As enterprises continue to amass vast volumes of unstructured data on NAS (Network Attached Storage) platforms, the demand for resilient, high-performance NAS backup solutions has never been greater. Recognizing this need, Hitachi Vantara has introduced an solution enabling Veeam Backup & Replication to perform NAS backups directly from storage snapshots on the VSP One File storage platform. This approach delivers substantial technical and operational benefits for data protection teams.
NAS Backup from Storage Snapshot: An Overview
NAS backup from storage snapshot leverages the native snapshot functionality of Hitachi VSP One File to create hardware-level, point-in-time copies of NAS shares. Veeam Backup & Replication orchestrates these snapshots and performs backup operations against the snapshot, rather than directly from the production NAS share. This separation of backup processing from production data is crucial for optimizing both performance and reliability.
Why Choose NAS Backup from Storage Snapshot?
1. Minimal Production Impact
By leveraging hardware snapshots, Veeam Backup & Replication offloads backup operations from the live file system. Instead of reading data from active shares, which can introduce contention or performance bottlenecks, Veeam accesses data from a snapshot stored on the VSP One File array. This approach significantly reduces the impact on business-critical file services during backup windows.
2. Consistent, Point-in-Time Backups
Hitachi VSP One File snapshots capture a consistent state of the file system, including open or locked files. This ensures Veeam Backup & Replication produces reliable, point-in-time consistent backups and eliminates risks associated with files being in use or modified during backup.
3. Accelerated Backup and Restore Operations
Snapshots on Hitachi VSP One File are near-instantaneous, allowing Veeam Backup & Replication to initiate backups immediately, without waiting for file scans. The result is dramatically reduced backup and recovery times, empowering organizations to meet stringent RPO (Recovery Point Objective) and RTO (Recovery Time Objective) requirements in mission-critical environments.
4. Enhanced Cyber Resilience and Immutability
Hitachi Vantara's immutable snapshots on the VSP One File platform, combined with Veeam's support for immutable backup repositories, deliver robust protection against malicious deletion and ransomware threats. Immutable snapshots and backup targets are essential elements of a modern, cyber-resilient data protection strategy.
Getting Started
For implementation guidance, including sample scripts and configuration documentation, visit the Hitachi Vantara GitHub repository. Veeam Backup & Replication provides the ability to run a script before the backup job execution, and after the backup job execution. These are commonly referred to as pre- and post-backup scripts. You will find sample pre- and post-backup scripts for VSP One File filesystems on Hitachi Vantara's GitHub repository. These are working pre- and post-backup scripts, but you will need to customize the environment variables for use in your environment.
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Mark Polin
Senior Solutions Architect, Product Management Alliances
Veeam Software
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