Commvault Runbook

This run book provide examples of how to use the activities included in the Commvault Instructions. For more
information about the available activities, see Commvault Support.

This chapter includes the following sections:

RACI Chart········································································································································ 2
Backup Overview ····························································································································· 3
Logging into the Commvault system ································································································ 3
Daily Operational Tasks ···················································································································· 3
CommCell Logical Architecture ········································································································ 3
Backup Schedules·········································································································································· 6
Full Backup ···················································································································································· 6
Incremental Backup ······································································································································ 8
Differential Backup ······································································································································· 9
Synthetic Full Backups···················································································································· 11
Selective Online Full Backups ········································································································· 13
Block-Level Backups ······················································································································· 14
Throttling Backup Jobs ··················································································································· 15
Enabling Job Throttling ······························································································································· 15
Procedure ················································································································································ 15
Oracle RAC Multi Instance Job Throttling ··································································································· 15
Overview - MediaAgent ················································································································· 16
Scheduling - Getting Started ·········································································································· 17
Scheduling a Backup ··································································································································· 17
Scheduling a Restore··································································································································· 17
Viewing Job Schedules ········································································ Error! Bookmark not defined.
Procedure······································································································· Error! Bookmark not defined.
Viewing Job Schedules ··················································································································· 17
Procedure···················································································································································· 18
Scheduling - Best Practices············································································································· 18
Troubleshooting - Scheduling········································································································· 19
Restore Backup Data ······················································································································ 20
Overview ····················································································································································· 21
What You Need to Know Before Performing a Restore ·········································································· 21
Restore Methods····································································································································· 21

1
RACI Chart

Role
Infrastructur
Activity e Analyst User Support Management
Daily review of previous days backup for errors/issues R/A I
Add/Modify/Remove Storage Groups and Schedules R/A
Install Commvault agent on all servers R/A
Setup datastores and disk libraries R/A
Architectural Changes R/A
Daily review of reports for agent, Storage policy or library
errors R/A
Daily/Weekly review of Tape reports for scratch / growth R/A
Daily/Weekly review of Library reports for growth R/A
Validation of on site scratch R/A
Validate creation of DR backup Disk / Tape R/A
Validation of Aging consistent with growth R/A
Validation of Physical MA/CS physical system health R/A I
Validation of Tape systems physical system health R/A I
Firmware upgrading MA/CS Systems R/A
OS upgrade on MA/CS Systems R/A
OS / Firmware upgrade of exagrid / Tape systems R/A
Ensure all storage policies and schedules are
Daily extraction of tapes A R
Daily resupplment of tapes A R
Validation of outgoing tapes at DOC A R
Validation of incoming tapes at remote location A R
Validation of outgoing tapes at remote location A R
Validation of incoming tapes at DOC. A R
Inventory Tapes A R
Transport Tapes to/from DOC to/from GWC A I
Restore server/data R/A
Hold (Tape not sent off site) R A
Annual Audit R I

2
Backup Overview
Coast Community College District has 2 data centers (District Office and Orange Coast College). All backups for
both locations are done from the District Office using Commvault as the system for backup/restore and various tape
and disk systems to store the backup data. This procedure document is intended to assist an authorized individual in
creating new backups, maintaining existing backups, monitoring backup progress as well as health, and restoration.
The individual conducting these procedures must possess a valid Active Directory account with administrative
access ($ account).

Commvault provides seamless and efficient backup and restore of data and information in the enterprise from most
mainstream operating systems, databases, and applications. The backup and recovery system uses agents to interface
with file systems and applications to facilitate the transfer of data from production systems to the protected
environment. There are several types of data protection available.

Logging into the Commvault system

Remote Desktop into the following server: DIS-CV-CS1 (IP address 159.115.5.253)

Log in with your Active Directory ($ account) – Only pre-authorized personnel are able to log in.

Daily Operational Tasks

• Review the Commcell interface for failed jobs or jobs that are not operating properly. Remediate any issues.
• Ensure that there are sufficient scratch tapes in the 3 separate tape libraries.
• Unload daily offsite tapes to be taken to GWC for storage.
• Transport daily offsite tapes to/from GWC.
• Log offsite tapes being transported at source and destination.

Off site storage and manipulation of physical media

All off site storage will be maintained at Golden West College in the MDF.
Who does what?
How does transport work
When does transport occur
When do tapes return?

CommCell Logical Architecture

A CommCell environment consists of one CommServe host, and any number of MediaAgents and clients. There is
also a logical architecture to a CommCell, which can be defined in two main areas, production data being used by
servers and computers in the enterprise, and protected data which has been backed up, archive, or replicated to
storage media.

Logical Management of Production Data

A CommCell environment employs a logical management of production data, which is designed in a hierarchical
tree structure. Production data is managed using agents, which interface natively with the file system or application
and can be configured based on specific functionality of data being protected. Data within these agents is grouped
into backup sets. Within the backup set, one or more subclients can be used to map to specific data.

3
client

A computer for which software agents are protecting data.

agent

A software component that is installed to protect a specific type of data on a client, e.g., Windows File System,
Oracle databases, etc.

backup set

One or more logical groupings of subclients, which are the containers of all of data managed by the agent. For some
agents, this might be called an archive set or replication set. For a database agent, the equivalent of a backup set is
generally a database instance.

subclient

A logical container that identifies and manages specific production data (drives, folders, databases, mailboxes) to be
protected.

storage policy

A logical data management entity with rules that define the lifecycle management of the protected data in a
subclient's content.

All functions of the system are carried out through the console depicted above.

4
Storage Policy
Name of Storage Policy Type Description Deduplicated
Commserve DR DR Backup CV Disaster Recovery Only No
SP_AD Standard AD Only – All primary DCs No
SP_Banner Seed Standard Banner Seed Storage Policy No
SP_Banner Seed Test Standard Banner Seed Test No
SP_Banner_DB_TAPE Standard Banner DB to TAPE No
SP_Banner_x86-NO_TAPE Standard Banner DB x86 No TAPE No
SP_CCC_FS_WIN Standard CCC File System No
SP_CCC_FS_WIN_2003 Standard CCC File System No
SP_CCC_FS_WIN_TAPE Standard CCC File System No
SP_CCC_SQL Standard CCC SQL No
SP_CommserveER DR backup Archive group for CommServer No
SP_DIT_EXCHANGE_DB Standard Exchange DB only No
SP_EXCHANGE_MB Standard Exchange MBs only No
SP_FS_NAS Standard Files System - NAS No
SP_FS_UNIX Standard File System - Linux No
SP_FS_UNIX_TAPE Standard File System - Linux No
SP_FS_WIN Standard File System - Win No
SP_FS_WIN_2003 Standard File System – Win2003 No
SP_FS_WIN_2003_TAPE Standard File System – Win2003 No
SP_FS_WIN_TAPE Standard File System - Win No
SP_GWC_FS_WIN Standard GWC File System - Win No
SP_GWC_FS_WIN_2003 Standard GWC File System - Win2003 No
SP_GWC_FS_WIN_TAPE Standard GWC File System – Win No
SP_GWC_SQL Standard GWC SQL No
SP_HP_VMware_DeDupe Standard VSA DeDupe of HP Blades Yes
SP_OCC_FS_UNIX_TAPE Standard OCC File System – Linux No
SP_OCC_FS_WIN_2003_TAPE Standard OCC File System – Win2003 No
SP_OCC_FS_WIN_TAPE Standard OCC File System - Win No
SP_OCC_SQL_TAPE Standard OCC SQL No
SP_ODS_DB Standard ODS Database ONLY No
SP_QuestArchive Standard QuestArchive ONLY No
SP_SAN_DeDUPE Standard Secondary SAN DeDupe Yes
SP_Sharepoint Standard Sharepoint ONLY No
SP_Sharepoint_TAPE Standard Non-Critical Sharepoint No
SP_SQL Standard SQL ONLY No
SP_TapLib1-R710_DeDupe Global Dedupe Primary SAN DeDupe Yes
Policy

5
Backup Schedule Policies
Schedule Friday Saturday Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday
Name
AD Backup Incr 9pm Full 9pm Incr 9pm Incr 9pm Incr 9pm Incr 9pm Incr 9pm
Exchange DB 1-1 Full 7pm Incr 7pm Incr 7pm Incr 7pm Incr 7pm Incr 7pm Incr 7pm
Exchange DB 1-2 Incr 7am Full 7am Incr 7am Incr 7am Incr 7am Incr 7am Incr 7am
Exchange DB 2-1 Full 11pm Incr 11pm Incr 11pm Incr 11pm Incr 11pm Incr 11pm Incr 11pm
Exchange DB 2-2 Incr 11am Full 11am Incr 11am Incr 11am Incr 11am Incr 11am Incr 11am
Exchange DB 3-1 Incr 3am Full 3am Incr 3am Incr 3am Incr 3am Incr 3am Incr 3am
Exchange DB 3-2 & Incr 3pm Full 3pm Incr 3pm Incr 3pm Incr 3pm Incr 3pm Incr 3pm
4-1
Server 2003 FS Incr 6pm Full 3pm Incr 6pm Incr 6pm Incr 6pm Incr 6pm Incr 6pm
Server 2008 FS Incr 3pm Full 3pm Incr 3pm Incr 3pm Incr 3pm Incr 3pm Incr 3pm
Server 2012 FS Full 9pm Incr 9pm Incr 9pm Incr 9pm Incr 9pm Incr 9pm Incr 9pm
Server VSA FS Incr 11pm SynF 11pm Incr 11pm Incr 11pm Incr 11pm Incr 11pm Incr 11pm
SQL Daily Full 12:30am Full 12:30am Full 12:30am Full 12:30am Full 12:30am Full 12:30am Full 12:30am
SQL Normal Trans Log Full 11pm Trans Log Trans Log 12am Trans Log Trans Log 12am Trans Log
12am 12am 12am 12am
Diff 12am Diff 12am
Diff 12am Diff 12am Diff 12am Diff 12am
VDI Incr 2am Incr 2am Incr 2am Incr 2am Synfull Incr 2am Incr 2am
11pm
BDB/Unix Servers Incr 9pm Full 9pm Incr 9pm Incr 9pm Incr 9pm Incr 9pm Incr 9pm
Oracle Devl On Incr 1:30am Incr 1:30am Full 1:30am Incr 1:30am Incr 1:30am Incr 1:30am Incr 1:30am
VMWARE
Oracle Filesystem Incr 7pm Full 7pm Incr 7pm Incr 7pm Incr 7pm Incr 7pm Incr 7pm
on Devl
Oracle Prod Full 4am/Log Full 4am/Log Full 4am/Log Full 4am/Log Full 4am/Log Full 4am/Log Full 4am/Log
4pm 4pm 4pm 4pm 4pm 4pm 4pm
Oracle CAT Full 6am Full 6am Full 6am Full 6am Full 6am Full 6am Full 6am
Oracle Test Incr 3:15am Full 3:15am Incr 3:15am Incr 3:15am Incr 3:15am Incr 3:15am Incr 3:15am
Sharepoint Incr 6pm Full 1pm Incr 6pm Incr 6pm Incr 6pm Incr 6pm Incr 6pm
Lumnsrsrc Full 2:02am
Calndrsvr Full 3am
SP-NAS- Data Aux Full 8am
Copy
Doc-DW-DBP Logs 6am Logs 6am Logs 6am Logs 6am Logs 6am Logs 6am Logs 6am
If the source is Oracle, then validate if it should be an online or offline single instance. If it is RAC you must
create a RAC agent and set the subclient to Online backup!

Full Backup
Definitions for:
Online Full - "Select Online Full " will automatically select the Data Options "Online Database", "Backup Archive Log",
and "Backup Control File" as these are a prerequisite.
Select Full - selective online full backup job will wait for other Oracle backup jobs currently running on the same
instance to complete before it begins. For this type of backup, both data and archive logs will use the same storage policy as
defined for data in the subclient, and will ignore the storage policy setting for archive logs (which is defined at the instance level).
During selective online full backups, if the data streams (defined at the subclient level) is less than the archive log streams (defined
at the instance level), then both the data phase and the archive log phase will use the same number of streams defined for the data
in the subclient, and will ignore the number of streams set for the archive logs.
While the data backup phase of a selective online full backup is running, the only other Oracle backup jobs that are allowed to run
on the same instance are archive log backups. During the log backup phase of a selective online full backup, no other Oracle
backups are allowed to run (neither logs nor data) on the same instance.

Selective copies (AUX-COPY) are for extended retention backups of an Oracle online backup. By default "regular" online
Oracle backups are disqualified for extended retention AND selective copy. This is because the log backups for Oracle iDA are
assigned to a storage policy at the instance properties and NOT the subclient properties. Because of this logs may go to a different
storage policy than the database goes to. Without the logs an online database backup CANNOT be recovered, and is basically

6
useless. Because of this ONLY offline Oracle backups qualify for extended retention or selective copy. Now with the "selective
online full" option CV will FORCE the log backup for that subclient to go to the policy defined in that subclient instead of the policy
defined at the instance level. Because of this CV can guarantee that ALL the data required to restore and recover the database will
be included in the policy, and so those jobs WILL qualify for extended retention and selective copy.

Offline Full - You can perform offline backups when the database is in either offline or online
mode.

When the Oracle database status is in online (or OPEN) mode, the database is shut down and
brought back online after the backup completes.

You can use the Oracle lights-out script which runs before the Oracle database is shut down, to
perform unattended Oracle backups. Refer to the Oracle manuals for the complete lights-out
script configuration. Record the location and name prior to subclient configuration.

Optionally, you can configure the following settings for a subclient:

• Exclude the following data from backups:

o Read-only tablespaces
o Offline tablespaces
o Inaccessible datafiles and archived redo log files

• Assign a unique tag for the backup which you can use to identify the backup during a
restore
• Include the control file, which is required to recover the database to the current state, as part
of the backup
• Include the SP initialization file

Backups for any client start with a full backup. For Agents that support non-full backups, the full backup becomes a
baseline to which subsequent backup types are applied. For example, if an agent supports incremental backups, a
full backup must be performed before an incremental backup can be initiated.

A full backup contains all the data that comprises a subclient's contents. If a client computer has multiple agents
installed, then the subclients of each agent require a full backup in order to secure all of the data on that client.
Backups can also be performed at the backup set or instance level, and will apply to all of the subclients within the
selected backup set or instance.

A non-full backup is automatically converted to a full backup in the following situations:

1 First backup of the subclient.

2 Re-associating a subclient to another storage policy.
3 Promote a secondary storage policy copy that is not synchronized with a primary copy (for all the
subclients of a storage policy).
4 If a backup job within the most recent backup cycle is pruned or disabled from a primary copy.
5 If you switch from a IntelliSnap backup to a traditional backup or vice versa.
6 CommCell Migration operation.

7
Start a Full Backup

1 From the CommCell Browser, expand Client Computers by double-clicking Client Computers | iDA File
System | defaultBackupSet. The default and other subclients (if available) are displayed on the right-hand
windowpane.
2 To back up the default subclient, right-click the subclient, and click Backup.
3 From the Backup Options dialog box, select Run Immediately.
4 Select Full backup.

Click OK.You can track the progress of the job in the Job Controller.

Incremental Backup

An incremental backup contains only data that is new or has changed since the last backup, regardless of the type.
On average, incremental backups consume far less media and place less of a burden on resources than full backups.

The following illustration clarifies the nature of full and incremental backups. For simplicity, assume there is a file
system that contains six files as represented in the figure.

Note that the File System above could also represent database tables, Active Directory objects and attributes, etc.

Backup #1 is a full backup and therefore writes all the data, changed and unchanged, to the backup media. Backups
#2 through #n-1 are incrementals and only back up those files that have changed since the time of the last backup,
regardless of the type. For example, files A, B, and E changed after the full backup and were therefore backed up in
Backup #2. Backup #4 backed up files A and D because both files were modified sometime after Backup #3
occurred. File F did not change; hence, it was not backed up in any of the incremental backups, but it was included
in both full backups, which, by definition, back up everything.

For the Oracle and Oracle RAC Incremental

backup works as described in differential

8
 backups. See Differential Backups for information
on Incremental backups for these iDataAgents.

Start an Incremental Backup

1 From the CommCell Browser, expand Client Computers by double-clicking Client Computers | iDA File
System | defaultBackupSet. The default and other subclients (if available) are displayed on the right-hand
windowpane.
2 To back up the default subclient, right-click the subclient, and click Backup.
3 From the Backup Options dialog box, select Run Immediately.
4 Select Incremental backup.

Click OK.You can track the progress of the job in the Job Controller.

Differential Backup

A differential backup contains only the data that is new or has changed since the last full backup. Like incrementals,
differential backups, on average, consume less media and place less of a burden on resources than full backups.

For most agents, differential backups are cumulative. This means that each differential backup contains all changes
accumulated since the last full backup. Each successive differential backup contains all the changes from the
previous differential backup. The Oracle iDataAgent, however, provides a backup option that allows you to specify
whether or not you want the backup to be cumulative. The following illustration demonstrates the nature of
differential backups. For simplicity, assume there is a file system that contains six files as represented in the figure.

Note that the File System above could also represent database tables, Active Directory objects and attributes, etc.

Backup #1 is a full backup and therefore writes all the data to the backup media. Backups #2 through #n-1 are
differential backups and only back up those files that changed since the time of the last full backup. For example,

9
files A, B, and E changed after the full backup and were therefore backed up in Backup #2 as well as all subsequent
differential backups. File C changed sometime after Backup #2 and was consequently backed up in Backup #3 and
all subsequent differential backups. File F did not change; hence, it was not backed up in any of the differential
backups, but it was included in both full backups, which, by definition, back up everything.

For the Oracle, DB2, DB2 MultiNode, Informix,

SAP and Sybase Agent, the Incremental backup
process works as described in this section.

Start a Differential Backup

1 From the CommCell Browser, expand Client Computers by double-clicking Client Computers | iDA File
System | defaultBackupSet. The default and other subclients (if available) are displayed on the right-hand
windowpane.
2 To back up the default subclient, right-click the subclient, and click Backup.
3 From the Backup Options dialog box, select Run Immediately.
4 Select Differential backup.
5 Click OK.You can track the progress of the job in the Job Controller.

Intermediate Differential and Incremental Backups

There is an interaction between differential backups and other incremental or differential backups that have been
taken since the last full backup (regular or synthetic). It is helpful to keep this interaction in mind when creating a
new differential backup.

When producing a differential backup, the Commvault software compares the current contents of the client with the
contents of the last full backup for that client. The resulting backup contains all data that has changed or been added
since the last full backup. If other incremental or differential backups have been produced after the last full backup,
but before the current differential backup, it is possible to lose some backed-up data (see Data Loss Scenario).

Consider this diagram:

The incremental backup (number 2) backs up a new version of file A because it has changed since the last full
backup. The first differential backup (number 3) backs up file D because it has been created since the last full
backup was taken. When the second differential backup (backup number 4) is created, it carries forward file A
version 2, but does not carry forward file D because it was deleted before backup number 4 was taken. The synthetic
full backup (number 5) contains versions 0 and 2 of file A (but not version 1) and does not contain file D even

10
though it existed on the client with backup number 3 was taken. File A version 1 can still be restored from backup 2,
and file D can still be restored from backup 3, unless the Do not retain intermediate incremental and
differentials before a new differential option is selected.

Data Loss Scenario

Important: Although version 1 of file A and file D can be restored from backups number 2 and 3, selecting the Do
not retain intermediate incremental and differentials before a new differential option would render them
unrestorable. This option saves media by aging intermediate incremental and differential backups once a succeeding
differential backup has been created, but without those intermediate backups, version 1 of file A and file D cannot
be restored.

Synthetic Full Backups

Synthetic full backups consolidate the data from the latest full backup or synthetic full backup together with any
subsequent incremental backups into one archive file, instead of reading and backing up data directly from the client
computer. Since synthetic full backups do not back up data from the client computer, this operation imposes no load
on the client computer.

The image at right describes how a synthetic full backup is created.

You can start a synthetic full backup at the subclient, backup set or agent level. If you start the synthetic full backup
at the backup set or agent level, then an individual job starts on each subclient. In other words, if you start a
synthetic full backup on a backup set that contains two subclients, then two synthetic full backup jobs run, one for
each subclient. If you choose to use a new media for synthetic full backups, then you might need to have additional
spare media available.

Using synthetic full backups can cause unintentional expiration of data since retention periods are defined by the
number of full backup cycles. For example, running a synthetic full immediately after a standard full backup does
not consolidate any data (as the full already includes all the backup data); storage resources might be unnecessarily
consumed.

A synthetic full backup extracts the index data of each participating subclient. Using this index data and the
previously backed up user data images, it builds new full backup images, one for each subclient. The new backup
images consolidate the index and user data stored in the related incremental, differential, and latest full backups. As

11
the synthetic full backup for each subclient proceeds, the system writes an archive file to the storage policy for each
subclient from which the backup data originated. Since each archive file represents one synthetic full backup for
each subclient, a synthetic full backup of a backup set containing three subclients would initiate three operations,
each resulting in an archive file.

Advantages of Synthetic Full Backups

Synthetic full backups benefit in the following ways:

1 Consumes fewer resources because it is created from the backup files already on the disk.
2 Imposes a lighter load on the production environment because it is created on the backup repository.

Accelerated Synthetic Full Backups (DASH Full)

When a storage policy copy is deduplicated, synthetic full backups can be created in an accelerated mode to
significantly reduce the copy duration. This is done by identifying and transferring the data signatures (instead of the
data itself) to the target wherever possible.

To enable DASH full on a storage policy copy, see Modifying a Storage Policy Copy Deduplication Settings.

Optimizing Synthetic Full Backups in Deduplication Appliances

Synthetic full backup operations back up all the data which are recently added or modified and writes a new baseline
of items as a new job. This allows prior jobs to be aged, and then the new incremental backups are performed with
this baseline as the reference.

Performance of a deduplication appliance such as Data Domain Array is bound by stream or thread performance.
The synthetic full operation requires a concurrent read/write operation, which can affect the performance of the
device.

It is recommended that you take the following steps to optimize the performance of the device:

1 Stagger your backup schedule in such a way that the minimum number of active streams are targeted to the
device.
2 Alternately, if the synthetic full operation takes too long to complete, you can perform a Full backup
followed by daily incremental backup jobs.
3 In cases where longer backup cycles are performed in the device, the backup performance may degrade
over time. This may be not be due to the concurrent read/write synthetic full jobs, instead it may be due to
the large volume of deduplicated data on the deduplication appliance.

Recommendations for Tape Media

When using tape libraries with Synthetic Full backups the following is recommended:

1 Make sure to keep at least two media drives available for the same storage policy when the job starts. When
tape Media is in use synthetic full backups will not work for subclients where the storage policy is
associated with a stand-alone drive. This is because data is read and written simultaneously. Synthetic full
backup reads data from one media and simultaneously write (restore) the result to the new active media
within the same media group.

Have only one synthetic full job running to the tape drive for synthetic full backups with multiple streams where, the
number of streams is more than the number of drives on the tape.Selective Online Full Backup

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Selective Online Full Backups
You can perform a selective online full backup on the following databases:

1 Oracle
2 Oracle RAC
3 SAP Oracle

A selective online full backup is a full backup that you perform when the database is online. A selective copy
subclient includes the data, logs and control file. The backup is copied to a selective copy during the auxiliary copy
operation, and you can restore it from the copy. The advantage of a selective online full backup is that the data and
logs use the same storage policy, which means that they reside on the same media and are self-contained for long-
term archiving. You can use this backup in a disaster recovery, because you do not need to locate different offsite
media from multiple jobs to recover the database.

The data and logs are aged together under the same storage policy for a selective online full backup, which is
different than regular full backups.

The following rules apply to selective online full backups:

1 The selective online full backup job waits for currently running jobs on the same instance to complete
before it starts.
2 The data and archive logs use the data storage policy that you define on the subclient. Selective online full
backups ignore the log storage policy that you define on the instance.
3 If the data stream number that you define at the subclient level is less than the archive log stream number
that you define at the instance level, the backup uses the subclient data stream number. The selective online
full backup will ignore the instance level log stream number for the archive logs.
4 You cannot restart or preempt selective online full backups.
5 You cannot restart or preempt log backups that you submit during the selective online full backup data
phase.
6 Only CommCell Console archive log backups can run during the data backup phase of the selective online
full job. The log backup jobs must use the selective online full backup storage policy.
7 You cannot run command line archive log backups during the data backup phase of the selective online full
job.
8 No other data or log backup jobs can run on the same instance during the backup log phase.
9 If other archive log backups run at the same time as a selective online full backup, they are forced to use
the selective online full backup storage policy and they are included in the same auxiliary copy operation as
the selective online full backup.

Selective online full backups are supported for selective copy and extended retention rules. For more information on
selective copy, see Selective Copy. For information on extended retention rules, see extended retention rules.

Retention Rules for Selective Online Full Backups

A selective online full operation includes the data and archive logs. Any log job you start within the time frame of
the selective online full operation is linked to the selective online full job. These logs and the selective online full are
then considered as one entity within the software. They are copied to synchronous and selective copies together
during auxiliary copy operations and are aged together. If any part of the selective online full is missing from a copy,
the full backup is not considered as a valid full and is not counted as a cycle during data aging. Consider the
following:

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 1 The data from selective online full backups are eligible for extended retention rules and selective copy.
Selective online full backups and all logs linked with it must be retained together on the same storage
policy copy.
2 The logs that are linked with a selective online full (and the logs of the selective online full) can be aged
only if they are older than the oldest data that can be aged and the corresponding data of the selective
online full that can be or have been aged.
3 Selective online full backup jobs that are completed with errors are not retained by extended retention rules
during the data aging operation.

Block-Level Backups
Block-level backups integrate snapshot technology with efficient block storage mechanisms to speed up backups.

By default, block-level backups use native snapshot engines by taking the snapshots of logical volumes (LVMs) and
physical volume partitions. However, they can be configured to function with hardware snapshot engines supported
by IntelliSnap.

Block-Level for the Windows File System Agent requires the installation of the block filter driver. For more
information on installing the block filter driver, see Configuring a Subclient for Block-Level Backups for the
Windows File System Agent.

Benefits of Block-Level Backups

Block-level backups provide the following benefits:

1 Faster backupsBlock-level backups read data directly from the disk rather than from the database. The
amount of data transferred is also reduced.
2 Quick granular restoreYou can quickly restore tables, schemas, or databases from your block-level backup
data.
3 Frequent backup cyclesSnapshots require a few seconds to complete, so you can run block-level backups
frequently. This means that you can improve your Recovery Point Objective by having more flexible and
granular recovery points in the event of a disaster.

High-Level Process for Block-Level Backups

1 A snapshot-capable volume is configured as a source volume for taking hardware or software snapshots.
For native or non-native snapshot engines, a spool copy (a snapshot copy with no retention rules) is created
automatically.
2 During a snapshot backup job, the following processes are performed:
◦ Snapshot creation
◦ Bitmap management
◦ Cataloging
3 A backup copy job moves the block-level snapshot data to the tape.
4 If the primary snapshot copy is configured as a spool copy, then the snapshots are deleted automatically.

Supported Agents

The following agents support block-level backups:

1 Microsoft Windows File SystemFor more information, see Configuration of Block-Level Backups.
2 UNIX/Linux File SystemsFor more information, see Block-Level Backup.
3 MySQLFor more information, see MySQL Block-Level Backup.
4 Oracle IntelliSnapFor more information, see Oracle Instant Application Recovery.

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 5 PostgreSQLFor more information, see PostgreSQL Block-Level Backup.

Throttling Backup Jobs

You can modify backup job performance by setting job throttling options.

After you enable client-level throttling on the CommServe, you can enable job throttling on a client and limit the
number of data and log backup jobs that run simultaneously. When the maximum number of simultaneously running
jobs is reached, new backup jobs submitted for the client are queued and run when current-running jobs are
complete.

Enabling Job Throttling

Job throttling must be enabled at the CommServe level before it can be enabled for clients. After job throttling is
enabled at the CommServe level, it can be enabled for individual clients.

Procedure

CommServe Level

1. From the CommCell Console ribbon, on the Home tab, click Control Panel.The Control Panel dialog
box is displayed.
2. In the Data section, click Job Management.The Job Management dialog box is displayed.
3. On the General tab, select the Enable Job Throttle at Client Level check box.
4. Click OK.

Client Level

1. Enable throttling at the CommServe level.

2. From the CommCell Browser, go to Client Computers.
3. Right-click the client and click Properties.The Client Computer Properties dialog box appears.
4. Click Advanced.The Advanced Client Properties dialog box appears.

On the Job Configuration tab, click Enable Job Throttle.For information on the job throttling options, see
Advanced Client Properties (Job Configuration) - Enable Job Throttle.

Oracle RAC Multi Instance Job Throttling

When job throttling is configured for an Oracle RAC pseudo client, the job throttling value is shared by all instances
configured for the pseudo client.

Example
The Oracle RAC pseudo client Rac_MultiInstance has the data threshold set to 2 and the log threshold set to 3.
There are 3 instances configured for the pseudo client, databaseX, databaseY and databaseZ. If databaseY and
databaseZ are running backup jobs, a backup job that is started for databaseX is queued and waits for one of the jobs
to reach the log backup phase.

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Overview - MediaAgent
The MediaAgent is the data transmission manager in the CommCell environment. It provides high performance data
movement and manages the data storage libraries. MediaAgent tasks are coordinated by the CommServe Server.
There are two key components in a CommCell environment -- the CommServe server and one or more MediaAgents.

For scalability, there can be more than one MediaAgent in a CommCell environment. The MediaAgent software can
be installed in physical, virtual, and clustered environments. The software supports MediaAgents on several
operating systems, including support for MediaAgents in a clustered environment. See System Requirements -
MediaAgent for a list of supported MediaAgents and their requirements.

16
Scheduling - Getting Started
Schedule jobs to perform CommCell operations on a regular basis without user intervention. Several operations are
schedulable from the CommCell Console.

The following sections describe the steps for creating a schedule for backup and restores using Windows File
System iDataAgent as an example.

Scheduling a Backup
1 From the CommCell Browser, go to Client Computers > client > File System > defaultBackupSet.
2 Right-click the subclient and click Backup.The Backup Options for Subclient dialog box appears.
3 In the Select Backup Types section, select the backup type.
4 In the Job Initiation section, select Schedule and then click Configure.The Schedule Details dialog box
appears.
5 Select the appropriate scheduling options.For example, use the following steps to create a weekly schedule:
◦ In the Schedule Name box, type a name for the schedule.
◦ Click Weekly.
◦ In the Start Time box, specify the schedule start time.
◦ In the On these days section, select the days to run the schedule.
◦ Click OK.
6 When the scheduled backup job runs, you can track the progress of the job from the Job Controller
window of the CommCell console.
7 Once the job is complete, right-click the subclient and then click Backup History.
8 Click OK to view the job details.

Scheduling a Restore
1 From the CommCell Browser, go to Client Computers > client > File System > defaultBackupSet.
2 Right-click the subclient and click Browse and Restore. The Browse and Restore Options dialog box
appears.
3 Click the Time Range tab and then click View Content.
4 Expand the defaultBackupSet and navigate to the Windows folder.
5 For your first restore job, select any folder with a small data size.
6 Click Restore All Selected.The Restore Options for All Selected Items dialog box appears.
7 From the General tab, select the required restore options.
8 Click the Job Initiation tab, select Schedule, and then click Configure.The Schedule Details dialog box
appears.
9 Select the appropriate scheduling options.For example, use the following steps to create a one-time
schedule:
◦ In the Schedule Name box, type a name for the schedule.
◦ Click One Time.
◦ Select the date and time.
◦ Click OK.
10 When the scheduled restore job runs, you can track the progress of the job from the Job Controller
window of the CommCell console.
11 Once the job is complete, right-click the backupset and then click Restore History.The Restore History
Filter dialog box appears.
12 Click OK to view the job details.

Viewing Job Schedules

You can view job schedules from the Scheduler or directly from an entity.
Scheduler: Provides a calendar view that lists the jobs scheduled for each day. By default, the Scheduler
displays all of the jobs scheduled for the CommCell. You can customize the schedule view by setting filters.
Entity: Provides a list of jobs scheduled for the entity. The following entities have a Schedules window:

17
 ◦ CommServe
◦ Client level
◦ Agent
◦ Subclient
◦ Library
Procedure
From an Entity
From the CommCell Browser, right-click the entity, and then click View > Schedules. All of the scheduled
jobs for the entity are listed in the Schedules window.

From the Scheduler

From the CommCell Console ribbon, on the Home tab, click Scheduler.The Scheduled Jobs calendar
appears.

Choose how you want to view the data:

◦ To see the schedule names, times, and other details, double-click a day.
◦ To see high-level schedule information, in the upper left of the calendar, click Monthly.

Optional: To limit the data in either the monthly or details view, in the Filter pane, choose filters.Note: To
clear your filters, in the lower right of the Filter pane, click Reset Applied Filter.

To close the Scheduled Jobs calendar, click the X in the upper right of the window.

Scheduling - Best Practices

Scheduling Regularly Occurring Data Protection Operations
You should schedule regularly occurring data protection operations for times of low system utilization. For example,
you may want to avoid backing up or migrating data during regular work hours.

Before scheduling, determine if another schedule already exists. If a schedule does not exist, verify with
stakeholder categorization of importance along with additional service which may need to be backed up.

If the source is Oracle, then validate if it should be an online or offline single instance. If it is RAC you must
create a RAC agent and set the subclient to Online backup!

Avoiding Media Drive or Media Group Contention

If the number of media drives is small compared with the number of subclients in the CommCell, drive contention
can occur. Also if the number of storage policies is small compared with the number of subclients, or if a specific
storage policy is the target of many subclients, then media group contention can occur.

If either condition occurs, data protection operations will queue until the needed resource becomes available.
Consequently, operations may extend beyond the operation window that was intended for the CommCell.

Therefore it is advisable to distribute the scheduled operations in a CommCell over a period of time in order to avoid
media drive and media group contention.

Scheduling for Multiple Subclients of a Backup set/Instance

You can schedule all of your subclients of a particular backup set/instance (depending upon your agent) at once by
creating the schedule at the backup set/instance level. If you select a backup set or instance, the system applies the
same schedule or data protection operation request to all constituent subclients.

Creating Complimentary Schedules for Backup Cycles

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It is advisable to create complementary schedules for backup cycles for any given agent/instance/backup set or
subclient. For example, if you want to schedule daily incremental backups and a full backup once a week, do not
schedule any incremental backups on the day the full backup is scheduled.

Scheduling Data Protection Jobs Within the Operation Window

Check if an operation window has been established for data protection operations. If an operation window exists,
make certain to schedule the data protection operation within the operation window.

Disaster Recovery Backups and Scheduling

It is advisable to not schedule many backups while a Disaster Recovery Backup is running.

Troubleshooting - Scheduling
Unable to start a scheduled job after solving the issue causing the delay

By default, a delayed scheduled job starts if the problem causing the scheduling delay is rectified within 120 minutes
of the original scheduled time. If necessary, you can extend the delay time using the following steps:
1 From the CommCell Browser, right-click the <CommServe> node and then click Properties.
2 Click the Additional Settings tab and then click Add.
3 In the Name box, type schedWindow. The Category and Type details will be automatically
populated.Alternatively, you can click Lookup and search for the additional setting using the Find box.
4 In the Value box, type the delay time in minutes.For example, if you type 240, then the delayed scheduled
job will start if the problem causing the scheduling delay is rectified within 240 minutes.
5 Click OK to save the additional setting configuration.
6 Click OK.

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Backup Retention schedule
Categories
Critical (High Transaction)
Schedule:
Primary (RAC)- daily Fulls on Exagrid, Retained for one week
Primary (FS)- 1 day Full 6 days Incremental, Retained for two
weeks to Tape
Offsite (RAC DB)- daily Fulls, Retained for one week to Tape
Offsite (FS)- 1 day Full 6 days Incremental, Retained for one
week to Tape
Servers:
Banner
Luminus
DegreeWorks
Em-Prod

Critical (Low Transaction)

Schedule:
Primary (RAC)- daily Fulls on Exagrid, Retained for one week
Primary (FS)- 1 day Full 6 days Incremental to Tape, Retained for
two weeks
Offsite (RAC)- daily Fulls to Tape, Retained for one week
Offsite (FS)- 1 day Full 6 days Incremental to Tape, Retained for
one week

Normal
Schedule:
Primary - 1 day Full 6 days Incremental to Tape, Retained for
four weeks
Offsite - 1 day Full 6 days Incremental to Tape, Retain for
one week

Servers:
User/Dept Shares
Non-Critical Production Systems

Non-production
Schedule:
Primary - quarterly Full, Retained for 1 year
Servers:
Dev/Test
Primary - Code Repository

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 Legacy
Schedule:

Banner Seed
ODS(oracle)

Restore Backup Data

1 Overview
◦ What You Need to Know Before Performing a Restore
2 Restore Methods
◦ CommCell Console
◦ Command Line
◦ Recovery Tools
3 Factors in Choosing the Appropriate Restore Methods and Options
◦ Scope
◦ Time
◦ Source
◦ Destination
◦ Version
4 Related Reports

Overview
This page provides a global overview of restore operations. For specific restore information on each agent, see the
documentation for the particular agent.

What You Need to Know Before Performing a Restore

To avoid common problems, review the following before starting a restore operation:
1. Verify that the CommServe, MediaAgent and media library are powered on.
2. You have successfully done a backup of the data you are attempting to restore.
3. Verify that the media from which you wish to perform the restore is available in the CommCell. Use the
List Media feature to identify the media required by the restore operation.
4. Always ensure that sufficient space has been allocated for the restore.
5. After restoring data, check the Restore Job History to view the list of files that were successfully restored.
6. If you wish to restore data that has been aged, see Accessing Aged Data for information on restoring such
data and saving the media containing the data for future use.
7. When performing a restore to a NAS file server with LAN free data paths, it is important to import all of
the required tapes for the restore job into the same library. For information about determining which tapes
will be required for a given restore job, see List Media (Media Prediction).

Restore Methods
Listed below are different methods by which data can be restored.

CommCell Console
The primary interface from which most restores are usually conducted is the CommCell Console. In general, this
method offers the greatest flexibility and richest set of options for restoring data. There are various types of restores
that can be conducted using the CommCell Console, which are listed below, with links provided for more
information on each type.

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Basic Restore
This type of restore, available for the File System iDataAgents and File Archiver agents, is the simplest most direct
method of restoring a single data object. All you do is type in the path and file name of the data object that you want
to restore, select the restore options, and then the data is restored.

Browse and Restore

Most agents allow you to select data objects to be restored from a browse data window. This type of restore is
appropriate for selecting multiple objects for restore (but can be used for single objects as well), and provides the
additional flexibility of allowing you to select a time range in which to browse for data to be restored, and from
which storage policy copy the data is to be restored from.

Find and Restore

Some agents allow you to search for data that matches a certain pattern (e.g., wildcards/regular expressions), and
selectively restore the objects returned as results from the search. For more information about this method of
locating data, see Find.

Command Line
The command line methods of restoring data provide a text-based shell-style interface from which to conduct restore
operations. Supported command line interfaces are described below.

Command Line Interface

The Command Line Interface provides a way to restore data from the command line, as an alternative to the
CommCell Console, where various restore options can be specified either as parameters on the command line or in a
separate arguments file. For more information, see Command Line documentation.
Recovery Tools
There are two specialized recovery tools that can be used to restore data in the event of a system failure.

Media Explorer
Media Explorer can be used to quickly view and recover data from any media in the event that the entire CommCell
has been rendered unusable or inaccessible. Media Explorer is supported only to recover CommServe Disaster
Recovery backup.

CommServe Recovery Assistant tool

The CommServe Recovery Assistant tool restores the meta data (stored in the CommServe SQL database) from the
Disaster Recovery Backup file which is created when a Disaster Recovery backup is performed from the CommCell
Console. This tool is useful for rebuilding the CommServe computer as well as for creating and maintaining a
CommServe in the hot-site, and other uses.

Factors in Choosing the Appropriate Restore Methods and Options

Consider the following factors when planning your restore strategy.

Scope
To what degree does data need to be restored?
1 To restore all or part of a client's data, you can perform a Basic Restore or Browse and Restore from the
CommCell Console. If the system is not available, but the media is intact, then you would use Media
Explorer to perform the restore.
2 If you aren't sure of the exact data to be restored, but can specify a matching pattern, then you can perform
either a Browse and Restore or Restore Data Using Wildcard Expressions to locate and restore data that
matches the specified pattern.
3 To restore the full system (operating system and application) on a client, see Full System Recovery for
your agent.
4 To restore a CommServe, you could use either the CommServe Recovery Assistant tool or Restore by Jobs
to perform the recovery.
Time
Does the data need to be restored from the latest available backup data or from a previous point-in-time?
• To browse and restore to a point-in-time, see:

22
 ◦ Browse Data Before a Specified Time
◦ Browse Data Between a Specified Time
• To browse and restore from the latest data, see Browse the Latest Data.
• In a Basic Restore, point-in-time data can be restored by specifying the time range options in the Advanced
Restore Options (Time Range) dialog box.
For instructions, see Time Range Options for Basic Restore.

Source
Does the data need to be restored from a specific source object?
• To restore from any configured library in the CommCell, see Restore From Anywhere.
• To restore from a specific media resource, see Restore Data Using a Specific MediaAgent, Library or Drive
Pool.
• To restore individual files and folders to different locations specified in a map file, see Restore Data Using
a Map File.
• To restore from a replicated volume, see Recover Replicated Data.

Destination
Where is the data being restored to?
• For a general overview, see Restore Destinations.
• To restore data to the same location on the same client from which the data was backed up, see In-Place
Restore.
• To restore data to a different location on the same client, or to a different client, see Out-of-Place Restore.

Version
Does the restore involve any version considerations?
• To restore data to a different application version, see Cross-Application Restores.
• To restore data to a different operating system version, see Cross-Platform Restores.
• To restore an older version of a file, see Browse Multiple Versions of a File or Object.

Related Reports
Restore Job Summary Report
The Restore Job Summary Report provides a summary of restore jobs for each client.

23
Single Instance Oracle
Host Oracle Instance Full Archive Logs
DOC-DW-DBP ASM+ Should not be backed up
DOC-DW-DBP DWPROD Daily 4am

RAC Oracle
Host Oracle Instance Online Full Archive Logs

24