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Data Protector 8 – Patch Bundle 8.01

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On 2014/01/31 HP released patch bundle 8.01 for Linux, HP-UX and Windows. The update will fix many problems since version 8.00 was released, some were already addresses by SSP’s – site specific patches. When looking at the patch description, about 100 fixes and some new features (support for vSphere 5.1 U1) are included. Unfortunately it is not possible to compare the fixes from DP 8.01 with the resolved issued from DP 8.10, as the document “List of Implemented Enhancements and Resolved Issues” (support.openview.hp.com), uploaded last week too, has a wrong Data Protector Version (it is named like the internal Data Protector 8.00 version – X34). However, from my experience and what I have seen in the patch description, it can be assumed that all the fixes for Data Protector 8.01 are already included in version 8.10 (I will post additional information if I’m wrong). So, the customer seems to have a choice – keep version 8.0 and install the patch bundle or move on and implement version 8.10, what I would prefer. As always, it is recommended to read the full description of the bundle.

If you own a valid support contract you can download the patches from http://support.openview.hp.com/selfsolve/patches. For login you need the HP Passport account.

Download the patch bundle as usual, you will need your Passport account.

– Windows – DPWINBDL_00801 – Patch Bundle

– Linux – DPLNXBDL_00801 – Patch Bundle

– HP-UX – DPUXBDL_00801 – Patch Bundle

StoreOnce success story from Australia

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Recently I asked you to share your StoreOnce success story. Here is a awesome story and a good example for federated deduplication from a company in Australia.

Before using HP StoreOnce, the company used to protect its data in the two datacentres using HP Data Protector. The data (FileSystems, MS Exchange, MS SQL and VMware) was written to several file libraries (hosted on HP EVA 8100) and then destaged to an LTO4 tape library daily. For about 20 remote sites the backup was done using Symantec Backup Exec and locally attached tape drives or Autoloaders.

“The backup environment was difficult to manage and a constant source of frustration.”

In mid-2013 the Australian company decided to change the backup & recovery strategy and to move to an entire HP Data Protector and HP StoreOnce (including Veeam) solution. Planning and design was done internally, supported by an HP engineer. HP Data Protector 8.0 was implemented as the primary backup solution for all remote sites and the two datacentres. The company uses HP StoreOnce 2620 systems or HP StoreOnce 4420 systems for the remote sites and a HP StoreOnce 4430 system in each datacentre in the central site. Catalyst is used to replicate the data between the systems without the need for rehydration.

“It is now the most reliable and thorough backup solution our company has ever deployed.”

The backup strategy for the remote sites:

  • HP Data Protector backs up all FileSystem data to the local HP StoreOnce system.
  • The backups are then automatically replicated to the HP StoreOnce system in the first (main) datacentre using Catalyst replication (“Object Copy”).
  • Another automated job copies (replicates) the data from the first main datacentre over to the second datecentre.
  • For the end of week backups a final automated “Object Copy” writes the data to an LTO6 Tape Library at the second datacentre.
  • The tapes are sent to a secure offsite storage location.

Result: The site’s data resides on local HP StoreOnce system (data is separated from production), both datacentre HP StoreOnce systems and also on tape for the weekly backups.

“We can recover from a local server, local site and both datacentres beeing offline…”

The backup strategy for main datacentres:

  • HP Data Protector backs up all FileSystem, MS Exchange, MS SQL and VMware data to the first HP StoreOnce 4430 system.
  • The backups are then automatically replicated to the HP StoreOnce 4430 system in the second datacentre using Catalyst replication (“Object Copy”).
  • For the end of week backups a final automated “Object Copy” then writes the data to an LTO6 Tape Library at the second datacentre.
  • The tapes are sent to a secure offsite storage location.

Result: Each datacentre’s data resides on their local HP StoreOnce system (data is separated from production), the other datacentre’s HP StoreOnce 4430 and also on tape for the weekly backups.

“We can recover from either one or both datacentres being offline…”.

Conclusion and major achievments:

  • Hardware separation of production and backups.
  • Using Federated Data Deduplication the data is NEVER rehydrated during the replication process.
  • The entire backup and replication process is 100% automated.
  • A single management point for all backup and restore operations was achieved, reducing the man hours required to validate and confirm backups every day.

Please continue to share YOUR story.

Hanging Sessions with DP 7.01

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It has been told to me and I’ve seen it in some environments… with DP 7.01 it can occur that a sessions hang till forever or the backup is aborted after 7200 second. The message displayed shows IPC errors (i.e error below) as no more data from Disk Agent or Media Agent is sent to Cell Server in this case, in general this might be a network related problem. I’ve seen this error in environments with firewalls which disconnet TCP sessions when no data is transmitted, however, this can be normal from backup point of view. As a solution you can look at omnirc file, from my point of view following variables have to be enabled anyway, for any further recommendation please try DPcfgCreator by Stephan Voss.

Update: The variables OB2IPCKEEPALIVETIME and OB2IPCKEEPALIVEINTERVAL are valid on Windows only, for Linux and HP-UX the TCP behaviour is modified by changing kernel parameters and with the omnirc variable OB2IPCKEEPALIVE. For more information, please refer to http://h30499.www3.hp.com/t5/Data-Protector-Support-and-News/Data-Protector-Support-Tip-Linux-Only-Using-KeepAlive-to-resolve/td-p/6263015#.UuC5thQwc08. Thanks to Alex for clarifying that.

OB2SHMIPC=0
OB2IPCKEEPALIVE=1
OB2INETTIMEOUT=10
OB2IPCKEEPALIVETIME=900
OB2IPCKEEPALIVEINTERVAL=60

[Major] From: BSM@< client > "Exchange"  Time: 11.09.2012 01:00:55
[61:3003]             Lost connection to OB2BAR Backup DA named "ERROR"
                on host < client >.
                Ipc subsystem reports: "IPC Read Error
                System error: [10054] Verbindung wurde von Peer zurückgesetzt"


[Major] From: BSM@< client > "Exchange"  Time: 11.09.2012 01:00:55
[61:3003]             Lost connection to OB2BAR Backup DA named "ERROR"
                on host < client >.
                Ipc subsystem reports: "IPC Read Error
                System error: [10054] Connection reset by peer"