Discover assets

In SAN environment, NetBackup discovers all the Dell EMC PowerStore primary volumes and volume snapshots present on the array. NetBackup discovers only primary type volumes and skips the clone type volumes. For volume snapshots only the snapshot type volumes are discovered.

In NAS environment, NetBackup discovers all the Dell EMC PowerStore NAS servers, file systems, primary NFS exports, and SMB shares along with the file system-snapshots along with some of their directory metadata.

NetBackup also discover the nested NFS exports and SMB shares irrespective of the depth.

Create snapshot

In SAN environment, to create a snapshot, NetBackup calls the REST API with the required information and snapshot name. At the time of volume snapshot creation, a new volume having type (snapshot) is created on the array.

In NAS environment, to create a snapshot, NetBackup calls a REST API with the required information and snapshot name. Dell EMC PowerStore supports two types of snapshots - protocol and snapshot type. NetBackup initiates the protocol type snapshots and retention period is not set on the array for these snapshots. All these snapshots are at a file system level.

A typical snapshot created by NetBackup has the following naming convention:

NB<unique_21digit_number>

Delete snapshot

In SAN environment, to delete a volume snapshot, NetBackup calls the REST API using SDK method with the required volume snapshot details. A subsequent API call confirms the deletion.

In NAS environment, to delete a file system snapshot, NetBackup calls a REST API using SDK method, with the required file system snapshot details. A subsequent API call confirms the deletion.

Restore snapshot

In SAN environment, offers the capability for the PIT rollback and you can use the created snapshot to restore the primary volume. For restore the .snapshot type volume is used.

In NAS environment, NetBackup does not support PIT restore operation on the array. You can perform normal restore on any specified location.

Export snapshot

In SAN environment, NetBackup can export using the snapshots created for volumes. When a NetBackup initiates an export call, a new clone type volume is created from the snapshot and used for backup purpose. A host is added to this clone based on the details that are sent by the NetBackup client.

In NAS environment, NetBackup supports export operations using the NFS and SMB protocols. When NetBackup initiates a snapshot export operation, based on the selected protocol, a new NFS export or SMB share is created using snapshot and parent export or share local path. The newly created export or share name is same as the snapshot name. Also, the host access configurations are added as read-only on a particular export or share.

Deport snapshot

In SAN environment, the deport snapshot operation removes the hosts added for the cloned volume created during the export call. NetBackup deletes all the hosts that are available on the volume. The newly cloned volume is also deleted during the deport operation.