Symantec Backup Exec Blueprints 1
Symantec Backup Exec Blueprints Blueprint for Microsoft SharePoint
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Notice
This Backup Exec Blueprint presentation includes example diagrams that contain objects that represent applications and platforms from other companies such as Microsoft and VMware. These diagrams may or may not match or resemble actual implementations found in end user environments. Any likeness or similarity to actual end user environments is completely by coincidence.
The goal of the diagrams included in this blueprint presentation is not to recommend specific ways in which to implement applications and platforms from other companies such as Microsoft and VMware, but rather to illustrate Backup Exec best practices only.
For guidelines and best practices on installing and configuring applications and platforms from other companies, please refer to best practice documentation and other resources provided by those companies.
Symantec Backup Exec Blueprints Preface/disclaimer
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Backup Exec Blueprints: How to Use Getting the most out of Backup Exec blueprints
• These Blueprints are designed to show customer challenges and how Backup Exec solves these challenges.
• Each Blueprint consists of:
‒ Pain Points: What challenges customers face
‒ Whiteboard: Shows how Backup Exec solves the customer challenges
‒ Recommended Configuration: Shows recommended installation
‒ Dos: Gives detailed configurations suggested by Symantec
‒ Don'ts: What configurations & pitfalls customers should avoid
‒ Advantages: Summarizes the Backup Exec advantages
• Use these Blueprints to:
‒ Understand the customer challenges and how Backup Exec solves them
‒ Present the Backup Exec best practice solution
Pain Points
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Backup Exec Blueprints: Microsoft SharePoint SharePoint Data Protection challenges
• SharePoint is Getting More Complex to Manage/Protect
– Multiple servers with different roles
– Different databases
– Customizations
– Configurations
– Logical architecture doesn’t translate into physical components
• SharePoint Data Growth
– Ever-increasing volume of documents in SharePoint repositories
– SharePoint backups taking longer
• Native SharePoint Tools Insufficient
– SharePoint's native backup tools are inadequate for handling the complexity of SharePoint data growth
Backup Exec Advantages
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Backup Exec Blueprints: Advantages Solution designed for Microsoft SharePoint Server
• One Solution Protects Your Entire Infrastructure
– Comprehensive backup support for physical or virtualized SharePoint Servers
– Centralized management of large or distributed environments
• Recovery Flexibility
– Granular recovery of SharePoint components, such as individual documents or document versions from a single backup
– Redirected restore of SharePoint databases to any SQL instance available on the network
– Redirected restore of web applications to a remote SharePoint farm
– Redirected restore of individual items to a folder location
– Redirected restore of granular SharePoint objects to a different site or farm
Note: Redirected restore to file system not supported in 2013. This is due to unknown format of Shredded file.
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Backup Exec Blueprints: Advantages Solution designed for Microsoft SharePoint Server
• Robust Deduplication Technology
– Integrated data reduction technologies using the Deduplication Option
– Significantly reduces secondary (backup) storage requirements
• On-line SharePoint Protection
– Scheduled, on-line backups of SharePoint servers maintain user access during the backup
• High-performance Backups
– Backup and restore of SQL data over LAN or SAN transport modes
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Backup Exec Blueprints: Advantages Complete protection in a single solution
WFE
APPS
SQL
Virtual Host
SharePoint Farm
Windows
WFE APPS SQL
and/or
Backup Exec
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Backup Exec provides unmatched physical and/or virtual protection for SharePoint farms on your choice of storage
Physical Server
Disk Tape Appliance
Whiteboards and Diagrams
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White Boards: Microsoft SharePoint Supported SharePoint versions
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SharePoint Server 2013
SharePoint Server 2010
SharePoint Foundation 2010
SharePoint Server 2007
Windows SharePoint Services 3.0
For the latest detailed list of platforms and applications supported by Backup Exec, refer to the Backup Exec Software Compatibility List: http://www.symantec.com/business/support/index?page=content&id=TECH205797.
Backup Exec 3600 Appliance
Backup Exec
Backup Exec Standard Software
White Boards: Microsoft SharePoint SharePoint Deployments
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Standalone Environment Farm Environment
Web Front End
Application Services
SQL Database
Index Query Search
Job Excel My Sites
SQL 1 SQL 2
Web Front End
Central Admin
White Boards: Microsoft SharePoint Native SharePoint Backup & Restore
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Farm
Config DB
Content DB Content DB
SSP DB Search Index
SQL Backup/Restore
File Server
Central Admin UI or Console
Full Backup
Differential Backup
What’s missing? Does not Provide Scheduling Functionality in SharePoint Does not Backup any Configurations/Customizations to any files in the “12 Hive” or Web.config files Does not Backup IIS Settings/Configurations Does not Backup Alternate Access Mappings (AAM) Cannot Backup Directly to Tape (only to UNC)
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Example Diagram: Microsoft SharePoint Requirements
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Licensed Agent for Windows installation required on all SharePoint servers in the SharePoint farm
Licensed Agent for Windows installation required on all SQL servers hosting SharePoint database in the SharePoint farm
The Backup Exec Logon Account requires the following permissions/rights:
• Must have local administrator rights on all servers in the farm
• An advantage if it is part of the SharePoint Farm Administrators Group
• Must be a Site Collection Administrator at the top-level site for GRT support
• Must have db_owner/sql_admin role on all SQL Content databases/SQL instances
Logon credentials for the Single Sign-on database must be either the account name or a member of the account’s group authorized to manage settings
The logon account must be able to access the IIS sites (Enable Integrated Windows Security within the IIS rights)
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Production Network (10 Gigabit)
Backup Network (10 Gigabit)
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Agent for Windows 3
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SharePoint Server
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Agent for Windows
SQL Server
Example Diagram: Microsoft SharePoint Behind the scenes: Content Database
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Databases
Sites
Webs
Lists & Libraries
Documents, List items, &
Pages
It’s nearly all about the Content Database!
Example Diagram: Microsoft SharePoint Behind the scenes: Protecting Content Database
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SharePoint File System
SQL Server Backup Exec
Content Database
Granular (Tape)
MDF Reader (GRT)
GRT Provider
SharePoint File System
Granular (Tape)
MDF Reader (GRT)
GRT Provider
Disk
GRT Staging Area GRT
Disk
Catalogs
Data Transfer
Disk based solution
Tape based solution Content Database
• Likely the greatest concern for SharePoint Administrators for day-to-day ops
• Houses Webapps and Site Collections
• The Content DB holds all of our GRT-related restore data
• Always a SQL backend; if no SQL chosen, a SQL Express version is installed
Example Diagram: Microsoft SharePoint SharePoint Standalone configuration
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Microsoft SharePoint Protection High-level Best Practices Install the Backup Exec Agent for Windows on the SharePoint Server
Install one Agent for Applications and Databases for SharePoint per SharePoint Server
Ensure the Backup Exec logon account has local administrative privileges for the SharePoint server for SharePoint backup and restore jobs
Use the Backup Exec SQL Agent, in addition to the SharePoint farm resources, to back up the default Microsoft SQL Server databases for instances on which SharePoint data resides
Ensure that Granular Recovery Technology (GRT) is enabled before you run backups if you intend to be able to restore individual items
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Production Network (10 Gigabit)
Backup Network (10 Gigabit)
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Agent for Windows
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SharePoint Server
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Example Diagram: Microsoft SharePoint SharePoint SQL database hosted on a separate machine
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Microsoft SharePoint Protection High-level Best Practices Install the Backup Exec Agent for Windows on the SharePoint Server Install the Backup Exec Agent for Windows on the on all the separate server hosting the SharePoint SQL database Install one Agent for Applications and Databases for SharePoint per SharePoint Server Ensure the Backup Exec logon account has local administrative privileges for the SharePoint server for SharePoint backup and restore jobs Use the Backup Exec SQL Agent, in addition to the SharePoint farm resources, to back up the default Microsoft SQL Server databases for instances on which SharePoint data resides Ensure that Granular Recovery Technology (GRT) is enabled before you run backups if you intend to be able to restore individual items.
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Production Network (10 Gigabit)
Backup Network (10 Gigabit)
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Agent for Windows
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SharePoint Server
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Agent for Windows
SQL Server
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Example Diagram: Microsoft SharePoint Clustered SQL database
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Microsoft SharePoint Protection High-level Best Practices Install the Backup Exec Agent for Windows on the SharePoint Server Install the Backup Exec Agent for Windows on the on all the separate server hosting the SharePoint SQL database Install one Agent for Applications and Databases for SharePoint per SharePoint Server Ensure the Backup Exec logon account has local administrative privileges for the SharePoint server for SharePoint backup and restore jobs Use the Backup Exec SQL Agent, in addition to the SharePoint farm resources, to back up the default Microsoft SQL Server databases for instances on which SharePoint data resides Ensure that Granular Recovery Technology (GRT) is enabled before you run backups if you intend to be able to restore individual items.
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Production Network (10 Gigabit)
Backup Network (10 Gigabit)
Backup Exec
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Passive SQL DB Active SQL DB
SharePoint A Active SQL DB Passive SQL DB
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Agent for Windows
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Agent for Windows
White Boards: Microsoft SharePoint Failover SQL Mirroring (2 Farms)
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Backup Exec
REMOTE OFFICE Main OFFICE
SharePoint Web/App Server
SharePoint Web/App Server
SQL Principal SQL Mirror
SharePoint Web/App Server
Agent for Windows
Agent for Windows
Agent for Windows
Agent for Windows
Agent for Windows
When in a 2-node active/passive cluster server configuration, you need only license the active node.
White Boards: Microsoft SharePoint Failover SQL Mirroring (within Farm)
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Backup Exec
SharePoint Web/App Server
SQL Witness
SQL Principal SQL Mirror
SharePoint Web/App Server
Load Balancer
Agent for Windows
Agent for Windows
Agent for Windows
Agent for Windows
Agent for Windows
REMOTE OFFICE Main OFFICE
When in a 2-node active/passive cluster server configuration, you need only license the active node.
Example Diagram: Microsoft SharePoint Virtualized SharePoint server
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Network
Virtual Host Backup Exec
Virtual Machines
Microsoft SQL Virtual Machine Protection High-level Best Practices
Install Agent for Windows to the SharePoint virtual machine
Install one Agent for Applications and Databases for SharePoint per SharePoint Server
Recover what you need: full SharePoint Server, granular recovery of individual SharePoint objects and documents
For VMware infrastructures, leverage server-side deduplication
For Hyper-V infrastructures, leverage client-side deduplication (via Agent for Windows on Hyper-V host)
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Example Diagram: Microsoft SharePoint Adding a Server Farm to the backup selection list
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• Add the SharePoint servers that you want to protect to the Server list before you create a backup definition
• Backup Exec discovers SharePoint farms automatically
• In case the farm is not displayed, you can manually add the farm to the Server list
• You must back up the default Microsoft SQL databases for each Microsoft SQL instance that hosts SharePoint databases
• You can also remove server farms from the Server list
Example Diagram: Microsoft SharePoint Backup selections for SharePoint 2003 resources
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Example Diagram: Microsoft SharePoint Backup selections for MOSS 2007
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Example Diagram: Microsoft SharePoint Backup selections for SharePoint 2010 resources
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Example Diagram: Microsoft SharePoint Backup selections for SharePoint 2013 resources
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Example Diagram: Microsoft SharePoint Backup job options for SharePoint
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Note: • Full Copy is new backup method in Backup Exec 2014 • The Agent for Microsoft SharePoint includes the new log backup method that backs up the data that is contained in
the transaction log • Releases lock if another application has locked SharePoint resources before backup • Performs DBCC on SQL databases
Example Diagram: Microsoft SharePoint Restore selections for SharePoint 2003
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Example Diagram: Microsoft SharePoint Restore selections for SharePoint 2007
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Example Diagram: Microsoft SharePoint Restore selections for SharePoint 2010
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Example Diagram: Microsoft SharePoint Restore selections for SharePoint 2013
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Do…
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Best Practices: Microsoft SharePoint Do the following…
• Use an account with local administrative privileges for each member of the SharePoint farm for SharePoint backup and restore jobs
• Make SharePoint backup selections from the appropriate SharePoint farm resource container in the list of servers on the Backup and Restore tab instead of selecting individual SharePoint servers
– The SharePoint farm resource container represents the entire farm topology in your environment, including all of the SharePoint resources that reside on a single computer
– When you select the SharePoint resources from the farm resource container, you ensure that you select all available SharePoint resources for backup
• Use the Backup Exec SQL Agent, in addition to the SharePoint farm resources, to back up the default Microsoft SQL Server databases for instances on which SharePoint data resides
• Back up the master, model, and msdb databases to fully protect each SQL instance for disaster recovery purposes
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Best Practices: Microsoft SharePoint Do the following…
• Keep Track of Applied Updates
– Record all service packs/hot fixes installed on SharePoint server when you perform backups
– Restore jobs may not complete successfully if databases were backed up with different patch levels
• Full Backups Recommended
– Perform full system backups of the SharePoint servers (system state, system volume, etc.)
– When you make full system backups, you fully protect the entire SharePoint environment
• Turn On GRT
– Ensure that Granular Recovery Technology (GRT) is enabled before you run backups
– GRT is enabled by default for the SharePoint Agent
– You can enable or disable GRT for SharePoint globally in the Backup Job Defaults dialog box
• Restore Databases Together
– Symantec recommends that you restore all databases together
Do not…
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Best Practices: Microsoft SharePoint Do not do the following…
• Avoid Resource Conflicts
– Avoid disk-intensive SharePoint operations during backups
• Restore Best Practices For Configuration DB and Content DB
– Never restore the Configuration DB or the Admin Content DB to an operational SharePoint environment
– If a restore of either database is required when SharePoint is operational, the restore should not be combined with any other resource
Additional Notes and Best Practices
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Best Practices: Microsoft SharePoint GRANULAR RECOVERY TECHNOLOGY (GRT)
• BE 2010 R3 and Prior
– Only full backups are supported with GRT
– Incremental and Differential backups are possible in Backup Exec 2010 R3 and prior but GRT capability is not present
– Incremental backups require the database to be in 'Full' recovery model. These are performed as traditional SQL Log-Truncate backups
• BE 2012 and above
– Full/Differential/Incremental backups are supported with GRT
– Differential and Incremental backups require that the backup job have AOFO/VSS enabled
– Differential and Incremental backups require that the SharePoint SQL databases be set to 'Simple' Recovery model
– The new method Incremental backups will back up the changed blocks for the DB plus the log file, filestream, and full text catalog files. Because of this, an incremental run immediately after a full may look like it backs up a lot
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Best Practices: Microsoft SharePoint GRANULAR RECOVERY TECHNOLOGY (GRT)
• Cross Farm/Site GRT is also supported as long as the SharePoint versions match – Items ( Docs, Any kind of list items …)
– Containers – All kinds of Lists, Sub site, Site Collections
– Security – Not Supported
• No GRT support for SharePoint 2013 Apps
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Best Practices: Microsoft SharePoint SharePoint best practices
• Small Environments
– In small environments, consider running a daily full backup every evening in addition to hourly incremental/differential backups
• Mid-sized Environments
– In mid-sized environments, consider running a weekly full backup and daily incremental/differential backups
• Large Environments
– In large environments, consider running daily incremental/differential backups, with full backups occurring twice a month
• General
– Use the checksum feature to check database integrity
– Perform test restores periodically
– Combine different backup types to optimize the backup strategy
– Leverage compression and encryption features when creating a backup job to ensure data security
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Best Practices: Microsoft SharePoint SharePoint best practices
• General (Cont.)
– Schedule backup jobs when activity on SharePoint servers is low
– Consider a disk-to-disk-to-tape (D2D2T) backup strategy (backup/recovery performance)
– Use a separate network for SharePoint backups
– For physical SharePoint servers, consider using client-side Deduplication
– Use daily differential or incremental backups in addition to periodic full backups
– Upgrade your Backup Exec infrastructure to the latest available version
– Use a disk maintenance utility to keep SharePoint disk defragmentation low
– If multiple networks are available, use the Central Admin Server Option to alternate what network interfaces are used for backups
– Perform Full and Differential backups to support DR at the SharePoint Portal server site level
– Change the recovery mode for the SQL databases to Simple
• This only needs to be changed if you’re going to be running incremental backups
– Restore all Shared Service Provider components together
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Best Practices: Microsoft SharePoint SharePoint best practices
• SharePoint 2013 has a new feature of Apps
– Apps are downloadable from marketplace
– Apps can be developed internally
– Stored in an App Catalog and then installed in Site
– Three modes of hosting an app
• SharePoint Hosted App
• Externally Hosted App
• Azure Hosted App
• Backup Exec 2014 does not support GRT for Apps at this point
• Support in planned for a future version
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Microsoft SharePoint: Final Thoughts Complete SharePoint protection in a single solution
Backup Exec SharePoint Advantages • User-friendly interface • Centralized management of large or distributed environments • Integrated data reduction technologies using the Deduplication Option • Scheduled, on-line backups of SharePoint servers • Comprehensive backup support for physical or virtualized SharePoint Servers • Granular recovery of SharePoint components, such as individual documents or document versions • Redirected restore of SharePoint databases to any SQL instance available on the network • Redirected restore of web applications to a remote SharePoint farm • Redirected restore of individual items to a folder location • Redirected restore of granular SharePoint objects to a different site or farm • Backup and restore of SQL data over LAN or SAN transport modes
Network
Physical SPS Server Backup Exec Virtual Host
Backup Network (10 Gigabit)
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Thank You!
Backup Exec Product Management