Bluearc Titan Snapshots
Bluearc Titan storage series provides snapshot capability that allows for near-instantaneous hot backups and rapid restores. BlueArc can store up to 1,024 snapshot images per volume on Titan.
If you purchase the feature license from Zmanda (available at the Zmanda Network Downloads page), ZRM for MySQL includes an optional snapshot plugin that integrates with Bluearc Titan series to create consistent MySQL full backups. It creates temporary snapshots of the Bluearc volumes on which to perform a full backup. When snapshots are enabled, ZRM for MySQL can perform backups with minimal impact on MySQL applications. Database writes will be blocked only during snapshot creation, which typically takes less than a second regardless of database size.
This page describes the configuration of Bluearc Titan snapshot backups, including requirements for the MySQL database.
MySQL Configuration Requirements
- Sudo privileges must be configured for mysql user on the MySQL server (see the next section). On Solaris platforms, this means the SMCsudo package must be installed.
- If you are backing up a remote MySQL server, the destination directory specified on the Backup Where page must exist on the MySQL server as well as the ZRM server. The MySQL backup user (OS-level) must have read/write permission to access this directory.
All MySQL data and logs must reside on Bluearc storage. Please see Bluearc Administration Guide on how to configure Bluearc storage volumes.
ZRM user "mysql" should have permissions to read and write to the volumes.
Pre-conditions for Using Bluearc Titan Snapshots
- The MySQL backup user must be granted sudo privileges to execute Bluearc ssc command and some system commands on the MySQL server. Add a line similar to the following example to /etc/sudoers on the MySQL server:
mysql MySQLserver.mycompany.com=NOPASSWD:/bin/mount,NOPASSWD:/bin/umount,NOPASSWD:/bin/df, \
NOPASSWD:<path to ssc command>
- where MySQLserver.mycompany.com is the fully-qualified domain name for the MySQL server. Please correct the path to ssc command in the above example. Please see KB article for more information on sudo configuration.
- All MySQL database files (data, log, indexes) must be stored in Bluearc storage to ensure consistency. If any of the files are not on Bluearc storage, a raw backup using mysqlhotcopy, or a logical backup using mysqldumpwill be taken based on the storage engines of the tables in each of the databases.
- The Bluearc ssc command is required on the MySQL server. This command is available from Bluearc for all customers. Please contact Bluearc for more information.
- BlueArc Virtual Volumes are logical entities that reside on top of the base volume of Titan. Snapshot of Virtual volumes is not supported. So, the base volumes will have to be exported to the MySQL server so that snapshot backup method can be used.
- The export name should be the same name as file system name i.e, File system label and Export name must be the same. For example: Consider the following Titan configuration
smet3-1:$ filesystem-list Name Dev On span State EVS Cap(GB) Confined Flag ----------------- ---- ----------------- ----- --- ------- -------- ---- test1 1025 zManda Mount 2 106 0
smet3-1:$ vn 2 nfs-export list | more
Export name: /test1
Export path: /
File system label: test1
File system size: 107 GB
File system free space: 19.0 GB
File system state:
formatted = Yes
mounted = Yes
failed = No
thin provisioned = No
Browse snapshots: Yes
Read Caching: Disabled
Configuring ZRM for MySQL to use Bluearc Titan Snapshots
To activate use of Bluearc Titan Snapshots, simply select the Bluearc Titan Snapshot as the Backup Method in theBackup How page. Please note that snapshots are performed only for full backups. This option will appear only if the Zmanda optional license for Bluearc Titan snapshots has been installed on the ZRM server.
- Bluearc IP address
- IP address of Bluearc Titan storage device (hostnames are not allowed). This is a mandatory parameter as there is no default.
- Username
- User on the Bluearc storage. The user must be have Supervisor role. Supervisor can only perform snapshot operations. This paramater is mandatory.
- Password
- Bluearc storage user password.
- SSC Binpath
- The absolute path to ssc command. The ssc is command line tool available from Bluearc for Linux/Solaris platform. This command must be installed on the MySQL server.
- Backup Type
- Choose the method of snapshot backup. The Standard (Copy) option specifies that the snapshot should be copied to a standard ZRM for MySQL backup archive. The Quick (No Copy) option specifies that the snapshot itself should be used as a near-line backup. Quick backups are convenient as they provide faster backups and restores, but because they remain on the MySQL server they do not protect against media or server failure. Note that if the quick option is specified, the compress and encrypt options are ignored. In addition, no checksums are performed, which means that quick snapshot backups cannot be verified. Quick snapshot backups may be converted to standard backups stored on the ZRM server using the Convert Backup option available from the Reports menu tab.
Fallback for Logical
If this field is set to yes and snapshot backup fails, the logical backup is attempted. Set the value to No if you do not want to do logical backup if there is a snapshot backup failure.
Remote MySQL Binary Path
Path to the MySQL commands on the MySQL server.
Binary Log Path
Location of binary logs on the MySQL server that are used for log incremental backups.