HP StorageWorks Application Recovery Manager Administrator's Guide (T4395-96004, February 2008)

Introduction
Concepts
Chapter 1 7
Concepts
The Application Recovery Manager integration with MS Volume Shadow
Copy Service and Virtual Disk Service provides backup and instant
recovery functionality for VSS writers that are certified by Application
Recovery Manager.
Refer to the online Help for a general description of ZDB (snapshot and
split mirror backup) and instant recovery concepts.
For a complete list of supported VSS writers and providers refer to the
latest support matrices at http://www.hp.com/support/manuals
.
Benefits of Using
Application
Recovery Manager
The advantages of using Application Recovery Manager are the
following:
• Unified backup interface is provided for all supported applications.
• With application writers, data integrity is provided on application
level, because it is provided by the writers. No interference is needed
from the backup application.
VSSBAR Agent The central part of the integration is the VSSBAR agent, which links
Application Recovery Manager with the MS Volume Shadow Copy
Service. Application Recovery Manager MS Volume Shadow Copy
integration uses the VSSBAR agent for automatic browsing of
VSS-aware writers, coordinating backup and restore. VSSBAR agent is
responsible for the following actions:
• detecting VSS writers
• examining and analyzing Writer Metadata Document (WMD)
NOTE A Writer Metadata Document (WMD) is metadata provided by each
writer. Writers identify themselves by the metadata and instruct the
backup application what to back up and how to restore the data. Thus,
Application Recovery Manager follows the requirements provided by the
writer when selecting the volumes to be backed up and the restore
method.
• requesting shadow copy creation