White Paper

PLANNING FOR EMC AVAMAR AND

EMC DATA DOMAIN INTEGRATION

Abstract
This white paper provides an overview of the EMC Avamar 6.0
implementation of DD Boost technology and its integration with
EMC Data Domain. It identifies specific design features that
should be present in an effort to minimize challenges during the
implementation process. It includes an overview of the DD Boost
technology, identifies features, and addresses concerns for
implementation. Selected information is reprinted from the EMC
Avamar 6.0 and Data Domain Integration Guide.
June 2011

Copyright 2011 EMC Corporation. All Rights Reserved.

EMC believes the information in this publication is accurate of
its publication date. The information is subject to change
without notice.
The information in this publication is provided as is. EMC
Corporation makes no representations or warranties of any kind
with respect to the information in this publication, and
specifically disclaims implied warranties of merchantability or
fitness for a particular purpose.
Use, copying, and distribution of any EMC software described in
this publication requires an applicable software license.
For the most up-to-date listing of EMC product names, see EMC
Corporation Trademarks on EMC.com.
VMware is a registered trademark of VMware, Inc. All other
trademarks used herein are the property of their respective
owners.

Planning for Avamar and Data Domain Integration

Part Number h8257

Table of Contents
Executive summary.................................................................................................. 4
Audience ............................................................................................................................ 4

How Avamar and Data Domain work together ........................................................... 4

Architecture ............................................................................................................ 4
Basic architecture............................................................................................................... 5
Mixed client environment ................................................................................................... 6
Multiple Data Domain systems ........................................................................................... 7
Shared Data Domain system .............................................................................................. 8

Sizing a solution...................................................................................................... 8
Licensing ................................................................................................................ 9
Design characteristics and limitations.................................................................... 10
Mixed backups are not supported ....................................................................................10
Rollbacks to restore a Data Domain system require additional steps ................................10
Devices must be on the same local network .....................................................................11
Distributed Segment Processing is a global setting ..........................................................11

Support................................................................................................................. 11
Conclusion............................................................................................................ 11

Planning for Avamar and Data Domain Integration

Executive summary
EMC Avamar is backup and recovery software with integrated data de-duplication
technology. EMC Data Domain storage systems integrate with existing
infrastructures and can be used seamlessly with a variety of data movers and
application workloads.
Starting with Avamar 6.0, you can store Avamar backups on one or more Data Domain
systems, and then seamlessly restore data from the backups when necessary.
This white paper provides an overview of the Avamar and Data Domain solution,
including how the two products work together, sizing guidelines, licensing
considerations, and key product features and limitations.

Audience
This white paper is intended for EMC partners and employees who are familiar with
the basic operation of both Avamar and Data Domain systems, and who want to gain
a better high-level understanding of how the two products work together.

How Avamar and Data Domain work together

Avamar clients that support backup and restore to and from Data Domain include:
Microsoft Exchange VSS
Microsoft SQL Server
Microsoft SharePoint VSS
Oracle
VMware image backup and restore
The storage and retrieval of backups on a Data Domain system may be faster than on
an Avamar server in an environment with these products, especially if there is a large,
active database in the environment.
A Data Domain system can manage large datasets and high change rates of data
within a large dataset more effectively than an Avamar server. A dataset of greater
than 5 TB is considered a large dataset, and a daily change rate of more than 5
percent is considered a high change rate. Avamar can back up a maximum of 1,000
files to Data Domain for each client.

Architecture
Avamar clients use the DD Boost API to access a Data Domain system. The DD Boost
API is installed automatically on the client computer when you install the Avamar
client.

Planning for Avamar and Data Domain Integration

The ddrmaint utility on the utility node of a multi-node server (or the single node of a
single-node server) implements all required operations on the Data Domain system
on behalf of the Avamar server. It is not installed on the data nodes of the Avamar
server.
The ddrmaint utility also uses the DD Boost API to connect to a Data Domain system.
The DD Boost API is installed with the ddrmaint utility automatically when you install
Avamar.

Basic architecture
Figure 1 illustrates a basic Avamar environment with a Microsoft Exchange server that
sends backup data to a Data Domain system.

Figure 1: Basic Avamar architecture with Data Domain

Note: The connection between the Avamar client (the Microsoft Exchange server in the
previous figure) and the Data Domain system is not encrypted. The DD Boost library
does not support data encryption between the client and the Data Domain system.

Planning for Avamar and Data Domain Integration

Mixed client environment

It is likely, however, that there are other Avamar clients in the environment, some of
which are sending backups to the Data Domain system, and some of which are
sending backups to the Avamar server. In Figure 2, Avamar client 1 sends backups to
the Avamar server, and Avamar client 2 sends backups to the Data Domain system.

Figure 2: Avamar architecture with Data Domain in a mixed client environment

Planning for Avamar and Data Domain Integration

Multiple Data Domain systems

To segregate data, you also can use multiple Data Domain systems with a single
Avamar server. In Figure 3, Avamar client 1 sends backups to Data Domain system 1,
and Avamar client 2 sends backups to Data Domain system 2. You can easily specify
the Data Domain target for a client when you configure the backup using the Avamar
Administrator console.

Figure 3: Avamar architecture with multiple Data Domain systems

Planning for Avamar and Data Domain Integration

Shared Data Domain system

Avamar can share a Data Domain system with other backup solutions, as shown in
Figure 4.

Figure 4: Avamar architecture with shared Data Domain system

The other backup solution can be any other backup product that uses a Data Domain
system, or it can be another Avamar server.
The architecture of an Avamar environment with Data Domain is flexible and can
combine several different strategies. For example, there can be multiple Avamar
clients that send backups to a single Data Domain system that is shared with another
backup server, while other Avamar clients send backups to the Avamar server.

Sizing a solution
Sizing a Data Domain and Avamar integrated backup solution begins with
determining the type of data and footprint size for each platform, and then sizing
each independently using the EMC Backup System Sizer (EBSS) tool. Currently, there
is not a single tool to size the solution.
After you determine the footprint for each platform, you need to determine the
metadata footprint for the Avamar platform. Only a small capacity is required on the
Avamar server to store metadata for backups to Data Domain.

Planning for Avamar and Data Domain Integration

For all clients except Microsoft Exchange VSS, calculate the metadata footprint using
the following guidance:
Calculate the amount of data that is backed up to Data Domain. The size of the
metadata set is approximately 0.01% of the total amount of data.
Set 0% deduplication for initial and subsequent daily backups.
Set retention as normal.
For Microsoft Exchange VSS clients, where Avamar only supports regular full backups,
calculate the metadata footprint using the following guidance:
Determine the size of the Exchange databases that are backed up to Data Domain,
multiply by 4%, and specify the value in GB in total data storage in the Alinean
sizing tool. (Use the Other column.)
Set 0% for the Deduplication of initial backup and Daily deduplication values.
Set retention values as when normally sizing.

Licensing
When you use Avamar with Data Domain, Avamar is still licensed based on the
deduplicated capacity under management, regardless of whether the storage is
Avamar or Data Domain. Consider the following example:
A customer needs to back up 10 Windows file servers, along with the Exchange
and Oracle servers.
The Windows file server backups, which require 5 TB of capacity, are stored on the
Avamar server.
The Exchange and Oracle backups, which require 7 TB of capacity, are stored on a
Data Domain system.
Avamar is licensed for 5 TB + 7 TB = 12 TB of managed capacity.
Additionally, a DD Boost license must be installed on each Data Domain system that
uses DD Boost features.

Planning for Avamar and Data Domain Integration

Design characteristics and limitations

Consider the following capabilities and limitations when you use a Data Domain
system to store Avamar backups.

Mixed backups are not supported

The full backup for a client and all subsequent incremental and differential backups
must be stored on either the Avamar server or a single Data Domain system. Avamar
does not support the following scenarios:
Full backup on a Data Domain system and incremental or differential backups on
the Avamar server
Full backup on the Avamar server and incremental or differential backups on a
Data Domain system
Full backup on one Data Domain system and incremental or differential backups
on another Data Domain system
As a result, if you change the device on which backups for a client are stored, then
you must perform a full backup to the new device before any further incremental or
differential backups.
There are two exceptions to the requirement for storing all backup types on a single
server:
If you use the Avamar for SQL Server Client and you perform a tail-log backup
during a restore, then the tail-log backup is always stored on the Avamar server.
If you use the Avamar Exchange VSS Client, then the Microsoft Exchange log files
are always backed up to the Avamar server. In addition, files in Exchange VSS
backups that are less than 10 MB are always stored on the Avamar server,
regardless of the selected backup target.

Rollbacks to restore a Data Domain system require additional steps

If you roll back to a checkpoint that contains a configured Data Domain system that
you deleted from the configuration after the checkpoint, then the Data Domain
system is restored to the configuration. If you do not want to use the Data Domain
system, then delete it from the configuration after the rollback completes. However, if
you want to restore the Data Domain system to the configuration, then you must readd the SSH key and trap host to the Data Domain system, as these values were
deleted when you deleted the Data Domain system. However, these values cannot be
restored on the Data Domain system during a rollback of the Avamar server. To
restore these values, open the Edit Data Domain System dialog box in Avamar
Administrator and click the Re-add SSH Key and Re-add Trap Host buttons.

Planning for Avamar and Data Domain Integration

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Devices must be on the same local network

Because many WAN links can work at less than optimized performance and a great
deal of latency can occur on those links, DD Boost can lose the connection with its
key components and then time out, forcing a reset into the backup stream. For these
reasons and others, the Avamar server and Data Domain system must be on the same
physical segment. They are not certified for WAN use.

Distributed Segment Processing is a global setting

Once Distributed Segment Processing (called BOOST in DDOS 4.9) is enabled on the
Data Domain device, it becomes the preferred method of connectivity for any OST or
DD Boost clients. While this is acceptable for clients that can take advantage of
DD Boost features, Distributed Segment Processing can result in performance
degradation for other clients (in particular, older Solaris clients). Proper due diligence
and effective data gathering are keys to avoiding such interactions, especially during
upgrades. Supported clients and operating systems are listed in the EMC Avamar
Compatibility and Interoperability Matrix, which is available on Powerlink.

Support
The following table lists support options when you design and size a Data Domain
and Avamar integrated solution.
Support option

Location

EBSS Sizer

On the EMC | One site in the BRS

Backup Recovery Systems Presales and
Delivery community documents

Avamar 6.0 documentation

library

EMC Powerlink website

Avamar Support

Avamar Support by Product page on the

EMC Powerlink website

Data Domain Support

Data Domain Support Portal at

https://my.datadomain.com/

Email the BRS Configuration

and Technical Services Team

BRS_CTS@emc.com

Conclusion
It is exciting to see two of EMCs most successful products paired together as a
solution. However, just as it has been important to be aware of the customers needs
and requirements with each of the products separately, it is critical to be even more
vigilant when the products are integrated. Doing so will keep us on track with our
goals of providing the best Total Customer Experience.

Planning for Avamar and Data Domain Integration

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