Running full database backups

While database backup and recovery steps are highly dependent on the DBMS installed, the general process is as follows:

1. Create or define the backup script or configuration specific to your environment.

2. Perform the initial full database backup to Data Domain with the DD Boost software.
3. Monitor the job status window or log files.
4. Log in to the Data Domain system using sysadmin and record the Data Domain backup performance:

sysadmin@DD6300# ddboost show stats interval 2

5. Review the Data Domain compression performance:

sysadmin@DD6300# filesys show compression

6. When the backup is complete, validate the database backup using the appropriate method for your DBMS.

Running a database restore

The DD6300 affords simple, efficient, and quick database recovery if database failure or corruption occurs. Although recovery procedures vary, depending on the DBMS deployed, the general process is as follows:

1. Configure the backup job or scripts, or both, to restore and recover the database from a backup on the Data Domain backup appliance.

2. Run the restore.
3. Verify that the database was successfully restored from the backup database.

The DD Boost agent provides additional details about database recovery and includes template scripts that can be modified to your specific configuration. Consult your DBMS documentation for vendor-specific recovery details.

Monitoring backup and restore

The Data Domain system provides command-line tools to monitor backup and restore performance elements such as backup/restore throughput, network throughput, and deduplication and compression ratios. The following examples demonstrate how to use these performance tools to monitor the database backup and restore operations.

Monitoring backup throughput

To monitor the backup throughput, log in to the Data Domain system and run the following command during the backup operation:

$ddboost show stats interval 2

This command shows the DD Boost backup real-time performance statistics that are based on a specified interval (in this example, every 2 seconds.)

The following results show the statistics for a backup operation:

Table 37.        Backup and network throughputs for a full backup

The first three columns describe:

• Backup KB/s—The throughput by which the database files are scanned by the DBMS and the DD Boost software on the database server
• Post-comp Written KB/s—The throughput by which the backup data is written into the Data Domain system
• Network In KB/s—The network throughput by which the data is sent from the database server or servers to the Data Domain system

Monitoring restore throughput

When you restore a database, run the following command to monitor the restore throughput:

$ddboost show stats interval 2

The following results show the statistics for a restore operation:

Table 38.        Restore and network throughputs

For the restore operation, the output of the command shows the restore throughput, Network out KB/s (network throughput from the Data Domain system), and the Restore conn (the number of connections of the restore threads).

Monitoring data compression ratios

To monitor the Data Domain and DD Boost data compression ratios, run the following command on the DD Boost system after the backup is completed:

$filesys show compression

For a full backup, this command provides output that is similar to the following example:

Pre-Comp is the data that is scanned by the DBMS and DD Boost software on the database server, while Post-Comp is the amount of the data being backed up and stored in the Data Domain system. The total compression ratio (Total-Comp factor) is:

Pre-Comp/ Post-Comp = 1069.6/753.7 = 1.4x

The reduction percentage is:

(Pre-Comp- Post-Comp)/ Pre-Comp *100 = (1069.6-753.7)/ 1069.6*100= 29.5%

Two other important compression ratios are:

• Global-Comp Factor = Pre-Comp/(size after de-dupe)  = 1—Compression ratio that, for the full backup, confirms that all the data backed up is unique and the size after deduplication = Pre-Comp = 1069.6 Gib for the full backup
• Local-Comp factor—Compression ratio on the data after deduplication, which is (size-after-dedupe/Post-Comp) = 1069.6/753.7 = 1.4