. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . SYMANTEC BACKUP EXEC™ 3600 APPLIANCETECHNICAL BRIEF: Symantec Backup Exec™ 3600 Appliance WWhhoo sshhoouulldd rreeaadd tthhiiss ppaappeerr This Technical Feature Brief is intended to assist partners and service providers as they design and implement a data protection strategy for their customers. Building a traditional backup solution can result in a high level of complexity. This Brief describes the turnkey advantages of the BE 3600 Appliance which provides a Backup Server, 5.5TB of back end storage as well as “all-you-can-eat” Backup Exec 2012 Agents and Options, including the Deduplication Option, all in one pre-configured box. Technical Feature Briefs are authored and maintained by the Backup Exec Technical Field Enablement team. SYMANTEC PROPRIETARY/CONFIDENTIAL—INTERNAL AND REGISTERED SYMANTEC PARTNER PROGRAM PARTICIPANTS AND OTHER PARTNERS UNDER NDA USE ONLY. Symantec Backup Exec™ 3600 Appliance Content Introduction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 Business Value. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 Underlying Principles. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 VMware Integration. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 Hyper-V Integration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 Virtual Conversion Features. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 Built-in Data Deduplication. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 Recovery Capabilities. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19 Example Appliance Scenarios. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25 Hardware Configuration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29 Licensing Overview. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31 Notes and Considerations. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32 Symantec Backup Exec™ 3600 Appliance Introduction This technical feature brief is intended to assist partners and customers as they implement data protection solutions based on the Backup Exec 3600 Appliance. This brief will explore the following topics as they relate to the Backup Exec 3600 Appliance product: • Business Value • Underlying Principles • VMware® Integration • Microsoft Hyper-V™ Integration • Built-in Data Deduplication • Virtual Conversion Features • Recovery Capabilities • Example Scenarios • Hardware Configuration • Notes and Considerations For step-by-step instructions on installing, configuring, and managing the Symantec Backup Exec™ 3600 Appliance, please refer to the Backup Exec 3600 Appliance Administrator's Guide. 1 Symantec Backup Exec™ 3600 Appliance Business Value In today's complex world of information technology and data protection, there are many challenges and considerations associated with building, implementing, and supporting any backup solution. These challenges often lead to delayed projects, overspent budgets and failure. For these and many other factors, organizations are seeking a simple appliance based solution. This approach reduces complexity, cost and associated risks. Complexity of a Traditional Backup Solution Building a traditional backup solution involves the acquisition of multiple components including a server, operating system, tape devices, backup software, agents, tapes, and not to mention multiple warranty and maintenance contracts. This equates to a higher overall cost of ownership! For some environments, it is also necessary to define and manage a backup storage strategy for remote offices, which can be complicated further if technical personnel are not available at remote offices to assist. In addition, as IT environments continue to adopt virtualization, yet another layer of complexity; is the need to implement a backup solution that matches the needs of both physical and virtualized server resources. Cost of a Traditional Backup Solution In addition to the challenges and complexity, there are significant costs and time investments associated with creating a traditional backup solution. These include backup software costs, backup software agent and option costs, backup server and storage hardware costs, costs associated with the time and effort needed to install the hardware and software components of the solution, as well as costs associated with managing removable media at remote offices. In some environments, costs are unnecessarily compounded if separate backup solutions are implemented for physical and virtual resources. In addition to these visible costs, there are hidden costs all along the way. All in all, the combined monetary and time cost of implementing a traditional backup solution can be significant. Risks of a Traditional Backup Solution Finally, there's the additional problem of risk that comes from constructing a backup solution made up of software and hardware components from different vendors. These risks include: • Hardware and Software Component Compatibility: Solutions built using different hardware and software components from different vendors may or may not work together properly. • Backup Performance: Presuming the different components of the backup solution function together, performance may not be optimal. In order to achieve acceptable performance, it may be necessary to troubleshoot, reconfigure, or even replace one or more components of the backup solution. • Technical Support Time to Resolution: When dealing with a backup solution composed of hardware and software components from different vendors, troubleshooting and resolving problems can prove difficult. Vendors will each point the finger at another vendor, and issues can bounce back and forth before a solution is identified. 2 Symantec Backup Exec™ 3600 Appliance The Backup Exec 3600 Appliance The Backup Exec 3600 Appliance mitigates the problems of complexity, cost, and risk associated with traditional backup solutions by delivering a combined hardware and software solution in a single package. Figure 1: Symantec Backup Exec 3600 Appliance Complete Virtual and Physical Protection in a Single Solution The Backup Exec 3600 Appliance delivers complete data and application protection for both virtual and physical server resources in an environment. This includes optimized support for the latest VMware and Hyper-V platforms. For VMware environments, the Backup Exec 3600 Appliance includes deep integration with the VMware vStorage™ API, ensuring VMware virtual machines are protected using the latest technology available. Figure 2: Complete Physical and Virtual Protection Using the Backup Exec 3600 Appliance, customers and partners can protect both physical and virtual server resources in their environment and avoid the unnecessary costs and headaches associated with implementing and managing separate backup solutions for each. 3 Symantec Backup Exec™ 3600 Appliance Designed for Virtual Environments Partners and customers who want to protect their VMware or Hyper-V virtual environments understand the frustration and time involved with legacy backup technologies that are not designed specifically for protecting virtual environments. Legacy solutions such as these include several limitations, such as: • Impacting virtual environment performance when processing backups inside virtual machines • Requiring the shutdown of guest virtual machines in order to protect them completely • Requiring separate backups for virtualized applications, such as Microsoft SQL®, Active Directory®, SharePoint®, and Microsoft®Exchange • Requiring the manual configuration of backup agents and policies for new virtual machines • Slow file-by-file backups that capture redundant data in each guest virtual machine over and over • Long restores of an entire guest virtual machine in order to recover a single file The Backup Exec 3600 Appliance includes features and technologies specifically designed for modern virtualized environments, including the VMware vSphere™ platform and the Microsoft Hyper-V platform. These technologies enable the Backup Exec 3600 Appliance to offer features such as the following: The Backup Exec 3600 Appliance is ready, right out of the box, to properly and completely protect both VMware vSphere a Microsoft Hyper-V virtual infrastructures. 4 Symantec Backup Exec™ 3600 Appliance Figure 3: Direct Backup of Virtual Resources The Backup Exec 3600 Appliance represents an effective, easy-to-buy, and easy-to-use data and application protection solution for small and medium sized customers who are partially or fully virtualized. 5 Symantec Backup Exec™ 3600 Appliance Underlying Principles General The Backup Exec 3600 Appliance is a 1U server system that comes with Backup Exec software pre-installed. The Backup Exec 3600 Appliance is designed to be a complete data and application backup solution for small and medium size environments, and includes the ability to directly protect both physical and virtual servers without the need for a proxy server. The Backup Exec 3600 Appliance has been rigorously and thoroughly tested by Symantec to ensure optimal compatibility and performance. Included Software Backup Exec 2012 The Backup Exec software included on the Backup Exec 3600 Appliance is based upon Backup Exec 2012. Both the core Backup Exec software, as well as the agent software required to protect physical servers, are included in the Backup Exec 3600 Appliance. Windows® Storage Server 2008 The operating system included on the Backup Exec 3600 Appliance is Windows Storage Server 2008 . The Windows Storage Server 2008 operating system has been hardened to ensure optimal security and stability in production environments. Update Enabled Both primary software components of the Backup Exec 3600 Appliance, Backup Exec 2012 and Windows Storage Server 2008 , are update- enabled. Critical patches and hot fixes are automatically downloaded, and the administrator controls the schedule by which they are installed. This self-update capability ensures that the appliance remains secure and functional in an ever-evolving security environment. Physical Server Backup Methods For physical servers protected by the Backup Exec 3600 Appliance, backup data is always captured through a local agent on the physical server called the Agent for Windows® (for Windows servers) or the Agent for Linux® (for Linux servers). With either agent, communication with the Backup Exec 3600 Appliance travels over the LAN infrastructure to receive backup job instructions and to transmit backup data to the Backup Exec 3600 Appliance for storage. The agent component deployed to physical server resources also enables direct recovery of file or application objects back to the original resource from which they were captured. Virtual Machine Backup Methods For virtual infrastructures, such as VMware vSphere environments or Microsoft Hyper-V environments, partners and customers have the option to protect virtual machines using host-based backup methods, which capture image-level backups of virtual machines associated with the virtual host, or to protect virtual machines using the same agent-based backup method used to protect physical servers. In most cases, image-level backups are optimal. Image-level and agent-based backups can be mixed and matched to meet the needs of an environment. For example, a parter or customer may choose to protect all Windows-based virtual machines using image-level backups while protecting Linux-based virtual machines using agent-based backups. 6 Symantec Backup Exec™ 3600 Appliance Although the Backup Exec 3600 Appliance fully supports image-based backups of VMware vSphere and Microsoft Hyper-V virtual machines, additional functionality can be enabled by also installing the appropriate Backup Exec agent to each virtual machine that is being protected by the Backup Exec 3600 Appliance. This agent works hand-in-hand with the image-level backup operation to enable the ability to automatically discover applications inside of the virtual machine, perform application granular recovery operations for applications such as Exchange, SQL, SharePoint, and Active Directory, and to restore granular file-level elements directly back to the virtual machines from which they were generated. Hyper-V Backups When protecting virtual machines on a Hyper-V host using the Agent for VMware and Hyper-V – which performs image-level backups of Hyper-V virtual machines – the Backup Exec Agent for Windows is installed to the Hyper-V host. This agent is used to transmit image-level backup data of virtual machines over the LAN to the Backup Exec 3600 Appliance. When protecting virtual machines on a Hyper-V host without using the Agent for VMware and Hyper-V, backups are captured directly through the agent within the virtual machines themselves. VMware Backups When protecting virtual machines on a VMware vSphere host using the Agent for VMware and Hyper-V – which captures image-level backups of VMware virtual machines – backups are captured via integration with the VMware vStorage API. No Backup Exec agent is installed to the vSphere host itself. When protecting virtual machines on a VMware vSphere host without using the Agent for VMware and Hyper-V, backups are captured directly through the agent within the virtual machines themselves. Communication Security Physical Server Communication Security The communication path between the Agent for Windows or the Agent for Linux and the Backup Exec 3600 Appliance is encrypted using TSL/ SSL encryption technology, and requires a trust relationship between the agent and the Backup Exec 3600 Appliance. Hyper-V Virtual Machine Communication Security For Hyper-V environments, the Agent for Windows is installed to each Hyper-V host. The communication path between the Agent for Windows on the Hyper-V host and the Backup Exec 3600 Appliance is encrypted using TSL/SSL encryption technology, and requires a trust relationship between the agent and the Backup Exec 3600 Appliance. VMware Virtual Machine Communication Security For VMware environments, backups are captured via integration with the VMware vStorage API. No Backup Exec agent is installed to the vSphere host itself. To ensure security in these configurations, it is recommended that SSL be enabled on the vSphere host to ensure communication traffic between the vSphere host and the Backup Exec 3600 Appliance remains secure. 7