VDI Backup type question

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VDI Backup question

I have to ask this question from the practice exams. I don't understand the explanation. It's horrendous

You run System Center Data Protection Manager in a virtual machine in a hyper-v host cluster. You have to back up some components of your vdi environment. You want to use a windows server 2016 file and storage server as a dpm storage solution to save vhd and vhdx backup files on an smb share on the file server. You have to configure the deduplication feature on the relevant volume.

What usage type of data deduplication should you use
general purpose server or virtualized backup server or virtual desktop infrastructure. Correct answer is virtualized backup server.

Why.. The explanation is greek to me. I got sucked in and chose the vdi answer. It's a vdi enivronment.

John,

I hope all is well. The short answer is that in order to run SCDPM for a VDI solution as described in the question, which is THE WAY TO RUN AND CONFIGURE IT, your ONLY OPTION is to use the Virtualized Backup Server usage type because, Dedup can be implemented on the following workloads:

General file shares: Group content publication and sharing, user home folders, and Folder Redirection/Offline Files

Software deployment shares: Software binaries, images, and updates

VHD libraries: Virtual hard disk (VHD) file storage for provisioning to hypervisors

VDI Deployments (Windows Server 2012 R2 only): Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) deployments using Hyper-V

Virtualized backup: Backup solutions (such as DPM running in a Hyper-V virtual machine) that save backup data to VHD/VHDX files on a Windows File Server.

It boils down to a versioning issue with the VDI support vs. the Virtualized backup solution running in a VM being used to backup to VHD/VHDX files.

If you want to read more about it, and see the process of setting it up and configuring it, take a look here:

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/system-center/dpm/deduplicate-dpm-storage?view=sc-dpm-2019

Hope that helps. Good luck as you continue studying.

Cheers,

Adam

@Adam-Gordon I'm not following your explanation very well. Is it using virtual backup because it's running scdpm, or because the server is a file and print server or smb shares? I'm having a hard time with this topic. Thank you though for the explanation.

John,

I hope all is well. My apologies if I was not clear enough in my prior answer. Based on what the details of the question are that you have shared, the right answer is that the Dedup capability/function needs to be deployed/configured as the Virtualized Backup server usage type, because that is the only workload that supports the scenario you describe.

Virtualized backup: Backup solutions (such as DPM running in a Hyper-V virtual machine) that save backup data to VHD/VHDX files on a Windows File Server.

The VDI part of the question is not actually relevant to answering correctly, it is just there to confuse you. If they had specified a version for the VDI solution, as I indicated in my last posting, then that would be different, because you would have to take note of whether the support for the VDI solution was available or not.

VDI Deployments (Windows Server 2012 R2 only): Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) deployments using Hyper-V

Hopefully that helps to clarify further for you. Please let me know f you have any other questions.

Cheers,

Adam

@Adam-Gordon I'm afraid it doesn't. I'm sorry, but what is your highlighted text referring too? Is it that 2012r2 supports vdi backus and 2016 server doesn't support vdi backups? I'm kinda lost.
The question is doing a good job then of confusing me.

My mistake when I referred to your quote I meant this one

Virtualized backup: Backup solutions (such as DPM running in a Hyper-V virtual machine) that save backup data to VHD/VHDX files on a Windows File Server.

I'm not clear on the significance of the statement. Obviously, I'm not very well versed on this topic.

John,

No problem, let me take a step back and see if we can clear up the confusion.

There are three Usage Types included with Data Deduplication, as noted below:

1. Default - tuned specifically for general purpose file servers

2. Hyper-V - tuned specifically for VDI servers

3. Backup - tuned specifically for virtualized backup applications, such as Microsoft DPM

Because the relevant volume that you are being asked to configure deup for on the Windows Server 2016 File Server is being used by SCDPM to store VHD and VHDX files that are backups of the VDI solution, the workload that you must optimize and choose the usage type for is the thing that is using the file server and creating the data being placed there, --> in other words, SCDPM.

That means that of the three usage types that are supported, the only one that is designed to work appropriately for SCDPM as the workload creating the data that will need to be deduped is 3. Backup.

Does that make more sense?

@Adam-Gordon said in VDI Backup type question:

Microsoft DPM

Thank you it helps a little. I am seeing that part of my difficulty is there are a lot of terms and concepts you are using that I don't understand. No reflection on you it's just a lot to try and piece together so I can get my head around the information. One other thing I see I'm not clear on is SCDPM. The article I read today seemed to explain it fairly well, https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/system-center/dpm/how-dpm-protects-data?view=sc-dpm-2019

However, part of your explanation makes me think I'm not seeing a bigger picture. Maybe it's just the way I'm reading it. Is SCDPM only a backup solution? That's what I'm getting from the link I have read.
And your explanation of "the workload that you must optimize and choose the usage type for is the thing that is using the file server and creating the data being placed there, --> in other words, SCDPM" is saying that scdpm is creating the data (making a backup/replica) and storing it on the 2016 smb share referenced in the question?

Again thank you very much for your time.

John,

I am glad that you are beginning to feel like the fog is lifting a bit.

Microsoft DPM, or System Center Data Protection Manager (SCDPM), one in the same, is a product that is an enterprise data backup solution. It is like BackUp Exec or ARCServe, but is part of the System Center Family of prducts, a suite, that does many things such as Operations Management (SCOM), Configuration Management (SCCM) and Service Level Management (SCSM).

Yes, SCDPM s executing the backup(s) in question, and then is using the Windows Server File Share(s) to store the backups and manage them.

Cheers,

Adam

Perhaps this last question will clear the fog as well. I am following what you're saying. But, then I re-read the question, and explanation, and well...my eyes roll up again. This last portion of the explanation is not making sense. It "seems" as though the criteria is being met to use vdi backups. I'm not seeing the differences..

Does this explanation boil down to the fact that what is being backed up is not on a vdi server so the virtual backup server is the correct choice? I understand the no hyper-v statement.

I see I am saying some of your explanations in different ways. Paraphrasing some of this helps me understand.

John,

I can only speak to how I would read and think about the question to answer it, and since I did not write the question, or the explanation, I can only offer you my perspective on how I am interpreting it.

Having said that, my thought process has been that you base the usage type for dedup on the workload, the thing that is generating the data that is being sent to the Windows File Server to be deduped. That is how we do it n the real world wen we architect and set up these systems, and how we teach students to understand the technology and how to optimize it for best results.

Assuming that I am correct, and that is a safe assumption in this particular case, then the way to get to the right answer is to identify what the workload is.... and as we discussed in the previous posting, the workload is SCDPM.

Let me put it this way:

Problem is "Good question , Bad and confusing explanation."

Solution is " Keep good question, use better explanation from Adam (ignore and forget about original bad explanation) and be happy !!

Let me know if you have any other questions as you continue to study. My direct e-mail is: adam@itpro.tv

Cheers,

Adam

@Adam-Gordon Ha,,love it.

Ok I've been going back to this and im afraid im still not clear about this. Could I lab this?

John,

I hope all is well. I suppose that you could, as long as you had all of the moving parts and pieces available to you. I am not sure if one of the practice labs that are available with the Windows Server 2016 shows would have all the required systems available, as we do not tend to setup and use SCDPM in the labs.

You could certainly build some VM's and setup an environment for yourself, but I am not sure if you have the resources to do that or not. If you want to give it a try, then I would begin by looking at the following for the SCDPM piece and how to setup and deploy it:

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/system-center/dpm/plan-dpm-deployment?view=sc-dpm-2019

I would look here for the Windows Server file server pieces:

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-server/storage/data-deduplication/overview

Keep in mind that you would need to build out an environment that had AT LEAST three VM’s:

1. A Windows DC for you domain
2. A Windows Server that runs the File/Storage Services and hosts the Dedup functionality
3. A Windows Server that runs SCDPM

You would need Eval copies of the software to set all that up, which you could get from the Microsoft Eval Center.

Link to Eval Center:
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/evalcenter/evaluate-windows-server-2016

Good Luck !!

Cheers,

Adam