Backup network file systems
You can configure the backup-archive client to protect files that are accessed with either Network File System (NFS) or Common Internet File System (CIFS) protocols.
Backup performance is better when you install the backup-archive client where the file system physically exists. But sometimes it is necessary to access file systems by using NFS or CIFS to back up or recover data on remote shared drives. The backup-archive client on AIX®, Linux, Mac OS X, and Solaris operating systems can back up, archive, restore, and retrieve file data on an NFS or CIFS-mounted shared drive. The operations are valid on all versions of the NFS protocol, including NFS version 2, NFS version 3, and NFS version 4.
The backup-archive can back up and restore access control lists when it is configured to use NFS version 4.
The following restrictions apply when the backup-archive client protects data on network file system volumes:
- Backup-archive clients cannot complete image backups of network file system volumes.
- Backup-archive clients on AIX cannot complete snapshot-based file backups or archive files on network file system volumes.
- Backup-archive clients cannot complete journal-based backups of network file system volumes.
- Backup-archive clients might not be able to back up NetApp volume snapshots if they are accessed by using the NFS protocol. If the NetApp filer provides different device identifiers for its volume snapshots, these snapshots might be excluded from backups. The behavior depends on the OS version, the NetApp filer version, and the settings.
- Back up NFS file systems with the global namespace feature
NFS V4 clients can back up NFS file systems that are mounted by using the global namespace feature, which is called a referral. All file systems in the global namespace are backed up under a single file space.