IBM Storage Protect backup node

This topic describes how IBM Storage Scale is integrated with IBM Storage Protect.

IBM Storage Scale can integrate with IBM Storage Protect in one of two ways. IBM Storage Scale can be used as a backup pool for IBM Storage Protect. In this use, external clients use IBM Storage Protect to back up their data to the file system. Alternatively, IBM Storage Protect can also be used to back up the IBM Storage Scale file system itself. When you use IBM Storage Scale as a backup target, one or more nodes run the IBM Storage Protect server. This server is contacted by other clients in order to back up. The IBM Storage Scale server must communicate to external clients via a separate network used for internal cluster traffic, due to the bandwidth requirements on this server.

IBM Storage Scale can also integrate with IBM Storage Protect in order to back up the IBM Storage Scale file system. One or more nodes in the cluster can run the IBM Storage Protect agents, which transfer data to an IBM Storage Protect server. Other backup platforms also might use a similar agent to scan and migrate data on a file system.

Backup nodes can become heavily used during the backup window, when data is scanned and transferred to the backup provider. It is best to use a separate network on these nodes for communication with the backup server. It is also best to not run any other applications on these nodes, especially during the backup window itself.

IBM Storage Protect uses the IBM Storage Scale policy engine to scan for changed files. This scan can run across multiple nodes in the cluster, other than just the node that runs the backup agent. For more information about guidance on helper nodes during a policy scan, see the Default helper node section.

Both nodes used to run the IBM Storage Protect server, as well as nodes that run the client are required to be separate from the servers that provide storage for IBM Storage Scale RAID.