Deduplication Preparation - HP 12000 Design Manual

Determine if there are performance bottlenecks in the current backup (for example, LAN or
SAN ISL bottlenecks) that you must resolve to allow full performance to the VLS.
Based on your offsite copy requirements, assess the configuration changes needed to implement
offsite copy. See
◦ Copying through the backup application means creating copy jobs, ensuring there are
good copy paths between the virtual library and the physical library on the SAN (e.g.,
plug into same switch), etc.
◦ Copying with automigration means the system needs no changes to the backup
application.
Copying with replication (deduplication-enabled) means the system needs no changes to
◦
the local backup application, but if there is a separate backup application at the target
device this may require setting up an import script.

Deduplication Preparation

Before upgrading the device, review your current free disk capacity to ensure that there is enough
to hold the deduplication database (1 TB for VLS6000 models, and 2 TB for VLS9X00 and
VLS12X00 models) and deduplication working space (requires a minimum of 5% of your disk
capacity). For example, if you have a VLS6600 with 53 TB capacity you need at least 3.65 TB of
free capacity. If you have a VLS9X00 or VLS12X00 with 120 TB capacity, you need at least 8 TB
of free capacity. If you do not have enough free disk space (for example, all the device disk
capacity is allocated to virtual cartridges), you must delete some virtual cartridges (those holding
the lowest priority backup data) to free up enough disk space for the deduplication database and
working space.
You must then upgrade the VLS to the minimum hardware/firmware level that supports Accelerated
deduplication:
For VLS6000, VLS9000, or VLS12000 nodes that currently have 4 GB of RAM, you must
upgrade them with an additional 12 GB RAM so that every VLS node in the device has 16
GB RAM. Nodes with the "B" part number (such as VLS9000 node AG310B) will already
have 16 GB of RAM pre-installed.
To determine how much RAM you have on each node, log into Command View VLS, select
the System tab, expand Chassis in the navigation pane, and select a node. The Total Memory
is listed in the General section of the node details. The GUI reports usable memory and will
display memory of 14465MB when 16 GB RAM is installed in the node.
Multiple storage pools are supported with deduplication in firmware 3.4.0 or higher. If you
upgrade a VLS6000, VLS9000, or VLS12000 device directly from firmware version 2.3.x to
3.4.0, the existing backup data on the virtual cartridges will not be affected regardless of
how many storage pools are configured. However, if you upgrade to a firmware version lower
than 3.4.0 and your VLS9000 or VLS12000 has multiple storage pools, you must destroy the
existing pools (losing all data) and change them to a single storage pool. HP highly
recommends upgrading directly to firmware 3.4.0 if there are multiple storage pools configured.
VLS6000, VLS9000, and VLS12000 nodes will need to be upgraded to firmware version
3.4.0 or higher. (VLS9200 and VLS12200 nodes are already fully deduplication-ready.) The
HP StorageWorks Virtual Library System Firmware Version 3.4.0 Release Notes covers the
detailed installation process which uses the version 3.4.0 Quick Restore DVDs to reinstall the
deduplication-capable firmware on all nodes in the device. The VLS warm failover feature
maintains the original device configuration so that the resulting upgraded device will present
its original virtual libraries with the same WWPNs and the original virtual cartridges with all
their backup data intact.
132 VLS Configuration and Backup Application Guidelines
"Considerations for Copies" (page 31).