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Disable deduplication on CommServe client

C
Userlevel 3
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Hi Guys,

 

Is there any way to disable dedup only on one single client only ?

In our case, we have a Storage Pool which has Dedup Enabled, the storage pool is used to store aux copies received from our main site. The main thing is that from all the aux copies that are sent to the storage pool, there is the one of the CommServe DR backup. 

As per our knowledge, in case of a DR scenario, we have to use “Media Explorer” utility on the MA in order to retrieve the CommServe DR backups from the MOUNT PATH, and from the documentation, the tool is not usable when the data is deduplicated, as per below :

From this came the need to disable the dedup only on the CommServe client or from the CommServe DR storage policy, and if there is any way to disable it for the CommServe only, is it really sufficient ? Since the storage pool is using deduplication, or does the CommServe DR Storage Policy has to be assigned to a specific Storage Pool that does not use Dedup ?

 

Any advices regarding this would be great.

Thanks in advance.

 

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Best answer by Commvault Engineer 26 July 2022, 16:55

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13 replies

O
Rank
Userlevel 6
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Good morning.  In the properties of the subclient, under Storage Devices/Deduplication, you should be able to disable deduplication for that subclient:

 

M
Rank
Userlevel 3
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Hi all,

disabling Dedupe on the subclient will not help with DR Backup as there is no dedicated subclient for this.

Instead, I would always recommend doing the DR Backup to a Storage Policy that does not use Dedupe.

 

Regards,

Markus

Damian Andre
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I’m going to be blunt on this one, only because its so important - If you plan to use Media Explorer, then plan for failure.

ME is a last ditch, worst case scenario and should never be planned on being used. Your DR backup should be secured through the various options available, including the free option to upload to the Commvault cloud. 

I’ve been involved in my fair share of media explorer recoveries, and it ain’t pretty!

M
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Userlevel 3
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Agree with Damian btw :-)

 

C
Userlevel 3
Badge +11

Hi all,

disabling Dedupe on the subclient will not help with DR Backup as there is no dedicated subclient for this.

Instead, I would always recommend doing the DR Backup to a Storage Policy that does not use Dedupe.

 

Regards,

Markus

Hi @MarkusBaumhardt,

 

Thanks for the reply.

Since the CommServe DR Backup is using by default the built-in “CommServe DR” storage policy. Is there any way to disable Dedup on that specific SP ?

 

Kind regards. 

C
Userlevel 3
Badge +11

I’m going to be blunt on this one, only because its so important - If you plan to use Media Explorer, then plan for failure.

ME is a last ditch, worst case scenario and should never be planned on being used. Your DR backup should be secured through the various options available, including the free option to upload to the Commvault cloud. 

I’ve been involved in my fair share of media explorer recoveries, and it ain’t pretty!

Hi Damian,

 

Thanks a lot for your feedback.

Actually, we have some restrictions which prevent us from uploading to Commvault Cloud, so we have to depend on our backup copies of the CommServe DR backup.

 

That’s why we have to depend on the Media Explorer in order to be able to retrieve the backup from the Library in case of a loss of the CS.

 

 

M
Rank
Userlevel 3
Badge +6

 

Since the CommServe DR Backup is using by default the built-in “CommServe DR” storage policy. Is there any way to disable Dedup on that specific SP ?

DR Storage Policy is not dedupe-enabled by default, so no need to disable it.

C
Userlevel 3
Badge +11

 

Since the CommServe DR Backup is using by default the built-in “CommServe DR” storage policy. Is there any way to disable Dedup on that specific SP ?

DR Storage Policy is not dedupe-enabled by default, so no need to disable it.

Hi @MarkusBaumhardt 

 

Isn’t the deduplication feature related to the Storage Pool used for the copy ?

In our case, we have a copy from the DR Storage Policy using a Storage Pool that has Dedup enabled, apparently the copy is using dedup as you can from the screenshot below (Copy-3) :

Regards

M
Rank
Userlevel 3
Badge +6

The DR Storage Policy will grab whatever next-created Storage Pool uses a different library than the first one, that’s why it grabbed the deduped one. That was different in the past where it just would have used the disk library to create its own copy without dedupe. So, you would probably want to create a separate Storage Pool with that disk library but without dedupe, add that as a copy to the DR Storage Policy and disable the deduped one.

Scott Moseman
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I suggest using the “Network Share” location for your DR copy.  Use a UNC path in your DR data center.  I would never recommend anyone to use Media Explorer for recovering a CSDB from media.  Keep your DR processes simple.
 


Thanks,
Scott
 

Commvault "Enterprise Success Program"
M
Rank
Userlevel 3
Badge +6

Agree with Scott here. It is always preferable using a phase-1 DR copy (i.e. the copied DR Set) for recovery as recovery from a DR Backup Copy located on a disk or tape library is more complex in case of a situation with the CommServe not being available, even if it is not deduplicated.

C
Userlevel 3
Badge +11

Hi @Scott Moseman and @MarkusBaumhardt,

 

Hope everyone is doing well.

Thanks all for your feedback and advices.

 

Actually, we are already using a UNC path for phase1-DR copy, and we know that using it is way easier to recover the CS (Since we have already done that before).

Our main goal is just to get the best approach to recover the CS using the DR backup (In case of no DR Sets are available), since Commvault creates automatically a CommServeDR Storage Policy and offers the “Media Explorer” utility to be used to retrieve the DR Backups.

My question may seem silly, but why would I backup the CommServeDR DB if I can not retrieve it and use it for recovery ? Even if it’s more complex to recover, when the DR backup is your last resort to recover, It is always nice to have the right procedure to do so.

 

Sorry, if I may appear insisting on the DR Backup, I want to make the most of the options offered by commvault 🙂.

 

Kind regards all.

Scott Moseman
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Userlevel 5
Badge +12

My recommendation for handling DR of the CommCell:

  1. CommServe Live Sync
  2. UNC path for DR set
  3. Upload to Cloud Library -- if this is an option
  4. Recover directly from media -- last ditch option

CommServe Live Sync is so easy these days, everyone should be using it.

Thanks,
Scott
 

Commvault "Enterprise Success Program"

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