Silo Storage - How To

From the CommCell Browser, right-click the Storage Policy Copy for which you wish to configure the deduplication store creation, and then click Properties.
Select the Copy Properties (Deduplication) - Store Information tab.
From the Deduplication Store Creation options:
- Select Create New Store Every - Days and specify the number of days after which a new deduplication store must be created. Default value is set to 30 days.
- Select Create New Store Every - TB and specify the size of the store after which a new deduplication store must be created. Default value is set to 100 TB.
Note that if both the options are set, a new deduplication store will be created if either one of the two conditions is satisfied.
Click OK to save the changes.

Seal the Active Deduplication Store

Required Capability: See Capabilities and Permitted Actions

To seal the active deduplication store:

From the CommCell Browser, right-click the Storage Policy Copy for which you wish to seal the active deduplication store, click All Tasks, and then click Seal Deduplication Store.
Click Yes on the confirmation dialog.
The current active deduplication store will be sealed and the deduplication of data on that store will be self contained.

Configure Silo Options

Required Capability: See Capabilities and Permitted Actions

Before You Begin

Review Silo Storage.

To configure silo options:

From the CommCell Browser, right-click the storage policy copy for which you wish to configure Silo options, and then click Properties.
Select Copy Properties (Deduplication) - Silo Options tab.
Select Keep Most Recent (Active) Silo in cache to retain the current active silo data in the magnetic cache. Clear this option if you do not wish to retain the active Silo in cache.

Select the Enable Space Management option to enable the Silo space management on magnetic media. Note that the silo space management follows the Managed Disk Space thresholds set on the Library Properties (Mount Paths) tab of the magnetic library.

When enabling this option, make sure to disable the Mark Archive Files as Read-Only option on the magnetic library from the Library Properties (General) tab; otherwise, the disk cleanup operations cannot be executed successfully.

This option is enabled by default. Clear this option to disable Silo space management on the magnetic media.

Click OK to save the changes.

Mark the Active Media of a Storage Policy Copy Full

Required Capability: See Capabilities and Permitted Actions

To mark the active media of a storage policy copy full:

From the CommCell Browser, right-click the storage policy copy that you want mark the active media full, click All Tasks, and then click Mark Active Media Full.
Click Yes to the confirmation message.
The active media is full.

Enable Silo Storage

Required Capability: See Capabilities and Permitted Actions

Before You Begin

Review Deduplication and Silo Storage.

To enable Silo Storage:

From the CommCell Browser, right-click the storage policy copy for which you wish to enable Silo Storage, and click Properties. Note that Silo storage is only applicable for storage policy copies enabled with deduplication.
Select the Deduplication - Silo Options tab.
Select the Enable Backup of Deduplicated Data option and then click the Add Data Path for Deduplication Store button.
From the Copy Data Path Candidates dialog box, select the data path for Silo storage. The Silo storage will use this data path for storage.
Note that the list of data paths displayed in this dialog box depends on the options selected in the Copy Properties (Data Paths) dialog box.
Click OK to save the changes. This enables Silo Storage and creates an on-demand backup set for Silo storage in the default client in the CommServe.

Start a Silo Backup

Required Capability: See Capabilities and Permitted Actions

Before You Begin

Review Deduplication and Silo Storage.
Ensure to Enable Silo Storage before starting a Silo Backup.

To start a Silo backup:

From the CommCell Browser, right-click the storage policy copy on which you wish to start Silo backup, click All Tasks, and then click Backup Deduplicated Data to Tape.
In the Backup Options dialog box, select Run Immediately. Note that the backup type Full is selected by default as Silo always stores the complete backup.
Click OK. The backup copy is moved to data path configured for Silo storage. You can track the progress of the backup job from the Job Controller window.

Schedule a Silo Backup

Required Capability: See Capabilities and Permitted Actions

Before You Begin

Review Deduplication and Silo Storage.
Make sure to Enable Silo Storage before scheduling a Silo Backup.

To schedule a Silo backup:

From the CommCell Browser, right-click the storage policy copy on which you wish to start a Silo storage media, click All Tasks, and then click Backup Deduplicated Data to Tape.
In the Backup Options dialog box, select Schedule and click OK to continue.
Note that the backup type Full is selected by default as Silo always stores the complete backup.
From the Schedule Details (Schedule Details) dialog box, create a schedule for this operation. For step-by-step instructions, see Create a Job Schedule. Click OK to continue.
The Silo backup operation will be executed according to the specified schedule.

Commit a Job

Before You Begin

This option is available only for Silo Storage. Review Silo Storage before you proceed.

Required Capability: See Capabilities and Permitted Actions

To commit a job:

From the Job Controller of the CommCell Console, right-click the job and select Commit from the shortcut menu.
The job status may change to Interrupt Pending for a few moments while the operation completes. Once completed, the job status will change to Complete.

List the Media Required for a Silo Restore

Required Capability: See Capabilities and Permitted Actions

To review the media list required to perform a successful Silo restore:

From the CommCell Browser, right-click the backup set or subclient configured for Silo Storage, click All Tasks and then click Browse.
Select the appropriate options for browsing data from the Browse Options and Advanced Browse Options dialog box and then click OK.
From the browse window, expand the tree and select the file and/or folders that you wish to restore and then click List Media and Size.
From the List Media dialog box, click Immediate, and click OK.
The list of media on the primary disk and silo storage are displayed in the Media dialog box.
Review the export location of the media. If the media is exported, click Recall Media to recall the media.

Restore Silo Backup

Required Capability: See Capabilities and Permitted Actions

Before You Begin

Review Deduplication and Silo Storage.

To restore Silo backup data:

Silo Storage data is restored using the normal browse and restore method. Browse the contents of the Silo Storage enabled Storage Policy Copy and restore the desired data. See Browse and Restore for step-by-step instructions to perform a browse and restore operation. Silo storage data is always restored to the original MediaAgent that performed the silo backup.

All browse and restore operations must be performed from corresponding client Backup Set level, and not from the On-Demand Silo Storage Set for that Storage Policy Copy.
When restoring large volumes of data from Silo Storage, it is recommended that you temporarily disable the Silo Space Management option, from Copy Properties (Deduplication) - Silo Option tab.

Enable Tape-to-Tape Auxiliary Copy for Silo Storage

Required Capability: See Capabilities and Permitted Actions

Before You Begin

Review Deduplication, Silo Storage, and Tape-to-Tape Auxiliary Copy with Silo Storage.

To enable tape-to-tape auxiliary copy for Silo storage:

From the CommCell Browser, right-click the auxiliary copy and click Properties.
From the Associations tab of the Copy Properties dialog box, clear all associations, and select the on-demand Silo Storage Set.
The silo storage set will be available in the File System iDataAgent installed on the CommServe Computer. See Create a Silo Storage for information on Silo Storage Sets.
Click OK. The Auxiliary Copy is created from the Silo Storage Set data.

Restore data from Tape-to-Tape Auxiliary Copy Backups

Required Capability: See Capabilities and Permitted Actions

Before You Begin

Review Tape-to-Tape Auxiliary Copy for Silo Storage.

To restore from tape-to-tape auxiliary copy:

From the CommCell Browser, right-click the storage policy containing the silo enabled storage policy copy, and select Properties.
From the Copy Precedence tab of the Storage Policy Properties dialog box, select the tape-to-tape auxiliary copy and click the arrow buttons to change its copy precedence to 1. The arrows will move a copy to a higher or lower precedence in increments of 1. For more information, see Recovering Data From Copies.
Click OK to save the changes.
Follow the procedure in Browse and Restore to perform a browse and restore operation.

Enable Data Compression for Silo Storage

Required Capability: See Capabilities and Permitted Actions

Before You Begin

Review Data Compression.
Review Set up Silo Storage for information on accessing the Silo Storage Set.

To enable data compression for Silo Storage:

From the CommCell Browser, locate the corresponding Silo Storage Set under the File System iDataAgent installed on the CommServe Computer.
Right-click the subclient under the Silo Storage Set and then click Properties.
Click the Storage Device (Data Transfer Option) tab and choose the appropriate compression option for this subclient.
Click OK to save your changes. Silo Storage is now enabled with data compression.

Enable Data Encryption for Silo Storage

Required Capability: See Capabilities and Permitted Actions

Before You Begin

Review Data Encryption.
Review Setup Silo Storage for information on accessing the Silo Storage Set.

To enable data encryption for Silo Storage:

From the CommCell Console, right-click the Client Computer and click Properties.
From the Client Properties (Encryption) tab, select the Encrypt Data check box to enable options.
Select options based on the criteria described in the Encryption tab help. Note that Pass Phrase is not supported for encryption on Silo Storage.
Locate the corresponding Silo Storage Set under the File System iDataAgent installed on the CommServe Computer. Right-click the subclient under the Silo Storage Set and click Properties.
From the Subclient Properties (Encryption) tab, select an option based on the criteria described in the Encryption tab help.
Click OK to save your settings and close subclient properties. Silo Storage data is now encrypted.

Enable (or Disable) Data Multiplexing for Silo Operations

Required Capability: See Capabilities and Permitted Actions

Before You Begin

Review Data Multiplexing and Silo Storage - Data Multiplexing in Silo Operations.

To enable multiplexing for silo data protection operations:

From the CommCell Browser, right-click the storage policy copy for which you wish to configure multiplexing.
Select Copy Properties (Deduplication) - Silo Options tab.
Select Enable Multiplexing option and provide the multiplexing factor for silo operations in the Silo Archive Mux Factor field.
Clear the Enable Multiplexing option to remove data multiplexing for Silo operations.
Click OK to save the changes.