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Used with Data Domain storage systems, Dell EMC DD BoostTM software provides advanced integration with backup and enterprise applications. DD Boost enables faster and more efficient backup and recovery as follows:
You can enable DD Boost software at the DD OS CLI or in the DD System Manager.
Note: DD Boost is an optional product. A separate license is required to operate DD Boost software on the Data Domain system.
The Update Licenses screen appears, as shown in Figure 22.
Figure 22. Uploading ELMS licenses
The screen shown in Figure 23 appears.
Figure 23. Enabling DD Boost
Each Data Domain system that is to be used with the database application agent requires one or more storage units, and each storage unit name must be unique on a single Data Domain system.
To set up the storage units:
The screen shown in Figure 24 appears.
Figure 24. Setting up storage units on your Data Domain system
The Create Storage Unit screen appears, as shown in Figure 25.
Figure 25. Creating a storage unit
Optionally, create a new local user by selecting Protocols > DD Boost > Settings.
The storage unit is created, as shown in Figure 26.
Figure 26. Data Domain storage units list
You can choose to enable or disable DSP when you send backup data to a Data Domain system using DD Boost software.
DSP distributes the deduplication process between the DD Boost library and the Data Domain system. Parts of the deduplication process run on the database or application host so that the DD Boost library sends only unique data over the network. The mode of operation is set on the Data Domain system.
DSP is enabled by default on systems initially installed with DD OS release 5.2 or higher. On system upgrades from DD OS release 5.0.x/5.1.x up to DD OS release 5.2, DSP remains in its previous state.
To configure DSP on your Data Domain system:
The screen shown in Figure 27 appears.
Figure 27. Configuring distributed processing
Note: Enabling or disabling DSP does not require a restart of the Data Domain file system.
With the advanced load-balancing and link failover feature, you can combine multiple Ethernet links into a group and register only one interface with the database application agent on the Data Domain system.
Setting up an interface group creates a private network within the Data Domain system, consisting of the IP addresses that are designated as belonging to a group. Clients are assigned to a single group, and the group interface uses load balancing to improve data transfer performance and increased reliability.
If an interface group is configured when the Data Domain system receives data from the DD Boost client, the data transfer is load-balanced and distributed as separate jobs on the private network. This load balancing increases throughput, especially for customers who use multiple 1 GbE connections.
To enable load balancing on your Data Domain system:
The Modify Allowed Client screen appears, as shown in Figure 28.
Figure 28. Modify Allowed Client screen
The Modify Interface Group screen appears, as shown in Figure 29.
Figure 29. Creating an interface group
The Add Client screen appears, as shown in Figure 30.
Figure 30. Adding a client
Use the DD Boost for Enterprise Applications (DDBEA) software to integrate the Data Domain system with your SAP landscape.
Figure 31. Installing the database application agent
For an SAP with Oracle environment, the software installation provides the sap_oracle_ddbda.utl template for the configuration file. Customize this template to set up a configuration file to use for backups and restores with the DDBEA database application agent. The configuration file templates are installed on UNIX and Linux in the /opt/dpsapps/dbappagent/config/ directory:
The following common parameters, found under the [PRIMARY_SYSTEM] settings on your Data Domain system, are mandatory for all operations with the database application agent:
To customize the configuration file, follow these steps:
Figure 32. SAP with Oracle configuration file
The database application agent is integrated with the SAP BR*Tools backing interface and the BR*Tools Oracle Recovery Manager (RMAN) interface to enable DD Boost backups, restores, and transaction log archiving in an SAP with Oracle environment.
Enable the SAP BR*Tools operations to use the RMAN program for the DD Boost backups and restores. To do this, provide the required settings in the BR*Tools configuration file init<DBSID>.sap, which is located in /oracle/<SID>/sapprof, as follows:
Figure 33. Setting the backup medium
Figure 34 shows the values we provided.
Figure 34. Setting the rman parameters
Figure 35. Setting the channel numbers
Figure 36. Setting the util_par_file location
The Oracle optimized deduplication feature can provide improved deduplication, resulting in greater storage protection, efficiency, and value. Optimized deduplication is supported at the MTree level in Data Domain OS 5.5.1 and higher.
To enable optimized deduplication on your Data Domain system:
mtree option set app-optimized-compression < algo_name > mtree < mtree_path >
For example:
mtree option set app-optimized-compression oracle1 mtree /data/col1/RB_SAP_BM1
Figure 37. Setting MTree values
A lockbox is an encrypted file that the database application agent uses to protect confidential information from unauthorized access. The lockbox stores your Data Domain system information, including user credentials for your DD Boost software.
Before you can enable backups and restores on a Data Domain system, you must ensure that the configuration file is created and contains the mandatory parameter settings. For example, the parameters shown in Figure 38 are set in the [PRIMARY_SYSTEM] section of the configuration file.
Figure 38. Parameter settings in the initBM1.utl
ddbmadmin -P -z <configuration_file>
Figure 39. Creating a lockbox with Data Domain
Note: You can also use a backing backup for the database backup. For more information, see Dell EMC Data Domain Boost for Enterprise Applications and ProtectPoint Database Application Agent, which is available for download from Dell EMC Online Support.