We only backup via NFS (we have no ACLs so CIFS would be an unnecessary
and huge performance hit). Here's what we've done:

1. Partitioned our data such that we can have a large number of
filespaces that we backup separately (in hindsight, we might have wanted
to go with separate nodes, but oh well).

2. Setup a pool of schedules that are each responsible for some number
of filespaces. Each schedule will proxy using asnode to the underlying
storage node.

3. Setup one node definition per schedule that will hold one schedule,
and that the dsmcad process will connect as.

4. Farm out those schedules to a pool of 5 pizza-box Dell systems with
10GbE adapters running RHEL5. These systems mount each filespace as a
separate NFS mount point to keep TSM happy.

Using this strategy we're backing up a pair of Isilon clusters with
about 2.5PB of aggregate disk space. Presently TSM is tracking 130
million file versions and 1.5PB in backups, and we rarely exceed our
24-hour per-filespace backup window.

There's a number of concerns I would have running NDMP backups:

1. It's unclear to me how to avoid doing a full backup. It seems that
token-based backups would be an option but the documentation is fairly
sparse.

2. It's one more thing to learn and that can break in mysterious ways.

3. When restoring the data you're tied to the specific platform that
performed the backup. This means that if you no longer have an Isilon
system, you can no longer access the backed up data. This for us was the
most scary aspect out of NDMP.

-- Skylar Thompson (skylar2 AT u.washington DOT edu)
-- Genome Sciences Department, System Administrator
-- Foege Building S046, (206)-685-7354
-- University of Washington School of Medicine

On 12/17/12 11:42 AM, Huebner, Andy wrote:

Just general questions on Isilon backup.
How do you backup your Isilon, NDMP or CIFS/NFS?
NDMP FC to tape or Ethernet through the TSM server?

We are to the point in our project to figure out the backup bit.


Andy Huebner