Click OK. The new cache location will be used for the next backup/snapshot/QR
job.
Change the COW Cache Size
For Windows platform Agents, use the following procedure to change the minimum
and/or maximum COW cache sizes.
For the Image Level ProxyHost iDataAgent,
this value is set in the Backup Host's Image Level Agent Properties.
The effective maximum for COW cache size is 90% of the volume's total capacity.
Even if you enter a number of megabytes that represents a higher percentage,
a snapshot will terminate when the cache file reaches 90% of the volume's total
capacity.
Use the following procedure to change the location of the QSnap bitmaps.
Prior to changing the bitmap location, consider the following:
The bitmap location must be an NTFS volume.
Directory Path Mount points are not supported.
For standard configurations the volume you select must be a local drive.
Do not select any fiber channel attached devices, external SCSI devices, or
other external hard disks.
For cluster configurations, the volume you select must be a shared
volume of the same Cluster Group and all volumes on the Cluster Group must
use this shared volume for the bitmap file storage.
A reboot may be required for the changes to take place.
In some instances, changing the location of the bitmaps may force a full
backup job. This will happen if the Bitmap Init value is set 1, if the
Bitmap Init value remains 0, then a full backup will not be forced.
To change
the location of Block Filter (BF) Parameters of an individual volume:
From the \Base directory, launch the
Qsnp2Config, which will display the DEFAULT Parameters configured during
install.
Click on the Configure Block Filter on Volumes button.
In the Enter a Volume field, enter the volume you desire to
change (for e.g., l:) and click the Select button, which will display
the current settings for the volume.
Click Deactivate BF. In the Bitmap Volume field, enter the
volume where you want to store the bitmap for the selected volume (for e.g.,
l:).
Click the Activate BF button.
Repeat this process for each volume on which you are going to change the
bitmap location.
Click Close to close the Configure BlockFilter Volume
dialog box.
Click the Exit button to close the Qsnp2Config dialog box.
To change
the location of Block Filter (BF) Parameters of all volumes:
From the \Base directory, launch the Qsnp2Config,
, which will display the DEFAULT Parameters configured during install.
Click Update BF Params, enter the new bitmap location (for e.g.,
l:) in the Default Volume to keep Bitmap Files field and click
Update.
Click OK.
Click the Exit button to close the Qsnp2Config dialog box.
Enable Persistence on a Volume
Use the following procedure to enable persistence on a volume or volumes.
Disabling persistence does not require a reboot and does not force your
next job to be a full.
To enable
QSnap bitmap persistence:
From the \Base directory, launch the
Qsnp2Config.
Click Configure Volumes, then enter or Select the volume for
which you want to enable QSnap bitmap persistence.
Click Enable Persistence. The Persistence Enabled value should be
set to 1.
Repeat this process for each volume on which you are enabling persistence.
For the Quick Recovery Agent, remember to configure the destination volumes
in addition to the source volumes.
Click the Exit button to complete volume configuration.
Enable Persistence and Configure QSnap on Cluster
Once you have installed QSnap, use the following procedure to set persistence
and configure QSnap on a cluster.
To
enable persistence on a cluster:
From the Cluster Administrator software, take the GxClusPlugin
service resource offline.
From the registry editor on both physical nodes, navigate to
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\CommVault
Systems\Galaxy\Instance<xxx>\iDataAgent.
From the \Base directory, launch
QST2Tool. This executable can be run from either physical node.
Activate the block-filter driver on
the volume.
Enable Persistence.
Set the Bitmap Init Value to 0.
Specify the volume to keep the bitmap. Ensure the volume you specify
here is a shared volume.
From the Cluster Administrator software, bring the GxClusPlugin
service resource back online.
Initiate a failover by moving the group to the other physical node.
The cluster volumes you configured on the original node need to be
configured on the current node as well. Once configured on both nodes, you
will not need to configure them again. Configure your volumes by repeating
Steps 1 - 4 above.
QSnap is now configured for your cluster.
Disable Persistence on Volumes
Use the following procedure to disable persistence on a volume or volumes.
Disabling persistence does not require a reboot and does not force your
next job to be a full.
To disable
QSnap bitmap persistence on a volume:
From the \Base directory, launch the
Qsnp2Config.
Click Configure Volumes, then enter or Select the volume for
which you want to disable QSnap bitmap persistence.
Click Disable Persistence. The Persistence Enabled value should be
set to 0.
Repeat this process for each volume on which you are disabling persistence.
For the Quick Recovery Agent, remember to disable persistence the destination
volumes in addition to the source volumes.
Click the Exit button to complete volume configuration.
Disable Persistence on a Cluster
Use the following procedure to disable persistence on a cluster.
To
disable persistence on a cluster:
From the Cluster Administrator software, take the GxCVD and GxEvMgrc
service resources offline.
Add any additional physical disk resources that you want to protect as dependencies
to CVD (the physical disk resource that QSnap was installed on for the
virtual node is listed as a dependency by default).
From the registry editor on both physical nodes, navigate to
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\CommVault
Systems\Galaxy\Instance<xxx>\iDataAgent.
From the \Base directory, launch
Qsnp2Config. This executable can be run from either physical node.
Click Configure Volumes, enter or Select the volume for
which you want to disable QSnap bitmap persistence.
Click Deactivate BF to deactivate the block-filter driver on
the volume.
Set the Persistence Enabled value to 0.
Set the Bitmap Init Value to 0.
Set the Bitmap Volume to your desired location for storing the bitmap
file. The volume is required to be a local volume.
Click Reactivate BF to reactivate the block-filter driver.
Repeat this process for all of the shared volumes you would like to
protect on with QSnap on your cluster.
From the Cluster Administrator software, bring the GxCVD and GxEvMgrc service
resources back online.
Initiate a failover by moving the group to the other physical node.
The cluster volumes you configured on the original node need to be configured
on the current node as well. Once configured on both nodes, you will not need
to configure them again. Configure your volumes:
Click Configure Volumes, enter or Select the volume for
which you want to disable QSnap bitmap persistence.
Click Deactivate BF to deactivate the block-filter driver on
the volume.
Set the Persistence Enabled value to 0.
Set the Bitmap Init Value to 0.
Set the Bitmap Volume to your desired location for storing the bitmap
file. The volume is required to be a local volume.
Click Reactivate BF to reactivate the block-filter driver.
Repeat this process for all of the shared volumes you would like to
protect on with QSnap on your cluster.
Persistence is now disabled on your cluster.
Enable/Disable QSnap Block-filter Driver on Specific Volumes
Use the following procedure to manually deactivate the QSnap block filter functionality
on specific volumes.
To deactivate
the block-filter driver on specific volumes:
From the \Base directory, launch the
Qsnp2Config.
To de-activate the block-filter driver on the volumes you do not want to
be monitored:
Click Configure Volumes, then enter or selectthe volume for
which you want to disable the block-filter driver.
Click Deactivate BF.
Repeat this process for each volume on which you are disabling the
block-filter driver.
Click OK to continue.
Click the Exit button to close the
Qsnp2Config.
Change the Write Inactivity Period (WIP)
Use the following procedure to change the write inactivity period. Use
caution when changing this value. If the default value of 3 seconds is
not sufficient (for example, due to slow disk performance), try small, incremental increases in the value
(e.g., increase the value to 5 seconds).
This procedure will require a reboot.
To
change the WIP:
From the \Base directory, launch
the Qsnp2Config.
Click Update Snap Params, then enter the new Write Inactivity
before Snap (Seconds) value and click OK to continue.
Click the Exit button to close the Qsnp2Config.
Enable SAN Environment
Use the following procedure to enable SAN environment support, allowing you to
perform incremental backups after a SAN device has lost connectivity.
To enable
SAN environment support:
From the \Base directory, launch the
Qsnp2Config.
Click Update BF Params, then change the Enable SAN Environment
value to 1 and click OK to continue.
Click the Exit button to close the Qsnp2Config.
QST2 Tool
The QST2 tool is used primarily for testing and troubleshooting the QSnap driver.
The tool allows you to directly access and use the QSnap driver through command
line calls. The QST2 tool is located in the \Base
directory and has both snapshot and bitmap file commands.
WARNING
Some features of this tool should not be used without instruction
from a support specialist and have been marked DO NOT USE.
This tool provides some options that are better performed using
the CommCell Console or Qsnp2Config. If there is another, preferred
method to perform a task, it is noted in the description.
To access
snapshot commands:
From the \Base directory, launch the
QST2 tool from the command line by navigating to the
\Base directory and entering:
qst2 x:
Where x is the drive letter for the
volume containing the snapshot(s) with which you intend to work.
Enter 1 to access the snapshot options.
Select one of the following:
Get Device Snap Info - measures the amount of data that has been
cached on the current snap. Multiply the FSSectorSize by the TotalCachedSectors
to calculate the Bytes of data have been cached. This will only return
data if a QSnap snapshot already exists on the volume specified when starting
the QST2 tool.
Activate Snap - creates a snapshot of the current specified volume.
Note that you must specify a cache partition using options 8 or 13 before
attempting to activate.
Deactivate Snap - deactivates an activated snapshot of the current
specified volume.
Expose Snap as Mount Point - mounts an activated snap to a drive
letter.
Remove Exposed Snap Mount Point - unmounts a snapshot that you
had previously mounted.
Test Driver Control Object - DO NOT USE.
Test IOCTL to QSnap - DO NOT USE.
Freeze Snap - DO NOT USE.
Get Cached Extents - DO NOT USE.
Get Snap Volume Device ID - displays the Snap Volume Device ID
for a snapshot. If you are performing a function that requires the ID, and
you do not know the snapshot ID, use this option to get the information.
Add NTFS Cache Partition to QSnap Driver - specifies an NTFS
volume as the preferred cache volume for snapshots.
When you are finished working with your snapshots, enter
0 to return to the main menu and then enter
0 again to exit the program.
To access
bitmap commands:
From the \Base directory, launch the
QST2 tool from the command line by navigating to the
\Base directory and entering:
qst2 x:
Where x is the drive letter for the
volume containing the bitmaps with which you intend to work.
Enter 2 to access the bitmap options.
Select one of the following:
Get info - displays the information that the QSnap driver has
regarding bitmaps for your volume.
Activate Block Filter - this should be performed from the
Qsnp2Config and should only be done during specific configuration
procedures or for troubleshooting purposes.
Deactivate Block Filter - this should be performed from the
Qsnp2Config and should only be done during specific configuration
procedures or for troubleshooting purposes.
Set Bitmap - DO NOT USE.
Clear Bitmap - resets the current bitmap information to zero.
In a production environment this will cause the next data protection operations
to be Fulls. It is not recommended to use this option.
Get Bitmap - prints out the bitmap information to a file. The
file will show you which areas of the bitmap are dirty (contain blocks with
modified information).
Select 0 for Image Incremental
bitmaps, 1 for Image Differential
bitmaps, or 2 for QR Incremental
update bitmaps. To write the data to a file, type the file name and path,
when prompted to Press S to dump bitmap on screen.
When you are finished working with your bitmaps, enter
0 to return to the main menu and then enter
0 again to exit the program.
Use TrackBlockIO to measure changed blocks
Use the following procedures to measure the amount of change to a volume at the
block level, over time. Note that previous versions of the TrackBlockIO tool
will not work in the current release. Similarly, the TrackBlockIO tool for the
current release cannot be used with older versions of the software.
To measure
the changed blocks for the next job:
From the \Base directory, launch the
TrackBlockIO tool.
Enter the drive letter for the volume in the Enter Drive Letter:
field and click Make Active Volume.
Select the appropriate bitmap type from the Bitmap Type drop-down
list:
Select Replica Incremental to measure block-level changes for
QR Agent incremental updates.
Select Backup Incremental to measure block-level changes for
Image Level and Image Level ProxyHost incremental backups.
If you want to save the measurements, select the Save Results To
checkbox and enter a path for the results file (it will use the directory in
which the TrackBlockIO is located by default).
Click the Get Changed Data button to see the point-in-time from which
you are measuring change, as well as the amount of change in KB in the Last
Cleared Time and Data To Copy fields, respectively.
The value displayed in the Data To Copy field is indicative of the
size of the next backup or QR Incremental update.
WARNING:
Do not enable and use the Clear Bitmap
button in a production environment - they are provided for testing purposes
outside of production only. See the example below.
If you are not performing backups or creating QR Volumes with QSnap, you
can use the TrackBlockIO tool in conjunction with the Clear Bitmap option to
test the potential size of your jobs before backing up your client. Clearing the
bitmaps in a production environment would force a full backup or QR Volume creation.
To measure
the changed blocks before backing up a client:
Install QSnap, preferably without the Image Level, Image Level ProxyHost
or QR Agents.
From the \Base directory, launch the
TrackBlockIO tool.
Enter the drive letter for the volume in the Enter Drive Letter:
field and click Make Active Volume.
Select a bitmap type from the Bitmap Type drop-down list. It is not
important which type you choose in this scenario, so long as you continue to
use the same bitmap type for all of your measurements.
Select the Save Results To checkbox and enter a path for the results
file (it will use the directory in which the TrackBlockIO is located by default).
Click the Get Changed Data button. A pop-up warning that the Bitmaps
are dirty will appear. Click OK to continue.
Select the Enable Clear Button checkbox and click Clear Bitmaps.
Click the Get Changed Data button again. Since the bitmaps have been
cleared, your first measured result should be very small.
Wait whatever time interval over which you are measuring changed blocks
and click the Get Changed Data button again. This will display the point-in-time
from which you are measuring change, as well as the amount of change in KB in
the Last Cleared Time and Data To Copy fields, respectively.
For example, if you want to measure the change over a 24 hour period, wait 24
hours and click the Get Changed Data button.
You can measure the change over different time intervals by repeating Steps
7 through 9, so long as you are not using QSnap in conjunction with any of the
supported agents (QR Agent, Image Level or Image Level ProxyHost
iDataAgents) to back up the client.
To
enable QSnap on a subclient:
