Subclients - NAS NDMP

The default subclient that is created during install is defined as /, which serves as a catch-all entity. This default subclient will backup all volumes and file systems on the file server that is not included in another subclient. For more information, see Default Subclients.

Because a NAS file server may consist of many file systems, you can create User-Defined Subclients to point to the specific file system (or portion of a file system) that you want to back up. These subclients can contain a unique file system or unique portion of a file system. If you want to back up different directories on the file server at different times, then you must create additional user-defined subclients for these directories in order to back up that portion of the data.

For example, a file server has two directories that you want backed up. Create a user-defined subclient that consists of /fs1/dir1 and another user-defined subclient that consists of /fs1/dir2. Each subclient, when it is backed up or restored, establishes a logical channel through which data can travel to or from the backup media.

As you configure the subclient, all possible volumes are shown. Add any subdirectories to the volume.
For BlueArc NAS NDMP filers, subclient content is written as a composition of the following: fixed text ("/__VOLUME__/" note that this is slash followed by two underbars, and VOLUME followed by two underbars and another slash), file system name, and then the path in the file system to be backed up. For example, /__VOLUME__/FS1/dir1.

You can schedule the backups of the default subclient and user-defined subclients either at different times or simultaneously. Splitting the backups into two or more time periods can be useful if you need to stage the backups of a large client around a particularly busy time of network or client utilization.

Data can be excluded from a backup. See Backup Filters for NAS NDMP Subclients for more information.

Configurable Properties

Once installed, the agent is configured and is therefore able to manage the data or volumes on the client computer. However, you can change certain aspects of the subclient configuration to manage the data in the manner that best suits your needs.

You can view or change the subclient configuration from the Subclient Properties dialog box. The following information can be configured.

Activity Control

You can enable or disable all operations for this CommCell object and all objects below it. For more information, see Activity Control.

Content/Databases

You can define the content of the subclient. Most agents include a configure button that displays a dialog where you can add or modify the data included as subclient content. For step-by-step instructions, see Configure Subclient Content.

Data Encryption

You can enable or disable the encryption of data for transmission over unsecure networks and for storage on media. For more information, see Data Encryption.

The Data Encryption tab is not available for BlueArc, Celerra, and Hitachi iDataAgents.

Data Paths

You can view the data paths associated with the primary storage policy copy of the selected storage policy or incremental storage policy. You can also modify the data paths for the subclient including their priority. For additional information, see Configuring Alternate Data Paths for Subclients.

Data Protection Filters

You can perform the following functions:

Define data protection filters to exclude specified subclient data from being backed up or archived. For more information, see Filters.

Number of Data Readers

Specify the number of simultaneous backup data streams allowed for this subclient. For best performance, this should be set no higher than the number of physical drives that hold this subclient's data, except for specialized hardware such as RAID. For more information, see Automatic File System Multi-Streaming.

Pre/Post Processes

You can add, modify or view Pre/Post processes for the subclient. These are batch files or shell scripts that you can run before or after certain job phases. For more information, see Pre/Post Processes.

Storage Policies

You can associate the subclient to a storage policy. For more information, see Storage Policies.

Subclient Name

You can rename a user-defined subclient.

User Security

You can perform the following functions:

Identify the user groups to which this CommCell object is associated.
Associate this object with a user group.
Disassociate this object from a user group.

For more information, see User Administration and Security.

User Accounts

You can define an account with permissions to execute Pre/Post commands for the agent's archive, backup, or volume creation jobs.

See NAS NDMP Agents: Other User Accounts in User Accounts and Passwords for more information.

Things to Consider when Creating and Configuring NAS NDMP Subclients

When creating and configuring subclients for NAS NDMP iDataAgents, keep in mind the following considerations:

Common Considerations

Some file servers do not support filters. For backup filter considerations, see Backup Filters for NAS NDMP Subclients.
Consider the following when using "/" as subclient content:
- If the content of the default subclient is /, then the content is every root volume path not included in another subclient.
- Defining / for the content in a user-defined subclient is not valid; it is only valid in the default subclient.
- Caution Against Re-configuring Default Subclient Content
  We recommend that you do not re-configure the content of a default subclient because this would disable its capability to serve as "catch-all" entity for client data. As a result, the likelihood that some data will not get backed up or scanned for archiving would increase.

Load-Balancing Considerations

A Windows File System client viewed in the CommCell Browser represents a single physical computer with iDataAgent software installed on it. By contrast, a NAS NDMP client viewed in the browser represents not a physical computer with iDataAgent software installed, but rather a NAS NDMP file server and the ability for any MediaAgent in the CommCell to back up its data. This is an important distinction; when Windows File System iDataAgent software is installed on a computer, that computer must perform all of the job processes required for backup, restore, and Auxiliary Copy jobs for its data; by contrast, for a NAS NDMP client, these jobs and thus their associated processes can be made to run on different MediaAgents; this allows you to load-balance these processing tasks for what often proves to be very large quantities of data, ensuring that no single computer is overburdened.

If load-balancing such job processes among multiple machines is an objective, consider the following:

If you do not use Alternate Data Paths, do the following to allow job processes to be distributed among the different available MediaAgents:
- Configure drive pools on multiple MediaAgents so that the NAS NDMP jobs will not all run on a single MediaAgent. See Master Drive Pools, Drive Pools and Drives.
- Configure multiple Storage Policies, each using a different MediaAgent and drive pool. See Storage Policies.
- Distribute the data to be protected among multiple subclients. See Configure Subclient Content.
- Associate each subclient to a different Storage Policy. See Associate a Subclient to a Storage Policy.
This type of configuration will cause backup, restore, and Auxiliary Copy jobs for each subclient to be distributed among different MediaAgents; therefore, the processor load for these jobs will occur on different machines.
If you do use Alternate Data Paths, the load-balancing of the job processes described above can be achieved just as effectively in addition to the network load-balancing and fault-tolerance that the Alternate Data Paths feature provides. For more information, see Alternate Data Paths (GridStor).

NetApp NAS NDMP

To include all the data in a volume, define a subclient at the volume level.

To schedule separate backups for different directories:

Define a subclient at the volume level (e.g., /vol/volume1). This subclient will be used to back up any data on this volume not included in other subclients. When backing up this subclient, the sub-directories of this volume included in other subclients will be excluded from this backup. Note that NetApp has a limitation of 32 exclusions, so the total number of directories in other subclients plus the total number of items on the filter tab must not exceed 32 items.

CAUTION:

NetApp file servers do not support excluding a specific directory path. When excluding a path from another subclient, only the directory name is excluded, not the specific directory. Any file or directory with that name will also be excluded from the backup. Ensure that the directory name is unique and is not used in any other path on any level.

For example, suppose "/vol/vol10" is in one subclient and "/vol/vol10/HARDWARE" is in another subclient. When "/vol/vol10" is backed up, "HARDWARE" is automatically excluded. The effect of this exclusion will be that "/vol/vol10/HARDWARE" is excluded AND any other file or directory with that name will also be excluded. So, if there is a directory "vol/vol10/CaliforniaOffice/HARDWARE", it will also be excluded.

Define one or more subclients with paths within the volume. Each subclient can contain one or more paths. These subclients can be backed up in parallel by scheduling jobs to run at the same time and with backup resources available. The paths within a subclient can be backed up in parallel by setting the number of data readers on the subclient (and having backup resources available).