Avamar Data Migration Enabler ADMe is a utility (free) providing automation around the need for extending the retention of Avamar backup data by migrating their content to a different storage medium such as tape, disk (VTL or DDBoost as well), cloud based storage or just stand alone USB hard drives. Unfortunately, the migration has to be done via 3rd backup software like Networker or NetBackup. ADMe can be used on any Avamar system type such as vSphere Data Protection Advanced (VDPA). VDPA is a backup solution provided by VMware and included in Essentials + or higher license. Formally, vSphere Data Protection supports backup to storage such EMC Data Domain or remote backup replica - VDP Replication Target (RT). However, because VDPA is based on Avamar engine, it is possible to migrate backup to tapes via ADMe – Avamar Data Migration Enabler!
There are three methods of data migration:
- Rehydration - using staging servers. The staging servers can be based on Windows (to maintain Windows specific file attributes) or Linux/Unix. Backups of Hyper-V, SharePoint and Exchange (and more) also can be rehydrated, however there are some specific requirements (e.g. staging server OS with Hyper-V installed).
- ATMOS/Cloud for Extended Retention - direct migration to the cloud.
- Archive Stream - backups are staged to archive file (PEX format).
Avamar Data Migration Enabler (ADMe) - NetBackup with VDPA
As shown on the above figure, VDPA backups are being rehydrated to the staging servers and then migrated to tapes by NetBackup. Any number of staging servers can be leveraged concurrently to increase aggregate throughput considerably. The supported backup solutions are as follows:
- EMC Networker
- Veritas NetBackup and BackupExec
- HP Data Protector
- ArcServ/Brighstore
- TSM
- CommVault
To sum up, ADMe features are as follows:
- Support migration of backups to public or private cloud storage.
- Fully cataloged tape backup.
- File level recovery directly from tape or cloud.
- Support for any number of staging servers for concurrent migration sessions.
- All Avamar system types supported including Networker De-Dup node and VDP/VDPA.
- Easy to use menu driven UI.
- Supports incremental and non-incremental migration strategies.
- Many applications supported (plugins) - Exchange 2007/2010, Hyper-V, Lotus, SAP, SQL and more. Please follow the Compatibility Guide.
If you use VDPA, ADMe can be a good way to keep some backups on tapes with longer retention.
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