Backing up CIFS

[aaron]

Hi Guys,

Just wondering what my options are for backing up CIFS shares on my FAS2040? Obviously i can't install agents for the most common backup applications so i was just wondering what else i can look at.

Thanks,
Aaron.

[ilgiz_nabiullin]

Hi

For backup CIFS you need enable NDMP protocol.

For backup software you need license NDMP.

1. Create on volume snapshot.

2. Take snapshot to tape or disk.

For example:

/vol/vol1/cisf/./snapshot/hourly.0     --  snapshot for backup

If you use Windows XP, Vista or 7 on share disk properties  have button Previous version you must restore file or folder.

[radek_kubka]

Hi Aaron and welcome to the Communities!

Just double-checking what do you mean by "backup": local or off-site?

For the former, snapshots should be your first line of defence, and as such they are a form of a local backup. For the latter using NDMP makes most sense indeed, as this is easy to understand & (can be) LAN-free. Here is the list of supported backup apps:

http://www.netapp.com/us/solutions/a-z/backup-to-tape/backup-to-tape-ndmp.html

Without NDMP though, you can present NetApp volume to your backup server as a remote network share - in this case all backup traffic will always go via LAN.

Regards,
Radek

[aaron]

Hi Radek

Thanks for the reply, i have snapshots in place at the moment on the CIFS volume which is ok, i have also got a snapmirror replicating the volume to another 2040 in a second building. What i need to do is take a copy of this CIFS data to tape or removable media to take offsite. We are using Microsoft system centre DPM to take backups of virtual machines and other applications but it does not support backing up CIFS so i guess we will need to look at another solution for taking backups of the CIFS volume? Is it possible for me to mount the CIFS volume in my DR site (The second 2040) using iscsi so i can back it up using DPM?

Regards,

Aaron.

[radek_kubka · Accepted solution]

Is it possible for me to mount the CIFS volume in my DR site (The second 2040) using iscsi so i can back it up using DPM? 

You can't present CIFS share via iSCSI, but you can access it via CIFS as a remote network share. I don't know DPM, yet my guess is it should be able to backup a remote share?

That would be actually quite neat option - as this is DR site, the fact that backup data will traverse LAN shouldn't be a biggie.