VSS Options
Use the VSS Options property page to configure preferences that are used during VSS backup and restore operations.
- Default Backup Destination
- Select the default storage location for your backups.
Tip: You must have the IBM Storage® Protect Snapshot license to use the IBM Storage Protect software. If you have only the Data Protection license, only the IBM Storage Protect option is enabled.You can select from the following storage locations:
- IBM Storage Protect
- The backup is only stored on IBM Storage Protect server storage. Select this option for workloads that are configured with IBM Storage Protect server. For Exchange Server, IBM Storage Protect server is the default backup destination. For SQL Server, IBM Storage Protect server is the default backup destination.
- Local
- The backup is only stored on local disk. For custom application and file system data, a local backup is the default backup destination.
- Both
- The backup is stored on both IBM Storage Protect server storage and local disk. Select this option for workloads that are configured with IBM Storage Protect server.
For IBM Storage Protect configurations, the backups can be stored on a local disk, but managed on the IBM Storage Protect server. The IBM Storage Protect server maintains the metadata or information about where the local snapshot is stored.
- Local DSMAGENT Node name
- Specify the node name for the DSM Agent node of the local client system that creates the VSS backups.
- Remote DSMAGENT Node name
- Specify the node name of the system that moves the VSS data to IBM Storage Protect server storage during offloaded backups. If you do not use offloaded backups, you can leave this field blank.
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If you are running offloaded backups, a dedicated (and unique) remote DSM agent node must exist for each local DSM agent node.
- Import VSS snapshots only when needed
- By default, local persistent VSS snapshots are automatically imported to the Windows™ system where the snapshots are created. If you select this option, the VSS snapshots are imported to the local host when needed to perform IBM Storage Protect
Snapshot operations.
To automatically import local persistent snapshots to the Windows system where the snapshots are created, the check box should be cleared.
If you intend to keep many backup versions (for example, more than 100 backup versions), or, if there is a limit to the number of LUNs that your server can use (for example, in virtual machine environments), select this option.
When you select this option, if the VSS hardware provider does not support transportable snapshots, or, if no hardware provider is available, the backup is completed, but the VSS snapshot is imported and is not transportable.
If you are running in a VMware environment and want to use VMware vMotion, ensure the LUNs are properly zoned to the ESX hosts and select this option. By choosing to import VSS snapshots when the snapshots are needed, the import process maps the VSS snapshot to the ESX host where the Windows virtual machine is running.
- During Instant Restore, automatically stop and restart necessary Microsoft™ Exchange services
- When this option is selected, during instant restore operations, the following Microsoft Exchange services are, as necessary, automatically stopped and restarted:
- (DAG environments only) Exchange Replication Service
- (Exchange 2013 only) Exchange Search Host Controller Service
- Mount read only
- Select the check box to specify that backups are to be mounted as read-only VSS snapshots by default. However, at mount time, you can override this value and do a read/write mount. If you change the default, the corresponding update is made in your configuration file automatically.
- Mount read/write (modifies backup, applies to COPY backups only)
- Select the check box to specify that backups are to be mounted as read/write VSS snapshots by default. You can mount only COPY backups as read/write and after mounting, the original backup is modified and can no longer be used as a restore point in future database restore operations. However, at mount time, you can override this value and do a read-only mount.
- Mount read/write (without modifying backup)
- Select this check box to specify that backups are to be mounted as read/write copies of the backup by default. With this option, you can mount both FULL and COPY backup types as read/write. After mounting, the original backup is not modified and you can use it again in future database restore operations. However, at mount time you can override this value and do a read-only mount.
Important:This mount option is only available for the following devices:
- SAN Volume Controller (SVC) devices, which require IBM® System Storage® Support for Microsoft Virtual Disk and Volume Shadow Copy Services version 4.12 or later. Dynamic target allocation is not supported.
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XIV system devices, which require IBM Storage Accelerate Family Provider for Microsoft Windows Volume Shadow Copy Service version 2.9 or later.