Implementing Backup and Recovery: The Readiness Guide for the Enterprise

Explanation of Specific NetBackup Concepts

The NetBackup product can be thought of as being made up of two major components: netbackup and media manager. The netbackup component is responsible for the who, what, when, where, and how aspects of the backup jobs:

• Who needs to be backed up? The client.

• What needs to be backed up? The file or file list.

• When do the backups run? The schedule.

• Where should they be stored? The logical storage unit.

• How should this policy be handled? Specific attributes of the backup policy.

It also tracks and manages all the backups and all of the backup images.

The media manager component is responsible for managing all the physical media and all the devices. In general, the netbackup component deals with logical devices, and the media manager deals with physical devices.

The netbackup component tracks and manages all the data that is backed up by using the unique backup identifier assigned to each backup image when it is created. It also manages the overall catalog and the scheduling of new tasks. It selects the appropriate media server to match each backup job.

The media manager component manages all the physical storage devices and the physical media. It is through the media manager that the physical tape libraries and drives are configured, and the volume database is populated. The media manager controls the tape libraries and maintains the inventory of all the volumes.