HP B6200 Backup System
Recommended Configuration Guidelines
Introduction ......................................................................................................................................... 3
Purpose of this guide ............................................................................................................................ 4
Executive summary............................................................................................................................... 4
Challenges in Enterprise Data Protection ............................................................................................. 4
A summary of HP B6200 Backup System best practices ........................................................................ 4
Related documentation ......................................................................................................................... 8
Concept Refresh .................................................................................................................................. 9
Scenario 1 - Choosing the correct network template ............................................................................... 12
Planning for FC connection ............................................................................................................. 13
Planning for network configuration ................................................................................................... 13
Understanding the IP address allocation ........................................................................................... 14
Physical IP ports ......................................................................................................................... 14
VIF addresses............................................................................................................................. 15
High availability and cabling ....................................................................................................... 15
Gateway setup and network templates ............................................................................................. 16
Template 1, 1GbE and 10GbE subnets ............................................................................................ 19
Template 2, 1GbE for data, replication and management ................................................................... 20
Template 3, 10GbE for data, replication and management ................................................................. 21
Template 4, two 1GbE subnets, one for management, the other for data .............................................. 22
Example of configuring the network ................................................................................................. 23
IP address allocation after net set config ........................................................................................ 23
VIF address requirements............................................................................................................. 23
Physical Ethernet connection requirements ..................................................................................... 24
Scenario 2 - Configuring shares and libraries to align with backup job segmentation ................................ 25
Generic best practices .................................................................................................................... 25
Why multiplexing is a bad practice .............................................................................................. 26
VTL best practices........................................................................................................................... 27
NAS best practices......................................................................................................................... 29
Understanding the maximum of devices supported per service set ........................................................ 30
Worked Example ........................................................................................................................... 30
Key considerations ..................................................................................................................... 31
Working out and applying the mapping ....................................................................................... 31
Pass 1 ....................................................................................................................................... 34
Pass 2 ....................................................................................................................................... 35
Pass 3 ....................................................................................................................................... 36
Room for growth ........................................................................................................................ 39
Scenario 3 - How to get the best out of B6200 Replication ..................................................................... 40
A review of replication best practices ............................................................................................... 40
Seeding and the HP B6200 Backup System ...................................................................................... 41
Co-location ................................................................................................................................ 41
Temporary increased WAN link speed ......................................................................................... 41
Floating D2D4324 ..................................................................................................................... 41
Copy to physical tape ................................................................................................................. 41
Implementing replication best practices with HP B6200 ...................................................................... 44
Using dedicated nodes for replication targets (Active/Passive replication) ......................................... 45
Adding local backups to replication target nodes ........................................................................... 46
Active/Active configuration ......................................................................................................... 47
Scenario 4 – Configuring Many-to-One replication ................................................................................ 48
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Implementing floating D2D seeding .................................................................................................. 49
Balancing Many-to-One replication .................................................................................................. 50
Replication and load balancing ....................................................................................................... 52
Scenario 5 - How to get the best from HP autonomic failure .................................................................... 54
What happens during autonomic failure? ......................................................................................... 54
Failover support with backup applications ......................................................................................... 55
Designing for failover ..................................................................................................................... 56
Scenario 6 - Monitoring the HP B6200 Backup System .......................................................................... 57
Events reporting ............................................................................................................................. 57
Events generated if couplet storage fills............................................................................................. 57
Housekeeping load ........................................................................................................................ 58
Storage reporting ........................................................................................................................... 59
Hardware Problem Report ............................................................................................................... 60
Email alerts ................................................................................................................................... 60
SNMP reporting ............................................................................................................................. 61
HP Insight Remote Support ........................................................................................................... 61
Microsoft SCOM (System Center Operation Manager) .................................................................. 62
HP Replication Manager 2.0 ........................................................................................................... 63
Appendix A – FC failover supported configurations ............................................................................... 66
Key Failover FC zoning considerations ............................................................................................. 66
Fibre channel port presentations ...................................................................................................... 66
FC failover scenario 1, single fabric with dual switches, recommended ................................................ 67
FC configuration ........................................................................................................................ 67
B6200 VTL configuration ............................................................................................................. 68
FC failover scenario 2, single fabric with dual switches, not advised .................................................... 69
FC configuration ........................................................................................................................ 69
B6200 VTL configuration ............................................................................................................. 69
FC failover scenario 3, dual fabric with dual switches, recommended .................................................. 70
FC configuration ........................................................................................................................ 70
B6200 VTL configuration ............................................................................................................. 70
What happens if a fabric fails? .................................................................................................... 71
FC failover scenario 4, dual fabric with dual switches, not advised ...................................................... 73
FC configuration ........................................................................................................................ 73
B6200 VTL configuration ............................................................................................................. 73
Other factors to consider................................................................................................................. 74
Appendix B – B6200 Key Configuration Parameters .............................................................................. 75
Appendix C – B6200 Sizing Considerations ......................................................................................... 76
Replication Designer wizard ............................................................................................................ 77
Appendix D – Glossary of Terms ......................................................................................................... 83
Appendix E – Increasing NAS session timeout ....................................................................................... 85
Appendix F – Power Distribution Unit Options ....................................................................................... 87
For more information .......................................................................................................................... 88
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Introduction
The Enterprise StoreOnce B6200 Backup System is a deduplication backup appliance supporting VTL
and NAS emulations, which provides scale-up and scale-out performance with a user capacity of up
to 512 TB and throughput of up to 28 TB/hour.
The architecture uses high levels of redundancy supported by 2-node couplets that allow autonomic
failover to the other node in a couplet should a failure on one node occur. Any backups will restart
automatically after failover.
The whole appliance is managed by a single graphical user interface (GUI) and also supports a
command line interface (CLI). The HP B6200 Backup System is replication compatible with existing
HP StoreOnce Backup Systems and can support a fan-in of up to 384 concurrent replication streams
(up to 48 per node).
Internal communication
switches
B6200 Couplet 2
Extra storage D
(paired with C)
B6200 Couplet 2
B6200 Couplet 2
Extra storage C
(paired with D)
B6200 Couplet 1
Extra storage B
(paired with A)
B6200 Couplet 1
B6200 Couplet 1
Extra storage A
(paired with B)
Figure 1: HP B6200 StoreOnce Backup System, 2-couplet (4-node) configuration
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Purpose of this guide
The purpose of this guide is to illustrate through fully developed scenarios how best to tune the HP
B6200 Backup System for:
Network and Fibre Channel connectivity
Device creation and data segmentation
Active/Passive and Active/Active replication performance
Many to One replication performance
Autonomic failover
Executive summary
Challenges in Enterprise Data Protection
Requirements for a modern Enterprise Data Protection solution have many drivers:Exponential growth of data
Shrinking backup windows
The need to design, plan and integrate a comprehensive Disaster Recovery capability
The need for backup devices to be more available than ever before
The HP B6200 StoreOnce Backup System responds to all these requirements by providing:
Deduplication to drive more efficient storage of data
Large device scalability to ensure every backup has access to devices and, so, reduce
queuing time
In-built low bandwidth replication for cost-effective copies of data offsite as part of a Disaster
Recovery plan
HP Autonomic failover (with appropriate ISV software) to allow backups to continue, even if a
node in an HP B6200 StoreOnce Backup System fails.
High scalability in terms of capacity, performance and replication to ensure the system grows
as your business grows.
Such capabilities need careful assessment before implementation. To get the best from the appliance
the guidelines in the following section should be followed.
A summary of HP B6200 Backup System best practices
IMPORTANT: Users familiar with the HP VLS System should be aware that the HP StoreOnce B6200
Backup System does not behave in the same way and needs a completely different approach when
architecting and tuning for best performance. Do not assume that an HP B6200 Backup System can
replace an HP VLS System without major re-evaluation of requirements and alignment with HP B200
best practices.
1. Invest time in sizing your solution before purchase, taking care to include any replication
requirements and sizing for failover requirements as early in the process as possible.
Work with your HP Pre-Sales representative or Partner and perform a full Sizing exercise
using the HP Storage Backup Sizing Tool (example shown in Appendix C) prior to
purchase to ensure the device is sized correctly for capacity, throughput and replication.
Size adequately for predicted data growth and predicted replication windows. The
Sizing tool also makes allowances for housekeeping activities. (See Appendix D for a
glossary of terminology.)
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2. Think carefully about the power options available from the B6200 power distribution units
and what your particular site can supply. Power to the HP B6200 Backup System is
configurable in one of two ways:
Monitored PDUs (dual power inputs, which have an HP Power monitor and support losing
power on one of the inputs). These are available in single-phase or 3-phase types. There
are four per rack and they require between 32A and 48A feeds, depending on
international standards
Modular PDUs. These are enclosed in the sides of the rack, are single phase only and
support a single source power loss. They have current requirements of between 32 and
40 Amps depending on location. By choosing four PDUs, instead of two, the current can
be successfully limited to only 32A supplies, which is all that is available in some
locations.
For more details about these Monitored and Modular Power options see Appendix F –
Power Distribution Unit Options.
3. Consider which of the four network template options available with the B6200 best suits your
networking infrastructure and gateway requirements. Even if you start off with a small/mid
range B6200 configuration – it is strongly advised to pre-allocate all the IP addresses
needed for a full configuration IN ADVANCE to prevent re-assignment of IP addresses when
future upgrades are applied. (Up to 25 IP addresses may be required at installation time.)
See Scenario 1 - Choosing the correct network template.
4. Consider moving to a 10 GbE infrastructure to get the best NAS share backup and
replication capabilities from the HP B6200 Backup System.
5. The Fibre Channel VTL interface on the HP B6200 Backup System is 8 Gb with two ports per
node. The support of NPIV (N port virtualization) on your main SAN switches is essential if
you wish to take advantage of HP Autonomic failover of Virtual Tape devices (VTLs) on the
B6200. See Appendix A – FC failover supported configurations for supported switch zoning
configurations.
6. VTL medium changers (robots) can be presented to Port1, Port 2, or Port 1 & 2 on the B6200
nodes. By placing all configured robots on Port 1 & Port 2 it is possible to build in external
SAN redundancy (through the use of multiple fabrics).
7. Plan how devices will be used – The HP B6200 Backup System supports both VTL devices
and NAS shares. In Enterprise environments it is expected that most implementations will use
a majority of VTL devices configured onto the FC port of each node. NAS shares will be
required as backup devices, if specialist backup techniques are used that do not support
“tape media” as such. Many virtualization backup software packages and “in-built”
application backup only support backup to disk targets (NAS shares). An audit should be
performed prior to implementation to decide what mixture of devices is required.
8. VTLs and NAS shares can be provisioned on the HP B6200 and “presented” to different
backup applications, if required, allowing maximum flexibility. Always check the HP
Enterprise backup solutions guide www.hp.com/go/ebs to check support of your software
prior to purchase.
9. The HP B6200 Backup System provides up to 8 separate nodes in a single appliance with a
single management GUI for all nodes, and failover capability across nodes within the same
couplet as standard. The best practices for single-node D2D Backup Systems are well
understood and documented. However, significant thought must be given to mapping
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customer backup requirements and media servers across devices located on up to 8 separate
nodes. See Scenario 2 - Configuring shares and libraries to align with backup job
segmentation.
10. The preferred mapping approach is to segment customer data into different data types and
then map the data types into different backup devices configured on the HP B6200 Backup
System so that each backup device is its own unique deduplication store. This approach also
improves deduplication ratio; similar data types mean more chance of redundant data. See
Scenario 2 - Configuring shares and libraries to align with backup job segmentation
11. The use of an excessive number of streams to a single device can impair performance.
Whether VTL backup device or NAS share backup device, no more that 16 streams should
be running to a device concurrently.
12. Do not send multiplexed data to StoreOnce B6200/D2D Backup Systems.
“Multiplexing” data streams from different sources into a single stream in order to get higher
throughput used to be a common best practice when using physical tape drives. This was a
necessity in order to make the physical tape drive run in streaming mode, especially if the
individual hosts could not supply data fast enough. But multiplexing is not required and is in
fact a BAD practice when it comes to D2D or B6200 deduplication devices. See also Why
multiplexing is a bad practice.
13. To allow predictable performance customers should try and separate backup, replication and
housekeeping activities into separate windows. Replication and housekeeping windows are
configured in the GUI.
14. Plan ahead for replication, not only in sizing the day-to-day replication link size but also in
making sure sufficient bandwidth is available during the seeding process (first initialization of
data for replication) because the seeding data for the HP B6200 Backup System may be of a
considerable size. These techniques will be discussed further in Scenario 3 - How to get the
best out of B6200 Replication.
15. The preferred method of seeding with the HP B6200 Backup System is to use a temporarily
increased size WAN link from your Telco provider. Alternatively, use co-location of the
system racks with a 10GbE local link, break the replication link, ship one device to the
required site, then re-establish the replication link. For cross-continent, or “Many-to-One”
replication, seeding requirements the use of a “Floating” D2D4324 is recommended.
16. For replication between Data Center sites where HP B6200 Backup Systems are deployed on
each site, it is probably best to allocate specific nodes at each site to be replication targets
only. This is because the volume of replication traffic will be high and is probably best served
by a dedicated node. See Scenario 3 - How to get the best out of B6200 Replication.
17. For large numbers of remote offices the HP B6200 Backup System can offer a single high
capacity replication target, giving major benefits of a consolidated Disaster Recovery
solution. Replication also generates housekeeping activity and, in the same way as backups,
this replication load is best distributed across all available nodes. Regional considerations of
when replication is likely to occur will also play a part in the design.
18. For Many-to-One replication using many small remote sites, the recommendation is to balance
the replication load as equally as possible across multiple dedicated replication nodes. This
optimizes resilience, so all replication performance is not reduced if a node fails-over. See
Scenario 4 – Configuring Many-to-One replication.
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19. When HP B6200 Autonomic failover is deployed, IP failover is handled automatically
because the device uses VIF (Virtual network interface). But for Fibre Channel failover to work
the customer SAN infrastructure MUST support NPIV (N Port virtualization) and the zoning
must be done by using World Wide Names (WWN). For more details see Appendix A – FC
failover supported configurations.
20. Whilst Autonomic failover is automatic, the “Failback” process (after a node is repaired) is
manual and performed from the GUI or the CLI. Once failed over, a single node is
handling the load of two nodes and reduced performance may result. An essential part of the
best practices is testing the failover and failback scenario to ensure the performance during a
failed-over situation is adequate.
The customer has a choice at sizing time. Either fully load each node with work; if failover
occurs, the customer will see a reduction in throughput because one node is doing all the
work. Or oversize the nodes to use only 50% of their throughput; if failover occurs, there will
be no perceived reduction in performance.
21. HP Autonomic failover also has some ISV dependencies in the form of scripts that need to be
integrated into the post-execution fields of the backup software. Ensure the necessary ISV
scripts or utilities are loaded on the media servers or in the backup jobs to ensure B6200
Autonomic failover works successfully. Validation of the particular ISV scripts with the HP
B6200 Backup System should be part of the commissioning process.
These scripts and utilities can be made selective, so that only the most important backup jobs
are required to run on the single remaining node when one node fails. This reduces the
overall load on the single remaining node. See Scenario 5 - How to get the best from HP
autonomic .
22. Regularly check for software updates at Software Upgrades and use the .rpm package
installer process documented in the HP B6200 StoreOnce Backup System user guide to
upgrade the software. Always read the release notes before upgrade; these also contain
installation instructions as well as information about any hardware firmware component
revisions.
Sales of all HP B6200 Backup System come with a compulsory Install and Startup service and an
optional Configuration service.
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Related documentation
These configuration guidelines assume the reader is familiar with the concepts and architecture of the
HP B6200 StoreOnce Backup System. Supporting documentation includes:
HP B6000 Series StoreOnce Backup System Installation Planning and Preparation Guide with
Checklists (PDF): This guide is the site installation preparation and planning guide. It contains
checklists that should be completed prior to HP service specialists arriving on site to install the
product.
HP B6000 Series StoreOnce Backup System User Guide (PDF and online help): This guide
describes how to use the GUI and common CLI commands.
HP StoreOnce B6000 Series StoreOnce CLI Reference Guide (PDF): This guide describes all
supported CLI commands and how to use them.
HP B6000 Series StoreOnce Backup System Capacity Upgrade booklet (PDF): This guide
describes how to install the capacity upgrade kits.
Linux and UNIX Configuration Guide (PDF): This guide contains information about configuring
and using HP StoreOnce Backup Systems with Linux and UNIX.
HP StoreOnce Backup System Concepts Guide (PDF): If you are new to the HP StoreOnce
Backup System, it is a good idea to read this guide before you configure your system. It
describes the StoreOnce technology.
These can be downloaded from B6200 Manuals
At a node level many of the best practices are identical to those in single node D2D models and the
following documentation is a good source of information.
D2D Best Practices for VTL, NAS and Replication implementations.
This can be downloaded from StoreOnce Manuals
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Concept Refresh
Figure 2: Basic concepts
The above diagram shows the basic concepts of the HP B6200 StoreOnce architecture –
understanding the architecture is key to successful deployment.
•
Node: this is the basic physical building block and consists of an individual server (HP
Proliant server hardware)
•
Couplet: this consists of two associated nodes and is the core of the failover architecture.
Each couplet has a common disk storage sub-system achieved by dual controller architecture
and cross-coupled 6Gbps SAS interfaces. Each node has access to the storage subsystem of
its partner node.
•
Service set: This is a collection of software modules (logical building blocks) providing
VTL/NAS and replication functions. Each service set can have Virtual Tape (VT), NAS and
replication configurations.
•
Management Console: This consists of a set of software ‘agents’, each agent running on
a node, only one of which is active at any one time. Each node is in communication via an
internal network. The Management Console provides a virtual IP address for the Management
GUI and CLI. If node failure is detected, any agent may become active (first one to respond).
Only ONE active Management Console agent is allowed at any one time.
•
Cluster: This is a collection of 1 to n couplets. For the initial B6200 Backup System n=4. This
means that a 4-couplet, 8-node configuration is the largest permitted configuration at product
launch.
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•
Failover: This occurs within a couplet. Service sets for VTL/NAS/Replication will run on the
remaining node in the couplet.
•
Failback: This is a manual process to restart a node after recovery/repair.
•
VIF: This is a Virtual network Interface. Network connections to the HP B6200 Backup
System are to virtual IP addresses. The network ports of the nodes use bonded connections
and each bonded (2 ports into 1 entity) interface has one virtual IP address. This means that if
a physical port fails, the other port in the bonded pair can be used as the data channel
because the VIF is still valid. This architecture eliminates single point of hardware failure. The
architecture does not use LACP (Link Aggregation Control Protocol) so there are no specific
network switch settings required.
•
Storage shelf: This refers to the P2000 master controller shelf (one per node) or a P2000
JBOD capacity upgrade. JBODs are purchased in pairs and up to three pairs may be added
to each couplet. They use dual 6Gbps SAS connections for resilience.
In reality, up to 128 TB of storage is shared between two nodes in a couplet. Depending on customer
requirements and single node best practices, it is possible to have, for example, a service set on node
1 that consumes 100 TB and a service set on node 2 that consumes 28 TB of the available 128 TB.
(However, this is not best practice and not recommended.) This architecture scales dramatically and
the maximum configuration can be seen below.
Figure 3: HP B6200 Backup System, maximum configuration
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Note that data, replication and storage failover is always between nodes in the same couplet but the
Management Console (GUI and CLI) can failover to any node in the whole cluster.
In all cases the deployment should center around what devices and services need to be configured on
each node.
In the following example Node 2 has failed and Service Set 2 has failed over to Node 1. Both
service sets are running on Node1, but backup and replication performance will be reduced. The
Management Console that was active on Node 2 has moved to Node 3, Couplet 2. This is not
significant; the Management Console becomes active on the first node to respond.
Figure 4: Showing Node 2 service set failed over to Node 1
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Scenario 1 - Choosing the correct network template
The very first deployment choice is how to use the external networking and Fibre Channel connections
that the B6200 Enterprise StoreOnce Backup System presents.
All GbE network connections are for NAS devices, replication and device management, and
are bonded pairs to provide resiliency. There are 2 x 10 GbE ports and 4 x 1GbE ports on
each node
The Fibre Channel connections (2 x 8 Gbs) are for VTL devices and MUST be connected to a
Fibre Channel switch; direct FC Connect is not supported. The switch MUST support NPIV for
the FC failover process to work.
The following diagram illustrates network and Fibre Channel external connections to a two-rack
system. See Appendix A – FC failover supported configurations for more information about how the
FC cabling should be connected to FC switches and fabrics to best support failover. See Gateway
setup and network templates and subsequent template examples for more information about ensuring
the network cabling supports failover.
Figure 5: HP B6200 Backup System customer connections: Fibre Channel, 1GbE and 10GbE
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The following diagram illustrates the physical ports on the rear of each node.
Figure 6: HP B6200 Backup System customer connections, Fibre Channel, 1GbE and 10GbE to rear of node
1
2
3
10 GbE external network connections (2 per node), normally used for NAS and replication data
1GbE external network connections (4 per node), Management, may also be used for data
8 GbE FC connections (2 per node), used for VTL
Planning for FC connection
The physical FC connection to the HP B6200 Backup System is straightforward; there are two FC
ports per node, as shown in Figure 6. However, care must be taken to ensure there is no single point
of failure in switch or fabric zoning that will negate the failover capabilities of the HP B6200 Backup
System and its autonomic failover ability.
Please see Appendix A – FC failover supported configurations.
Planning for network configuration
The HP B6200 Backup System is always installed by HP service specialists, but they need to know the
required network configuration. The HP B6000 Series StoreOnce Backup System Installation Planning
and Preparation Guide with Checklists (PDF) is available from the StoreOnce web pages to help
customers prepare their site and define requirements. Customers are asked to read this document and
complete the checklists before HP service specialists arrive to install the system. This guide also
provides detailed information about network templates and is available from B6200 Manuals .
There are some network restrictions that the customer must follow:
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No network bonding between 1GbE port and 10 GbE ports.
The IP address range allocated must be contiguous.
Do not use the IP address range 10.154.x.x because this is reserved for internal networking.
Customer can only have one external IP for configuring the Management Console and it
should be the first or last IP in the allocated range.
Using the network bonding will give the customer reliability because it provides High
Availability, but will not increase the performance of the B6200 in general.
The network configurations must be the same across all nodes in the same cluster
If using separate subnets for data and management (templates 1 and 4) and multiple external
switches are used, these switches must support a Multi Chassis Link Aggregation protocol that
is compatible with the rest of the customer’s network switch infrastructure. For more
information, see the white paper at http://h20195.www2.hp.com/v2/GetPDF.aspx/4AA34841ENW.pdf.
No VTL support on the Ethernet ports
Only one gateway is supported
DHCP is not supported because it is not appropriate for the failover process which relies on
known virtual IP addresses
There must be enough physical connections available to meet the template requirements
(see Physical Ethernet connection requirements)
Note: The iLO3 ports are not available for System Insight manager monitoring – the ILO3 ports are
an integral part of the autonomic failover architecture. They are pre-wired – do not attempt to change
the wiring.
In a normal network connection and configuration each network link or port will be assigned a unique
IP address to be able to route the traffic data to and from it. The HP B6200 Backup System uses a
High Availability (HA) solution that allows more than one link or port to have the same IP address.
This is done by bonding the ports together to form a new virtual interface (VIF), which is totally
transparent to the user.
High availability [HA] with respect to networking is considered one of the most commonly used
network configurations for performance and/or for redundancy purposes.
Understanding the IP address allocation
To understand the IP address allocation on supported configurations (called templates and described
below), it is important to understand the difference between Physical IP ports and Virtual (VIF)
addresses.
Physical IP ports
The physical ports are the ports that are used to connect the HP StoreOnce Backup System to
the customer’s network. Two 10GbE and four 1GbE ports are available on each node for connecting
to the customer’s Ethernet network(s).
Physical ports are always bonded and a physical IP address is required for each external
bonded Ethernet port. Once the HP service engineer has configured your network, the physical
IP addresses are subsequently used for HP support purposes only.
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VIF addresses
The VIF addresses are key to ensuring continued performance and availability in the event of
failover and are assigned as part of the network configuration process. There are two instances of VIF
addresses:
The Management Console VIF
The B6000 Management Console uses the Management VIF address to access the Backup
System from the customer’s network for all manageability tasks. Because this Management
VIF address is dynamic on the system, it can be active on the master node and passive on the
other nodes, but should the master node fail for any reason the Virtual Management Console
simply moves to another node and can still be accessed using the same VIF address.
Data Path VIFs
The VIF Data Path address is associated to a service set, which is the set of services (NAS,
replication and so on), available for a node. Should the physical port fail, data will
automatically be processed by the service set associated with the failover port using the VIF
Data Path address. No change is needed to the VIF address of the service set, allowing hosts
and the B6000 Backup System to function correctly. Each couplet has two nodes and,
therefore, two service sets, which means that each couplet has two Data Path VIFs.
IMPORTANT: The VIF addresses are the IP addresses that the customer needs to access the B6000
Management Console (the management VIF), and to configure NAS backup targets and replication
configurations (the data path VIFs). These addresses are not known until the HP service engineer has
configured the network. The HP service engineer will leave a record of these addresses after
installation and they can also be displayed using the CLI (command line interface).
High availability and cabling
In the HP B6200 Backup System the network connections for redundancy are configured to support
high availability (HA) port failure mode.
In this mode more than one Ethernet ports are linked in what is called a “network bond” from the HP
B6200, and the network switch uses the physical links as if they are a single link.
If there are two ports in this bond, only one physical link will be active and carrying data at one time,
and the second physical link in this bond will be in a passive or standby mode. If the active link goes
down for any reason, the passive link will change its operation mode to become an active node and
will carry all the traffic instead of the dead link. This ensures high availability to the HP B6200.
The transition between the active and the passive links is done automatically without any interaction
from the customer or the switch. The HP B6200 moves the Ethernet MAC addresses between its ports
so the active link MAC address can appear on another port of the network switch that is connected to
the B6200, and the switch can route network traffic through the newly active port instead of the
previously failed connection.
However, incorrect cabling can cancel out the high availability infrastructure of the product. To avoid
a single point of failure in the overall architecture, there should be two switches for each network to
which you are connecting. For EACH bonded pair of cables, the first cable should be connected to
Switch 1; the other cable should be connected to Switch 2. If one of the switches connected to HP
B6200 goes down, the HP B6200 can still be accessed via the second switch without the need of
rewiring or immediate replacements.
Figures 9 to 12 illustrate the four templates with each network connected to two switches. Note that
Template 2 uses mode 6 adaptive load balancing.
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Gateway setup and network templates
The HP B6200 Backup System supports four different network templates. This is in order to support
various customer configurations depending on whether a 10GbE infrastructure is available or not,
and whether customers want to be able to access the Management Console and/or Data remotely.
By Data, we mean NAS shares (devices) and replication traffic.
The HP B6200 Backup System supports only one gateway for the whole cluster. This is an important
consideration when selecting a network template because customers must decide whether they want
data and/or management to be available remotely.
1. Template 1: Device Management Console ONLY on 2 x1GbE network, Data on 2 x
10GbE network (this template expects two IP address ranges, which can be in different
subnets, only one network will be accessible remotely)
2. Template 2: Management AND Data on 4 x1GbE bonded network. This template assumes
one subnet.
3. Template 3: Management and Data on 10GbE bonded network. This template assumes
one subnet; the two 10GbE connections per node are bonded.
4. Template 4: Management on 1GbE network (2 x 1GbE connections per node) and Data
on 1GbE network (2 x 1GbE bonded connection per node). This configuration allows two
separate 1GbE subnets. (This template expects two IP address ranges, which can be in
different subnets, only one network will be accessible remotely.)
The template the customer requires will be configured as part of the install and startup process offered
by HP, but it is important for the customer to be aware of the specific features of each template and
inform the HP installation engineer which template he requires.
The worked scenarios later on will use systems based on Template 1 since this is anticipated to be the
most common usage in most Enterprise Data Centers. Template 1 uses 1 GbE for low bandwidth
management traffic with high bandwidth 10GbE for backup and replication to be optimal for all data
traffic usage at the same time.
Note: Figures 7 and 8 assume that Template 1 has been selected and show a 10GbE data network.
The principal is exactly the same for Template 4, which has a 1GbE data network. Templates 2 and 3
support only one network, so these considerations do not apply.
16
In Figure 7, the gateway is configured in the Data/Replication network (Gateway Option 1). The
customer can replicate or back up data across different subnets as long as the gateway is routed
correctly. So all hosts locally and in remote sites 1 and 2 can be backed up and all D2Ds locally and
in remote sites 1 and 2 can be replicated. But the Management Console (GUI or CLI) can only be
accessed from the local subnet. (If a customer wants to access the B6200 management subnet from a
client on Remote Site 1 or 2, “remote” manageability access is still possible if the remote client has
root access to one of the Admin machines in the manageability subnet on the local site.)
Figure 7: Gateway is configured in the 10 GbE Data/Replication network (X on the Remote Site Admin A machines indicate
that they cannot be used for B6200 management
17
In Figure 8, the gateway is in the management network (Gateway Option 2). The customer can
access the Management Console (GUI or CLI) across different subnets as long as the gateway is
routed correctly, but the only access path to the HP B6200 for data backup / restore jobs is within the
local subnet. With this configuration none of the clients in Remote Sites 1 and 2 and none of the D2D
units in Remote Sites 1 and 2 can contact the HP B6200 Backup System.
Figure 8: Gateway is configured in the 1 GbE Management network (X on the D2D appliances on the remote sites indicates
they cannot replicate to the HP B6200 Backup System)
18
Template 1, 1GbE and 10GbE subnets
Template 1 supports users who have a 10GbE network and a 1GbE network and wish to use
separate subnets for data and management. The gateway must be in the same subnet as the network
that is being used to connect to remote sites, normally the data subnet. This is shown as Option 1 on
the diagram below. Each pair of bonded ports should be connected to separate switches to support
high availability.
Figure 9: 1GbE management network, 10Gbe data network (includes replication), shows options of connecting the gateway to
either the management network or data/replication network, best practice is to use dual switches
19
Template 2, 1GbE for data, replication and management
Template 2 supports users who have a 1GbE network only. The same network is used for data and
management. All IP addresses, including the gateway for replication, are on the same subnet.
The 10GbE ports on each node are disabled. Again, two separate switches should be used to
support high availability.
Figure 10: 1GbE network only, adaptive load balancing
The network connections for Template 2 use Mode 6 bonding. This mode enables Adaptive Load
Balancing AND fault tolerance. If a network connection is disconnected the other takes over. As each
node has four 1GbE network connections the load is shared over all the NICs. The bonding does
NOT require any special network switch support, such as LACP.
Template 2 will use only a single Gateway option because management, data and replication are all
on the same subnet.
20
Template 3, 10GbE for data, replication and management
Template 3 supports users who have a 10GbE network only. The same network is used for data and
management. All IP addresses, including the gateway for replication, are on the same subnet. Again,
two separate switches should be used to support high availability.
Figure 11: 10GbE network only
Template 3 will use only a single Gateway option because management, data and replication are all
on the same subnet.
21
Template 4, two 1GbE subnets, one for management, the other for data
Template 4 supports users who have two 1GbE networks. One 1 GbE network is used for data; the
other is used for management. The gateway is normally in the same subnet as the network that is
being used to connect to remote sites. This is shown as Option 1 on the diagram below. Each pair of
bonded ports should be connected to separate switches to support high availability.
Figure 12: Two 1GbE networks, showing the options of connecting the gateway to either the management network or
data/replication network
22
Example of configuring the network
The CLI command net set config templateX is entered to configure the network (where X is
the template number). This task is normally carried out by HP support specialists at installation based
on the answers the customer provides on the Installation Preparation and Planning checklists.
Note: Ideally, allocate ALL IP addresses for ALL Nodes (even if all nodes are not present) because if
additional IP addresses are added later, the HP B6200 Backup System will re-evaluate all the IP
Addresses and existing NAS shares may be re-allocated to a different virtual IP address. Hence, the
best practice is to pre-allocate all IP addresses at initial configuration, irrespective of the number of
physical nodes present. See VIF address requirements below.
Note: IP address range 10.154.x.x is not allowed because it conflicts with the internal HP B6200
network allocation IP range.
At the end of the net set config process the Management GUI and CLI IP address will be
allocated, as will the VIFs (Virtual IP addresses) for the NAS and replication data paths. Currently, all
virtual device and replication configuration must take place from the GUI.
IP address allocation after net set config
The following table shows an example Virtual IP address allocation after the net set config
routine has been run on a 4-node, 2-couplet configuration.
Note: The Virtual IP addresses are the addresses that the customer needs to connect to the
Management Console and to configure NAS shares and replication. Virtual IP addresses are a
requirement for failover support. (Physical IP addresses are only used by HP Support after installation.)
Node #
1 GbE physical
1
2
3
4
15.100.2.62
15.100.2.63
15.100.2.64
15.100.2.61
I GbE virtual
(management)
15.100.2.60
10 GbE physical
10 GbE virtual
(data and
replication)
192.168.0.130
192.168.0.137
192.168.0.131
192.168.0.132
192.168.0.133
192.168.0.134
192.168.0.135
192.168.0.136
Table 1: Allocated Virtual and Physical IP Addresses for 4-node system
VIF address requirements
The number of IP addresses that you require depends upon the template that you select (and its
implementation of physical ports and VIF addresses), and the number of couplets that you have
installed.
It is strongly recommended that you allocate sufficient IP addresses to support a fully expanded tworack system (with 8 nodes), as shown in the following table. This means there is no need to
reconfigure the network if you start with a one-rack system and subsequently expand it. If you have to
re-configure your network, you may also have to re-configure backup targets and replication
configurations.
23
Template
#
One couplet
(2 nodes)
Two couplets
Three couplets
Four couplets
(4 nodes)
(6 nodes)
(8 nodes)
1
2
3
4
7
5
5
7
13 (5mgmt, 8data)
9 (1mgmt, 8data)
9 (1mgmt, 8data)
13 (5mgmt, 8data)
19
13
13
19
(3mgmt,
(1mgmt,
(1mgmt,
(3mgmt,
4data)
4data)
4data)
4data)
(7mgmt,
(1mgmt,
(1mgmt,
(7mgmt,
12data)
12data)
12data)
12data)
25
17
17
25
(9mgmt,
(1mgmt,
(1mgmt,
(9mgmt,
16data)
16data)
16data)
16data)
Table 2: Number of Virtual IP addresses to be allocated (in advance)
Physical Ethernet connection requirements
When using the 10GbE network, Templates 1 or 3, no SFPs are provided as part of the standard
installation. It is the responsibility of the customer to purchase these separately, having decided
whether to use copper or fibre connection.
1 GbE connection type
10 GbE connection type
RJ45
SFP+
CAT6 recommended
(RJ45 CAT5 minimum)
either
Copper 10GbE SFP+ cables to max length of 7
metres - see B6200 quick spec for example HP
cables
or
Optical 10GbE SFP+ devices (HP P/N 455883-B21)
Table 3: Physical Ethernet connections
The number of physical connections that are required varies depending upon the template selected
and the number of couplets in the system. This number should not be confused with the number of VIF
addresses required.
Template
1
2
3
4
Traffic type
1GbE
10 GbE
1GbE
10 GbE
1GbE
10 GbE
1GbE
ports
ports
ports
ports
ports
ports
ports
2 per
2 per
4 per
N/A
N/A
2 per
4 per
10 GbE ports
N/A
node
node
node
node
node
Mgt
Data
Mgt & Data
N/A
N/A
Mgt & Data
2 Mgt,
2 Data
N/A
One
couplet
4
4
8
N/A
N/A
4
8 total
(4 Mgt,
4 Data)
N/A
Two
couplets
8
8
16
N/A
N/A
8
16 total
(8 Mgt,
8 Data)
N/A
Table 4: Number of physical Ethernet connections required on the various B6200 configurations
24
Three
couplets
12
12
24
N/A
N/A
12
24 total
(12 Mgt,
12 Data)
N/A
Four
couplets
16
16
32
N/A
N/A
16
32 total
(16 Mgt,
16 Data)
N/A
Scenario 2 - Configuring shares and libraries to align with
backup job segmentation
Once all virtual IP addresses are allocated, the next step is to use each node in a way that best
matches the backup environment. Each node in an HP B6200 Backup System is similar to an existing
HP D2D4324 Backup System in terms of capacity, throughput and device support. The existing best
practices for single-node StoreOnce devices therefore apply. These can be downloaded from the
website below
http://bizsupport2.austin.hp.com/bc/docs/support/SupportManual/c02511912/c02511912.pdf
One important difference to note is that the Ethernet network is used only for NAS shares and
replication. Virtual tape libraries are always configured for Fibre Channel.
Generic best practices
A summary of best practices is included below. Most are common to both single-node D2D Backup
Systems and the HP B6200 Backup System.
1. Always use the Sizer tool to size for performance.
• The Sizer tool uses mature store performance data and information only available
within the sizing tool to size replication and housekeeping.
http://www.hp.com/go/d2dsizer
2. Always ensure the HP B6200 Backup System has the latest firmware updates because
improvements are continually being integrated.
3. Understand that backup throughput depends on the number of concurrent backup jobs that
can be configured to run simultaneously.
If only single-stream backup is possible, tape may be faster.
Re-educate customers into configuring multiple concurrent backups for best backup
throughput.
An HP StoreOnce B6200 Backup System device with 12 streams achieves 90%
maximum throughput.
4. Make allowances for housekeeping.
Every time a tape backup is overwritten or a NAS shares is re-opened, the
deduplication store must be scanned and the hash code usage states updated. This is
an I/O intensive operation and should be scheduled to occur in periods of low
activity.
On the HP B6200 there is a Housekeeping option in the Navigator that graphically
displays the rate at which housekeeping jobs are being processed. The processing
rate should always be higher than the incoming housekeeping job rate. See Scenario
6 - Monitoring the HP B6200 Backup System.
5. Make allowances for replication windows.
Backup, replication and housekeeping should all be allocated their own “window” in
which to execute and should not overlap. Once these activities overlap performance
becomes unpredictable. Replication and housekeeping windows are configurable
within the HP B6200 GUI.
6. Understand how to benefit from network bonding and Fibre Channel load balancing.
25
On the HP B6200 Backup System network ports are always bonded together for
resilience on templates 1, 3 and 4. Template 2 uses adaptive load balancing mode
6 to provide up to 4 Gb/sec across two nodes.
For FC VTL, all libraries and drives created should be load balanced equally across
the two FC ports. If higher resilience is required, the same library robot can be
presented on BOTH FC ports and then presented to two separate fabrics for
additional resilience. For supported FC failover configurations please
see Appendix A.
7. Do not send multiplexed data to HP StoreOnce B6200/D2D Backup Systems.
“Multiplexing” data streams from different sources into a single stream in order to get higher
throughput used to be a common best practice when using physical tape drives. This was a
necessity in order to make the physical tape drive run in streaming mode, especially if the
individual hosts could not supply data fast enough. But multiplexing is not required and is in
fact a BAD practice if used with HP StoreOnce D2D or B6200 deduplication devices.
Why multiplexing is a bad practice
HP StoreOnce D2D and B6200 Backup Systems rely on very similar repetitive data streams in order
to de-duplicate data effectively. When multiplexing is deployed the backup data streams are not
guaranteed to be similar, since the multiplexing can jumble up the data streams from one backup to
the next backup in different ways – hence drastically reducing the deduplication ratios.
There is no need for multiplexing to get higher performance – quite the contrary, because the best
way to get performance from HP StoreOnce D2D and B6200 Backup Systems is to send multiple
streams in parallel. Sending only a single multiplexed stream actually reduces performance.
Figure 13 shows a single backup job from multiple hosts, where the backup data is radically different
from one backup job to the next. There is also only a single stream to the device on the D2D/B6200
Backup System. This configuration produces slow performance and poor deduplication ratios.
Figure 13: Multiplexing produces slow performance and poor dedupe ratios
26
Instead of multiplexing data into a single stream and sending it to the HP StoreOnce D2D and B6200
Backup System, you should re-specify the multiplexed backup job to be either a single backup job
using multiple devices or multiple jobs to separate devices . This will ensure better throughput and
deduplication ratios.
Finally, multiplexing creates SLOWER restores because data to an individual host has to be demultiplexed from the data stored on the device. NOT using multiplexing will actually improve restore
performance.
Figure 14 shows the recommended configuration where single or multiple jobs are streamed in
parallel with little change between backup jobs. There are multiple streams to devices on the
D2D/B6200, resulting in higher performance and good deduplication ratios.
Figure 14: Recommended configuration using multiple streams
VTL best practices
The HP B6200 Backup System supports three configurations when creating a virtual tape library:
1. Via FC port 1 and 2
2. Via FC port 1
3. Via FC port 2
Option 1 is new to the HP B6200 architecture and is the recommended option to avoid single points
of failure. It allows the robot to be presented to Port 1 and Port 2 and, thereafter, however many
virtual drives are created are balanced equally across Port 1 and Port 2.
By using this option the customer will present the Virtual Library robot to both ports of the associated
node FC ports, which means the robot can be presented to two separate fabrics. Should one of the
FC connections fail in any node, the robots and at least 50% of the drives configured on this node
can be accessed via the other FC port, which is on the other FC card, without any customer
interaction needed to manually reconfigure those libraries.
27
If this balance is not required, the user can use the GUI to re-distribute the virtual drives onto Port 1 or
Port 2, as desired. The customer can also change the port assignment after creating the library. The
customer usage model for backup and the infrastructure available determine which ports to use.
The various options and trade off of FC port zoning are described in more detail in Appendix A.
Other best practices are summarized in the following list.
1. Use a different VTL for different data types, such as Filesystem, Database, Other.
Each VTL is a separate dedupe store, smaller dedupe stores give better performance.
A better dedupe ratio results from groupings of similar data types in a single device.
2.
Make use of HP flexible emulations.
1/8 autoloader and MSL emulations have strict geometry to match their physical
equivalents, but if you choose EML, ESL and D2D Generic emulations you can construct
your own geometry for the library to best match your backup environment requirements.
You can configure more drives than you use, but optimal performance is with about 12
streams per VTL running concurrently. You can configure multiple VTLs on the same node,
but it is best to balance VTLs across nodes.
The D2DBS emulation type has an added benefit in that it is also clearly identified in most
backup applications as a virtual tape library (rather than a physical tape library) and so
is easier for supportability.
HP B6200 StoreOnce Backup System – VTL Emulations
Per node
Per couplet
Per maximum cluster
Number of Virtual Tape
48
96
384
Libraries/NAS targets (combined)
Maximum number of cartridges
16384
emulated per virtual tape library
Maximum number of Virtual Tape
192
384
1536
Drives
Recommended max tape drives in
12
12
12
concurrent use per VTL configured
Maximum number of tape
786432
1572864
6291456
cartridges emulated
Tape drive emulations
LTO-2/LTO-3/LTO-4/LTO-5
Library emulations
1/8 Autoloader, MSL, EML, ESL, D2DBS generic
Table 5: Threshold limits for VTL emulations
3. Create one media pool for all the ‘incremental’ backup jobs and a separate media pool for
all the ‘full’ backup jobs.
This is a best practice because it makes housekeeping more predictable. If incrementals
and fulls are mixed on the same media, a full tape might be overwritten with a small
incremental backup but, because we are overwriting a full tape, a large housekeeping
load is triggered when we don’t expect it. The incremental media pool can utilize
appends if required.
Improvements in the B6200 replication target performance mean that it is acceptable to
implement tape appends at the source sites (for example on the incremental media pool).
There is no detrimental effect on replication performance because of this.
4. Use separate mirror backup jobs to back up direct to physical tape for best performance.
28
For best performance perform separate backup jobs direct to tape as well as to the HP
B6200 Backup System at appropriate intervals.
Reading data from the HP B6200 Backup System to copy to physical tape via backup
software is the most popular method of offloading to physical tape, but transfers can only
be via the media server. The more copy streams run in parallel, the faster the
performance.
Direct attached tape to the HP B6200 Backup System is not supported.
HP StoreOnce replication may be used instead of physical tape to create a DR copy of
the data.
NAS best practices
1. Never use HP B6200 NAS in implementations that require large scale “Write in Place”
functionality or produce large amounts of meta-files because performance will be less than
optimal. Remember this is a NAS target for backup (sequential data), not for NAS files
(random data). Some examples of NAS backup types to avoid are shown below:
a. Do not create virtual synthetic fulls with HP Data Protector. (Synthetic fulls are OK)
b. Do not use Backup Exec – Granular recovery of single messages in mailboxes.
c. Do not use large scale NAS file type ”drag & drop”.
d. Do not use NAS shares for snapshots that occur on a very regular basis (15-30
minutes) because this will cause a disproportionate amount of replication and
housekeeping.
2. The threshold limits for B6200 NAS shares are shown below. There are some further
restrictions on NFS. See Appendix B.
Max NAS container files (produced by the ISV application) per
share
Recommended Max Concurrent Backup Streams per couplet (only
NAS shares configured)
Recommended Max Concurrent Backup Streams per Share
25000
128
12
Table 6: Threshold limits for NAS shares
3. NAS shares can have None, User defined or Active Directory validated permissions. Active
Directory is recommended for Enterprise class environments where the HP B6200 Backup
System is positioned.
4. The creation of NAS shares in the B6200 GUI is an easy process, but they then have to be
linked to the ISV backup software and different ISVs present NAS shares to the user in
different ways. HP has prepared a series of NAS implementation guides for HP Data
Protector, Symantec Backup Exec, Symantec NetBackup and CommVault. These can be
downloaded from D2D NAS Implementation guides.
5. By default, Windows CIFS timeout is set low for NAS backup implementations.
This can cause various error messages and conditions such as lost connection to the
share, unrecoverable write errors, or timeout problems resulting in backup job
failures.
It is recommended to add or to increase the “SessTimeout” value from the default of
45 seconds to 300 seconds (five minutes). For more details see Appendix E.
29
6. B6200 NAS shares can only authenticate against Active Directory domains that allow them
write access.
Understanding the maximum of devices supported per service set
There is a maximum of 48 virtual devices per service set. This number may be split across VTL and
NAS devices. The following table summarizes some possible configurations.
VTL
48
0
24
1
47
30
18
4
NAS
0
48
24
47
1
20
18
5
Total
=48 (maximum)
=48 (maximum)
=48 (maximum)
=48 (maximum)
=48 (maximum)
=50 (>maximum, not supported)
=36 (<maximum)
=9 (<maximum
Table 7: Maximum number of virtual devices per service set
When creating VTL devices, the initial FC port assignment for the media changer also impacts the
validity of the device configuration. In summary:
VTLs may be assigned to FC Port 1 & 2 (recommended), FC Port 1 or FC Port 2.
The maximum number of devices per FC Port is 120.
The maximum number of VTLs (media changers) is 48.
The maximum number of drives used across all the VTLs cannot exceed 192
All drives cannot be allocated to a single FC port - they must be shared across both ports.
For optimal performance it is recommended that the devices are evenly shared across both
FC ports
Per port the number of media changer devices + number of drives is not to exceed 120.
For a more detailed discussion about port assignment and the number of devices supported refer to
Fibre channel port presentations.
Worked Example
Using the configuration parameters listed in Appendix B let us use a worked example to illustrate how
a customer’s infrastructure and backup requirements should be mapped onto an HP B6200 Backup
System.
IMPORTANT: Transition to the HP B6200 should not be viewed as a simple mapping of existing
media servers onto a series of new backup devices in the HP B6200 Backup System but rather as an
opportunity to “map” different data types on to the B6200 architecture. This approach will require
some level of backup job re-structuring in order to realize the benefits of increased deduplication
ratios and optimal throughput.
30
Key considerations
There is a limit of 48 devices per node.
Mapping the same data type to the same device improves deduplication ratios, even if it
comes from multiple media servers
More than 1 device per data type reduces housekeeping load and improves throughput.
Don’t be afraid to create multiple devices.
About 12 streams per device (VTL, NAS) is optimal for throughput. This is because, from a
deduplication perspective, each device configured has its own dedupe store associated with
it, and in terms of throughput 2 x12 stream VTLs will give better throughput than 1 x VTL with
24 streams.
Ideally, aim to have about the same number of streams, capacity and devices (including
replication target devices) on each node of the B6200 couplet.
Gathering the data type’s information from the media servers will be key to good planning
and configuration. A tool such as HP Sizer Adviser may help in this area, or alternatively use
ISV reporting capabilities.
NAS shares need to be created based on the number of files created during the backup –
about 25,000 per share.
Working out and applying the mapping
Imagine a fictitious company that has seven media servers each with the backup volumes that
correspond to the data retention capacities per data type shown in the following tables.
Let us also assume that these backup jobs need to be completed in 12 hours. This dictates a
certain throughput for each data type that is also dependent on the number of streams that
the backup job is configured to deliver (assuming the host system is not the bottleneck to
performance). These parameters are also illustrated in the tables below.
Media server #
1
TB data retained on
VTL
Throughput required in
TB/hr per backup job
Maximum number of
concurrent streams
required
20
TB data retained on
NAS
Throughput required in
TB/hr per backup job
Maximum number of
concurrent streams
required
2
3
4
File System Data VTL (FSVTL)
10
5
40
5
6
7
5
15
0
1.48
0.75
0.37
2.95
0.36
1.10
0
5
2
2
10
2
3
N/A
File System Data NAS (FSNAS)
0
4
0
4
0
6
0
0
0.30
0
0.30
0
0.44
0
N/A
8
N/A
4
N/A
12
N/A
Table 8: Summary of data requirements per media server for filesystem (FS) data type
31
Media server #
1
TB data retained on
VTL
Throughput required in
TB/hr per backup job
Maximum number of
concurrent streams
required
5
TB data retained on
NAS
Throughput required in
TB/hr per backup job
Maximum number of
concurrent streams
required
2
3
4
Database Data VTL (DBVTL)
2
0
0
5
6
7
3
0
30
0.40
0.16
0
0
0.24
0
3.2
2
1
N/A
N/A
1
N/A
16
10
2
0
0
Database Data NAS (DBNAS)
4
0
0
0
0.32
0
0
0.81
0.16
0
N/A
8
N/A
N/A
5
1
N/A
5
6
7
0
0
0
Table 9: Summary of data requirements per media server for database (DB) data type
Media server #
1
TB data retained on
VTL
Throughput required in
TB/hr per backup job
Maximum number of
concurrent streams
required
0
TB data retained on
NAS
Throughput required in
TB/hr per backup job
Maximum number of
concurrent streams
required
2
3
4
Other Data VTL (OTHVTL)
0
10
0
0
0
0.75
0
0
0
0
N/A
N/A
5
N/A
N/A
N/A
N/A
4
0
0
0
Other Data NAS (OTHNAS)
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0.30
0
0
N/A
N/A
N/A
N/A
5
N/A
N/A
Table 10: Summary of data requirements per media server for other (OTH) data type
32
We can model all this information into the HP B6200 Sizing tool (see Appendix C for more details).
The input screen to the Sizing tool will look as follows.
Figure 14: HP B6200 Sizing tool with all data input for this configuration scenario
Results from Sizing tool
When we ask the Sizing tool to size the solution it provides the following recommendations.
Sizing
Couplet Nodes Pairs1 Pairs2 Thrput Streams
Capacity
2
4
6
1
0
Performance 3
6
9
0
3576 510
Combined
6
4
5
0
3
0
0
Where:
Sizing - Performance is based on backup window and scheduling
Couplet - Pair of nodes
Nodes - Total number of nodes across all couplets
33
Pairs1 - Pair of disk shelves using 2TB raw disk type
Pairs2 - Pair of disk shelves using 1TB raw disk type
Thrput - Maximum potential backup throughput of this multi node configuration in MB/sec
Streams - Total number of streams across all nodes - equal number of streams per node
Note: The Sizing tool does multiple runs to work out requirements. The first pass is to size for capacity,
second pass is to size for performance; whichever requires the biggest configuration is chosen.
Sometimes to get the performance numbers without greatly increasing capacity, the Sizing tool has to
split a 2TB shelf into 2 x 1TB shelves.
In working out the physical configuration to match the requirements in our tool, the Sizing tool has
configured a 6 node, 208 TB unit.
Couplet 1 has 48 TB of storage per node (4 shelves) for maximum throughput
Couplet 2 has 40 TB of storage per node (4 shelves) for maximum throughput
Couplet 3 has 16 TB of storage per node (1 shelf)
We must now map our data segmentation requirements onto the sized infrastructure using the
constraints/best practices listed in Key considerations. This will require a number of passes.
Pass 1
Pass1 is a manual mapping process.
Naming conventions
Each device type has been named appropriately: FS = filesystem, DB =database, OTH = other. For
example: File System VTL1 = FSVTL1.
Color coding
The color-coded areas show whether the stream counts per device needs attention.
GREEN: 12 concurrent streams per device gives us the optimal throughput
YELLOW: 12-19 is tolerable if it makes for easier segmentation
RED: 19 concurrent streams per device is inadvisable as it will slow down overall throughput
and create a large amount of housekeeping
Looking at the required storage capacity
From our tables we can see that Media Server 4 has the highest volume of data, 40 TB for VTL
filesystem data. In Pass 1 we assign this to Service Set 1, naming it FSVTL1.
Initially we assign the accumulated VTL database data (from all seven media servers) to Service Set 2
(DBVTL1). This totals 40 TB and balances the load on Service Set 1, but note this gives us 20 streams
in Service Set 2.
That leaves 55 TB of VTL filesystem data from the other six media servers. We assign 35 TB to Service
Set 3 (FSVTL2) and 20 TB to Service Set 4 (FSVTL3).
To balance the load on Service Set 4 with that on Service Set 3, we assign VTL Other data to Service
Set 4 (OTHVTL1), as well as NAS Other data (OTHNAS1).
The NAS filesystem data (FSNAS1) and the NAS database data (DBNAS1) go to Service Sets 5 and
6, but there are problems with the number of streams on these service sets, as illustrated in the
following table.
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Service Set
1
Service Set
2
Service Set
3
Service Set
4
Service Set
5
Service Set
6
Node Capacity
48
48
40
40
16
16
PASS 1
VTL Device #1 retained
Capacity
40
40
35
10
Drives (streams)
10
20
9
5
FSVTL1
DBVTL1
FSVTL2
OTHVTL1
14
16
Throughput
Name
Split 1
VTL Device #2 retained
Capacity
20
Drives (streams)
5
FSVTL3
NAS Device #1 retained
Capacity
4
Streams
Name
4
24
14
OTHNAS1
FSNAS1
DBNAS1
Total retained capacity
40
40
35
34
14
16
Total # streams
10
20
9
5
24
14
5
4
Note: For Service Set 4 we have created three devices: OTHVTL1 with 5 streams, FSVTL3 with 5
streams and OTHNAS1 with 4 streams. These are itemized separately in the Total # streams row(s).
Note how the retained capacity used per node in the same couplet is fairly well balanced, however
there are problems with the number of streams in Service Sets 2, 5 and 6.
Pass 2
To resolve this issue with streams we need to create a second DBVTL device and a second FSNAS
device to turn the RED areas green.
By creating DBVTL2 and FSNAS2 devices, we avoid overloading any device with too many streams
and maintain good balance across nodes.
35
Service Set
1
Service Set
2
Service Set
3
Service Set
4
Service Set
5
Service Set
6
Node Capacity
48
48
40
40
16
16
PASS 2
VTL Device #1 retained
Capacity
40
30
35
10
Drives (streams)
10
16
9
5
FSVTL1
DBVTL1
FSVTL2
OTHVTL1
8
16
Throughput
Name
Split 1
VTL Device #2 retained
Capacity
10
Drives (streams)
4
DBVTL2
NAS Device #1 retained
Capacity
4
Streams
Name
4
12
14
OTHNAS1
FSNAS1
DBNAS1
20
6
Split1
NAS Device #2 Capacity
Streams
Name
4
12
FSVTL3
FSNAS2
Total retained capacity
40
40
35
34
14
16
Total # streams Device set 1
10
16
9
5
12
14
4
12
Total # streams Device set 2
Total # streams Device set 3
4
4
The only area of concern remaining is that we are at maximum capacity on Service Set 6, so we
could transfer the 2TB DB on NAS from Media Server 6 onto Service Set 4 to provide the optimum
solution.
Pass 3
A further consideration for a PASS 3 might be to split FSNAS1, DBNAS1 and FSNAS2 into more than
a single NAS share. This is because there is a limit of 25,000 NAS container files per NAS shares.
ISV backup applications can configure the size of the NAS container files from anywhere between 2
GB and 16 GB. By making the NAS Backup Segment file equal to 16 GB you can store more data in
a single NAS share. If the default NAS segment size is 4 GB that means up to 100 TB could be
stored in a single NAS share.
Also note that FSNAS1 and FSNAS2 devices along with DBNAS1 do not require very high
throughput so these have been mapped to the Service Set 5 and Service Set 6, which only have one
shelf of drives and hence a lower performance compared to the other service sets. DBVTL1 has a very
high throughput requirement and must reside on a service set that has 4 disk shelves and gives
throughput capable of supporting 3.2 TB/hour.
Note: HP strongly recommends that no node exceeds 50% of the storage available to it in order to
maximize throughput performance.
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The final mapping is shown below for the three different data types.
Filesystem (FS) data
Figure 16: Data Segmentation by data type – file system data layout
37
Database (DB) data
Figure 17: Data Segmentation by data type – database system data layout
38
Other (OTH) data
Figure 18: Data Segmentation by data type – “Other data” data layout
Room for growth
From the above layout of devices it should be apparent that, if the system requires upgrading with
more capacity or the device needs to be enhanced to support replication, the preferred service sets
are Service Sets 5 and 6. So, this is where extra capacity would be added for replication.
39
Scenario 3 - How to get the best out of B6200 Replication
A review of replication best practices
The replication best practices that apply to HP StoreOnce D2D Backup Systems are equally as valid
for the HP B6200 StoreOnce Backup System. A summary is provided below; for a more detailed
discussion refer to EH985-90935, D2D Best Practices for VTL, NAS and Replication implementations.
1. Use the Sizing tool to size replication link speed and understand replication concurrency
restraints. http://www.hp.com/go/d2dsizer
2. It is important to understand that, whichever template you deploy for the HP B6200 Backup
System, the Data channel is shared between NAS backup and replication. You must ensure
that you have sufficient bandwidth for both NAS data and replication traffic.
3. The general rule of thumb for replication is 512 Kb/sec per replication job.
For a list of the various replication parameters, fan-in, fan-out and replication concurrency
please see Appendix B – B6200 Key Configuration Parameters.
4. The same seeding methods are available. However, the volume of seeding data that the HP
B6200 Backup System needs to send over the WAN link is likely to be much higher than
previous StoreOnce D2D models. This is because the HP B6200 Backup System is a Data
Center device with a large capacity and, hence, more likely to be a replication target. See
also Seeding and the HP B6200 Backup System.
5. For best replication performance ensure no backups and no housekeeping jobs are running in
the replication window.
6. Bandwidth limiting in the HP B6200 GUI is per device (VTL or NAS share created); throttling
applies only to the source side (and on transmitted data only).
7. The use of “concurrency control” is not necessary if replication is run at separate times from
backups and housekeeping. However, if the customer wants to run replication at the same
time as backups or housekeeping, they can use concurrency control to limit the available
bandwidth so as not to saturate the link with replication traffic
8. In order to reduce replication workload and bandwidth needs, consider replicating weekly
backups only. This can be done by configuring different media pools for daily and weekly
backups and only replication mapping the slots for the weekly media pool cartridges.
9. Mapping multiple source libraries into a single target library will generally give better dedupe
but worse replication performance than if you map each source library to a separate target
library.
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Seeding and the HP B6200 Backup System
Seeding is the name given to the initial synchronization of the source and target HP B6200 Backup
Systems, where a large volume of data has to be sent to the HP B6200 units. After seeding the data
volumes transferred are much less and are related to the amount of daily change rate in the data
stored on the Source HP B6200 Backup System.
The most likely methods for HP B6200 seeding are described below. Seeding options for large many
to one replication scenarios are discussed in Scenario 4 – Configuring Many-to-One replication.
Co-location
The racks are located at the source site and the 10Gbe replication link is used to connect source to
target, thereby ensuring a quick seeding time. After seeding the target system is packed and shipped
to the target site. Only the details (mainly IP address) of the target appliances that have been shipped
need to be edited on the source appliance. This is because, when co-locating, the IP addresses for
source and target would be in the same range but later, when the target system is shipped to its final
home, its network range will change. See also Figure 19.
Temporary increased WAN link speed
If co-location is not practical (for example the devices are on different continents), most enterprise
customers using Dense Wave Division Multiplexing, DWDM, or Multi Protocol Label Switching, MPLS,
links between sites can request a temporary increase in site-to-site bandwidth for a small period of
time during which the seeding can take place. This technique has the added benefit in that it is also
well suited to Active/Active replication scenarios where replication is bi-directional. Many data
centers have DWDM or MPLS links that make it easy to provision extra bandwidth for specific
periods. See also Figure 19.
Floating D2D4324
Because the HP B6200 Backup System is replication compatible with earlier generation D2D
appliances a Floating D2D4324 can be used to transport seeding data between multiple HP B6200
systems. This may be more cost effective and flexible than co-location or a temporary increase in
WAN link speed. See also Figure 20.
Copy to physical tape
A fourth but less likely option would be to copy data at the source HP B6200 to physical tape and
transport the physical tapes to the target site where it can be copied onto the target HP B6200. This
technique requires a physical tape infrastructure to be available at both sites and requires the ISV
copy function. This is probably the slowest of all in total time required as well as manpower required.
See also Figure 20.
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Figure 19: HP B6200 to HP B6200 seeding process using co-location or temporary higher speed WAN link
Co-location
(illustrated on the left of Figure 19)
42
Temporary high speed WAN link
(illustrated on the right of Figure 19)
1. Initial backup.
1. Initial backup.
2. Local copy via replication over 10GbE at
source site.
2. Link provider increases link size for seeding
period.
3. Ship appliance to target site.
3. Configure replication.
4. Re-establish replication.
4. Reduce link size after Seeding completes.
Figure 20: HP B6200 to HP B6200 seeding process using Floating D2D4324 or Physical Tape
Floating D2D4324 seeding
(illustrated on the left of Figure 20)
Physical tape seeding
(illustrated on the right of Figure 20)
1. Initial backup.
1. Initial backup.
2. Local copy via replication over 10GbE at
source site to HP D2D4324 target.
2. Copy to tape library using media servers
and ISV software. VTL and NAS shares may
be copied to tape.
3. Ship appliance to target site and set up
D2D4324 to HP B6200 replication
(seeding).
4. Re-establish replication.
3. Ship tapes to target site and copy from tape
to B6200 configured devices using ISV
software and media servers.
4. Establish replication.
43
Implementing replication best practices with HP B6200
The main difference with the HP B6200 StoreOnce implementation is that replication is part of the
service set. Each service set (associated to Node 1, Node 2, et cetera) can handle a maximum of 48
incoming concurrent replication jobs per node and can itself replicate OUT to up to 16 devices.
If failover occurs, the replication load becomes incumbent on the remaining service set. The
replication traffic will pause during the failover process and restart from the last checkpoint when
failover has completed. This means that replication continues without the need for manual intervention
but performance may deteriorate. Possible ways to improve this situation are:
a) Dedicate a couplet as a replication target only (no backup targets). This will allow more
resources to be dedicated to replication in the event of failover.
b) Stagger the replication load across different nodes in different couplets. Try not to overload a
couplet that is responsible for replication.
Figure 21 shows an ideal situation where:
Site B nodes are acting as replication targets only. Performance is guaranteed and all we
have to do is enable the replication windows and make allowances each day for
housekeeping.
The replication load at Site B is balanced across two nodes. In the event of failure of a node
at Site B, replication performance will not be adversely affected, especially if the nodes at
Site B are less than 50% loaded.
If there are local backups at Site B as well to VTL7 and NAS3, the arrangement shown in Figure 23
would be the best practice.
Figure 22 shows local backup devices VT7 and NAS7 at Site B on Couplet 1. We are still dedicating
nodes to act as replication targets, but they are now on Couplet 2 only. Because the load on the
nodes in Couplet 2 is now increased, should a node fail in Couplet 2 on Site B there may be
noticeable performance degradation on replication. This is because a single node has to handle a
much larger load than in Figure 22. Careful sizing of the nodes in Couplet 2 on Site B to ensure they
are less than 50% loaded will ensure that even in failover mode replication performance can be
maintained.
In Figure 23 we deliberately provide one node on each couplet that is dedicated to replication. This
simplifies the management, and the loading and performance is easier to predict. The way the
couplets are balanced also means that wherever a node fails over we do not lose all our replication
performance. In the failover scenario the remaining node can still handle backup in one time window
and replication in another time window so the overall impact of a failed node is not that damaging.
44
Using dedicated nodes for replication targets (Active/Passive replication)
Figure 21: Using dedicated nodes for replication targets at the target site
45
Adding local backups to replication target nodes
Figure 22: Using dedicated nodes for replication targets at the target site for Active Passive, along with backup sources at
Site B
46
Active/Active configuration
The diagram below shows a similar configuration for a full active/active configuration
Figure 23: Using dedicated nodes for replication targets in an Active/Active configuration
47
Scenario 4 – Configuring Many-to-One replication
The other main usage model for the HP B6200 Backup System is in large scale remote office
deployments where a fan-in of up to 384 replication jobs to a maximum-configuration HP B6200
Backup System is possible (one stream per device). The sources (remote offices) are more likely to be
HP StoreOnce D2D Backup Systems.
For a large number of remote sites co-location is impractical, instead the Floating D2D option is
recommended. Physical tape and seeding over a WAN link both have difficulties, as explained in the
following table.
Table 11: Many-to-One seeding options
Technique
Floating D2D
Best for
Many-to-one replication models
with high fan-in ratios where the
target must be seeded with several
remote sites at once.
Concerns
Comments
Careful control over the device
creation and co-location replication
at the target site is required.
Recommended option.
As an example, the first 500GB full
backup over a 5Mbit link will take
5 days (120 hours) to seed from a
D2D2502 Backup System.
Seeding time over WAN is
calculated automatically when
using the StorageWorks Backup
Sizing tool for D2D.
This type of seeding should be
scheduled to occur over weekends
where at all possible.
This is time consuming unless
multiple WAN link sizes can be
temporarily increased during the
seeding process time.
This is really co-location using a
spare D2D.
Using the floating D2D approach
means the device is ready to be
used again and again for future
expansion where more remote sites
might be added to the
configuration.
Seed over the
WAN link
Many to 1 replication models with:
Initial Small Volumes of Backup
data
OR
Gradual migration of larger backup
volumes/jobs to D2D over time
It is perfectly acceptable for
customers to ask their link
providers for a higher link speed
just for the period where seeding
is to take place.
Use of portable
disk drives backup
application copy
or drag and drop
USB portable disks, such as HP RDX
series, can be configured as Disk
File Libraries within the backup
application software and used for
“copies”
Best used for D2D NAS
deployments, but not well suited to
VTL device seeding.
48
Multiple drives can be used – single
drive maximum capacity is about
3TB currently.
This requires physical tape
capability at a large number of
sites. (VTL seeding)
USB disks are typically easier to
integrate into systems than
physical tape or SAS/FC disks.
RDX ruggedized disks are OK for
easy shipment between sites and
cost effective.
Implementing floating D2D seeding
Figure 24: Floating D2D seeding model for Many-to-One replication models
This “floating D2D” method is more complex because for large fan-in (many source sites replicating
into a single target site) the initial replication setup on the floating D2D changes when it is transported
to the Data Center, where the final replication mappings are configured.
The sequence of events is as follows:
1. Plan the final master replication mappings from sources to target that are required and document
them. Use an appropriate naming convention, such as SVTL1 (Source VTL1), SNASshare1, TVTL1
(Target VTL1), TNASshare1.
2. At each remote site perform a full system backup to the source D2D and then configure a 1:1
mapping relationship with the floating D2D device, such as:
SVTL1 on Remote Site A - FTVTL1 on floating D2D where FTVTL1 = floating target VTL1.
Seeding times at the remote site A will vary. If the D2D at site A is an HP D2D2500 Backup
System, it is over a 1 GbE link and may take several hours. It will be faster if an HP D2D4312 or
HP D2D4324 Backup System is used at the remote sites since these have 10 GbE replication links.
49
3. On the Source D2D at the remote site DELETE the replication mappings – this effectively isolates
the data that is now on the floating D2D.
4. Repeat the process steps 1-3 at Remote sites B and C.
5. When the floating D2D arrives at the central site, the floating D2D effectively becomes the Source
device to replicate INTO the HP B6200 Backup System at the Data Center site.
6. On the floating D2D we will have devices (previously named as FTVTL1, FTNASshare 1) that we
can see from the Management Console (GUI). Using the same master naming convention as we
did in step 1, set up replication which will necessitate the creation of the necessary devices (VTL or
NAS) on the B6200 at the Data Center site e.g. TVTL1, TNASshare 1.
7. This time when replication starts up the contents of the floating D2D will be replicated to the Data
Center B6200 over the 10 GbE connection (if D2D4312 or D2D4324 are used as the floating
D2D) at the Data Center site and will take several hours. In this example Remote Site A, B, C data
will be replicated and seeded into the B6200. When this replication step is complete, DELETE the
replication mappings on the floating D2D, to isolate the data on the floating D2D and then DELETE
the actual devices on the floating D2D, so the device is ready for the next batch of remote sites.
8. Repeat steps 1-7 for the next series of remote sites until all the remote site data has been seeded
into the HP B6200 Backup System.
9. Finally set up the final replication mappings using our agreed naming convention decided in Step
1. At the remote sites configure replication again to the Data Center site but be careful to replicate
to the correct target devices, by using the agreed naming convention at the data center site e.g.
TVTL1, TNASshare1 etc.
This time when we set up replication the B6200 at the target site presents a list of possible target
replication devices available to the Remote Site A. So, in this example, we would select TVTL1 or
TNASshare1 from the list of available targets presented to Remote Site A when we are configuring
the final replication mappings. This time when the replication starts almost all the necessary data is
already seeded on the B6200 for Remote Site A and the synchronization process happens very
quickly.
In some scenarios where a customer has larger remote storage locations the floating D2D process can
be used together with the smaller locations seeding over the WAN link.
Another consideration is the physical logistics for some customers with 100+ locations, some being
international locations. The floating D2D and co-location will be difficult, so the only option is to
schedule the use of increased bandwidth connections along with their infrastructure needs. The
schedule is used to perform seeding at timed, phased slots.
Balancing Many-to-One replication
For the many-to-one replication scenario, it is probably better to load balance the number of incoming
replication sources across the available nodes as shown in the diagram below.
In Figure 25 we show the many-to-one replication scenario where we have grouped remote sites (VTL
and NAS) together into bundles and have them replicating into multiple dedicated replication target
devices. The current recommendation with the HP B6200 Backup System is to keep the same
relationship between remote site VTLs and replication target VTLs, namely a 1:1 mapping.
The deployment illustrated has the following benefits:
50
Load balancing of remote sites: 40 sites are divided by 4 and then presented in bundles of
10 to the replication targets. As more remote sites come on line they are also balanced
across the four replication target nodes.
Site B backup devices can be managed and added to easily, and their loading on the node
accurately monitored. Similarly, the replication target nodes have a single function
(replication targets) which makes their behavior more predictable.
In a failover situation, the performance impact on either backup or replication is likely to be
lower because the backup load at Site B nodes and the replication load at Site B nodes are
likely to run in separate windows at separate times.
Figure 25: Balancing Many-to-one replication sources across all available nodes
51
Replication and load balancing
The specification for a B6200 service set is that it can accept up to a maximum of 48 concurrent
replication streams from external sources. If more than 48 streams are replicating into a B6200 node,
some streams will be put on hold until a spare “replication slot” becomes available.
Being a replication target is more demanding of resources than being a replication source, this is why
we recommend allocating dedicated replication targets to specific nodes.
The example detailed in Figure 26 on the following page shows a full system approach and is a good
overview of what is required.
Note that:
Each service set on each node is relatively at the same load (load balancing is a manual
process)
Each node has a single function, VTL backup targets node, NAS backup targets node,
Replication target. This makes management and load assessment easier
FC SAN 1 with its larger number of hosts and capacities is spread over four nodes all with
maximum storage capacity. There are at least eight streams per node to provide good
throughput performance
All the NAS target backups have been grouped together on node 5 and 6 on 10GbE – these
could be VMWare backups which generally require a backup to NAS target. Again all NAS
targets are balanced equally across nodes 5 and 6 and, in the event of failover,
performance would be well balanced at around 50% of previous performance for the
duration of the failed-over period.
FC SAN 2 has smaller capacity hosts connected via FC. Nodes 7 and 8 are the least loaded
hosts, so this couplet is the obvious candidate for use as the replication target.
Keep it simple and easy to understand – that’s the key.
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Figure 26: Fully load balanced analysis of a typical implementation
53
Scenario 5 - How to get the best from HP autonomic
failover
Autonomic failover is a unique enterprise class feature of the HP B6200 StoreOnce Backup system.
When integrated with various backup applications it makes it possible for the backup process to
continue even if a node within a B6200 couplet fails. ISV scripts are usually required to complete this
process. The failover process is best visualized by watching the video on:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p9A3Ql1-BBs
What happens during autonomic failover?
At a logical level, all the virtual devices (VTL, NAS and replication) associated with the failing node
are transferred by the B6200 operating system onto the paired healthy node of the couplet. The use
of Virtual IP addresses for Ethernet and NPIV virtualization on the Fibre Channel ports are the key
technology enablers that allow this to happen without manual intervention.
NAS target failover is via the Virtual IP system used in the HP B6200 Backup System – the
service set simply presents the failed node Virtual IP address on the remaining node.
FC (VTL device) failover relies on the customer’s fabric switches supporting NPIV, and NPIV
being enabled and the zones set up correctly. Here the situation is more complex as several
permutations are possible. For more details see Appendix A – FC failover supported
configurations.
Note: To prevent data corruption, the system must confirm that the failing node is shutdown before
the other node starts writing to disk. This can be seen in the video where the “service set” is stopping.
At a hardware level the active cluster manager is sending a shutdown command via the dedicated
iLO3 port on the failing node. Email alerts and SNMP traps are also sent on node failure.
The HP B6200 Backup System failover process can take approximately 15 minutes to complete. The
following figure illustrates the failover timeline.
Figure 27: Failover timeline
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Failover support with backup applications
Backup applications do not have an awareness of advanced features such as autonomic failover
because they are designed for use with physical tape libraries and NAS storage. From the
perspective of the backup application, when failover occurs, the virtual tape libraries and the NAS
shares on the HP B6200 Backup System go offline and after a period of time they come back online
again. This is similar to a scenario where the backup device has been powered off and powered on
again.
Each backup application deals with backup devices going offline differently. In some cases, once a
backup device goes offline the backup application will keep retrying until the target backup device
comes back online and the backup job can be completed. In other cases, once a backup device
goes offline it must be brought back online again manually within the backup application before it
can be used to retry the failed backups.
In this section we shall briefly describe three popular backup applications and their integration with
the autonomic failover feature. Information for additional backup applications will be published on
the B6200 support documentation pages when it is available.
HP Data Protector 6.21: job retries are currently supported by using a post-exec script.
Download from B6200 support documentation.
Symantec NetBackup 7.x: job retries are automatic, but after a period without a
response from the backup device the software marks the devices as “down”. Once failover
has completed and the backup device is responding again the software does not
automatically mark the device as “up” again. A script is available from HP that continually
checks Symantec device status and ensures that backup devices are marked as “up”. With
this script deployed on the NetBackup media server, the HP B6200 Backup System failover
works seamlessly. Download from B6200 support documentation. NetBackup can go back to
the last checkpoint and carry on from there, if checkpointing has been enabled in the backup
job. So, all the data backed up prior to failover is preserved and the job does not have to go
right back to the beginning and start again.
EMC Networker 7.x:
VTL: Job retries are automatically enabled for scheduled backup jobs. No additional scripts
or configuration are required in order to achieve seamless integration with the HP B6200
Backup System. In the event of a failover scenario, the backup jobs are automatically retried
once the HP B6200 Backup System has completed the failover process. EMC Networker also
has a checkpoint facility that can be enabled. This allows failed backup jobs to be restarted
from the most recent checkpoint.
NAS: The combination of Networker and NAS is not supported with autonomic failover and
use could cause irrecoverable data loss.
It is strongly recommended that all backup jobs to all nodes be configured to restart (if any action to
do this is required) because there is no guarantee which nodes are more likely to fail than others. It is
best to cover all eventualities by ensuring all backups to all nodes have restart capability enabled, if
required.
Whilst the failover process is autonomic, the failback process is manual because the replacement or
repaired node must be brought back on line before failback can happen. Failback can be
implemented either from the CLI or the GUI interface.
55
Restores are generally a manual process and restore jobs are typically not automatically retried
because they are rarely scheduled.
Designing for failover
One node is effectively doing the work of two nodes in the failed over condition. There is some
performance degradation but the backup jobs will continue after the autonomic failover.
The following best practices apply when designing for autonomic failover support:
The customer must choose whether SLAs will remain the same after failover as they did before
failover. If they do, the solution must be sized in advance to only use up to 50% of the
available performance. This is to ensure that there is sufficient headroom in system resources
so that in the case of failover there is no appreciable degradation in performance after
failover and the SLAs are still met.
For customers who are more price-conscious and where failover is an “exception condition”
the solution can be sized for cost effectiveness. Here most of the available throughput is
utilized on the nodes. In this case when failover happens there will be a degradation in
performance. The amount of degradation observed will depend on the relative “imbalance”
of throughput requirements between the two nodes. This is another reason for keeping both
nodes in a couplet as evenly loaded as possible.
Ensure the correct ISV patches/scripts are applied and do a dry run to test the solution. In
some cases a post execution script must be added to each and every backup job/policy. The
customer can configure which jobs will retry in the event of failover (which is a temporary
condition) in order to limit the load on the single remaining node in the couplet by:o Only putting the post execution script to retry the job in the most urgent and
important jobs, not all jobs. This is the method for HP Data Protector.
o Modifying the “bring device back on line scripts” to only apply to certain drives and
robots – those used by the most urgent and important jobs. This is the method for
Symantec NetBackup.
Remember replication is also considered as a virtual device within a service set and
replication fails over as well as backup devices
For replication failover there are two scenarios:
o Replication was not running – that is, failover occurred outside the replication
window, in which case replication will start when the replication windows is next
open.
o If replication was in progress when failover occurred, after failover has completed
replication will start again from the last known good checkpoint (about every 10MB
of replicated data).
Failback (via CLI or GUI) is a manual process and should be scheduled to occur during a
period of inactivity.
Remember all failover related events are recorded in the Event Logs.
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Scenario 6 - Monitoring the HP B6200 Backup System
This section explains the options for monitoring the HP B6200 Backup System via inbuilt reporting,
SNMP and email alerts.
Best practice is to monitor status and alerts on a regular basis to ensure that everything is operating
correctly.
Events reporting
An Events summary is updated in the top left-hand corner of the GUI on a rolling 24-hour basis. Any
red alerts should be investigated immediately.
Select Events in the Navigator pane to display a history of all event logs that can be further
analyzed. All events can be viewed or a category of Alerts, Warning, or Information may be
selected. In the example below, Info Only has been selected and reports that a virtual library has
been deleted by a user.
Figure 28: Main event monitoring on the B6200 GUI
Events generated if couplet storage fills
Each node has its own allocated ‘local’ storage within a couplet. Should this node’s ‘local’ storage fill
up, it will utilize some of the other node storage. Events are sent to warn you of the local node
storage filling up. They are generated at 90%, 92%, 94%, 95%, 96%, 97% and 98% as a warning
57
and 100% as a critical event. The actual messages are shown by segment (an internal storage term),
so, for each percentage figure multiple events may be seen.
When the storage is reaching capacity, for a VTL, a EWEOM flag (Early Warning End Of Media) is
set on the cartridge – it is ISV dependent as to how the backup application responds to this check
condition being returned.
Generally storage filling up can be as a result of:
Undersizing the solution, in which case additional capacity can be added – on a couplet by
couplet basis
Poor deduplication ratio, as a result of the unique nature of the data being backed up, for
example data that is already compressed prior to being sent to the StoreOnce device.
Bad practices, some of which are:
Bad pooling of cartridges, creating excessive housekeeping (thus sub-optimal data
storage at deduplication level)
Poor deduplication ratio
o as a result of pooling different data types into the same VTL / NAS share
o as a result of multiplexing backup streams (we recommend setting the concurrency to
1), see also Why multiplexing is a bad practice
Housekeeping being paused or not allowed sufficient time to run. This results in space not
being reclaimed as fast as it should be.
If storage reaches capacity, the customer should take the following actions:
Please ensure that no further backups to VTL or NAS shares occur. If the device is being used
as a replication target, pause replication jobs.
Avoid using the StoreOnce B6200 in a failover mode unless necessary.
Check the amount of housekeeping outstanding on the service sets and whether the
housekeeping is enabled and running. If there is outstanding housekeeping, allow this to
complete.
Check the trend of capacity usage (within the GUI) over the past 30 days – has it increased
significantly? If required, purchase and schedule storage capacity upgrade.
Deleting old cartridges may not necessarily reclaim storage. Consider adding more storage.
At this time, to avoid creating a heavy housekeeping load, please DO NOT:
Delete many cartridges at one time
Reformat many cartridges at one time within the backup application
Housekeeping load
Another worthwhile check that should be performed is on the overall housekeeping load for each
service set. Housekeeping is the process whereby space is reclaimed and is best scheduled to occur
in quiet periods when no backup or replication is taking place. However, if insufficient time is
allocated to housekeeping, there is a risk that housekeeping jobs will stack up – effectively “hogging”
capacity.
To view overall housekeeping load and progress per service set, click Housekeeping in the
Navigator, select the service set and the Overall tab in Housekeeping Statistics. This tab shows the
housekeeping statistics for all devices configured on the service set.
The screenshot below shows overall housekeeping statistics for Service Set 2. The top graph shows
that the housekeeping load is low and all housekeeping jobs have been completed. The second
graph shows the rate at which housekeeping jobs are being processed.
58
Figure 29: Monitoring housekeeping on the B6200 GUI
Storage reporting
Another important parameter to measure is that of storage growth, which is also done per service set.
Should the storage occupancy of a service set hit 90%, an automatic alert is generated. If no further
action takes place, the whole device is made read only when occupancy reaches 100%.
To monitor the free space per service set and the overall deduplication ratio per service set, select
Storage Report in the Navigator. This parameter can also be measured using HP Replication
Manager 2.0 (see later in this section).
Figure 30: Storage reporting on the B6200 GUI - free space
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Hardware Problem Report
Although issues over the past 24 hours will be logged in the general Events summary, the Hardware
Problem Report should also be monitored for more detailed information. The following example shows
that some network connections were down and a disk had gone down on MSA1 in location 1-2-12
on couplet 1.
Figure 31: Hardware Problem reporting on the B6200 GUI – faulty disk
Select an item in the list and click on Details to display more information about the problem. You can
also go to the Hardware page, where additional buttons may be available. For example, a physical
disk, you can turn on the beacon LED for a physical disk from this page to ensure the correct drive is
replaced.
Figure 32: Hardware reporting – component details
Email alerts
Best practice is to configure email alerts via the GUI, so that event notifications are automatically
emailed to the relevant people. A single event can generate a notification to multiple email addresses.
Also, different sets of events can generate notifications to different email addresses.
Select Email from the Navigator to configure automatic email and provide the information
needed to route the email (SMTP server).
Select Email – Events from the Navigator to set up the email addresses and associate
events with destination email addresses.
The following example shows the Manage Email Notifications screen. Refer to the HP B6200
StoreOnce Backup System user guide for more information about configuring email alerts.
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Figure 33: Selective emails driven by Event severity
SNMP reporting
The HP B6200 Backup System can be configured to provide SNMP traps, which are the lowest
common denominator in terms of event monitoring capabilities. Many third party network monitoring
applications use this protocol. Currently, the HP B6200 Backup System only supports SNMP VI.
The SNMP trap location is set on the HP B6200 Backup System via a CLI command.
Once configured, SNMP traps can be used to report B6200 Alarms to various system-wide
monitoring software packages, such as HP Insight Remote Support and Microsoft SCOM.
Figure 34: Use CLI on HP B6200 to set the SNMP trap address
HP Insight Remote Support
HP Insight Remote Support provides a free “phone home” capability for the HP B6200 StoreOnce
Backup System. It is a no cost option to which customers can subscribe and enables pro-active support
of HP servers and storage by allowing a customer’s equipment to be monitored remotely by HP. At the
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first sign of trouble an HP Support engineer can be dispatched with a replacement component –
sometimes before the customer even realizes there is a problem!
The HP B6200 Backup System is supported in IRS V5.8 and the new platform IRS V7.05 (June 2012).
More details can be found at HP Insight Remote Support
Figure 35: Typical HP IRS console showing HP Storage devices monitored by HP
Microsoft SCOM (System Center Operation Manager)
The HP B6200 Backup System supports the Netcitizen MIB (Management information base). To
obtain B6200 support, the customer must install SCOM v2.0.1.0 or later.
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Figures 36 and 37: Microsoft SCOM monitoring a wide range of HP hardware including HP StoreOnce B6200
HP Replication Manager 2.0
Mainly targeted at solutions such as those shown in Scenario 4 (multiple remote offices), HP
Replication Manager 2.0 is specifically designed and highly recommended as a best practice for
“single pane of glass” management for large fan-in replication scenarios. Replication Manager 2.0 is
available at no cost to anyone who purchases an HP B6200Backup System replication license and is
downloadable from the HP Software Kiosk www.software.hp.com/kiosk
Replication Manager 2.0 provides the following functionality.
Support for HP B6200 Backup Systems
Basic trends analysis capacity, replication up times, utilization analysis
Enhanced topology view
Support for up to 400 devices
Launching of multiple StoreOnce GUIs within Replication Manager
Monitoring and reporting of CIFS, NAS, VTL
Real time graphical views (auto refresh)
Data base export (CSV) and historical data trending up to 1 year
Active directory group setting (import AD groups)
Email notification (digest)
Windows 32 and 64 bit support
Continued Gen 2 hardware support including D2D2500 series
StoreOnce software identification
Enhanced Command Line Interface for Replication Manager
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Figure 38: Storage Trend report in Replication Manager 2.0
Figure 39: Replication Trend report in Replication Manager 2.0
The Topology Viewer shows Device Status, Name and Replication Status between Devices.
A tool tip is available when mouse over a device. This tool tip contains additional information about
this device.
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Click on Show Legend to display the legend used in the Topology and use the page navigation
buttons to move onto other islands. Refer to the Replication Manager 2.0 documentation for more
information about using the screens illustrated in this section.
Figure 40: Topology viewing using Replication Manager 2.0
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Appendix A – FC failover supported configurations
Key Failover FC zoning considerations
The same considerations apply when configuring Fibre Channel as did when configuring the network.
Care must be taken to ensure there is no single point of failure in switch or fabric zoning that will
negate the failover capabilities of the HP B6200 Backup System and its autonomic failover ability.
Conformance to the following rules will help to ensure successful failover
•
Fibre Channel switches used with HP StoreOnce must support NPIV. For a full list see
http://www.hp.com/go/ebs
•
Use WWPN zoning (rather than port based).
•
In a single fabric configuration ensure the equivalent FC ports from each B6200 node in a
couplet are presented to the same FC switch, see Scenario 1.
•
In a dual fabric configuration ensure the equivalent FC ports from each B6200 node in a
couplet are presented to the same fabric. However, they should present to separate switches
within the fabric.
•
Ensure the D2D diagnostic device WWNs (these will be seen in the switch name server and
are associated with the physical ports) are not included in any fabric zones and, therefore,
not presented to any hosts.
Fibre channel port presentations
When you create a virtual tape library on a service set you specify whether the VTL should be
presented to:
Port 1 and 2
Port 1
Port 2
Port 1 and 2 is the recommended option to achieve efficient load balancing. Only the robotics
(medium changer) part of the VTL is presented to Port 1 and Port 2 initially, with the number of virtual
tape drives defined, being presented 50% to Port 1 and 50% to Port 2. This also ensures that in the
event of a fabric failure at least half of the drives will still be available to the hosts. (The initial virtual
tape drive allocation to ports (50/50) can be edited later, if required.
So, to create a library you need:
1 WWN for the robotics
XX number of WWNs for your drives, depending on the required number of drives
Although the universal configuration rule is a maximum of 255 WWNs per port, the HP B6200
Backup System applies a maximum of 120 WWNs per port and up to 192 drives per library. This is
to ensure fabric redundancy and to enable failover to work correctly. For example, should Port 1 fail
in any of the selected configurations, the WWNs associated with its service set will not exceed 120
and can be failed over safely to Port 2.
To summarize:
To create a library on one port only, the maximum number of devices that you can have is
120, of which 1 WWN is required for the robotics, so the total number of drives available =
119 drives
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To create a library on Ports 1 and 2, the maximum number of drives is 96 per port (but this
configuration is not recommended). This is a B6200 library limit and not a WWN limit.
The following table illustrates various FC port configurations with VTL devices and the impact that the
choice of FC ports has on the validity of the configuration.
Table 12: Port assignment VTL configuration examples, illustrating maximum number of devices supported
FC failover scenario 1, single fabric with dual switches, recommended
Figure 40 illustrates the logical connectivity between the hosts and the VTLs and their FC ports. The
arrows illustrate accessibility, not data flow.
FC configuration
Multiple switches within a single fabric
All hosts can see the robots over two separate switches
Zoning by WWPN
Each zone to include a host and the required targets on the HP B6200 Backup System
Equivalent ports from each node can see the same switch
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B6200 VTL configuration
Default library configuration is 50% drives presented to Port 1, 50% presented to Port 2
Up to 120 WWNs can be presented to Port 1 and Port 2
On B6200 failover all WWNs of failed node are automatically transferred to the
corresponding port on the other node. This is transparent to the hosts.
Figure 41: VTLs presented to two ports and into dual switches in a single Fabric, recommended configuration
If FC switch1 fails, Host A and Host B lose access to their backup devices. Hosts C and D still have
access to the media changers and to 50% of the drives on VTL2 and 50% of the drives on VTL1
B6200 failover between nodes is enabled.
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FC failover scenario 2, single fabric with dual switches, not advised
The FC configuration is the same in this scenario, but the VTLs are presented to a single port. This
configuration is not advised because it compromises the B6200 autonomic failover facility.
FC configuration
Multiple switches within a single fabric
All hosts can see the robots over two separate switches
Zoning by WWPN
Each zone to include a host and the required targets on the HP B6200 Backup System
Equivalent ports on each node see different switches
B6200 VTL configuration
Library configuration is all drives presented entirely to a single port, either Port 1 or Port 2
Up to 120 WWNs can be presented to the individual port
Loss of a port or switch means that all access is lost to the VTLs that are dedicated to that port
B6200 failover nodes will not failover if we lose a FC port on the node
Figure 42: Separate VTLs presented to separate ports and into different switches in different Fabrics, not recommended
If FC switch1 fails, Host A and Host B lose access to their backup devices, even though B6200
failover is enabled because the physical configuration provides a point of failure. Hosts C and D still
have access to the media changers and to 100% of the drives on VTL3 and VTL4.
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FC failover scenario 3, dual fabric with dual switches, recommended
This FC configuration has added complexity because it has two fabrics. The arrows illustrate
accessibility, not data flow.
FC configuration
Dual fabrics
Multiple switches within each fabric
Zoning by WWPN
Each zone to include a host and the required targets on the HP B6200 Backup System
Equivalent ports from each node can see the same fabric, but are directed to different
switches
B6200 VTL configuration
Default library configuration is 50% drives presented to Port 1, 50% presented to Port 2.
Robot appears on Port 1 and Port 2
Up to 120 WWNs can be presented to Port 1 and Port 2
On B6200 failover all WWNs of failed node are automatically transferred to the
corresponding port on the other node, which still has access to both fabrics. This is
transparent to the hosts.
Figure 43: Complex configuration with parts of different VTLs being presented to different fabrics, recommended
configuration
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What happens if a fabric fails?
If Fabric 1 fails in the previous configuration, all VTL libraries and nodes on the HP B6200 Backup
System still have access to Fabric 2. As long as Hosts A, B and C also have access to Fabric 2, then
all backup devices are still available to Hosts A, B and C. The following diagram illustrates existing
good paths after a fabric fails.
Figure 44: Complex configuration with parts of different VTLs being presented to different fabrics, fabric 1 fails
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Similarly, if Fabric 2 failed, all VTL libraries and nodes on the HP B6200 Backup System would still
have access to Fabric 1. As long as Hosts D, E and F also have access to Fabric 1, then all backup
devices are still available to Hosts D, E and F. The following diagram illustrates good existing paths
after Fabric 2 fails.
Figure 45: Complex configuration with parts of different VTLs being presented to different fabrics, fabric 2 fails
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FC failover scenario 4, dual fabric with dual switches, not advised
The FC configuration is the same as scenario 3, but the VTLs are presented to a single port, which
means they are tied to a single switch within a single fabric. This configuration is not advised because
it compromises the B6200 autonomic failover facility.
FC configuration
Dual fabrics
Multiple switches within each fabric
Zoning by WWPN
Each zone to include a host and the required targets on the HP B6200 Backup System
Equivalent ports from each node are connected to the same fabric, but are directed to
different switches
Each port is connected to only one switch within one fabric
B6200 VTL configuration
Library configuration is all drives presented entirely to a single port, either Port 1 or Port 2.
Loss of a port, switch or fabric means that all access is lost to the VTLs that are dedicated to
that port, switch or fabric
Figure 46: Complex configuration with VTLs being presented to only one port and to a single fabric, not advised
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Other factors to consider
For each D2D FC port there is a Diagnostic Fibre Channel Device presented to the Fabric. There
will be one per active FC physical port. This means there are 4 per couplet on an HP B62000
Backup System.
The Diagnostic Fibre Channel Device can be identified by the following example text.
Symbolic Port Name
"HP D2D S/N-CZ3050644J99 HP D2DBS Diagnostic Fibre
Channel S/N-MY5040204H Port-1"
Symbolic Node Name
"HP D2D S/N-CZ3050644J99 HP D2DBS Diagnostic Fibre
Channel S/N-MY5040204H"
Where:
S/N-CZ3050644J99 is an example string for D2D Gen2
S/N-hpd8d385af106801 is an example string for an HP B6200 device. If this is node
Port 1, the Node Name string will be as above but, if it is Port 2, the Node Name string
will end with Port-2.
Often the diagnostic device will be listed above the other virtual devices because it is logged in
ahead of the virtual devices. The S/N-MY5040204H string is an indication of the QLC HBA’s
serial number and not any serial number of an appliance/node.
At this time these devices are part of the StoreOnce D2D VTL implementation and are not an error
or fault condition. It is recommended that these devices be removed from the switch zone that is
also used for virtual drives and loaders.
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•
Dual Fabric can be implemented in a single switch using Cisco V-SANs.
– In practice this might be used with a large Cisco Director class switch
•
Some operating systems track resources through the FCID (N-Port ID) address instead of WWPN.
This has potential for problems during failover.
– Examples are HP-UX 11.11, 11.23 and 11.31 in legacy mode, AIX. You would need to
ensure FCID persistence is used to maintain the path.
– HP-UX 11.31 (non-legacy mode) introduces a new Agile Addressing scheme which tracks
WWN.
– AIX with dynamic tracking will bind to the target WWN rather than FCID.
Appendix B – B6200 Key Configuration Parameters
Table 13: Configuration parameters
1 couplet
2 couplets
3 Couplets
4 Couplets
Up to 128
Up to 256
Up to 384
Up to 512
96
192
288
384
384
768
1152
1536
Max VTL Library Rep Fan Out
2
4
6
8
Max VTL Library Rep Fan In
16
16
16
16
16
32
48
64
Max Rep Fan In
96
192
288
384
Max Concurrent Rep Jobs as Source
32
64
96
128
Max Concurrent Rep Jobs Target
96
192
288
384
480
960
1440
1920
Max VTL Drives
384
768
1152
1536
Max Cartridge Size (TB)
3.2
3.2
3.2
3.2
Devices
Max Addressable Disk Capacity (TB) – assuming 2TB drives
Max Number Devices (VTL + NAS shares )
Total maximum concurrent streams ( backup/restores/inbound replication)
Replication
Max Rep Fan Out
+
VTL
Max VTL drives (384) and medium changers (96) - (combined)
Max Slots Per Library (D2DBS, EML-E, ESL-E Lib Type)
16384
16384
16384
16384
24,48,96
24,48,96
24,48,96
24,48,96
Max virtual devices( drives & medium changers) configurable per FC ports
480
960
1440
1920
Recommended Max Concurrent backup streams ( mix of VTL & NAS)
256
512
768
1024
12
12
12
12
Max Slots Per Library (MSL2024, MSL4048,MSL8096 Lib Type)
Recommended Max Concurrent Backup Streams per Library
NAS
Max files per share
25000
25000
25000
25000
Max number of streams if only CIFS target shares configured (no VTL)
384
768
1152
1536
Max number of streams if only NFS target shares configured (no VTL)
192
384
586
768
Recommended Max Concurrent Backup Streams (mix of VTL & NAS)
256
512
768
1024
12
12
12
12
1944
3888
5832
7776
32
64
96
128
Recommended Max Concurrent Backup Streams per Share
Performance
Max Aggregate Write Throughput (MB/s)++
Min streams required to achieve max aggregate throughput**
** Assumes no backup client performance limitations.
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Appendix C – B6200 Sizing Considerations
The HP Storage sizing tool can be downloaded from www.hp.com/go/d2dsizer. It provides a useful
starting point for designing any solution involving an HP B6200 Backup System. In this section we
will size an HP B6200 to HP B6200 Active/Passive replication solution.
The two main outputs of the sizing tool are:A Bill of Materials (BOM) which indicates the likely cost of the solution
A technical set of calculations (in html format), which shows how the solution was derived
and also states other useful information, such as the link sizing and housekeeping allowances
required.
The same tool is used for a variety of Storage technologies at HP as well as a number of Nearline
technologies under the Backup Calculators navigation tab (see above). When designing an HP
B6200 Backup System into a replication solution (as opposed to a standalone device) the required
Launch option is Design VLS/D2D Replication over WAN in the VTL Solution Calculators section.
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Replication Designer wizard
1.
Provide the Replication Designer wizard with the required inputs, such as:
Replication configuration; Active/Passive, Active/Active and Many to One
Replication Window (used to help size the replication link)
Preferred type of replication target, e.g. HP B6200 (if no specific target device type is
specified, it will size which D2D model is best suited.
2.
Click Launch D2D Calculators. You will notice that in our example this has brought up two
devices in the left-hand navigation section, HPD2D Source #1 and HPD2D Target # 2, which
is in line with the replication environment that we specified in the Replication Design wizard.
The next step is to input the Job Spec.
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3.
For this simple example let us assume the following jobs at the source B6200:
Job1: Data base backup of 20 TB with 16 data streams available, a backup window
of 12 hours, an estimated daily data change rate of 5% and a retention period of 3
months using Incrementals during the week and Fulls on Saturdays. HP Data Protector
Software is used, data is 2:1 compressible.
Job2: Filesystem backup of 5 TB with 5 data streams available, backup window of
12 hours, a daily change rate of 2% and a retention period of 3 months using
Incrementals during the week and Fulls on Saturdays. HP Data Protector Software is
used, data is 1.5:1 compressible.
We expect all this data to be replicated in 12 hours, as previously specified in the Replication
wizard). The important thing to note here is that the backup performance required will dictate
the number of nodes and shelves required in the solution. The screen shots below show the
data inputs for Job1.
In our example we have chosen to force the Sizing tool to size the source device as a B6200
and to use Sizer intelligence to optimize the disk types (1 TB or 2TB) to get the correct
performance and capacity requirement.
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4.
Repeat the process to add Job 2.
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5.
Then simply click the Solve/Submit button.
A Bill of Materials and List pricing is produced (prices excluded below for commercial
reasons). The B6200 Bill of Materials includes a rack, which is part of the EJ021A switch
assembly part number. Note that the BOM has added a single couplet Replication license to
the Replication Passive (Target) B6200.
D2D Replication Active #1 Components
Quantity Part Number
Description
1
EJ022A
1
1
EJ022A 0D1
EJ021A
80
EJ022A
1
1
EJ022A 0D1
EJ021A
1
EJ026A
Cost at
Quantity
Discount
Cost after
Discount
Comment
/Notes
Cost at
Quantity
Discount
Cost after
Discount
Comment
/Notes
HP B6200 48TB
StoreOnce Backup System
Factory integrated
HP B6000 Switch
Assembly
Tape System Subtotal
D2D Replication Passive #2 Components
Quantity Part Number
Description
1
List
Price
List
Price
HP B6200 48TB
StoreOnce Backup
System
Factory integrated
HP B6000 Switch
Assembly
HP B6200 StoreOnce
Replication LTU
Tape System Subtotal
A technical assessment report is also output in html.
This part of the reports shows:
Capacity requirements at source and target
WAN link for replication (replicated volume/replication window) in this case 186
Mbit/sec link
Replication concurrency available at source and target
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The next section of the report shows the Sizer’s calculated compaction ratios (dedupe ratio x
compression ratio) given the data change rates and compression ratios supplied and the retention
periods. It also shows a view of the backup loads during different days of the week; the maximum
load is clearly on Saturday.
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Appendix D – Glossary of Terms
•
Active/Passive: Replication is in one direction from the active site to the passive site, only
two sites are involved.
•
Active/Active: Replication is bi-directional between two sites.
•
Appliance: This is a generic term for all the service sets (VTL, NAS, Replication) contained
in a whole cluster of B6200 nodes.
•
Cluster: This is a collection of 1 to n couplets. For the initial B6200 Backup System n=4. This
means that an 8-node, 4-couplet configuration is the largest permitted currently.
•
Couplet: This consists of two associated nodes and is the core of the failover architecture.
Each couplet has a common disk storage sub-system achieved by dual controller architecture
and cross-coupled 6Gbps SAS interfaces. Each node has access to the storage subsystem of
its partner node.
•
Failback: This is a manual process to restart a node after recovery/repair. This moves the
failed over service set back to the replaced/repaired node.
•
Failover: This occurs within a couplet. Service set for VTL/NAS/Replication will be moved
and started on the remaining node in the couplet. In failover, a node will then be hosting two
services sets, its original service set and the failed over service set.
•
Housekeeping: This is a space reclamation process that occurs every time data is
overwritten, it is very I/O intensive and should be scheduled to occur in a dedicated window
every day. Reports are available in the GUI to see housekeeping progress.
•
Load Balancing: A generic term for ensuring the backup and replication loads are
balanced across the various nodes in the B6200 in order to optimize overall performance.
•
Management Console: This consists of a set of software ‘agents’, each agent running on
a node, only one of which is ‘active’ at any one time. Each node is in communication via an
internal network. The Management Console provides a ‘virtual’ IP address for the
Management GUI and CLI. If node failure is detected any passive node may become ‘active’
(first one to respond). Only ONE active Management Console agent is allowed at any one
time.
•
Many to One: replication is “Fanned-in” with many sites typically replicating in one
direction to a large device at a central DR site or Data Center.
•
NAS Share: Some backup software does not support tape media ( physical or Virtual) – so
B6200 supports NAS shares ( CIFS or NFS) to allow backup to disk with deduplication. This
type of emulation also allows some of the more sophisticated backup techniques to be
deployed, such as incremental forever and change block tracking.
•
Node: This is the basic hardware building block and consists of an individual server (HP
Proliant DL380-G7).
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•
Replication: This is the process of copying data from one site to another to provide site
disaster recovery capability. Because deduplication can identify unique changed data, only
small amounts of data need to be replicated and so low bandwidth links can be used.
•
Replication concurrency: The number of replication jobs that can run simultaneously.
•
Seeding: The very first replication has to send all the data from Source to Target.
•
Service set: This is a collection of software modules providing VTL/NAS and replication
functions. Each service set can have Virtual tape (VT), NAS and replication configurations.
•
Sources: These are the devices (VTL or NAS) that send the data to the Target site.
•
Storage shelf: This refers to the P2000 master controller shelf (one per node) or a P2000
JBOD capacity upgrade. JBODs are purchased in pairs and up to 3 pairs may be added to
each couplet. They use dual 6Gbps SAS connections for resilience.
•
Targets: These are the devices at the DR or central site which receive the data from the
sources sites and create a second copy of the data.
•
VIF: This is a Virtual network Interface. Network connections to the B6200 Backup System
are to virtual IP addresses. Each ‘bonded’ interface has one virtual IP address. All connections
to the network based virtual devices are to be made to these VIFs to ensure correct operation
of autonomic failover
•
VTL: Virtual tape Library that can be configured on the B6200 – some “fixed” emulations,
such as MSL2024/4048/8096, are supported as well as “flexible emulations” using ESL Eseries, EML and D2DBS inquiry strings.
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Appendix E – Increasing NAS session timeout
In order to increase the timeout:
1. From the Start menu on the Windows client, click Run…
2. Type regedit in the Open: field and click OK.
3. Expand and locate the registry subtree as follows:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \ SYSTEM \ CurrentControlSet \ Services \
LanmanWorkstation \ Parameters
4. Add a new REG_DWORD key with the name of SessTimeout.
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5. Select the base as Decimal and enter 300 for the timeout value. click OK
6. Reboot the client.
7. Repeat steps 1 to 3 to confirm the timeout value is now set to 300.
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Appendix F – Power Distribution Unit Options
Two power outlets are required for the each couplet. However, it is strongly recommended that each
rack be installed with four outlets to allow for ease of expansion, even if the rack has only one
couplet.
If only two PDUs are connected on a single couplet configuration, they must be connected to the
relevant connection on each side of the rack. If not, and power is applied to only one side of the
rack, then only half of the power supplies on the hardware will be powered on.
Table 14: Monitored PDU part numbers
North America and Japan
40A 200-240V
24A 200-240V
1 Phase
3 Phase
International
32A 200-240V
48A 380-415V
1 Phase
3 Phase
Connector Plug
Type
Connector Socket
Type
CS8265A
NEMA L15-30P
IEC60309 332P6
EC60309 516P6
Hubbell CS8264C,
CS82269 or
equivalent
NEMA L15-30R
IEC60309 2 pole,
3 wire 32A;
Hubbell C332C65,
C33R6S or
equivalent
IEC60309 4 pole,
5 wire, 380-415
VAC, 16A;
Hubbell C516C6S,
C516R6S or
equivalent
Quantity of plugs
per rack
Quantity of PDUs
per rack
Part number
4
4
4
4
2
2
2
2
AF505A
AF503A
AF509A
AF507A
Output
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Table 15: Modular PDU part numbers
Output
Connector
Plug Type
Connector
Socket Type
North America and Japan
24A High
40A High
Voltage NA/JP Voltage NA/JP
200-240V
200-240V
1 Phase
1 Phase
NEMA L6-30P
CS8265C 50A
NEMA L6-30R
CS8264C or
CS8269, 50A
or equivalent
40A High
Voltage INTL
200-240V
1 Phase
International
32A High
Voltage INTL
200-240V
1 Phase
Field Wired
Terminal
IEC 309-32A
(IEC 332P6S)
Hard wired to
power outlet
IEC60309 2
pole, 3 wire
200-240VAC,
32A;
IEC 332C6S,
332R6S or
equivalent
40A High
Voltage INTL
200-240V
1 Phase
IEC 60309
63A
(IEC 363P6S)
IEC 60309 2
pole, 3 wire,
200-240VAC,
63A;
IEC 363C6S,
36R6S or
equivalent
Photo not
available
Control units
per rack
Extension
bars per rack
Extension
bars per
control unit
Part number
Total 4 off
Total 2 off
Total 2 off
Total 4 off
Total 2 off
Total 8 off
Total 8 off
Total 8 off
Total 8 off
Total 8 off
Total 2 off
Total 4 off
Total 4 off
Total 2 off
Total 4 off
252663-D72
252663-D73
252663-B21
252663-B31
252663-B32
For more information
To read more about HP B6000 StoreOnce Backup Systems, go to www.hp.com/go/storeonce or for
support documentation go to B6200 support documentation
The Sizing tool for B6200 and D2D is available from: www.hp.com/go/d2dsizer
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© Copyright 2011 Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. The information contained herein is subject to
change without notice. The only warranties for HP products and services are set forth in the express warranty
statements accompanying such products and services. Nothing herein should be construed as constituting an
additional warranty. HP shall not be liable for technical or editorial errors or omissions contained herein.
EJ022-90911, Version 2, Created March 2012