Basic Fastback DR questions .. How is it used? Main Repository fails, what then?

[dpsmith]

Hello.
First post, looks like a great forum!

I'm having a conceptual problem with how the DR system is supposed to work or how it's manageable.
And IBM's documentation is a joke on this!

I've been running Fastback 5.5.5 for over a year now. I love it.
While planning to upgrade to the newest 64bit version I took a closer look at the DR component because we have not been satisfied with Symantec Backup Exec offsite solution (tape).
Before upgrading I wanted to figure out how it's supposed to work

So I setup a test server on my DMZ, installed Titan FTP and then Fastback DR server, then modified the ini like instructed.
Connected to it from my existing Fastback Server and successfully sent one of my smallest servers to the DR server.
So...everything looks good so far right?

What exactly transferred to the DR server?
I can see the whole snapshot log for the past year from my Corporate FB server on the CCS on my FB DR server.
If I use FB Mount on the DR server I can see not just today's backup like I expected but the last two weeks like I can on my existing FB server.
So it transferred everything for that particular server that I had been backing up?
Ok, that's still good, if so.

Eventually I'll have a 2nd "cold/warm?"site setup with the DR server and a repository that matches my Main corporate site's repository.
Every night they will sync up.
I'll have a good copy of my Repository at an off site location.

Now.....what can I do with this?
I'd like some real world uses for this solution.
I'm not seeing anyway to transfer the data from the DR repository back to the existing repository.
Isn't that the point?
If my Corporate repository crashes I have a copy at a remote site.
What are some scenarios of recovery?
How do people use this feature?

Some things I can't use.
I can't use the FastBack Manager on my DR server.
It keeps giving me the "Please verify the IP..."
Now it's probably because that there is no "Fastback Server" Service in Windows Services.
Just the Hub and the Mount services.
Is this something I need to install?
Why?
What will it enable me to do?
I just installed the DR server initially.

Is there any use for having the Fastback server installed on the DR server?
Again, this goes back to my not understanding how it's supposed to work.


Let me toss out this scenario I have in my head of how it's supposed to work.
Site 1 and Site 2 are replicating (I know that's probably not the right word).
Site 1 repository is destroyed.
What do I do?
Will I have to transfer the whole 6TB from Site 2's Repository back to Site 1's when it's back up and running (say with a blank repository)?

Lots of questions I know but I'd really like to lose Symantec if I can prove this is a worthy replacement.

Thanks

David

 

[elbutre]

i agree documentation is not good, i have been using fastback for a long time (started using it when it was still filesx) and have given lots of feedback on the documentation in the past. it is not great but luckily support engineers have always managed to fill the blanks and eventually documentation does get updated.

in your scenario, if site 1 repository is destroyed you either start to build it up from scratch and rely on your DR site repository replica for backup data or your copy it back to your site 1, you can do an initial USB transfer (will take a while with 6TB or synch it over the WAN which will also take a while)

personally if only your repository is damaged and you have same retention policy as i have (keep backup files for 3 months) i would just start with new blank repository and keep the DR site repository separate in case you need to restore files and create a new repository for the newly backed up data. i strongly suggest that when you have to do full backups initially you transfer the files to the DR site via USB disk transfer or bring the DR repository to site 1 for replication rather than do it over the wan (unless you have high speed connection between the 2 sites)

on your DR server you do not require fastback manager/server, you just need to install fastback mount and the DR component for it to work, to do a restore you can launch fastback mount, and mount the volumes from your backup repository.

 

[mccleld]

Hello @dpsmith and welcome - as @elbutre suggests, there's still not a huge deal of quality TSM FastBack collateral out there on the web at the moment (certainly not compared to the main TSM product) but we do our best to help out here on this little corner of adsm.org.

To respond to a couple of your points:

>> I'm not seeing anyway to transfer the data from the DR repository back to the existing repository. Isn't that the point?

I'm not sure it is - the point is that the TSM FastBack DR mechanism enables you to perform recoveries of your protected systems' data in your DR location in the event of a catastrophic site failure in your primary location. So the 'DR' relates to the systems being protected (i.e., your clients) rather than the FastBack server itself.

>>> I can't use the FastBack Manager on my DR server [...] Is this something I need to install?

FastBack Manager only works when pointed at your primary FastBack Server. The GUI for the DR Server is called the Central Control Station and is installable from the main FastBack install package. However, from here you can actually launch FastBack Manager to manage your primary sites' FastBack Servers (providing the appropriate TCP ports are opened for FastBack Manager access from your DR site).

All the best,
_________
David Mc
London, UK

 

[dpsmith]

Thank you for your help.
I setup a test DR server and saw how it backs up via FTP. Currently we don't have a hotsite setup but at least now I understand the process. Another thing that IBM helped me with was if my OS partition crashed and I had to get back up and running after a fresh install of Windows. He said that I would need the following files from my old C:drive to connect to the Repository.
[FONT=&quot]conf.txt[/FONT][FONT=&quot] [/FONT][FONT=&quot]
conf.txt.sig[/FONT][FONT=&quot] [/FONT][FONT=&quot]
orabr_conf.txt[/FONT][FONT=&quot] [/FONT][FONT=&quot]
orabr_conf.txt.sig[/FONT][FONT=&quot] [/FONT][FONT=&quot]
users_enc.txt[/FONT][FONT=&quot] [/FONT][FONT=&quot]
users_enc.txt.sig[/FONT][FONT=&quot] [/FONT]

The rest of the configuration is on the repository itself.