of the
policy, then set the full-backup frequency to weekly, and the incremental-backup
frequency to daily, and the retention policy for two weeks. Set the backup window
to run during off hours. Save the policy.
3. Allow the policy to run through two full weekly backup cycles to ensure full and
differential incremental backups completed successfully.
4. Check Activity status on Master Server, check log reports to verify backup success.

Test results
Backup policies successfully executed against all in-scope VMs over a period of two
weeks. Activity logs on Master Server showed backups occurring on a daily basis for
all VMs configured in the test policy, with Full and Differential-Incremental backups
happening as scheduled. Disk deduplication rates per server varied.

Scenario #2: recovery of a VM from local backup
This scenario is a validation of the ability of the solution to recover an entire failed
VM. Situations in which this might become necessary include inadvertent VM deletion
within vCenter, file-system corruption, or development environment reset.

Test objectives
Confirm the recoverability of individual VMs from the backup images. Ensure that VMs
can be restored from any backup point over the retention cycle and that all VM data
and settings are preserved in the restored copy.
In this test, the target VM was deleted from within vCenter, and the NetBackup
Backup, Archive, and Restore console was used to recover the VM back to its original
configuration.

Test procedures
1. Identify a target VM for the restore test in vCenter. Confirm successful backups of
the test VM through the NetBackup Backup, Archive and Restore application.
Confirm also that the backup history lists restore points for every day over the two-
week lifecycle of the retention policy.
2. Power down the target VM within vCenter. Delete the VM from disk.
3. Run the Restore process, choose a recovery point from the available backups, and
recover the VM to its original location and retain the original settings. Configure


the restore job to power the VM up upon completion. Run the Pre-Recovery Check,
and initiate the recovery process. Monitor recovery status through the
Administration Console.
4. When restore process completes, log into recovered VM and verify network, disk
and configuration settings.

Test results
Restore process completed successfully. Upon boot, VM displayed the Windows Error
Recovery Screen indicating its last shutdown had not been successful. After logging
into the guest operating system console, the Shutdown Event Tracker appeared. The
VM's configuration, settings and files were otherwise completely recovered.

Scenario #3: recovery of individual files from a VM backup image
This scenario is a variation on the recovery of a full VM image from local backup. It
extends the test in Scenario #2 with additional procedures designed to restore
individual files from a VM's backup image. The test added the process for returning
files to their original location on the VM's file system while leaving the rest of the VM
intact, i.e., rather than a wholesale replacement of the entire VM to recover one or
more individual files, this test validated a procedure for recovering files by extracting
them from the backup image.

Test objectives
Verify that individual files can be recovered from the backup image and restored to
their original location on the target VM.

Test procedures
1. Identify a target VM for the restore test in vCenter. Confirm successful backups of
the test VM through the NetBackup Backup, Archive and Restore application.
Confirm also that the backup history lists restore points for every day over the two-
week lifecycle of the retention policy.
2. Identify target files on the VM for recovery. Note the files’ names, size, contents
and path. Delete the files from within the guest operating system by moving them
to the Windows Recycle Bin.
3. Identify another VM which can be used to stage the recovered virtual disk(s) for
restoring the deleted files. This VM should be running the same guest operating
system as the target VM, and should be a member of the same authenticating
domain.
4. Launch the Backup, Archive and Restore application on the Master Server. Run the
Restore process and choose a recovery point from the available backups.
Configure the VM to be recovered to an alternate datastore, and note the new
location. Enter an alternate name (e.g. “<VM-name-Files>”and an alternate
datastore. To reduce the recovery time, choose Thin Provisioning for the restored
virtual disks. Clear all network connections to avoid potential network and domain


conflicts when the VM powers on after recovery completes. Run the Pre-Recovery
Check, and initiate the recovery process. Monitor recovery status through the
Administration Console.
5. When restore process completes, power on the VM and verify recovery of target
files as noted in step 2 above, including folder path, file name(s), size(s), and
contents. If the file(s) to be recovered may have NTFS permissions different from
those of the parent folder, note these as well. Power down the VM and remove it
from the vCenter inventory, but do not delete its files.
6. From within vCenter, edit the settings of the staging VM identified in step 3 above.
Add a hard disk to the staging VM and choose the “Use an existing virtual disk”
option, then browse to the appropriate datastore selected in step 4 above and
locate the appropriate VMDK file(s) to attach to the staging VM.
7. Log on to the staging VM's console. From Disk Manager, mount the newly attached
disk and assign it a new drive letter. Open Windows Explorer and browse to the
correct path within the newly-assigned drive letter to locate the file(s) to be
recovered.
8. Copy the file(s) from the staging VM back to their original location on the target
VM. If the NTFS permissions on the restore(d) files differ from the parent directory,
these will need to be manually restored, since copying the files back to their
original location will cause the restored file(s) to inherit permissions from the
destination parent folder.
9. After verifying the restore back to the original location(s) on the target VM,
unmount the drive from within the guest operating system of the staging VM.
10. From vCenter, detach the VMDK file from the restore guest. The VMDK file can
either be left on the datastore or deleted at this time.

Test results
Restore process completed successfully. Individual files were completely recovered
back to the original state at the time of backup.
Note: While this process works for individual files, it can also be used to restore a
complete virtual disk back to the target guest machine, without having to reset the
entire VM back to its last backup state.

Scenario #4: recovery of a VM from remote backup
This final test is intended to demonstrate the ability of the solution design to replicate
the entire backup dataset to an offsite location using SyncIQ, then recover individual
or multiple servers to the offsite location.

Test objectives
Replicate the Master and Media servers to an alternate site, on a second Isilon cluster
and accessible via a second vSphere cluster. Use the replicated NetBackup


environment to recover VMs to an alternate location and bring services and/or data
online in the new site.
Note: This procedure assumes that one or more domain controllers from the same
domain are online at the recovery site. Using this process to backup and restore
domain controllers may lead to domain-level corruption. Active Directory domain
controllers should be backed up using one or more supported alternate Active
Directory-aware methods.

Test procedures
1. From the OneFS WebUI on the primary (source) Isilon cluster, create a new
directory. Create an NFS export that references the new directory. This will be the
source directory for SyncIQ replication that will be configured in Step 3 below.
Note: For best results, create the new directory and NFS export using the procedures
outlined in the “Deployment Guide – EMC Isilon Scale-Out Storage and VMware
vSphere 5” white paper. A link to that document is included in the References section
of this guide.
2. From the OneFS WebUI on the secondary (target) Isilon cluster, create a new
directory and NFS export, using the same processes as in Step 1 above. This will
be the target directory for SyncIQ replication that will be configured in Step 3
below.
Note: As with Step 1, follow the procedures outlined in the “Deployment Guide – EMC
Isilon Scale-Out Storage and VMware vSphere 5” white paper to complete this step.
3. From the OneFS WebUI on the primary (source) Isilon cluster, create a new SyncIQ
policy. Give the new policy a name and description, and set the job to synchronize
data between the Isilon clusters, and configure the job to run on a daily schedule.
Set the source cluster’s root directory to the directory created in Step 1 above. Set
the target cluster’s name or address, and set the target path to the directory
created in Step 2 above. Save the new policy.
Note: If the target cluster is specified using an IP address in this step, then SyncIQ will
connect to only one node on the target cluster to replicate the source directory.
Multiple nodes can be connected if a SmartConnect zone on the target cluster is
configured in this step.
4. From the vMA, mount a new datastore on all ESXi hosts in the primary-site
vSphere cluster to the NFS export created in Step 1 above. This is necessary for
proper vSphere HA and DRS functionality.
5. From the vMA, connect to the ESXi hosts in the secondary site and mount a new
datastore to the NFS export created in Step 2 above.
6. From the Activity Monitor of the NetBackup Administration Console, verify that all
backup jobs have completed. Connect to the vCenter client and shut down the


Master Server and the Media Server. Migrate both NetBackup servers to the new
NFS datastore created in Step 3 above.
7. When the migration of both NetBackup servers to the new datastore is complete,
start the initial replication process by launching the SyncIQ job configured in Step
3 above. When the SyncIQ job has successfully launched, power both NetBackup
VMs back on and continue running backup jobs as scheduled. The
synchronization period will depend on the size of the NetBackup servers’ disks
and the speed of the WAN connection. Continue to monitor the SyncIQ job from
the WebUI of the source cluster until the directory has been entirely synchronized
to the target Isilon cluster.
8. Allow the SyncIQ job to run as scheduled for one week before continuing with the
next step.
9. Ensure that all backups have completed on the Master Server through the Activity
Monitor of the NetBackup Administration Console. From within the guest
operating system of the NetBackup servers, shut down both servers and ensure
they are powered off before continuing.
10. Run the SyncIQ job manually. Replication should update only those blocks
changed since the last synchronization job and will ensure full symmetry between
source and destination data. Monitor the SyncIQ replication job until it completes.
Note: The SyncIQ job will create a read-only directory on the target cluster. If viewing
the target cluster’s file system using the WebUI, a red padlock icon will appear on the
target directory.
11. From the WebUI on the target cluster, break SyncIQ policy created in Step 3 above.
This will enable read-write access on the target directory and allow the ESXi hosts
at the secondary site to mount the NetBackup VMs replicated from the primary
site.
12. Shut down both NetBackup servers at the primary site. From a vSphere client
connected to the target vSphere cluster, remove both the Master Server and the
Media Server from the vSphere inventory. Then, browse the datastore added in
Step 5 to the ESXi hosts at the target site until the folders for the two NetBackup
servers are located. Add both servers to the local vSphere cluster’s inventory.
13. Ensure both servers have network connections to the virtual network on the target
vSphere cluster. Boot both NetBackup servers and change the IP address to match
the local subnet, and update the DNS server information as necessary. Verify
connectivity between the restored NetBackup servers at the secondary site, and
with the Active Directory domain.
14. Identify a target VM from the backup catalog to restore to the secondary site.
Remove the target VM from vCenter. From the Backup, Archive, and Restore
console on the Master Server at the target site, launch the VM restore process.
Select an alternate location to recover the image. Change the vCenter server if
necessary, as well as selecting an appropriate local ESXi host, Datacenter, Folder
and datastore/datastore cluster.


15. Configure the restore job to power the VM up upon completion. Connect the VM to
the appropriate local network. Run the Pre-Recovery Check, and start the recovery
process. Monitor recovery status through the Administration Console.
16. When restore process completes, log into recovered VM. Change the IP address to
match the local subnet settings and DNS services. Verify connectivity to the
network and to Active Directory.

Test results
Replication of approximately 1TB of data across the WAN link between the primary
and secondary sites took 23 hours. Subsequent daily synchronization jobs took
roughly one hour each. Target VM restored to the new destination and successfully
found the network and Active Directory upon reboot.

Test notes
• Benchmark results are highly dependent upon workload, specific application
requirements, and system design and implementation. Relative system
performance will vary as a result of these and other factors. Therefore, this
workload should not be used as a substitute for a specific customer application
benchmark when critical capacity planning and/or product evaluation decisions
are contemplated.
• All performance data contained in this report was obtained in a rigorously
controlled environment. Results obtained in other operating environments may
vary significantly.
• EMC Corporation does not warrant or represent that a user can or will achieve
similar performance expressed in transactions per minute.

Component hardware and software
This section lists the hardware used to validate the solution.

Storage configuration
The storage configuration as described in this solution is intended to include a full
representation of the available node types in a typical Isilon storage array. Table 2
describes the hardware and network specifications for each node type in the primary-
site cluster, which consists of a total of nine nodes.


Table 2: Primary-Site Storage Node Hardware Specifications

Node # Node Type Quantity Capacity per Node RAM Network Interfaces per
Node

1-3 36NL 3 33,256 GB HDD 4GB 2x1Gb/s Ethernet
2x10Gb/s Ethernet

4-6 X200 3 184 GB SSD 24GB 2x1Gb/s Ethernet
9,626 GB HDD 2x10Gb/s Ethernet

7-9 S200 3 184 GB SSD 48GB 2x1Gb/s Ethernet
7,066 GB HDD 2x10Gb/s Ethernet

The secondary-site storage cluster consists entirely of NL-series nodes, as shown in
Table 3:
Table 3: Secondary-Site Storage Node Hardware Specifications

Node # Node Type Quantity Capacity per Node RAM Network Interfaces per
Node

1-5 36NL 3 33,256 GB HDD 4GB 2x1Gb/s Ethernet
2x10Gb/s Ethernet

VMware ESXi host hardware configuration
The vSphere cluster consists of eight identically configured host servers, five in the
primary site, and three additional hosts, running additional localized workloads at
the secondary site. Table 4 describes the hardware configuration of each ESXi host
server. The host count and configuration were selected based on the workload profile,
and on the expected CPU and memory resource requirements. The host count and
configuration are also based on the need to maintain sufficient vSphere cluster
capacity in the event of a host hardware failure.


Table 4: Host Hardware Specifications

Host Hardware Hardware Configuration

Host Count 5 at primary site
3 at secondary site

CPUs per host 2

Number of cores per CPU 8

Number of cores per host 16

CPU type Intel® Xeon® E5606

CPU speed 2.13GHz

Memory per host 48GB

Network connections

1Gb/s Ethernet interfaces, per host 2

10Gb/s Ethernet interfaces, per host 2

Datastore connections NFS v3


Environment resources and configurations
Table 5 lists the environment components, including component software, software
versions, and configuration settings used in this solution.
Table 5: Environment Components and Configurations

Software Configuration

Isilon Array

OneFS operating system v6.5.4.15 at primary site
v6.5.4.10 at secondary site

SyncIQ v3

NetBackup 7.5 Servers

Operating System Windows Server 2008 R2 Standard
Edition, Service Pack 1

vCPU, per VM 4

RAM, per VM 4GB

SCSI Controller LSI Logic SAS

VMware Tools for Windows v8.6.0, build-515842

VMware Hardware Version 8

Symantec NetBackup v7.5

Master Server

Disk capacity 1x40GB VMDK

Media Server

Disk Capacity 1x40GB VMDK
1x1TB VMDK

vSphere Management Assistant appliance v5.0.0.1


Conclusion
Summary
By combining Symantec’s VADP-aware NetBackup 7.5 backup and deduplication
software solution with EMC Isilon scale-out storage platform and SyncIQ data
protection software, organizations can provide a comprehensive data protection and
recovery strategy. NetBackup provides efficient off-host backup that integrates with
vSphere to protect VMDK images and critical VM data against loss or damage. SyncIQ
provides an efficient mechanism for replicating data between Isilon storage clusters
across multiple sites. Finally, by deduplicating VM data at the time of backup with the
NetBackup PureDisk capability, data consistency is preserved at all levels without
overwhelming disk or network capacity resources.
For organizations with workloads beyond those in a vSphere cluster, NetBackup and
Isilon both offer simplicity and scale-out capabilities to ensure that organizations can
expand their data footprint and backup capabilities to other platforms and services
while maintaining the same level of simplicity that customers have come to expect
from EMC’s Isilon storage.

Findings
NetBackup 7.5, combined with Isilon SyncIQ, can be used for both local and offsite
backups. If the vMA is deployed in an organization, the process of shutting down the
NetBackup VMs and launching a SyncIQ policy can be scripted and automated,
eliminating much of the dependency on human administrators. The overall success of
such a solution in any given organization will depend on multiple factors, including:
• The organization’s designated Recover Point Objective
• How much data an organization needs to recover within the target Recovery Point
Objective. The rate of data change per day
• The type and format of the organization’s data. Some data types can be
deduplicated at a much better rate than others
• The speed of the organization’s WAN link between sites
Finally, before deploying any backup solution into a production environment, a
comprehensive testing and pilot program is should be undertaken to ensure both the
adequacy and the cost-effectiveness of the desired backup solution.

Next steps
EMC can help accelerate the assessment, design and implementation of a vSphere
backup solution on an Isilon storage platform while lowering the implementation
risks.
To learn more about this and other solutions, contact an EMC representative.


References
White papers
For additional information, see the white papers listed below.
• Best Practices for Data Replication with EMC Isilon SyncIQ
• Best Practice Guide – EMC Isilon Storage and VMware vSphere 5
• Deployment Guide – EMC Isilon Scale-Out Storage and VMware vSphere 5
• Best Practices Guide – Symantec NetBackup for VMware

Product documentation
For additional information, see the specific product documents listed below.
• Symantec NetBackup for VMware Administrator’s Guide
• vSphere Command-Line Interface Documentation
• vSphere Management Assistant Guide


About EMC Isilon
EMC Isilon is the global leader in scale-out NAS. We provide powerful yet simple
solutions for enterprises that want to manage their data, not their storage. Isilon
products are simple to install, manage and scale, at any size and, unlike traditional
enterprise storage, Isilon stays simple no matter how much storage is added, how
much performance is required, or how business needs change in the future. We’re
challenging enterprises to think differently about their storage, because when they
do, they’ll recognize there’s a better, simpler way. Learn what we mean at
www.emc.com/isilon.
U.S. Patent Numbers 7,146,524; 7,346,720; 7,386,675. Other patents pending.

Contact EMC Isilon
www.emc.com/isilon
505 1st Avenue South, Seattle, WA 98104
Toll-free: 877-2-ISILON | Phone: +1-206-315-7602
Fax: +1-206-315-7501 | Email: sales@isilon.com
© 2012 EMC. All rights reserved. Isilon, Isilon Systems, OneFS, and SyncIQ are
registered trademarks of Isilon Systems LLC. Isilon IQ, SmartConnect, AutoBalance,
FlexProtect, SmartCache, SmartPools, InsightIQ, and the Isilon logo are trademarks of
EMC.


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