License Usage by Capacity

Getting Started Advanced FAQ

Table of contents

Related Topics

Usage Calculation

Types of Capacity Based License

Monitoring License Consumption

Data Protection Usage

Data Archiving Usage

Usage Reporting Options

Capacity Dashboard

Alerts/CommCell Automatic Monitoring

License Summary Report

Increasing Your License Capacity

Converting Evaluation to Permanent

Removing the License

License Administration

Provides comprehensive information on licenses available in the CommCell Console.

License Summary Report

Provides comprehensive information on License Summary Report.

Usage Calculation

Once you apply the license, the license is consumed by taking the latest backup (full and synthetic full). For archive operation all active archive jobs are taken into consideration while consuming license.

The following table describes how the usage is calculated using an example.

Clients in CommCell Agents Installed Job Type Data Backed Up (in TB) Notes
Client 1 Windows File System iDataAgent Full/Synthetic Full Backup 11 yesterday The capacity consumed by Client 1 will be 5 TB as the latest data being backed up using full/synthetic full backup is 5 TB.
Windows File System iDataAgent Full/Synthetic Full Backup 5 today
    Total Data Protection Capacity for Client 1 5
Client 2 Windows File System iDataAgent Full Backup 8 yesterday For Windows File System iDataAgent, the latest consumption of 2 TB will not be consumed because data is backed up using a differential backup. The Capacity is consumed for latest data using Full and Synthetic Full backups only.

Hence, the capacity consumed by Client 2 will be 8 TB of Data for Windows File System iDataAgent and 10 TB of Data for SQL iDataAgent.
Windows File System iDataAgent Differential Backup 2 today
SQL iDataAgent Full Backup 10 today
    Total Data Protection Capacity for Client 2 8 + 10 = 18
Client 2 File Archiver for Windows Agent

Archive (active)

 12 today For Client 2 that has File Archiver for Windows Agent and Exchange Mailbox Archiver Agent, the total Data Archive capacity will be the summation of the active archive jobs, i.e. 14. Hence 14 TB of data will be counted towards the usage.
Exchange Mailbox Archiver Agent Archive (active) 2 today
    Total Data Archive Capacity for Client 2 12 + 2 = 14

Types of Capacity Based License

License Type License Name Supported Features Notes
Core Data Protection Core (for Backup) CommServe & MediaAgent (all types and levels)

All basic and shared disk, tape and optical library/ media management options

  • Standard Disk (SDO), Tape Drives, WORM Tape/Optical

Selected Advanced Feature Packs

  • Disaster Recovery, CommCell Migration, CommCell Explorer
  • Cell level encryption
  • GridStor
  • VaultTracker Enterprise Edition
  • Data Erase

CommNet / Enterprise Monitor

  • CommServe Connector for CommNet

1-Touch Servers

  • All supported OS versions
 Evaluation License is valid for 30 days.

Evaluation and Permanent license cannot be used together.
Archive Core (for Archive)
Enterprise Data Protection Enterprise (for Backup) All Core features

Deduplication

  • Advanced Disk (ADO)
  • Consolidated Data Storage Option (CDSO)
  • Cloud Storage connector

NDMP Remote Server (NRS) and Restore Enabler

NAS NDMP Jobs

DDR Jobs

Compliance storage connectors

  • Centera
  • HCAP
  • CAS

Full Advanced Feature Bundle

  • All features available in Core
  • SNMP Integration Enabler
  • Secondary copy encryption enabler (Auxiliary Copy)
  • Offline Recovery tools for granular recovery (Mining)

Storage Resource Manager

  • Server
  • All Clients

Snap Enablers

  • Snap Protection Enabler
  • QR for ONTAP editions
  • QSnap (Image level)
  • Hardware Snapshot Engines
  • Recovery Points (required for CDR/CRP)
  • Recovery Director*
Archive Enterprise (for Archive)

* QR and Recovery Director are not supported in Calypso 9.0 and replaced by extensions in the SnapProtect coverage.

Monitoring License Consumption

The usage is determined based on the Front-End Terabyte capacity (FET) measured by calculating the size of data retained in backup or archive jobs.

Data Protection Usage

Data Protection usage is measured based on the amount of active protection policies in the CommCell. The measurement summarizes the size of the last active FULL or SYNTHETIC FULL job for each unique, individually active client or subclient policy within the CommCell.

What is measured?
  • Latest FULL Backup.
  • Latest SYNTHETIC FULL Backup.
  • Latest SYNTHETIC FULL AND INCREMENTAL Backup.

For agents that do not support instances, the license only counts the backup set with the largest backup size. However, for instance-based agents, the license is measured as follows:

  • For Oracle and SAP, the license counts the subclient with the largest backup size for every configured instance.
  • For DB2, the license counts the subclient with the largest backup size for every configured subclient.
  • For all other instance-based agents (such as the Virtual Server), the license counts the backup size of all configured subclients.

For Database agents, the following backup types are measured towards capacity calculation:

  • Latest SELECTIVE ONLINE FULL Backup.
  • Latest SELECTIVE OFFLINE FULL Backup.

How usage increases?
  • Growth in Data being backed up by a storage policy.
  • Deploying newer clients with new data.
  • Assigning storage policies to content of newly created subclients.

How usage decreases?
  • Deactivating or Deconfiguring a client, this will in-turn exclude all subclient policies under the client.
  • Deleting a subclient policy.

    Even if the actual backup job is retained, it won't be counted towards measurement.

  • Disabling the activity on the subclient will exclude the backups from calculation. Conversely, enabling the activity on subclient will include it on the usage report.
  • Deleting the Last FULL or SYNTHETIC FULL backup.

What is excluded from measurement?
  • Multiple instances of same backup job across different copies in the Storage Policy made with Auxiliary Copy.
  • If same subclient policy is repeated over two BackupSets, only the largest backup is counted. This eliminates the chances of double counting when a redundant Full backup job is run.
  • Jobs from deconfigured clients or agents.

    This comes handy when migrating the clients to a newer server. This deconfigured client will release the license and exclude its jobs from the measurement process, however if the client is enabled again to run new backup jobs - the jobs will start counting towards the measurement process.

  • Jobs from deleted Subclient Policies. The backup job is retained for restore but the subclient is no longer available for new backups
  • Secondary, Deduplicated SILO Backup Jobs.

    Only the original backup job is counted towards measurement and the secondary SILO backup jobs are excluded.

  • Jobs from Import operations which reflect jobs that are actively managed in other CommCells or 3rd party jobs from the External Data Collector EDC (these jobs qualify as read-only, deconfigured clients).

Data Archiving Usage

Data Archive usage is measured based on the amount of active archive policies in the CommCell. The measurement summarizes the cumulative size of the Classic archive agents, OnePass agents, legal hold jobs or Object Link jobs managed within the Storage Policies in the CommCell at a given point in time. Each archive job is included in the capacity consumption, though it does not include the number of copies. The measurement is based on the entire CommCell.

What is measured?
  • Total Size of all active Archive jobs.
  • All Legal Hold Jobs.
  • All Object Link Jobs.
  • Last cycle of each subclient of all OnePass jobs. Here the last cycle refers to a latest Full or Synthetic Full backup job and all incremental jobs run since then.

How usage increases?

Addition of any new Archive job.

How usage decreases?
  • Selective deletion of jobs from the Storage Policy (any archive job) and then running a data aging operation.
  • Archive jobs that are fully deleted and are no longer active are excluded from measurement.
  • Deactivating or Deconfiguring a client, this will in-turn exclude all subclient policies under the client.
  • Deleting a subclient policy.

    Even if the actual archive job is retained, it won't be counted towards measurement.

  • Disabling the activity on the subclient will exclude the backups from calculation. Conversely, enabling the activity on subclient will include it on the usage report.

What is excluded from measurement?
  • Multiple instances of same archive job across different copies in the Storage Policy made with Auxiliary Copy.
  • Jobs from deconfigured clients that are disabled for new Archive services.
  • Secondary, Deduplicated SILO Jobs.

    Only the original archive job is counted towards measurement and the secondary jobs are excluded.

  • Jobs from Import operations which reflect jobs that are actively managed in other CommCells or 3rd party jobs from the External Data Collector EDC (these jobs qualify as read-only, deconfigured clients).
  • Content Indexing Jobs.
  • Content Director Jobs.

Usage Reporting Options

Capacity Dashboard

The Capacity Dashboard shows a summary of active usage at any point in time. The graphical report view can be saved as a report file and used for audit purposes.

  1. From the CommCell Console, select Tools | Control Panel.
  2. From the Control Panel, select License Administration.
  3. Select the Capacity Usage tab, and click Save.
  4. Save the file as PDF or HTML. Send this file to your software provider and obtain the necessary license.

Alerts/CommCell Automatic Monitoring

The CommCell automatic monitoring or alerting function supports Data Protection and Data Archive capacity usage operations. As the capacity usage approaches the licensed limits, notification alerts can be set to alert internal or external entities (such as partners) to announce the condition via email, pager or SNMP alerts and initiate review/planning events to acquire additional capacity or reduce the scope of the active data protection or data archive policies.

Configure alerts/notifications for capacity usage as described below:

  1. From the CommCell Browser, right-click the CommCell icon.
  2. Click Control Panel, and then click Alerts.
  3. From the Alerts window, click Add.
    • Enter a name for the alert in the Display Name box.
    • Select a category as Configuration and alert type as CommCell.
  4. Associate entities with the alert and click Next.
  5. Under Threshold and Notification Criteria, select Alert when License Consumed reaches and change the percentage value as needed, then click Next.
  6. Select one or more of the following alert types
    • E-Mail/Pager
    • SNMP
    • Event Viewer
    • Run Command
    • Save to Disk
    • RSS Feeds
  7. Click Next.
  8. Select the CommCell Users and/or CommCell User Groups to Receive the Alert and click Next.

    The Summary step displays a summary of the options that you have selected for the alert.

  9. Click Finish.

License Summary Report

Once you have applied the license, you can view license information using License Summary Report. This report provides the following information:

  1. From the CommCell Console, select Reports.
  2. Select License Summary from the Report Selection dialog box.
  3. From the General tab, select Include Capacity Usage.
  4. From the Output tab, select the output format and save options for the report.
  5. Click Run to generate the report.

CommCell Usage Summary

A summary of the CommCell Usage is displayed along with the License Summary Report. This gives a snapshot of the usage under broadly categorized heads as follows:

The following table lists the components and exclusions of the categories represented in the report snapshot:

Category Usage Exclusions

Protected Clients

 Count of all active File System backup clients on the CommCell. This includes all Servers, NAS and Desktop/Laptop Clients based on active File System iDataAgent installation. Deconfigured clients / agents; Evaluation clients

Protected Virtual Machines

 Count of all active, uniquely named Virtual Machines protected in active Virtual Server Agent subclients. Disabled subclients; Evaluation clients

Protected Mailboxes

 Count of all active, uniquely named Mailboxes protected in active Exchange or Lotus Notes Mailbox subclients . Disabled subclients; Evaluation clients

Archived Clients

 Count of all active File Archiver for Windows Agent, File Archiver for Unix Agent, File Archiver for NAS including BlueArc, Celerra, NetApp and Isilon and Other File Servers, and also SharePoint Archiver Agent - clients on the CommCell.

Count is based on active Archive Management iDataAgent installation.

 Disabled subclients; Evaluation clients

Archived Mailboxes

 Count of all active, uniquely named Mailboxes Archived in active Exchange or Lotus Notes Mailbox subclients. Disabled subclients; Evaluation clients

Monitored Clients

 Count of all active SRM reporting clients on the CommCell. Count is based on the active SRM standalone and integrated agent installation. Deconfigured clients/agents; Evaluation clients

Content Indexed Nodes

 Count of all Content Indexed nodes used in the CommCell. This includes Index, Admin or mixed nodes. Evaluation nodes

Advanced Search Nodes

 Count of all Content Indexed nodes with Automatic Content Classification (Content Director) features used in the CommCell. This includes Index, Admin or mixed nodes. Evaluation nodes

Search Mailboxes

 Count of all active, uniquely named Mailboxes found in subclients configured for Content Indexed offline indexing policies. Disabled subclients; Evaluation clients

Disk Library Capacity (TB)

 Total used space of all disk library mount paths in the CommCell; reported in TB units (standard disk footprint = SDO capacity)  

Dedupe Store Capacity (TB)

 Total used space of all disk library mount paths under active Deduplication Stores in the CommCell; reported in TB units (Deduplication footprint = Advanced Disk [ADO] or Consolidated Data Storage Option [CDSO] capacity) Sealed stores

Obtaining and Applying the License

You must first determine your current data size in order to determine the amount of license. Use the following steps to determine the size:

1. From the CommCell Console, select Tools | Control Panel.
2. From the Control Panel, select License Administration.

 
3. Select the Capacity Usage tab, and click Save.
4. Save the file as PDF or HTML. Send this file to your software provider and obtain the necessary license.
5. Once you receive the license file from your software provider, apply the license as follows:
  • Click the Update License tab.
  • Specify the location of the license file.
  • Click Apply.

Increasing your License Capacity

License is consumed as follows:

Note, capacity usage details are updated in the usage graph every 24 hours. However, it may also be updated if a Data Aging Job is run or if CommServe services are restarted.

1. From the CommCell Console, select Tools | Control Panel.
2. From the Control Panel, select License Administration.

 
3. Select Capacity Usage and click Reset.
The Reset button can be used once every 72 hours for a total of 10 times.

Converting Evaluation to Permanent

Evaluation License is valid for 30 days. When the evaluation license expires, existing jobs will fail and not run to completion.

Obtain the permanent license file from your software provider and apply the license as follows:

1. From the CommCell Console, select Tools | Control Panel.
2. From the Control Panel, select License Administration.

 
3. Select Update License tab and click Apply.

Removing the License

1. Contact your software provider and obtain a conventional license file.

From the CommCell Console, select Tools | Control Panel.
2. From the Control Panel, select License Administration.

 
3. Select Update License tab, specify the location of the license file (obtained from your software provider) and then click Apply.