Netbackup Servers And Clients; Netbackup Centralized Management - VERITAS NetBackup White Paper

NetBackup Servers and Clients

VERITAS NetBackup includes both client and server software. Server software resides only on the platforms that manage the
physical devices used for secondary storage. Client software resides on the individual client workstations containing the data
to be backed up (a server can also be a client). In this architecture, client software is responsible for generating the data
stream to be backed up and server software directs this data stream to a secondary storage device.

NetBackup Centralized Management

VERITAS NetBackup DataCenter accommodates multiple servers working together in a backup storage domain, under the
administrative control of one of the servers in the storage domain. In this relationship, the NetBackup administrative control
server is designated to be the "master" server, and the other servers in the storage domain, designated as "media" servers,
operate under control of the master server. All NetBackup administrative functions are performed from one location on the
master server, and the master server controls all backup scheduling for each media server. Each of the media servers perform
the actual backup operations under direction from the master, and backup data stays local to the media servers and their
directly attached devices. A master server and its associated media servers are referred to collectively as a NetBackup storage
domain, and large networks may have more than one storage domain.
Figure 2: A master server / media server storage domain.
Figure 2 diagrams a simple master/media server configuration. The master in each storage domain serves a single point of
administration for all backup operations in the storage domain. Administrators configure backup policies, manage all media
and media pools, and configure all local and remote devices in the storage domain from the master without having to log on
to or directly access any of the media servers. In addition to retaining backup schedules and other configuration information,
the master server contains the backup catalog for the entire storage domain. Users can browse this catalog to locate and
restore files.
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