NetVault Plug-in for SnapMirror to Tape 13.3

Quest NetVault Backup (NetVault Backup) Plug‑in for SnapMirror to Tape (Plug‑in for SnapMirror to Tape) provides block-level backups and improved disaster recovery support for data stored on NetApp filers. Working with NetApp SnapMirror technology, the plug-in lets you back up selected volumes or snapshots to tape devices for off-site storage. The GUI gives you a single, centralized console to configure backup and restore policies for all your NetApp filers.

Plug‑in for SnapMirror to Tape 13.3 is a minor release.

Known issues

The following is a list of issues, including those issues attributed to third-party products, known to exist at the time of release.

Table 1. Known issues

Known issue

Issue ID

On Clustered Data ONTAP 8.3, backups are performed using TCP connections instead of local connections because the plug-in fails to get affinity information about volumes and tape devices on this OS.

DNSTP-113, DNNDMP-626 (29613)

Block Level Incremental (BLI) backups are not supported on Clustered Data ONTAP 8.3.

Workaround: Upgrade to Data ONTAP 9.5.

DNSTP-107 (29723)

If you are using Plug-in for NDMP or Plug‑in for SnapMirror to Tape with Data ONTAP 9.1 and you perform multiple-volume backups, the job might fail and display a “Mover has halted due to an internal error” message.

DNNDMP-683

When the incremental forever feature is enabled, one full backup and a second nearly full backup occur before an incremental backup completes. The pattern repeats so that every full backup is followed by a nearly full backup and subsequent incremental backups.

DNNDMP-790

On NetApp filers running ONTAP 7.0 and later, if you try to restore data from a Traditional Volume to a Flexible Volume, the job fails.

To perform backups to a virtual tape library, you must set the Device Block Size to 256K. For instructions configuring this setting, see the topic on Managing Storage Devices in the Quest NetVault Backup Administrator’s Guide.

The backup option Delete Snapshot on Exit (SMTAPE_DELETE_SNAPSHOT) is only supported on Data ONTAP versions 6.5 P5 and later, 6.5 H2 and later, and 6.5 R2 and later.

If a filer reboots or there is a loss of network connectivity with the filer while the plug-in is running, the filer-attached drive goes offline with the message “Command Failed, Re-initializing Driver” when the plug-in tries to access the drive after the NAS Device is brought back online. After a few minutes, the drive recovers and becomes online, but you must perform a manual check before using the drive.

To perform a manual check:

In the Navigation pane, click Manage Devices, and then in the list of devices, click the applicable drive or the corresponding Manage Device icon.

On the Tape Drive Management page, click Check.

If you had issued any load or unload requests before performing this procedure, try them again after the check.

When a job starts child jobs, the user logged in to NetVault Backup when creating the parent job remains the owner of the parent job, but the child jobs are owned by the default user. This issue can affect NetVault Backup Reports, Job Status page, and other functionality that depend on job ownership.

System requirements

Before installing Plug‑in for SnapMirror to Tape 13.3, ensure that your system meets the following minimum hardware and software requirements.

Table 2. System requirements
Requirement	Details
NetVault Backup	The Plug‑in for SnapMirror to Tape 13.3 requires NetVault Backup 11.4.5 or later.
NetVault Backup Plug-in for NDMP	NetVault Backup Plug-in for NDMP 11.4.5 or later.
NetApp Data ONTAP versions	Data ONTAP 8.1.x or later.