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on-demand raw device backup.

  • April 17, 2022
  • 4 replies
  • 454 views

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Can Simpana back up data on a raw device with on-demand backup?

Best answer by SparshGupta

Hi @jaekwon byun 

 

Raw device backups are not supported with On-demand backupset.
 

However, Adhoc backups which is similar to On-demand backup, should be able to back up the data from raw devices, either physical or LVM.

Adhoc backups is the way forward and no enhancements will be made for legacy On-demand backupsets / subclients.

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https://documentation.commvault.com/11.24/expert/92600_performing_ad_hoc_backups.html

https://documentation.commvault.com/11.24/expert/92601_directive_file_format_for_ad_hoc_backups_for_unix.html


As part of directive file, just mention the content as the absolute path of raw device -

/dev/mapper/vgname-lvname

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For instance, if the directive file content is “/dev/mapper/vg_test-lvauto2” and an adhoc backup is triggered using qoperation mentioned in above documentation link, the job completes successfully and you can view the same under browse panel.



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Please note that incrementals are not supported for raw devices and only full backups can be run.


Regards,
Sparsh Gupta

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4 replies

Jos Meijer
Commvault Certified Expert
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  • Commvault Certified Expert
  • 647 replies
  • April 17, 2022

Hi @jaekwon byun 

What do you mean by on-demand backup? Backup of an individual VM? Please elaborate about the type of backup.


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  • Author
  • 2 replies
  • April 17, 2022

Hi. @Jos Meojer

On-demand is one of the backup sets.

Client computer is linux server.

I'm trying to back up data configured as a raw device of linux, but can I back up on-demand instead of filesystem?


Jos Meijer
Commvault Certified Expert
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  • Commvault Certified Expert
  • 647 replies
  • April 17, 2022

On-demand backup set has a subclient which is configurable almost like a regular subclient and relies on readable file system locations. In normal file system subclients raw devices are backed up using Full Backups.

Source: https://documentation.commvault.com/11.24/expert/23955_advanced_configuration_linux_file_system.html#creating-subclient-to-back-up-raw-devices

This function is not supported in on-demand backup sets.

Alternative would be intellisnap based backup, but documentation states this is not supported:

Quote: "On-Demand Backup Set is not supported for IntelliSnap Backup."

Source agent supported features: https://documentation.commvault.com/11.24/expert/13087_advanced_file_system_agent_options_support.html

Source 2 on-demand for linux: https://documentation.commvault.com/11.24/expert/92599_ad_hoc_backups_01.html

As far as I can see the answer to your question unfortunately is no, raw device backup is not supported with on-demand backup set for linux.


SparshGupta
Vaulter
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  • Vaulter
  • 147 replies
  • Answer
  • April 18, 2022

Hi @jaekwon byun 

 

Raw device backups are not supported with On-demand backupset.
 

However, Adhoc backups which is similar to On-demand backup, should be able to back up the data from raw devices, either physical or LVM.

Adhoc backups is the way forward and no enhancements will be made for legacy On-demand backupsets / subclients.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

https://documentation.commvault.com/11.24/expert/92600_performing_ad_hoc_backups.html

https://documentation.commvault.com/11.24/expert/92601_directive_file_format_for_ad_hoc_backups_for_unix.html


As part of directive file, just mention the content as the absolute path of raw device -

/dev/mapper/vgname-lvname

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

For instance, if the directive file content is “/dev/mapper/vg_test-lvauto2” and an adhoc backup is triggered using qoperation mentioned in above documentation link, the job completes successfully and you can view the same under browse panel.



---------------------------------------------------------------------------

Please note that incrementals are not supported for raw devices and only full backups can be run.


Regards,
Sparsh Gupta