SnapProtect 10 SP2: New Features

Continuing the SnapProtect software theme: Backup Architecture on NetApp FAS systems , this article is about the new features in SnapProtect. SnapProtect software combines high-speed NetApp snapshot and tape replication to reduce downtime and data loss. It is a single management console, creating and cataloging, managing application-consistent snapshots in the infrastructure, ensuring the disk-to-disk-to-tape (D2D2T) storage life cycle.



This backup scheme is made in accordance with the backup paradigm for NetApp FAS systems : basic and backup data is located on the storage system , and backup copies are performed based on the Hardware Assistant Snapshot, interacting with applications thus creating Application Consistent Backup.

New features starting with SP 2:
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Database Cloning (SQL and Oracle)

• Example: A customer wants to create an application consistent SQL / Oracle DB clone to perform Test / Dev operations.
• Uses NetApp FlexClone functionality (and license) and snapshot capabilities for consistent database cloning
• Cloning is done from SnapProtect Manager.

Multithreading for Virtual Server Agent (VSA)

• Example: a customer wants to run VMware backups faster
• Now it is possible to perform application consistent VMware backups of several virtual machines at the same time, speeding up the process.
• The number of concurrently running backups can be configured

Delayed indexing

• Example: A customer has many files that are indexed for a very long time, which can affect the speed of backups. The customer wants to separate backup and indexing schedules.
• Delayed indexing allows you to perform it on a second, remote storage system , after the backup is complete, so quickly completing the operation.
• Eliminates the load on the main system and speeds up backup time
• Perhaps choose where indexing will be performed: on the primary or backup system

NAS Live View

• Example: Customer wants to be able to recover individual files from a NAS , but does not need indexing.
• NAS Live Browse provides the ability to recover individual files from a NAS without cataloging files.
• You can choose between the primary and backup systems to view and select where the recovery will be performed from.
• Also called “Browse From Snapshot"

Selective Copy

• Example: A customer wants to archive only the first full weekly backups. If the week starts for example on Fridays, the first full backup is performed on Friday or after this day and it will be selected for archiving
• Allows you to select one main snapshot that will be used to perform archiving based on certain rules.
• Used for full backups and archives (not applicable for mirror replicas)

Extended retention

• Example: A customer has a business task to extend the storage time of monthly backups for a longer period than is usually done.
• Using the Extended Retention function, the customer can extend the storage time of one full monthly backup up to one year.
• Allows you to set up to three additional “extended” periods for full backups

VMware Database Exception

• Example: Allows you to exclude certain databases from VMware backups
• Datastore's exclusion feature allows you to exclude some databases using the “Filters” tab in the “Properties” menu in the VMware sub-client section

Incremental block-level backups (BLI) for SMTape

• Example: The customer wants to increase the efficiency of copy operations to tape media by performing incremental backups.
• SnapProtect supports BLI capability in DOT , to perform full, and now incremental SMTape backups.

Improved support for Oracle

• Example one: the Customer backed up an Oracle database on Linux and / or UNIX; And wants to have the same opportunity for Oracle on Windows
• Example two: Oracle log files grow without the ability to manage them from SnapProtect
• SnapProtect now supports backups for Oracle on Windows and supports truncation log files for all platforms
• Including database locations on file systems, ASM , and RAW devices

Vserver-Aware (or VSM -Aware) NDMP backups to tape in Clustered Data ONTAP 8.2

• Example: A customer uses Data ONTAP 8.2 and uses NDMP to perform backup to tape devices. The customer wants to be able to move the volums between the nodes of the cluster without affecting NDMP backups.
• SnapProtect now supports Vserver-aware NDMP tape backups starting from clustered Data ONTAP 8.2
• The process is completely transparent.

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