Instant Access

This feature provides instant writable access to data and application recovery points. A DPX Block Data Protection snapshot is mapped as a network disk to a target client node where it can be accessed, copied, or put immediately into production use as needed. The recovery point itself is not affected by any changes made on the network disk.

Once Instant Access is activated, backup instances appear as local, fully accessible (read/write) drives. For quick recovery of individual files, users can easily copy from an Instant Access drive to another drive on the local node. However, Instant Access can be used in more sophisticated ways as part of a recovery strategy:

• Files on the secondary are transparently available allowing you to continue to work while normal recovery runs in parallel to restore data to primary storage. (See Modifying and Recovering in the DPX 4.9.x User’s Guide.) Since data can be modified while the Instant Access mapping is in effect, the modified data may need to be restored to complete the recovery process. Steps outside DPX can be used to recover the modified data. (See Recovering Modified Data in the DPX 4.9.x User’s Guide.)

• Instant Access can be used in conjunction with SnapMirror for uninterrupted access to mirrored Block backups. For example, you can mirror Block backups from a storage system to an alternate secondary, such as a high-performance offsite storage system, then use Instant Access to give users rapid access to data on the offsite system. (See Instant Access Mapping to the NetApp Alternate Secondary in the DPX 4.9.x User’s Guide.)

• Instant Access is an efficient backup verification tool since backup instances on the storage system are readily usable from a standby node. (See Verifying a Block Backup by Using iSCSI Mapping in the DPX 4.9.x User’s Guide.)

Creating an Instant Access Restore

1. Go to Job Manager in the sidebar.

2. Click New Restore Job to open the New Restore dialog.

3. Select Instant Access and click Next.

4. The Object to Restore view shows all nodes that you backed up using DPX Block Backup. The available objects to restore can be sorted by Name, Type, associated Job Name, or the backup Date/Time. Find the Node that contains the files or directories you want to restore. Click Next.

From this point on, the workflow is slightly different for Block backups from Linux and Windows machines.

Restoring from Windows Block Backup

5. From the list of volumes within the object, select the volume you want to mount as an Instant Access disk. Click Next.

6. In the Recovery Points step, select the recovery point to restore. The available recovery points can be sorted by Backup Date/Time, Job Name, Secondary Node or Secondary Volume. Click Next.

7. In the Mount Destination step, select the destination Node Name from the drop-down list. Only Windows nodes will be available for selection. Then, from the Path drop-down list, select the letter identifying the newly mounted disk. Click Next.

8. In the Options step, you can select the Alternate Secondary Node. This step is optional. You can skip it by just clicking Next. In all previous steps of creating a restore job, the available selections were based on the backup metadata stored on DPX. This means that DPX is aware of all backups made by the user and where they are stored. If, during backup or at a later stage, the backup data have been replicated to a secondary location and the primary location becomes corrupt or inaccessible, you can choose to restore your data from such secondary location using this option.

   1. Select the Secondary Node from the drop-down list.

   2. Select the volume where the alternate backup is stored.

   DPX will attempt to identify the files or directories specified in previous steps. If this proves impossible, the following warning will be displayed:

   

   See also. For more information, see Creating vStor Partnerships in vStor documentation.

9. In the Mounting Image step, wait for DPX to mount the selected volume.

After a while, the success screen will be shown.

10. Click Finish. To manage the items mounted by DPX, find the Active Restores widget on the Dashboard.

If you cannot see the freshly mounted volume in the Active Restores widget, click Scan and wait a few moments. DPX Master Server will communicate with the Clients to retrieve information about the mounted volume.

You can now access your IA-mounted volume on your Windows machine.

Note. Remember that by acting upon the IA-mounted volume, you are actually connecting to the vStor the backup is stored in (or the secondary node). This translates to a potentially high latency.

Restoring from Linux Block Backup

5. From the list of volumes within the object, select the volume you want to mount as an Instant Access disk. Click Next.

6. In the Recovery Points step, select the recovery point to restore. The available recovery points can be sorted by Backup Date/Time, Job Name, Secondary Node or Secondary Volume. Click Next.

7. In the Mount Destination step, select the destination Node Name from the drop-down list. Only Linux nodes will be available for selection. Then, type the mounting point for the newly mounted disk. For a new directory, type it at the end of the existing path. Click Next.

8. In the Options step, you can select the Alternate Secondary Node. This step is optional. You can skip it by just clicking Next. In all previous steps of creating a restore job, the available selections were based on the backup metadata stored on DPX. This means that DPX is aware of all backups made by the user and where they are stored. If, during backup or at a later stage, the backup data have been replicated to a secondary location and the primary location becomes corrupt or inaccessible, you can choose to restore your data from such secondary location using this option.

   1. Select the Secondary Node from the drop-down list.

   2. Select the volume where the alternate backup is stored.

   DPX will attempt to identify the files or directories specified in previous steps. If this proves impossible, the following warning will be displayed:

   

   See also. For more information, see Creating vStor Partnerships in vStor documentation.

9. In the Mounting Image step, wait for DPX to mount the selected volume.

After a while, the success screen will be shown.

10. Click Finish. To manage the items mounted by DPX, find the Active Restores widget on the Dashboard.

If you cannot see the freshly mounted volume in the Active Restores widget, click Scan and wait a few moments. DPX Master Server will communicate with the Clients to retrieve information about the mounted volume.

You can now access your IA-mounted volume on your Linux machine.

Note. Remember that by acting upon the IA-mounted volume, you are actually connecting to the vStor the backup is stored in (or the secondary node). This translates to a potentially high latency.

Unmounting an Instant Access Volume

To unmount an Instant Access from a machine, go to the DPX Master Server dashboard and click the “X” symbol next to the Instant Access Mapping item to unmount it.

The volume will be unmounted from the machine and will disappear from the widget.

Important. Never unmount an Instant Access volume directly from the machine where it is mounted. This may result in inconsistent behavior.