ENTERPRISE COPY DATA MANAGEMENT WITH

PROTECTPOINT BEST PRACTICES

Most effective ways to use eCDM with ProtectPoint

ABSTRACT
This white paper explains conventions and recommendations for eCDM with
ProtectPoint. Best Practice examples are provided which show how to
leverage eCDM to take advantage of Storage Integrated Data Protection
(SIDP) with ProtectPoint. Using eCDM to efficiently provision and monitor
compliance of ProtectPoint storage.

February, 2017

WHITE PAPER
Copyright 2017 EMC or its subsidiaries. All Rights Reserved. EMC, and other trademarks are trademarks of EMC or its
subsidiaries. Other trademarks may be the property of their respective owners. Published in the USA 02/17, White Paper,
H15786.

EMC believes the information in this document is accurate as of its publication date. The information is subject to change
without notice.

2
TABLE OF CONTENTS

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ...........................................................................................................4

AUDIENCE ....................................................................................................................................... 4

USE CASES WITH ECDM FOR PROTECTPOINT ...................................................................4

PROVISIONING PROTECTPOINT WITH ECDM ......................................................................4
VMAX3 and VMAX AF ...................................................................................................................... 5
XtremIO and RecoverPoint ............................................................................................................... 8

COMPLIANCE ...........................................................................................................................9
EXPORT FOR REUSE ............................................................................................................ 10
ECDM AND PROTECTPOINT WITH APPLICATIONS .......................................................... 12

3
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
This white paper illustrates how Enterprise Copy Data Management (eCDM) can best be used with ProtectPoint. It
highlights how eCDM can provision protection storage for ProtectPoint both on primary (VMAX3, VMAX AF, and XtremIO)
and protection (Data Domain) storage by automating many of the complex ProtectPoint configuration steps. In addition, it
illustrates how using eCDM to monitor compliance of ProtectPoint through Service Level Objectives (SLOs) enables
customers to have an insight on their data center they may have never had before.

AUDIENCE
This white paper is intended for customers, Professional Services, and SEs to help enable sales and implementations of
eCDM and ProtectPoint as a tandem. ProtectPoint and eCDM together are greater as a whole than the sum of its parts.
ProtectPoint with eCDM allows for Storage Integrated Data Protection (SIDP) which enables faster backups and restores
when compared to traditional competitors by providing a direct Fiber Channel connection between primary storage and
protection storage. eCDM with ProtectPoint allows for a view of local and protection copies in a data center that perhaps
has never been seen before.

This white paper assumes the reader has a working knowledge of ProtectPoint and understands the architecture of
ProtectPoint. It also assume eCDM and ProtectPoint are already installed. If they are not please see the eCDM
Installation Guide and/or Tech-Book.

Use-Cases
There are three use-cases for eCDM with ProtectPoint:

The first helps with the setup and provisioning of ProtectPoint. Setting up and maintaining ProtectPoint manually can
be labor intensive, and this white paper illustrates how eCDM provides self-service automation to hide some of those
labor intensive steps.

The second use-case eCDM offers for ProtectPoint is compliance of Service Level Objectives (SLOs). This white
paper illustrates how to set SLOs (retention, RPO, minimum copies, maximum copies, etc.) to storage groups and
consistency groups ProtectPoint is backing up through an eCDM Protection Plan. The Protection Plans ensure SLOs
are being met through eCDM self-service automation.

The third use-case eCDM offers for ProtectPoint is Export for Reuse. Take advantage of Direct Access Restores from
the Data Domain that ProtectPoint offers through the eCDM UI. Select any copy on Data Domain to expose to a host,
and eCDM will automatically provision the steps on Data Domain and primary storage to map those devices to the
selected host.

Provisioning
This section illustrates how to provision ProtectPoint for both VMAX3 and XtremIO using eCDM. The steps to provision
ProtectPoint through eCDM are different depending on what the primary storage is. At a high level see Table 1 for steps
required by ProtectPoint today and the steps eCDM can automate.

Table 1
Operation ProtectPoint eCDM 1.1 Difficulty*

Install SAN connectivity, configure VMAX DX ports, zoning Manual Manual 4

Create user Manual Manual 1

4
 Create DDBoost storage unit Manual Manual 1

Create DD vDisk Pool(s) Manual Manual 1

Create vDisk Devices of same geometry and size as primary LUNs Manual Automated 7

Create device group for backup and restore Manual Automated 2

Create access group and add initiators to group Manual Manual 4

Add devices to access group Manual Automated 2

Encapsulate the vDisk Devices to VMAX FAST.X devices Manual Automated 10

Register Data Domain, XtremIO, DD vDisk Pools, and XtremIO in 2

Manual Manual
RecoverPoint

Install ProtectPoint agent(s) Manual Manual 3

Create and maintain backup configuration file Manual Helps** 9

*Difficulty refers to how much time and difficulty the step is to do manually on a scale of 1 to 10. 1 being fast and easy. 10 being time consuming and
difficult. The steps eCDM automates are invisible to the user, so they never have to go through that manual labor.

**eCDM offers a way to see the ProtectPoint configuration so the user can copy and paste certain information to the ProtectPoint configuration file rather
than maintaining the file manually.

VMAX3 AND VMAX AF

This subsection illustrates how eCDM can provision ProtectPoint with VMAX3 and VMAX AF. It breaks down the setup
and maintenance steps eCDM automates for ProtectPoint seen in Table 1. Prior to this the manual steps of creating a DD
user, DD Storage Unit, DD vDisk Pool, installing ProtectPoint, and zoning were already completed. See ProtectPoint
documentation for these steps on Support.EMC or checkout eCDM TechBook.

Before eCDM provisions ProtectPoint lets look at the environment.

Figure 1 shows how the DD vDisk Pool has zero Device Groups and zero vDisk Devices.

Figure 1

5
Solution Enabler in Figure 2 shows the VMAX3 storage group (bl_eCDM_Protection) that eCDM will use to create vDisk
Devices of the same geometry and size in Data Domain as well as encapsulate and link those devices to VMAX3 FAST.X
Devices.

Figure 2

Now that the DD vDisk Pool and the VMAX3 SG we want ProtectPoint to backup have been identified, eCDM is ready to
provision the ProtectPoint environment on primary and protection storage.

In eCDM create a Protection Plan for Provisioning as shown in Figure 3.

Figure 3

In the Protection Plan be sure to leave the checkbox, Allow eCDM to perform all necessary protection activities during
this stage unchecked. If it is checked, eCDM will automatically create crash consistent copies on Data Domain. eCDM
cannot freeze and thaw a database to take application consistent copies. If the storage group/consistency group that is
being backed up does not need to be application consistent than the checkbox can be checked, and eCDM can create
copies.

Next, assign the Storage Group and DD vDisk Pool with the same tag in eCDM shown in Figure 4.

6
Figure 4

In the DD vDisk Pool set the credentials by clicking the key icon to the right of the pool also shown in Figure 4.

Set Credentials > New Keychain > username > Password

Add the Protection Plan created for provisioning to the VMAX3 storage group bl_eCDM_Protection also shown in Figure
4.

Assets > Storage Group > Assign Protection (shield icon on right)

Lets validate eCDM provisioned and automated what was expected.

Validation of Device Groups for both backup and restore in Data Domain.

Figure 5

Validation of vDisk Devices that match the same size as the VMAX3 production LUNs for both backup and restore.

Figure 6

7
Validation that vDisk Devices were automatically added to the access group; mapping them to VMAX3.

Figure 7

Validation FAST.X Devices were encapsulated and linked to DD vDisk Devices.

eCDM can provide this information along with information that can be used for the ProtectPoint configuration file. In eCDM
Asset screen select the tool icon to the bottom right of the storage group (bl_eCDM_Protection). Take the Device IDs of
the production LUNs shown in Figure 8 and copy/paste them into the ProtectPoint configuration file. Also, the Recovery
Device Group can be added to the configuration file for Data Domain Direct Access Restore with ProtectPoint, or it can be
done via the eCDM UI shown in the Export for Reuse section.

Figure 8

Add Production Devices to ProtectPoint configuration file.

Figure 9

8
XTREMIO AND RECOVERPOINT
This subsection illustrates how eCDM can provision ProtectPoint with XtremIO as the primary storage. Luckily that
process is similar to VMAX from an eCDM perspective. Follow the VMAX section with the exception of the differences
below:

Map XtremIO production LUNs to RecoverPoint

Register Data Domain and XtremIO in RecoverPoint

In eCDM Tag two DD vDisk Pools with the same tag as the Consistency Group instead of one as in the VMAX scenario. In the
XtremIO and RecoverPoint case one DD vDisk Pool is for backup and the other pool is for restore. In the VMAX scenario only one
pool is used because eCDM creates one device group for backup and another device group for restore under the same pool.

Figure 10

Compliance
This section illustrates how eCDM can be used to monitor and report SLOs of ProtectPoint. Whether ProtectPoint was
manually configured or configured with the help of eCDM, managing ProtectPoint with eCDM provides insight into
ProtectPoint copies that was not possible before.

eCDMs Protection Plan monitors self-defined Service Level Objectives (SLOS) to help manage a data centers copy data
sprawl. Creating a plan that has SLOs of RPO, minimum copies, maximum copies, and retention ensures not only extra
copies are not out there taking up space, but also the right amount of copies are in the right locations.

In the example shown in figure 11 the SLOs are set for:

Recovery Point = 12 - a copy is taken every 12 hours

Storage Class = Protection the copy is going to Data Domain

Maximum Copies = 65

Minimum copies = 60

Retention = 30 days a copy will be deleted after 30 days

9
Figure 11

Note: Start On and End On date is a rolling window looking backward that follows the life of the Protection Plan.
It must look backward in order to report compliance. In the example in Figure 11, Start On date would be 1 (today)
End On would be something greater than 60 (>60 days prior to today). Each objective is looking in the rolling
window to see if compliance is met. If Retention is 60 days and End On is 60 days then Retention would never fail
so End On must be greater than Retention.

Once again leave the checkbox unchecked for eCDM to create copies as this is for SLO compliance monitoring for
ProtectPoint copies being created by a DBA or backup admin.

Assign the compliance plan to the Asset(s) ProtectPoint is backing up the same way as done in the Provisioning section
or as shown in Figure 12.

Figure 12

Monitoring of the protection Plan and the Assets assigned to the plan can be achieved through the Activity Monitor of the
eCDM UI.

Export for Resuse with eCDM for ProtectPiont

This section illustrates how eCDM can perform an Export for Reuse from a ProtectPoint copy. ProtectPoint refers to this
as Direct Access Restore in the XtremIO case and FAST.X Restore in the VMAX case. By selecting on the Details of an
Asset a list of copies can be shown. An Export for Reuse can be performed from any of these copies as shown in Figure
13.

10
Figure 13

Assets > Select storage or consistency group > Details Icon (top right corner of the SG/CG) > Restore Icon (Top right corner of
timestamp)

Figure 14

Select Export for Reuse as shown in Figure 14. If XtremIO is the primary storage eCDM Export for Reuse will create an
access group in Data Domain with vDisk Devices and host initiators the devices are to be mapped to. If VMAX is the
primary storage eCDM Export for Reuse will create a Storage Group on VMAX with FAST.X devices linked to DD vDisk
devices. In the VMAX case an Initiator Group on VMAX with the naming convention of hostname_IG must be created prior
to eCDM issuing an Export for Reuse.

Figure 15

11
As seen in Figure 15 the VMAX SG eCDM created for restore is available to select to perform a FAST.X Export for Reuse.
In the XtremIO case, the DD Device Group eCDM created will be available to select.

Figure 16

Lastly, choose the host for eCDM to export the devices to. The devices should now be visible to the host for validation.

In summary, there are three main use-cases for eCDM with ProtectPoint: Provisioning, Compliance, and Export for
Reuse. Provisioning ProtectPoint can be a labor intensive task, and eCDM eases some of those pain points. Compliance
of ProtectPoint can be vital to confirm that RPO and Retention SLOs are being met to ensure copies are in the right
location at the right time. Export for Reuse is certainly achievable through ProtectPoint, but eCDM UI offers a more GUI
based approach for ease of use.

eCDM and ProtectPoint with Applications

eCDM v1.1 application integration is possible through ProtectPoint Agents. See the documentation below on how to use
ProtectPoint Agents with specific databases and applications.

VMAX3 with Oracle ASM

VMAX3 and with EPIC

XtremIO with SQL and Exchange

Microsoft Agent for ProtectPoint with XtremIO

SAP, DB2, and Oracle RAC with ProtectPoint

12