Backup generic application files to active tier

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The high-level steps for the generic application files backup to the active tier are as follows:

Install and configure the DD BoostFS using the PowerFlex storage on the backup host VM.
Take an application crash-consistent group snapshot of the PowerFlex volumes.
Map the application crash-consistent snapshot on the backup host VM.
Mount the generic application data, log, and archive file system on the backup host VM.
Copy the generic application files to the BoostFS mounted on the backup host VM.

Step 1: Create a storage unit from PowerFlex storage on a DDVE VM.

Prerequisites:

Ensure that the file system is enabled and running.
Ensure that the DD Boost protocol and distributed-segment-processing option are enabled.

Perform the following steps to create a storage unit from the PowerFlex storage on the DDVE VM:

a) Run the following command to create a non-default user with an administrative role:

sysadmin@ddve# user add <user_name> password <password> role admin

b) Run the following command to make the user as DD Boost user and verify the user details:

sysadmin@ddve# ddboost user assign <user_name>

sysadmin@ddve# ddboost user show

c) For active tier, run the following command to create a storage unit using the PowerFlex storage:

sysadmin@ddve# ddboost storage-unit create <storage_unit_name> user <user_name>

d) Run the following command to check the storage unit status:

sysadmin@ddve# ddboost storage-unit show

Step 2: Install and configure DD BoostFS on Backup host VM.

Prerequisite: DD BoostFS for Linux must meet the specification such as DD OS version 6.0 or later and Linux package FUSE 2.8 or later.

a) Run the following command to download the package from the Dell support link. And install the BoostFS package:

[root@backup-host ~] # rpm -iv DDBoostFS-7.6.0.7-685537.rhel.x86_64.rpm

The DD BoostFS installation files are located under the default path /opt/emc/boostfs/.

b) Run the following command to create a Lockbox to put the user password in a secure encrypted format:

[root@backup-host ~] # /opt/emc/boostfs/bin/boostfs lockbox set -u <ddboost_user_name> -d <DDVE_hostname_or_IP_Addr> -s <storage_unit>

The lockbox encrypted files are located under the path /opt/emc/boostfs/lockbox/.

c) Run the following command to mount the DD BoostFS file system:

[root@backup-host ~] # mkdir -p /mnt/<mount_name>

[root@backup-host ~] # /opt/emc/boostfs/bin/boostfs mount -d <DDVE_Host_name_or_IP_Addr> -s <storage_unit> /mnt/<mount_name>

d) Verify the DD BoostFS file system mount by using the‘df -h’ command.

Step 3: Back up the generic application files to DD BoostFS

Most application files distribute data across multiple volumes or LUNs. PowerFlex allows multiple volumes to be selected together to form a consistency group. Snapshots of a consistency group are guaranteed to be precisely from the same point in time and can be used to capture a crash-consistent snapshot-based backup across multiple volumes.

Perform the following steps to back up the generic application files:

a) On the PowerFlex UI, select the check box next to the volumes to create a snapshot. Once the snapshot is created, all the snapshots of the consistency group appear in the details for any single snapshot.

b) The snapshot volumes are new unmapped volumes in the PowerFlex system. Map the snapshot volumes to the backup host VM where the DD BoostFS file system is mounted. Run the ‘lsblk’ command output to confirm that the PowerFlex snapshot volumes mapped successfully.

[root@backup-host ~]# lsblk

NAME MAJ:MIN RM SIZE RO TYPE MOUNTPOINT

sda 8:0 0 60G 0 disk

├─sda1 8:1 0 600M 0 part /boot/efi

├─sda2 8:2 0 1G 0 part /boot

└─sda3 8:3 0 58.4G 0 part

├─cl-root 253:0 0 35.2G 0 lvm /

├─cl-swap 253:1 0 6G 0 lvm [SWAP]

└─cl-home 253:2 0 17.2G 0 lvm /home

sdb 8:16 0 700G 0 disk

sdc 8:64 0 20G 0 disk

sdd 8:80 0 800G 0 disk

sr0 11:0 1 9.3G 0 rom

[root@backup-host ~]#

c) Mount the generic application data, log, and archive file system on backup host as shown in the following example:

For example:

[root@backup-host ~]# mount /dev/sdb /u01/data

[root@backup-host ~]# mount /dev/sdc /u01/log

[root@backup-host ~]# mount /dev/sdd /u01/archive

d) Use the file copy command as shown in the following example to copy the generic application files to the BoostFS mounted on the backup host.

Use a series of file copy commands as shown in the following example to back up all the relevant generic application files to BoostFS mounted on the backup host.

For example:

[root@backup-host ~] # CMD="sudo cp /u01/data/gadata01.dbf /mnt/oraclebfs/

[root@backup-host ~] # echo $CMD

[root@backup-host ~] # time $CMD

Note: Often the DDVE VM CPU utilization determines the copy rate. Since different licenses of DDVE imply different number of CPU cores (consult DDVE documentation for exact numbers), the number of Linux copy sessions that can be run simultaneously depends on the type and number of DDVE instances deployed.

e) Check the generic application files that are stored in the active tier using the following command.

When the Location column shows Active, means that the generic application files are backed up in active tier.

sysadmin@ddve# filesys report generate file-location

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