Disk-Assisted Backup Whitepaper

Backup to disk implementation with HP Data Protector

software

Overview

In this second part of the document, it is detailed how HP Data Protector software can be configured

and administered for backup to disk. A new device type, called File Library, is available with HP Data

Protector software that provides advanced backup-to-disk functionality. This new enhancement is

covered in detail, and some disk backup technologies that were already introduced in previous HP

Data Protector software versions are explained.

This paper focuses on backup to disk but does not cover the data snapshot technologies that are also

available with HP Data Protector software, namely Zero Downtime Backup and Instant Recovery. The

three backup-to-disk technologies of HP Data Protector software that are covered include:

• HP Data Protector software synthetic backup and virtual full backup

• HP Data Protector software File Library and Object Copy

• HP Data Protector software Jukebox or Standalone file device

Synthetic full backup and virtual full backup

HP Data Protector software A.06.00 introduces an advanced backup solution called synthetic

backup. This solution enables you to create synthetic full backups and virtual full backups with an

operation called object consolidation.

Synthetic full backup

Synthetic backup is a backup solution that eliminates the need to run regular full backups. Instead,

incremental backups are run, and subsequently merged with the full backup into a new, synthetic full

backup. This can be repeated indefinitely, with no need to run a full backup again. In terms of restore

speed, such a backup is equivalent to a conventional full backup.

Virtual full backup

Unique in the market, virtual full backup is an even more efficient type of synthetic backup. This

solution uses pointers to consolidate data rather than copy the data. As a result, the consolidation

takes less time and avoids unnecessary duplication of data.

Virtual full backup is performed in the same way as normal synthetic backup, with the following two

additional requirements. In an object consolidation session, HP Data Protector software automatically

performs a virtual full backup if:

• All backups are written to one File Library: the full backup, incremental backups, and the resulting

virtual full backup.

• The File Library uses distributed file media format (DFMF).

• All backups (full + incremental) are configured to use option “enhanced incremental backup.”