How to Backup Microsoft DFSR data using Symantec NetBackup

How to Backup Microsoft DFSR data using Symantec NetBackup
About DFSR and NetBackup
Microsoft Distributed File System Replication (DFSR) service is a multi-master replication engine that is used to keep
folders synchronized on multiple servers. Once DFSR is configured, two changes occur in NetBackup. First, the folders
used to host the Shared Replica DFSR data become automatically excluded by NetBackup from normal File System
backups to preserve data integrity. Second, the top level DFSR shared folders become a part of the “Shadow Copy
Components” so that the data can be consistently snapped by Windows VSS (Volume Shadow Service) prior to backup.
Backup DFSR Data
Policy Configuration – Small DFSR Environments ( <100 GB)
For a small environment, the simplest solution to backup DFSR data is to create a policy with the DFSR Server as the
Client and “ALL_LOCAL_DRIVES” as the Directive in the Backup Selection. No other configuration actions are needed.
NetBackup will include the DFSR Data automatically in the “Shadow Copy Components:\” portion of the backup.
This configuration will perform a backup of all drives, the “System State:\” and all DFSR Data on the server.
Policy Configuration – Medium to Large DFSR Environments (>100 GB)
In larger environments, the amount of data managed by DFSR may not allow for timely backups of “Shadow Copy
Components” and a more granular backup strategy is required. Use the following steps as a guide to configuring
NetBackup to protect DFSR data in large environments.
Step 1: Create a global exclude entry for the top level DFSR “Shadow Copy Components:\ path
From the NetBackup Master server, open the Host Properties of each Client used to host DFSR Data and “Add” and new
global exclude entry for the absolute path to the top level “DfsrReplicatedFolders” path. This will exclude DFSR data
from the “Shadow Copy Components:\” backups for all policies the use ALL_LOCAL_DRIVES or “Shadow Copy
Components:\” directives.
Open the DFSR Client “Host Properties” from the Master Server and add the following to a new Exclude List Entry.
Policy: <<All Policies>>
Schedule: <<All Scheduled>>
Files/Directories: Shadow Copy Components:\User Data\Distributed File System Replication\DfsrReplicatedFolders
Step 2: Create a dedicated policy for each DFSR Server
Create a unique policy for each DFSR server and note the name specified for the Policy as it will be required for Step 3.
In the “Backup Selections” field, specify the absolute path to each of the top level DFSR folder shares required for
backup.
Example Path:
Shadow Copy Components:\User Data\Distributed File System Replication\DfsrReplicatedFolders\DFSR-Data-SPRDC2
As a guide, use the Backup, Archive and Restore GUI to browse down the” Shadow Copy Components” tree to the
DfsrReplicatedFolders node. This will provide the exact path to each top level DFSR folder as seen by NetBackup.
Note the path in the ‘Contents of” status bar for the DFSR structure within “Shadow Copy Components:\”
Step 3: Create an Exception to the Exclude List entry for each DFSR Policy
In this step, it is required to create an Exception to the Exclude List for each DFSR policy so that the Shadow Copy
Components” DFSR paths are re-included for backup after the global exclude list is processed by NetBackup.
Open the DFSR Client “Host Properties” from the Master Server and add the following to a new “Exception to Exclude
List” Entry. Be aware that the ‘Policy’ entry must match exactly the name and case sensitivity of the policy created in
Step 2.
Policy: DFSR
Schedule: <<All Scheduled>>
Files/Directories: Shadow Copy Components:\User Data\Distributed File System Replication\DfsrReplicatedFolders
Restore DFSR Data
DFSR data that was backed up by NetBackup with DFSR Service active at the time of backup will not be located on the
Drive path that hosts the replicated folders. DFSR data is located under “Shadow Copy Components:\”.
To restore DFSR Data, open the Backup, Archive and Restore GUI and browse down the “Shadow Copy
Components:\User Data\DfsrReplicatedFolders” path for the files to recover. Select and restore files as normal files.
It is permissible to restore DFSR files to an alternate path but “Overwrite existing files’ must be selected prior to starting
the restore. During restore, the redirected path is appended to the beginning of the DFSR path.
For example, if “C:\DFSR-Restore” is used as the Alternate path, the following will be the result of the restore.
Backup path:
Shadow Copy Components:\User Data\Distributed File System Replication\DfsrReplicatedFolders\DFSR-Data-SPRDC2
Alternate path after restore:
C:\DFSR-Restore\DfsrReplicatedFolders\DFSR-Data-SPRDC2
Known Restrictions:
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Excludes within the DFSR hierarchy are not supported
Multiple Data Streams is not supported
Duplicate Folder Names within the same DFSR configuration are not supported
There is a path limit of 256 characters
See the following Tech Alerts for details on known issues:
A potential for data loss has been discovered involving NetBackup 6.5.4 for Windows when backing up DFSR
(Distributed File System Replication) folders. If a DFSR folder name is identical to a DFSR folder name in another
replication group, only one folder is backed up and the backup exits with Status 0 (Successful).
http://www.symantec.com/docs/TECH74450
A potential for data loss has been discovered in NetBackup Server/Enterprise Server where Distributed File
System Replication (DFSR) paths may be skipped on backup, yet report a Status 0. This has been observed in the
unlikely case where the DFSR path exceeds 256 characters.
http://www.symantec.com/docs/TECH76282