The grid is internal disk only for the Avamar grid, at least the
configuration I am taking about.  There was some talk around having a
SAN attached storage for the nodes in the grid but, as I recall, they
required that the EMC tray of disks be dedicated to that node.

The VMWare would work well for placing the client backup software within
the VM but the NetWorker client licensing would kill you, if you have  a
large VM installation.  You could go straight Avamar on the VMWare side
and save the NetWorker licensing costs but that means running two backup
environments.

As far as the CPU goes, the client runs the de-duplication on the client
instead of the back end, which is fine if you have the CPU cycles to
spare on the clients.


On Monday 12 May 2008, Fazil.Saiyed AT anixter DOT com wrote:
> Hello,
> Could you not assign ISCSI or FC lun to Avamar server that is
> appropriately sized for CPU ?
> Would it make sense to have AVAMAR for VMWARE\Remote office backups only ?
> How does this setup compare to ESX Ranger for VMWARE ?
> Just questions at this point.
>
>
>
> David Dulek <ddulek AT fastenal DOT com>
> Sent by: EMC NetWorker discussion <NETWORKER AT LISTSERV.TEMPLE DOT EDU>
> 05/12/2008 12:41 PM
> Please respond to
> David Dulek <ddulek AT fastenal DOT com>
>
>
> To
> NETWORKER AT LISTSERV.TEMPLE DOT EDU
> cc
>
> Subject
> Re: [Networker] Networker and Data Domain
>
>
>
>
>
>
> I have just completed a POC for Avamar.
>
> You thought that the Data Domain was expensive get a price on Avamar. :)
>
> In order to do the 15 TB capacity that I have on my 580, I would have to
> buy
> 9x2U servers (with 6x1TB drives, that is 8 x 2T servers with a hot spare
> server) and a 1U server (control station).  If I want to replicate to the
> other DC, double that.  Now add the EMC software licensing.  :)
>
> It seems to work including the integration into the NetWorker tools and it
> is
> very easy to setup within NetWorker.
>
> Negatives:
> No module support.
> No way to do D2D2T without going to a different disk target.  (You have to
>
> configure two sets of backups.  One for Avamar and disk only and one for
> disk
> that will go to tape.)
> Although the client licensing on the Avamar has gone away you still have
> to
> pay for the NetWorker Client license.
> Very CPU intensive.
> /nsr has to be big enough on all clients to save the "caches".  ( I ran
> "/"
> out of space on one of the test linux clients. )
>
> Positives:
> Impressive compress and network savings.
>
> Since I already have a Data Domain infrastructure to handle the modules
> backups, this is something I am still considering.
>
> I am not sure if I am OK with running two backups per client per day that
> I
> want on tape and the Avamar grid.
>
> On Saturday 10 May 2008, Jonathan Loran wrote:
> > Hi Conrad and list:
> >
> > We investigated Data Domain, and we did a test of a DD200 when it first
> > came out, 3 or so years back.  Was very impressed with the speed and
> > somewhat impressed with the dedupe ratio.  However, it was way to
> > expensive for our UC budget.
> >
> > More to my point: we are interested in investigating Avamar, which is
> > integrated into Networker 7.4.2.  It has in interesting implementation
> > where the data duplication is discovered on the client side, such that
> > the Avamar server keeps a hash of stored checksums, and the client
> > queries the server as to whether the data block already exists on the
> > server.  If not, the data is sent with the checksum, if so, only the
> > next checksum needs to be sent.  This has the benefit of potentially
> > dramatically reducing network traffic.
> >
> > I'm wondering if anyone on the list has experience with EMC Avamar?  It
> > would be great to hear some non-biased reviews before I proceed.
> >
> > Thanks,
> >
> > Jon
> >
> > Macina, Conrad wrote:
> > > Hi, Kevin,
> > >
> > > Leaving aside for at least a moment the discussion of vendors and
>
> spam,
>
> > > I'm very interested in what you receive from your query about Data
> > > Domain and possibly other dedupe vendors. I suspect other list members
> > > will be as well. When you're done with your investigation, I wonder if
> > > you could you please post a summary of your findings to the list?
> > >
> > > One finding I'm particularly interested in: is it properly spelled
> > > "dedupe" or "dedup"? :^)
> > >
> > > Thanks!
> > >
> > > Conrad Macina
> > > Pfizer, Inc.
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > -----Original Message-----
> > > From: Kevin Malone [mailto:kcmalone AT SALISBURY DOT EDU]
> > > Sent: Thursday, May 08, 2008 2:01 PM
> > > Subject: Networker and Data Domain
> > >
> > > If there is anyone out there who is using a Data Domain dedupe
>
> solution
>
> > > with Networker and would be willing to have a conversation (good or
>
> bad)
>
> > > about it with me, I would be appreciative.
> > >
> > > We are looking at dedupe solutions and I am not endorsing any at this
> > > point, but that is one that we have come across.
> > >
> > > You can send me a private e-mail so as not to clog up the listserv.
> > >
> > > Thanks,
> > > Kevin
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > Kevin Malone
> > > Network Administrator
> > > Salisbury University
> > > Information Technology  FH297
> > > kcmalone AT salisbury DOT edu
> > > 410-543-6298
> > >
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