DD Boost with EMC Avamar

Data Domain systems can be used as storage for Avamar backup data. Backup data is sent directly from the client to the Data Domain system using DDBoost technology. Backups can then be managed through the Avamar system.

This can provide faster backup and recovery, especially for large active databases. Data Domain integration is supported for File system data, NDMP data, Lotus Domino, DB2, Microsoft Exchange VSS, Hyper-V VSS, Microsoft SQL Server, Microsoft SharePoint VSS, Oracle, SAP with Oracle, Sybase, and VMware image backup and restore.

Maintenance activities that are performed on the Avamar server are also performed on any data stored on the Data Domain. This means that a backup that has expired or been deleted on the Avamar server will be deleted from the Data Domain. Avamar garbage collection, checkpoints, rollbacks, and HFS checks and replication trigger similar processes on the Data Domain system. More information on these maintenance activities are discussed later in this course.

Integrating Avamar with Data Domain provides a few additional features. When performing image level backups of virtual machines, a virtual machine may be booted from the backup data without the need to perform a restore. This feature is called "instant access" because the virtual machine can be used instantly. The VM runs off of Data Domain storage. Eventually, the VM can be moved back to VMware storage using vMotion.

Single-node and AVE servers have the option of performing backups of checkpoint data to a Data Domain. This provides disaster recovery without the need for a second Avamar server. In the event of a disaster, the checkpoint can be restored to the replacement Avamar then restored.