Support for NDMP protocol

Supports the NDMP protocol versions V2, V3, and V4.

Centralized backup policy management

Scheduling, catalog management, and other backup tasks are managed from a NetBackup primary server. NetBackup for NDMP can be installed on a NetBackup primary or media server.

Accelerator for NDMP

NetBackup's Accelerator option makes NDMP backups for NetApp and Isilon filers run faster than normal NDMP backups. NetBackup Accelerator increases the speed of full backups by using the filer's change detection techniques to identify the modifications that occurred since the last backup. More information about the feature is available:

See About NetBackup Accelerator for NDMP.

Support for NetApp cDOT filers

NetBackup for NDMP supports NetApp clustered Data ONTAP (cDOT) filers. More information about configuring NetBackup to work with NetApp cDOT filers is available:

See Configure an NDMP filer.

Support for wildcards in NDMP backup policy selections

Wildcard characters in regular expressions or directives are valid for streaming and non-streaming NDMP backups.

Device and media management

NetBackup software provides complete management and control of the devices and media that are used for backups and restores of NDMP hosts. The NetBackup web UI discovers and configures the storage devices that are attached to an NDMP host. (This function requires NDMP protocol V3 or V4.) Note that wizard-based discovery depends upon a number of device-specific features, such as SCSI inquiry and serialization, which some NAS vendors may not support.

High-speed local backup of NDMP hosts

Backup data travels between the disk drives and tape drives that are directly attached to the same NDMP host. This transfer provides high-speed backup but does not slow network throughput.

Backup of network-attached NDMP hosts to a tape device on another NDMP host or to advanced tape libraries with an embedded NDMP server

Backup data travels across the network from a disk on an NDMP host to tape on another NDMP host. This backup is referred to as a three-way backup. This data movement option requires support from the NAS/NDMP host.

Backup of a network-attached NDMP host to a tape device on a NetBackup media server

Backup data travels across the network from a disk on an NDMP host to tape on a NetBackup media server. This backup is a form of three-way backup also known as remote NDMP. This feature supports NDMP V2, V3, and V4 on the NDMP hosts.

Shared tape libraries

Tape libraries can be shared between NDMP hosts and NetBackup servers or between multiple NDMP hosts. Robotic control can be on an NDMP host or on a NetBackup server.

Shared tape drives with the Shared Storage Option

Tape drives can be shared between servers (both NetBackup servers and NDMP hosts). This setup requires the Shared Storage Option (SSO) license.

For a list of the features and software releases for each NAS vendor, for SSO support, and for the NetBackup versions that support these vendors, see the NetBackup Compatibility List.

Snapshots of data on NDMP hosts

NetBackup can take point-in-time data snapshots on an NDMP (NAS) host without interrupting client access to data, using the NDMP V4 snapshot extension. The snapshot is stored on the same device that contains the NDMP client data. From the snapshot, you can restore individual files or roll back a file system or volume by means of Snapshot Client Instant Recovery. A NetBackup Snapshot Client license is required, in addition to the NetBackup for NDMP license. This Snapshot Client feature uses the NAS_Snapshot method and the NDMP method.

For more information about the NDMP snapshot method, refer to the NetBackup Replication Director Solutions Guide

NDMP DirectCopy

NetBackup can copy virtual tape library (VTL) images directly from the VTL to physical tape or to another VTL. This function occurs without using media server I/O resources or network bandwidth. NetBackup can copy NDMP backup images directly from one NDMP-attached tape drive to another NDMP tape drive that is attached to the same NDMP host. Note that the operation does not use media server I/O.

Direct Access Recovery (DAR)

For NDMP hosts that support DAR, this feature greatly reduces the time to restore a directory, a single file, or a small number of files.

Path-based file history

The NDMP server can send catalog information consisting of complete path names to NetBackup. Some vendors do not support this feature. Up-to-date information is available on the vendors that support path-based history. For a list of the features and software releases for each NAS vendor, for SSO support, and for the NetBackup versions that support these vendors, see the NetBackup Compatibility List.

Support for NetBackup for NDMP servers in a NetBackup-clustered environment

The NetBackup for NDMP servers are supported in a NetBackup-clustered environment.

Enhanced ability to run customized scripts during a backup

The enhanced ability to run customized scripts during a backup, especially for relational databases residing on NAS devices.

NDMP multiplexing

NDMP multiplexing enables NDMP backups to be multiplexed to Media Manager storage units. Only remote NDMP multiplexing is supported.

NDMP to disk

NetBackup can write NDMP backups to disk storage units.

IPv6 support

NDMP supports 128-bit IPv6 address data connections in addition to the 32-bit IPv4 address data connections. NDMP data connections are made between filers or between a NetBackup media server and a filer that is used to transfer the backup image. By default the NetBackup media server is enabled for IPv6 data communication.

Consider the following general items when using NDMP IPv6 address data connections.

NDMP support for Replication Director

NDMP support for Replication Director enables NetBackup to use NDMP for the following functions: backup from snapshots, restore from snapshot backups, live browse snapshots, and restore from snapshots (for copy back method).

For more information about Replication Director, refer to the NetBackup Replication Director Solutions Guide.