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NetVault Bare Metal Recovery 11.1 - User Guide for Plug-ins

Introducing Dell™ NetVault™ Bare Metal Recovery Plug-ins Deploying NetVault Bare Metal Recovery Using the Plug-in Offline Client
Plug-in Server: an overview Installing and removing Plug-in Server Configuring Plug-in Server for use with Plug-in Offline Client Booting a NetVault Bare Metal Recovery Client with Plug-in Offline Client Backing up data with Plug-in Offline Client Restoring data with Plug-in Offline Client
Using NetVault Bare Metal Recovery Plug-in Live Client for Windows®
Plug-in Live Client for Windows: an overview Configuring Plug-in Server for use with Plug-in Live Client for Windows Installing and removing Plug-in Live Client for Windows® Backing up data with Plug-in Live Client for Windows® Booting a NetVault Bare Metal Recovery Client with Plug-in Offline Client Restoring data with Plug-in Live Client for Windows
Using NetVault Bare Metal Recovery Plug-in Live Client for Linux®
Plug-in Live Client for Linux: an overview Installing and removing Plug-in Live Client for Linux Generating a DR image for use with Plug-in Live Client for Linux Creating the required bootable CD for use with Plug-in Live Client for Linux Recovering a DR image for use with Plug-in Live Client for Linux
NetVault Bare Metal Recovery physical-to-virtual (P2V) recovery Troubleshooting

Verifying Disk Geometry and Device Size

Before backing up any portion of a NetVault Bare Metal Recovery Client’s hard drive, note the Disk Size and the Disk Geometry of the selected drive. If these items are not accounted for, a restore might fail.

Example of how to note the Drive Disk Size and Disk Geometry

A Client drive is divided into three partitions. The primary partition is 10 gigabytes (GB), the first logical partition is 7GB, and the second partition is 3GB. A backup of the first logical partition is performed with the Plug-in Server. On restore of the system after a hard drive crash, if the first logical partition was restored, you need to restore it to the proper partition, the first logical partition, or the restore fails.

To verify the geometry and size, perform the following steps.

1
With the NetVault Bare Metal Recovery Client booted using Plug-in Offline Client, as outlined in Booting a NetVault Bare Metal Recovery Client with Plug-in Offline Client, access the NetVault Backup Server, and start the NetVault Backup WebUI.
2
In the Navigation pane, click Create Backup Job.
3
Next to the Selections list, click Create New.
4
On the NetVault Backup Selections page, double-click the NetVault Backup Server — the system containing the Plug-in Server — to open it.
5
Double-click the applicable NetVault Bare Metal Recovery Client displayed under the plug-in to reveal the disks contained within.
6
To determine the Disk Geometry, select the applicable disk, and then select Disk Geometry from the Actions list.
The Device Geometry dialog box displays details about the partition structure of the selected disk.
•
Partitions: Each individual partition is listed here by number and the partition type.
•
Active: Displays the current state of the partition (“Yes” or “No”).
•
Start Cyl: Displays the origination point (cylinder) for the various partitions.
•
End Cyl: Displays the partition’s endpoint (cylinder).
•
Size: Displays the size of each partition.
•
Type: Displays the type of partition.
7
With this information noted, click OK.
8
To determine the overall size of a disk, select the applicable disk, and select Disk Size from the Actions list.
The Device Size dialog box displays details about the size of the selected disk.
•
Device: The number and type of the disk.
•
Size: The size of the selected disk.
9
With this information noted, click OK.

Backing up data with Plug-in Offline Client

Before performing a NetVault Bare Metal Recovery backup, consider the following important points:

•
The NetVault Bare Metal Recovery Client machine must be booted with the Plug-in Offline Client software before each operation of the Plug-in Server, backup or restore. If this procedure is not completed correctly, the NetVault Bare Metal Recovery Client is inaccessible from the NetVault Backup Server. For details on this process, see Booting a NetVault Bare Metal Recovery Client with Plug-in Offline Client.
•
When Disk Raw Mode is selected, not only is the disk in use backed up, but the entire disk is as well. For example, if 6GB are in use on a 30GB partition, 30GB of media is used to back up the disk. Only use the Disk Raw Mode option when a complete hard drive is selected for a Plug-in Server backup, that is, not an individual partition.
•
Dynamic disks must be backed up by using Disk Raw Mode to maintain partition information.
•
Plug-in Offline Client does not support DR backup spanning multiple libraries. Attempting to restore a backup job that spans multiple libraries fails.
•
If your VM is based on Windows Server 2012 or 2012 R2 and you use the Plug-in Offline Client for Linux, update the VMware configuration file to use the E1000 adapter. For more information, see Using a Windows Server® 2012-based virtual machine with Plug-in Offline Client for Linux®.

You are now ready to perform a backup of the NetVault Backup Server. The procedure for performing backups includes the steps outlined in the following topics:

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Selecting data for a backup with Plug-in Offline Client
•
Setting backup options for backing up data with Plug-in Offline Client
•
Finalizing and submitting the job for backing up data with Plug-in Offline Client

Selecting data for a backup with Plug-in Offline Client

You must use sets — Backup Selection Set, Backup Options Set, Schedule Set, Target Set, and Advanced Options Set — to create a backup job. For more information, see the Dell NetVault Backup Administrator’s Guide.

1
With the NetVault Bare Metal Recovery Client booted with Plug-in Offline Client, access the NetVault Backup Server, and start the NetVault Backup WebUI.
2
In the Navigation pane, click Create Backup Job.
You can also start the wizard from the Guided Configuration link. In the Navigation pane, click Guided Configuration. On the NetVault Configuration Wizard page, click Create backup jobs.
3
In Job Name, specify a name for the job.
Assign a descriptive name that lets you easily identify the job when monitoring its progress or restoring data. The job name can contain alphanumeric and non-alphanumeric characters, but it cannot include non-English characters. On Linux®, the name can have a maximum of 200 characters. On Windows®, there is no length restriction. However, a maximum of 40 characters is recommended on all platforms.
4
Next to the Selections list, click Create New.
5
Locate the machine acting as the NetVault Backup Server, that is, the machine with the Plug-in Server installed, and double-click it to open it.
6
In the list that appears, locate the Plug-in Server, labeled “VaultDR APM,” and double-click it to open it and display the hard disks on the client system.
7
Select one of the following:
•
To select the entire disk for a backup, click the box to the left of the disk title.
•
To select specific items, double-click a disk to open it. Individual partitions are displayed and made available for selection. NetVault Backup provides data on each type of partition, including the size, status, and type. This information is displayed to the right of each partition, in parentheses. Select the items that you want to back up. Selected items contain a green check, items that are not selected are blank, and omitted items contain a red cross.
•
Primary Partition: Each hard disk can contain up to four different “true partitions.” They are called the primary partitions, and can be individually selected for backup.
•
Extended Partition: This partition is the space on the hard disk not allocated to the primary partitions. This type of partition cannot be selected for a backup. To add it, the entire drive must be selected.
•
Logical Partition: Logical partitions allow multiple system images to run in one machine. This option can be multiple instances of the same OS or different systems. Logical partitions can be individually selected for a backup.
8
Click Save, enter a name in the Create New Set dialog box, and click Save.
The name can contain alphanumeric and non-alphanumeric characters, but it cannot include non-English characters. On Linux®, the name can have a maximum of 200 characters. On Windows®, there is no length restriction. However, a maximum of 40 characters is recommended on all platforms.

Setting backup options for backing up data with Plug-in Offline Client

The next step involves creating the Backup Options Set.

1
Next to the Plugin Options list, click Create New.
2
Select the applicable options:
•
Disk Raw Mode: Select this option if you want all partition information for a selected hard drive ignored and a “bit-by-bit” backup of the entire disk image performed. This bit-by-bit form of data transfer occurs during the restore of this backup as well, thus eliminating the need to format the target drive or remove the partition.
Cases in which Disk Raw Mode is desired include:
•
The selected hard drive does not have a partition table.
•
NetVault Bare Metal Recovery cannot recognize the partition table.
•
You are backing up data outside the MBR and partitions, for example, dynamic disks.
•
Compression: Select this option to compress data on the NetVault Bare Metal Recovery Client before transfer during backup. This option reduces overall network traffic during data transfer and also requires less media space to accommodate the NetVault Bare Metal Recovery backup. This option is useful for partitions that contain a large amount of unused space. Selecting this option usually provides better compression than using a network-based or tape-library-based compression feature.
•
Back up used blocks only for NTFS partitions: If you are using the Windows PE-based Plug-in Offline Client and the backup includes Windows®-based partitions, select this option if you only want to back up the used blocks. If you clear this option, a discrepancy (4K) between the backup data and the size of the NTFS volume might be reported in the binary log; this option is working as intended, and does not affect a restore. If you are using the Linux-based Plug-in Offline Client, this option is visible but not functional.
3
Click Save.
4
In the Create New Set dialog box, specify a name for the set, and click Save.
The name can contain alphanumeric and non-alphanumeric characters, but it cannot include non-English characters. On Linux®, the name can have a maximum of 200 characters. On Windows®, there is no length restriction. However, a maximum of 40 characters is recommended on all platforms.
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