Managing many instances of SnapManager for SQL, Exchange, Sharepoint, VI

[robertmidwest]

Each SnapManager sends an email on success or failure (or you can set it to failure only).  I prefer not to rely on failure emails because if something happens to the mail server, etc. you assume success when in fact, it might be two failures at work (mail and snapshot).

The results are not clear with SnapManager for SQL without at least opening the summary and scanning through it to the end.  There's no 'success/fail' in the subject line and even then, you'll have to go into another area to pull up the report to see what might have failed.

Contrast this with other backup solutions (competing in the same area, same expectations) where backup results are shown in a summary format where you can drill down to results.

This is not a problem with one server.  This becomes a huge drain on time with dozens or hundreds of servers.

Has anyone found an effective (preferably automated) way to get the status of all these backups/snapshots in one location?

Protection Manager and Operations Manager do not integrate with the individual SnapManager products.

Other than scanning through the reports daily, what are people using to manage large numbers of SnapManager installations and their daily (or more frequent) reporting?

Thanks in advance,

Robert

[bjornkoopmans]

Hi Robert,

Someone may correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe that this is exactly what the recently introduced SnapProtect is for. 🙂 A single point of backup that augments and eventually should replace all the seperate SnapManagers.

Kind regards, Bjorn

[radek_kubka]

Hi Bjorn,

We will all soon love SnapProtect, no doubt about it . The problem is, it won't help much with tidying up an existing SnapManager environment - unless you do a rip & replace exercise, normally not feasible for both commercial & technical reasons.

I like this post though re SnapProtect positioning:

http://communities.netapp.com/thread/15083#55492

Having said this, I am also eager to see how people tackle the issue of consolidated management of multiple SnapManager instances (I was always under impression Ops / Protection Manager can do the trick, or at least a part of it).

Regards,
Radek

[BrendonHiggins]

SME, SMSQL, SMVI, snapvaults and lots of hosts in different data centres around the world- Nightmare, nuff said  (Protection Manager & DFM - NOT the answer)

I am currently pulling something together with Powershell to resolve this.  Problem has been centralization but I am looking to resolve this with Microsoft System center.  Will post the project via my NetApp blog in the next couple of week.

Early days at the minute but it does seam to work.

If you want to try yourself

NetApp Oncommand beta {free}

NetApp Powershell Toolkit {free}

MS system center orchestrator 2012 beta {free}

http://communities.netapp.com/community/interfaces_and_tools/data_ontap_powershell_toolkit/data_ontap_powershell_toolkit_downloads

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/en/details.aspx?FamilyID=a3c5d033-a984-403f-a81d-0680984a3e10

http://communities.netapp.com/docs/DOC-7347

Bren

PS - Looking forward to any other solutions people may have.

[tyrone_owen_1]

Hello,

Came across this post and it's the exact issue I'm grappling with at the moment.

Has anything moved on from this centralised reporting issue?

Has anyone worked on a successful solution?

Thanks

[MAXMOUSE37]

Hey all,

I've run into this same issue and have developed a powershell script to parse all the reports remotely and send a formatted summary report.  I'd be happy to share the exact steps on setting it up and using it if people are interested.

Mm.,

[tyrone_owen_1]

Yes please - thanks

[SCHO228901]

Could you please share your PowerShell scripts with me?

Thanks,

Josh