Remote Office Backup Using Global Deduplication

If you have a central Data Center with multiple remote offices with their own MediaAgent(s) and clients in several locations and you need to maintain a copy of the data in the Data Center, use the global Deduplication as described below.

Consider a setup with multiple remote sites and a centralized data center. Each remote site backs up the internal data using individual storage policies and saves a copy of the backup on the centralized data center. Here, though the redundant data within the individual backup can be eliminated using deduplication on primary copies at the remote site, the secondary copies stored at the data center might still contain redundant data among the copies. This redundant data can be identified and eliminated using global deduplication.

In this scenario, create a Global Deduplication Policy that provides a global, common deduplication store and associate all secondary copies that run to the data center to the global policy. Since the copies are deduplicated using the same store, they are deduplicated against each other, completely eliminating any redundancy in the backup at the data center. Centralized data retained for longer periods (for example, compliance purposes) will significantly benefit from global deduplication.

Create a Global Deduplication Policy

1.
  • From the CommCell Browser, expand Policies.
  • Right-click Storage Policies, and then click New Global Deduplication Policy.
2. Enter the name in the Global Deduplication Policy Name box and click Next.
3. From the Library list, click the name of a disk library and click Next.
4. From the MediaAgent list, click the name of a MediaAgent that will be used to create the primary copy.

Click Next.
5.
  • From the MediaAgent list, click the name of the MediaAgent that will be used to store the Deduplication store.
      It can be any MediaAgent which has enough space to store the deduplication store.
  • Type the name of the folder in which the deduplication database must be located in the Deduplication Store Location or click the Browse button to select the folder.
  • Click Next.
  The deduplication database must be located in a folder and not directly under the root of a disk volume.
6. Click Finish.

Create a Storage Policy with Deduplication enabled

Use the following step-by-step procedure to create a storage policy with Deduplication enabled for each MediaAgent in the remote offices:

1.
  • From the CommCell Browser, navigate to and expand Policies.
  • Right-click Storage Policies, and then click New Storage Policy.
2. Click Next.
3. Enter the name in the Storage Policy Name box and click Next.
4. Click Next.
4. From the Library list, click the library in the remote office and click Next.
5. From the MediaAgent list, click the name of a remote office MediaAgent that will be used to create the primary copy.

Click Next.
6. Click Next to accept default values.

If necessary these values can be modified later.
7. Click Next.
8.
  • From the MediaAgent list, click the name of the MediaAgent that will be used to store the Deduplication store.
      It can be any MediaAgent which has enough space to store the deduplication store.
  • Type the name of the folder in which the deduplication database must be located in the Deduplication Store Location or click the Browse button to select the folder.
  • Click Next.
  The deduplication database must be located in a folder and not directly under the root of a disk volume.
9. Click Finish.
10. Repeat steps 1 - 9 for all remote offices.  

Creating Secondary Copies

Use the following step-by-step procedure to create a secondary copy for each storage policy using the global deduplication policy:

1.
  • From the CommCell Browser, navigate to Policies | Storage Policies | <Storage_Policy>.
  • Right-click <storage_policy>, point to All Tasks and then click Create New Copy.
2.
  • Specify name in Copy Name.
  • Select Global Deduplication Policy box and click the name of a global deduplication policy from the list.
  • Click OK.
3.

Click OK to accept the default schedule.
4. You can view the Secondary Copy in the Storage Policy pane.