Sorry, this article is not available in your language, as the promoted webinar is available in German only.

On 2016/10/13 Hewlett Packard Enterprise released patch bundle 9.08 for Linux, HP-UX and Windows, it includes important changes and new features. For a complete list, please refer to the patch description.

The focus for this release was stability, so only two new features were introduced: Microsoft Azure support and support for PDB/CDB in Oracle 12c (Pluggable Database/Container Database). In addition Data Protector now supports ZDB/IR for Oracle ASM and HPE StoreOnce RMC 2.02/3.0.

It is strongly recommended to read the full description of the bundle.

If you own a valid support contract you can download the patches from https://softwaresupport.hpe.com. For login you need the HPE Passport account.

Direct link:

– Windows – DPWINBDL_00908 – Patch Bundle

– Linux – DPLNXBDL_00908 – Patch Bundle

– HP-UX – DPUXBDL_00908 – Patch Bundle

Did you know? When you received a hotfix for a previous Data Protector (minor) version, you should make sure the hotfix is included in the patch bundle before applying the patch bundle. This is recommended for customers which may have received the hotfix right before the release of the patch bundle. If your hotfix is not included in the patch bundle open a software case and ask for assistance.

Nice video explaining how to use Microsoft Azure as backup target for HPE VM Explorer.

HPE Adaptive Backup and Recovery Suite

Sorry, this article is not available in your language, as the promoted webinar is available in German only.

And again a nice reference story from customer using HPE Data Protector – this time Microsoft Learning.

Update: The provided link is no longer working, so the updated link is: http://www8.hp.com/us/en/products/data-storage/free-sovsa.html. Kudos to Ventzislav.

Since April 2015 HP is offering a zero cost 1 TB version of the HP StoreOnce VSA. The software-defined backup solution provides you secure backup for your applications with reduced storage costs, power consumption, and rackspace requirements. This free version is ideal to protect small amounts of data, especially in very small remote offices / branch offices (or at home, as I do, yeah…). With the included low-bandwidth replication you can easily replicate the backups from your small offices to the StoreOnce system in your central site without re-hydrating the data. Assuming a typical 20:1 deduplication ratio you can store a lot of backups onto the free 1 TB StoreOnce VSA. And if 1 TB is not enough, the StoreOnce VSA is available as 4 TB, 10 TB and 50 TB version. In larger environments, the HP StoreOnce appliances might be the better choice. Of course HP StoreOnce best works with HP Data Protector, but can be used with Symantec Backup Exec and NetBackup (now again Veritas), CommVault, Veeam and other ISV’s too.

Link to unlock StoreOnce: http://www.hp.com/go/freebackup

What are you waiting for? Unlock your free 1 TB HP StoreOnce VSA today and experience the great value with the StoreOnce technology!

On 2016/11/28 Hewlett Packard Enterprise released patch bundle 8.17 for Linux, HP-UX and Windows, it includes important changes. For a complete list, please refer to the patch description.

It is strongly recommended to read the full description of the bundle.

If you own a valid support contract you can download the patches from https://softwaresupport.hpe.com. For login you need the HPE Passport account.

Direct link:

– Windows – DPWINBDL_00817 – Patch Bundle

– Linux – DPLNXBDL_00817 – Patch Bundle

– HP-UX – DPUXBDL_00817 – Patch Bundle

Did you know? When you received a hotfix for a previous Data Protector (minor) version, you should make sure the hotfix is included in the patch bundle before applying the patch bundle. This is recommended for customers which may have received the hotfix right before the release of the patch bundle. If your hotfix is not included in the patch bundle open a software case and ask for assistance.

Sorry, this article is not available in your language, as the promoted webinar is available in German only.

In the past I already informed about HPE VM Explorer, a software to protect virtual machines in small and mid-enterprise environments (see link). Many customers already use HPE VM Explorer and that’s for many reasons, some to save money, and some to replace applications like Veeam. Recently a survey was done and in the white paper “How HPE VM Explorer helps small and medium-sized businesses protect critical virtual servers and data” the results of the TechValidate survey conducted with customers worldwide. Worth to read!

The white paper can be downloaded here: https://www.hpe.com/h20195/V2/getpdf.aspx/4AA6-8740ENW.pdf

I already wrote several articles on how to migrate the internal database to a new hardware, new Data Protector version, or new operating system (see link).

With the introduction of PostgreSQL as internal database for Data Protector and compared to previous versions (DP 6 and DP 7), some more steps are required to migrate a cell manager to new hardware or operating system. However, if you follow the steps below it will not be a complicated procedure. In the document the migration from DP 9.0x to DP 9.0x on new hardware (or virtual machine) is described. It is assumed that the server name, IP address, installation path, passwords, … stay the same and as it was the case on source server. Hence, some less steps required when compared with a previous article about migration (see link). This document could also be used to migrate from Windows 2008 R2 to Windows 2012 or Windows 2012 R2 (using new hardware). The migration to Windows 2016 is not possible so far, as the Cell Manager (and DA, and MA) are not yet supported. Probably it becomes supported with the patches for DP 9.08 (build 113) in January, but this is not promised and not guaranteed. As the steps used for the migration are mainly DP commands executed, it could be used for migration of a Linux Cell Manager too.

For the runbook below, a migration from Data Protector 9.08 to Data Protector 9.08 on Windows 2012 R2 was done (using a virtual machine), the patches used for the installation on source and target was configured as “C:\Program Files\OmniBack” and “C:\Programdata\OmniBack”. The documentation will not include any information regarding preparation of the target server (IP configuration, domain join, …). In case the migration does not succeed, we keep the source server in order to fail back. However, the network will be deactivated, access could be gained using iLO (assuming it is an HPE Proliant server) or using a console session (in case source server is virtual machine).

Comment: the runbook is one of several ways to run a migration. There will be a even faster way, and I will publish this migration method in a different article.

To run a smooth and successful migration some prerequisites and requirements needs to be met. And as always, no guarantee can be given when the documentation is used.

Requirements and prerequisites:

• The command omnidbcheck -extended must not display any error. Output of omnidbcheck:
  

  PS C:\Users\Administrator> omnidbcheck -extended
  Check Level             Mode                    Status
  ===========================================================
  Database connection     -connection             OK
  Schema consistency      -schema_consistency     OK
  Datafiles consistency   -verify_db_files        OK
  Database consistency    -database_consistency   OK
  Media consistency       -media_consistency      OK
  SIBF(readability)       -sibf                   OK
  DCBF(presence and size) -bf                     OK
  OMNIDC(consistency)     -dc                     OK
  DONE!
  

• No DCBF 1.0 files (Detail Catalog Binary Files from a migration before to DP 8.XX or 9.0X) are found on the system; the internal database has already been migrated. The command "&ltOMNIBIN&gt\perl" omnimigrate.pl -report_old_catalog can be used for validation. In case old “binary files” are found, migrate them first using the command "&ltOMNIBIN&gt\perl" omnimigrate.pl -start_catalog_migration. For any additional information, you might refer to link.
• Document the DCBF directories using the command omnidbutil -list_dcdirs. In case the directories are located on several mount points, or in case additional directories were configured, you need to either consolidate on target (move files into the standard folders and run “remap_dcdir”) or create additional folders before you import the IDB (“add_dcdir”).
  

  PS C:\Users\Administrator> omnidbutil -list_dcdirs
  Configured DC directories:
  
   Allocation Sequence
   |        Maximum Usage in MB
   |        |        Maximum Number of Files in Directory
   |        |        |        Minimum Free Space [MB]
   |        |        |        |        Directory
   |        |        |        |        |
  ===========================================================================
   0        204800   100000   2048     C:/ProgramData/OmniBack/server/db80/dcbf/dcbf0
   1        204800   100000   2048     C:/ProgramData/OmniBack/server/db80/dcbf/dcbf1
   2        204800   100000   2048     C:/ProgramData/OmniBack/server/db80/dcbf/dcbf2
   3        204800   100000   2048     C:/ProgramData/OmniBack/server/db80/dcbf/dcbf3
   4        204800   100000   2048     C:/ProgramData/OmniBack/server/db80/dcbf/dcbf4
  
  DONE!
  

• The configured users and passwords to start the data protector services will be kept identical on the target server. In case different users and password are required, you might use the document – link.
• The runbook can be used for migrating from DP 9.0X to 9.0X only (this does not include a possible upcoming version 9.1.x).
• The server name and the IP address are not changed for the target server (the same information as on source will be used). In case you need to make changes, additional steps like changing Cell Manager name for the clients, change the cell server name, etc.), and this is not part of the documentation.
• The server name and domain suffix needs to follow the usual recommendations.
• On the source server there is no version of a recovered internale database (several db80* directories).
• All used names and directories are to be seen as an example.
• After the migration is done, it is recommended to immediately run a backup of the internal database.
• The documentation does not apply to MoM manager, however, can be used to migrate single Cell Manager in an MoM environment.
• On the source server there is no StoreOnce Software Deduplication used. The migration of jukeboxes or file libraries are not part of the documentation, however, can be simply copied when the same directories and mount points are used on the target server.
• During the migration all important files are copied or exported into the directory “C:\migration”.

Migration tasks on the soruce server:

• Stop the Data Protector schedules using the command omnitrig -stop (or rename the folder “schedules”, “barschedules”, …).
• Backup the internal database using the existing backup specification.
• Export Key Store using the command omnikeytool -export CSFVFile -all and copy the file from “C:\ProgramData\OmniBack\Config\Server\export\keys” to “C:\migration”.
• Export the internal database using the command omnidbutil –writedb &ltpathname&gt (C:\migration\writedb). You get prompted to make a copy of the directories DCBF, MSG, and META (depending on configuration more folders are displayed), copy the folders to the migration directory.
  

  PS C:\Users\Administrator> omnidbutil -writedb C:\Migration\writedb
  
  Please make a copy of the following Internal Database directories and
  then press Enter to bring the Internal Database back to a fully operational state:
  
  
          "C:\ProgramData\OmniBack\server\db80\msg\"
          "C:\ProgramData\OmniBack\server\db80\meta\"
          "C:/ProgramData/OmniBack/server/db80/dcbf/dcbf4"
          "C:/ProgramData/OmniBack/server/db80/dcbf/dcbf0"
          "C:/ProgramData/OmniBack/server/db80/dcbf/dcbf3"
          "C:/ProgramData/OmniBack/server/db80/dcbf/dcbf1"
          "C:/ProgramData/OmniBack/server/db80/dcbf/dcbf2"
  

  If you have used “VSS Transportable Snapshot” during backups, Zero Downtime Backup using SMIS, Exchange, …, it might be necessary to copy additional “db80” directories (reportdb, smisdb, sqldb, sysdb, vssdb, and xpdp).

• Stop the Data Protector services using the command omnisv -stop and modify the Data Protector services to start manual (not automatic when server is restarted).
• Backup (=Copy to c:\migration) the file obrindex.dat in directory “C:\ProgramData\OmniBack\server\db80\logfiles\rlog”.
• If you have changed PostgreSQL configuration files in the past, copy ph_hba.conf, pg_ident.conf and postgresql.conf from “C:\ProgramData\OmniBack\server\db80\pg” in addition.
• Document the configured users (impersonation) using the command omniinetpasswd -list.
• Document the local security policy “Impersonate a client after authentication” and “Replace a process level token”.
• Backup the file omnirc from “C:\ProgramData\OmniBack”.
• Backup pre- and post-exec scripts from “C:\Program Files\OmniBack\bin”.
• Backup the files media.log and Ob2EventLog.txt, and the directory auditing (if used) from “C:\ProgramData\OmniBack\log\server”.
• Backup Site Specific Patches/Hotfixes from “C:\ProgramData\OmniBack\depot\server” if you plan to use the files on the new server.
• Backup the Data Protector configuration – directory “C:\ProgramData\OmniBack\Config\Server”.
• Backup any additional files and folders not part of the Data Protector installation.
• Copy all saved files and folders onto the new server.
• Document server name and IP settings.
• Deactivate the old server (in the example the network is disabled).

Tasks on the target server:

• Configure the new server in the same way as it was done for the old server (server name, IP address, domain, user and groups).
• Install HPE Data Protector 9.00 using path “C:\Program Files\Omniback” and “C:\Programdata\Omniback”.
• Installation of patch bundle and/or patches; use the same version as installed on the source server.
• Import the internal database using the command omnidbutil –readdb &ltpathname&gt (C:\migration\writedb).
• Stop the Data Protector services using the command omnisv -stop.
• The folders DCBF, MSG, and META are copied back from “c:\migration” to the original location; the path used in the example “C:\Programdata\OmniBack\server\db80”. Depending on the configuration (see above) you need to copy additional folders, like reportdb, smisdb, sqldb, sysdb, vssdb, and xpdp into “db80” folder.
• Recover (=Copy from Migration folder to target folder) the file obrindex.dat to “C:\ProgramData\OmniBack\server\db80\logfiles\rlog”.
• On demand recover PostgreSQL configuration files ph_hba.conf, pg_ident.conf, and postgresql.conf to “C:\ProgramData\OmniBack\server\db80\pg”.
• Recover the file omnirc to “C:\ProgramData\OmniBack”.
• Recover any pre- and post-exec scripts to “C:\Program Files\OmniBack\bin”.
• Recover the files media.log and Ob2EventLog.txt, and if used, the folder auditing to “C:\ProgramData\OmniBack\log\server”.
• On demand recover Site Specific Patches/Hotfixes to “C:\ProgramData\OmniBack\depot\server”.
• Recover the Data Protector configuration to “C:\ProgramData\OmniBack\Config\Server”.
• Start the Data Protector services using the command omnisv -start.
• Copy the “Key Stores Files” (see above) to “C:\ProgramData\OmniBack\Config\Server\import\keys” and execute the command omnikeytool -import CSFVFile to import the keys.
• Configure impersonation (see documentation on source server and link).
• Configure the local security policy (see documentation on source server).
• Modify the configuration files global and omnirc, if required (Changes to the global file requires a restart of the Data Protector services).
• Verify the integrity of the internal database using the command omnidbcheck -extended. No errors must be displayed.
• Verify the environment by starting backups and restores after the migration.
• After the migration the old server is no longer required and can be deactivated. However, it is recommended to keep it at least for seven days with deactivated network and stopped Data Protector services.

If the future looks like this, I’m already looking forward to it.

Some days ago the new version of HPE VM Explorer was released (version 6.3.001). There are a lot of enhancements, and the most important feature will be the item recovery for Microsoft Exchange. Just mount the backup (without the need to restore before) and recover single items from Microsoft Exchange directly from the backup. All new features from the release:

• Microsoft Exchange Server item (e-mail) level recovery
• Update to system requirements and supported environments
• Amazon S3 compatible storage target
• Virtual Disk Service enablement enhancements
• Change default backup type to Incremental
• Task Scheduler frequency enhancements

To download the current version follow the link: https://www.trilead.com/download/

Looking back in 2016 – again a very successfully year for data-protector.org.

The Blog was visited 210,000 times (Page Views with about 97,000 visitors) and 54 new articles were released. In total about 269 articles are available. The most popular day was 22.11.2016 with 922 visitors. Since the stats were introduced, the blog was visited about 904,000 times (Page Views with about 261,000 visitors). The most popular articles viewed covered the whitepaper, migration pathes, information about patches and of course older articles. The most popular pages are BRICK and Downloads. The visitors are located in 199 countries, mainly from Germany, United States, India and Brazil. Individual countries from the European Union follow.

More than 450 people are subscribers of data-protector.org and get informed about new posts. The most people are referred by Google and Bing; it’s not a surprise, data-protector.org is always listed on the first page in top 10 ranking. But also from the HPE Community (Data Protector Support and News Forum), LinkedIn and other social media providers new visitors and Data Protector friends are referred to the blog.

Thanks to all valued readers for supporting the site.

History:

Update 2017/01/09: After some discussions with colleagues… you need to know, that for Data Protector clients “systemd” is used and only on Cell Manager the legacy mode with “xinetd” is leveraged. Even with the legacy mode there is no need to change to “systemd”, as “xinetd” is supported on RHEL too.

There are Data Protector customers interested to use systemd on RHEL 7, instead of xinetd. A colleague (Michael S.) sent a short how to with the required steps.

• Modify file /etc/xinetd.d/omni and change the parameter disable: disable = yes. Optional: Move the file to another location or delete it.
• Create the file data-protector.socket in folder /etc/systemd/system and add the following entries:
  

  [Unit]
  Description=Data Protector Socket
  
  [Socket]
  ListenStream=5555
  Accept=yes
  BindIPv6Only=both
  
  [Install]
  WantedBy=sockets.target
  

• Create the file data-protector@.service in folder /etc/systemd/system and add the following entries:
  

  [Unit]
  Description=Data Protector Server
  
  [Service]
  ExecStart=/opt/omni/lbin/inet -log /var/opt/omni/log/inet.log
  User=root
  StandardInput=socket

• Restart daemon xinetd to deactivate port 5555: systemctl restart xinetd
• Enable the socket data-protector.socket using the command: systemctl enable data-protector.socket
• Start the socket data-protector.socket using the command: systemctl start data-protector.socket
• Verify port 5555 using the command: netstat –an | grep 5555 or ss –ln | grep 5555 or ss –l | grep omni
• If possible try to restart the server to verify the changes made are psersistent.
• As usual, you could leverage telnet for the verification:
  

  [root@rheldp908 ~]# telnet rheldp907 5555
  Trying 192.128.253.132...
  Connected to rheldp907.
  Escape character is '^]'.
  HP Data Protector A.09.00: INET, internal build 110, built on Thu Aug 11 12:37:31 2016
  Connection closed by foreign host.
  

Sorry, this article is not available in your language, as the promoted webinar is available in German only.

On 2017/01/31 HPE released new patches for Linux, Windows and HP-UX (build 113). As a requirement you need to have Patch Bundle 9.08 installed. It is strongly recommended to read the full description of each patch.

If you own a valid support contract you can download the patches from https://softwaresupport.hp.com. For login you need the HPE Passport account. Please keep in mind to install the patches in correct order – see https://www.data-protector.org/wordpress/2013/06/basics-installation-order-patches/

Direct link:

– Data Protector 9.08_113 – Core for Windows (DPWIN_20100)

– Data Protector 9.08_113 – Cell Server for Windows (DPWIN_20101)

– Data Protector 9.08_113 – Disk Agent for Windows (DPWIN_20102)

– Data Protector 9.08_113 – Media Agent for Windows (DPWIN_20103)

– Data Protector 9.08_113 – Cell Console for Windows (DPWIN_20104)

– Data Protector 9.08_113 – Core for Linux/64 (DPLNX_20100)

– Data Protector 9.08_113 – Cell Server for Linux/64 (DPLNX_20101)

– Data Protector 9.08_113 – Disk Agent for Linux/64 (DPLNX_20102)

– Data Protector 9.08_113 – Media Agent for Linux/64 (DPLNX_20103)

– Data Protector 9.08_113 – Cell Console for Linux/64 (DPLNX_20104)

– Data Protector 9.08_113 – Core for HP-UX/IA (DPUX_20100)

– Data Protector 9.08_113 – Cell Server for HP-UX/IA (DPUX_20101)

– Data Protector 9.08_113 – Disk Agent for HP-UX/IA (DPUX_20102)

– Data Protector 9.08_113 – Media Agent for HP-UX/IA (DPUX_20103)

– Data Protector 9.08_113 – Cell Console for HP-UX/IA (DPUX_20104)

Sorry, this article is not available in your language, as the promoted webinar is available in German only.

Dear visitor,

on Februar 15, 2017 Daniel Braun, the owner and mastermind of this website passed away unexpectedly. This is an unbelievable shock and loss for everybody.

Daniel was such an amazing person, so talented and gifted, a loving husband and father, an absolutely great guy, always ready to take care of any challenges and to share his knowledge – he will be missed by family and friends.

May he rest in peace!

Dear Visitor,

in honor of Daniel’s legacy we (Daniel’s widow and Stephan Voss as new admin) decided to bring back life on this page with posts and updates all around data protection. We want to do this with a team of content writers and the help of guest posts, which means if you developed a useful tool or script around the ABR Suite, have created a Howto or Whitepaper, got great ideas which content should be handled in a post, etc. please contact us by email admin @ data-protector.org.

Copyright by donkeyhotey

There will be a lot of changes in the next days due to updates and required changes in the configuration (i.e. we moved to a different web-space), most of it will happen behind the scenes but it is possible that some changes will affect the current layout, links, functions and/or …. We are deeply sorry for any inconvenience this may cause.

Top priority is to keep all content available as it is, especially regarding the tools and downloads – bad news for now, the source code of Omnispeed, BRICK and other scripts is not yet available but we still try to find it to be able to provide updates in the future. We would be happy if you share this news with anyone that might be interested.