Accelerate Backup and Recovery in Virtual Server Environments With Net App Snap Protect Management...

8/4/2019 Accelerate Backup and Recovery in Virtual Server Environments With Net App Snap Protect Management Software Whitepaper

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White Paper

Accelerate Backup and Recovery in VirtualServer Environments with NetApp SnapProtectManagement Software

May 2011 | WP-7131

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

This white paper explains how NetApp

SnapProtect

management software addresses theproblems associated with protecting applications, data, and virtual infrastructure in complexvirtual server environments. SnapProtect is a comprehensive backup and recovery platformthat combines NetApp Snapshot

replication, and storage efficiency technologies with tape in

a single solution that delivers faster backup and recovery, simplified management, and lowerlong-term costs.


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TABLE OF CONTENTS

1 INTRODUCTION: DATA CENTERS ARE EVOLVING ......................................................................... 32 BACKUP AND RECOVERY NEEDS TO BE MODERNIZED FOR VIRTUAL SERVER

ENVIRONMENTS ................................................................................................................................... 3

3 A FORWARD-LOOKING APPROACH TO BACKUP AND RECOVERY ............................................. 5

THE IMPORTANCE OF NETAPP SNAPSHOT TECHNOLOGY TO BACKUP AND RECOVERY ......................................... 5OVERVIEW: NETAPP SNAPPROTECT BACKUP AND RECOVERY SOFTWARE ............................................................... 5

4 ACCELERATED BACKUP AND RECOVERY FOR VIRTUAL INFRASTRUCTURES ........................ 65 ADVANCED BACKUP AND RECOVERY THROUGH VIRTUALIZATION AND APPLICATION-

AWARENESS ........................................................................................................................................ 7

6 UNIFIED MANAGEMENT OF FULL-SCALE BACKUP AND RECOVERY PROCESSES .................. 9 7 LOWER COSTS WITH BUILT-IN EFFICIENCIES .............................................................................. 108 NETAPP SNAPPROTECT USE CASES ............................................................................................. 11

AUTODISCOVER AND PROTECT VMs ................................................................................................................................. 11DISASTER RECOVERY IN A VMWARE ENVIRONMENT..................................................................................................... 12

9 CONCLUSION ...................................................................................................................................... 15

LIST OF FIGURES

Figure 1) Summary of NetApp SnapProtect features ................................................................................... 6

Figure 2) SnapProtect in a virtual server environment ............................................................................... 10

Figure 3) Disaster recovery in a VMware environment with cloning for additional business activities14

2 Accelerate Backup and Recovery in Virtual Server Environments with NetApp SnapProtect


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there is no central owner or administrator for most unstructured data. As a result, it grows organically andunmanaged. For these reasons, IT pros are under pressure to:

Shrink backup windows in virtual server environments. Using traditional backup methods, its notunusual to hear from IT managers that daily backups for virtual infrastructures are taking more than24 hours and weekly backups are taking several days or not finishing at all. The effect of this is thatvirtualized infrastructures, although doing an excellent job of lowering costs for production workloads,

introduce complexity that can expand backup windows. Restore virtual infrastructure and associated applications and data faster, on demand. When

data becomes inaccessible, users expect that it can be recovered quickly. Traditional backup andrecovery products struggle to meet ever-tightening recovery time objectives (RTOs), and they maynot be able to recover application-consistent data easily and quickly. NetApp Snapshot technologyresolves these issues efficiently, filling the protection gap left by slower, more compute-intensivebackup methods. However, Snapshot copies are not typically integrated into end-to-end backup andrecovery processes, leaving IT to manage Snapshot operations and backup in parallel.

Minimize impact on production operations that host many virtual servers. Backup is anessential function that can disrupt production operations if it is not managed effectively. IT pros wantto maximize the number of VMs per physical server, crunching numbers for memory and networkresources to get the most out of every VM. Backup often doesnt figure significantly in thesecalculations. Therefore its important to deploy a solution that affects virtual hosts as little as possible.

Protect information, applications, and virtual infrastructure concurrently. Virtual server farms,number of applications, and network infrastructure have grown immensely, but often the backupapproach has not kept pace. Todays virtual server infrastructures have different requirements thantraditional physical infrastructures. The ability to back up data at the image, file, and applicationlevels; to back up multiple VMs on the same physical host; and to replicate data among local andremote storage arrays for fast restores and disaster recovery are just a few of the capabilitiesrequired of a full-scale backup and recovery solution for virtualized server environments. In addition,it's still necessary to support tape for long-term storage.

Reduce time spent managing backup and recovery processes. The amount of time and skillrequired to keep backup functioning is no small matter. Backup should require much lessadministrative effort than it often does, and success rates should be much higher and easier toachieve. Multiple-point solutions like virtual server-specific backup tools and database or application-specific backup products can make backup management fragmented, inefficient, and ineffective. Lack

of easy and complete reporting to prove backup job success is also an ongoing source of frustration. Consolidate backup and recovery in combined virtual-physical (hybrid) server environments.

Integration with major virtualization platforms, applications, and databases should be the foundationof a strategic end-to-end backup solution. Furthermore, physical servers and the applications theyhost shouldnt require separate backup management.

Reduce costs associated with backup and recovery efforts. Its not only point solutions for virtualand physical servers and applications that can complicate management and drive up costs. Separatetools and processes for managing backup and disaster recovery as discrete processes can alsoincrease costs. In addition, by today's standards, legacy full plus incremental backup methods useexcessive compute resources and storage capacity.



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Key Capabilities:

Delivers application-aware backups of virtual machines and the applications they run for fasterbackup and recovery in complex virtual server environments.

Solves the challenge of legacy backup processes with Snapshot and replication technologies andsupports primary and secondary disk and tape for strategic full-scale backup and recovery.

Manages backup from a single interface with the ability to set repeatable policies and automate tasks,simplifying protection of virtual infrastructures and application data.

Uses highly efficient NetApp Snapshot technology to minimize the I/O load placed on productionsystems, increasing backup speeds by up to 98%.

Leverages APIs from major hypervisors and application providers for automated protection of VMsand granular backups, plus application-consistent restores.

Provides catalog and content search capabilities to quickly locate and restore individual files or dataobjects.

Extensible for long-term retention, compliance, and business continuity by using NetApp SnapVault

,SnapLock

, and SnapMirror

technologies.

Incorporates NetApp industry-leading storage efficiencies to control costs.

Figure 1) Summary of NetApp SnapProtect features.

4 ACCELERATED BACKUP AND RECOVERY WITH LESS COMPLEXITY

Objective and Strategy

Objective: Meet business objectives faster through shorter backup windows and accelerated recovery.

Strategy: Integrate technologies into mainstream backup and recovery processes that respond fasterin ever-changing virtual server environments and back up hundreds of VMs in minutes, not hours ordays.



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Industry analysts are advising their clients to use snapshot technology to improve backup and recoverySLAs and to fill the gap left by traditional backup and recovery processes that cant keep pace with virtualserver proliferation. Many enterprises have discovered that snapshot technology can speed protection ofVMs and application data but have been hampered by non-integrated solutions that require pointtechnologies for management of snapshots, replication, reduplication, and support of tape.

Integration of SnapProtect with NetApp Snapshot copies and with APIs from major virtualization and

application vendors plays an important role in the ability of SnapProtect to shrink backup windows invirtual server environments.

The SnapProtect comprehensive management platform integrates high-speed Snapshot and replicationtechnologies as a single process to protect the datastores containing VMs. The beauty of this approach isthat by leveraging NetApp Snapshot copies, SnapProtect uses minimal production resources whenbacking up VMs and can protect hundreds of VMs in minutes. This speed can translate into a significantadvantage in meeting stringent SLAs and improving recovery time objectives (RTOs) in virtual serverenvironments.

Recovery point objectives (RPOs) can also be improved through this method because Snapshot copiescan be taken multiple times per day, increasing the number of available recovery points. Recovery isfurther enhanced because accessibility remains the same regardless of where data resides within defineddata tiers. No longer required are manual mount and browse or scripting techniques that use time-

consuming configuration files that can take hours of administrative time per host. Recoveries arecompleted by using a single-pass routine across Snapshot copies, disk, and tape. Indexed recoverypoints enable cataloging and searching that can assist with and improve e-discovery processes.

Business Advantages: A single solution that can protect both physical and virtual serverenvironments, improve backup windows, cut complexity, and lower administrative overhead.

Accelerates backup and recovery for complex virtual server infrastructure; hundreds of VMs can beprotected in minutes.

Multiple recovery points per day provide enhanced recoverability to better meet RTOs and RPOs.

Protects even the largest virtual server environments by using Snapshot copies; scales to protectthousands of VMs.

Snapshot copies take only seconds to minutes to complete backups and restores.

Limited impact on production operations and virtual infrastructure due to the efficiency and speed ofNetApp Snapshot technology.

Catalog and search function speeds up finding specific data objects, improving e-discovery

Accelerated recovery through virtualization and application awareness via integration with APIs.

5 ADVANCED BACKUP AND RECOVERY THROUGH VIRTUALIZATION

AND APPLICATION AWARENESS


Objective: Meet business objectives faster through shorter backup windows and accelerated recovery.

Strategy: Integrate technologies into mainstream backup and recovery processes that respond fasterin ever-changing virtual server environments.

NetApp SnapProtect management software integrates with hypervisors as well as major enterpriseapplications and databases such as Microsoft

Exchange, SharePoint

, and SQL Server

, Oracle

,

SAP

, and DB2. One Snapshot copy enables VM, file, database, mailbox, SharePoint document, andOracle table-level restores. SnapProtect allows off-production server backups while retaining granularlevels for restores. This is particularly advantageous in virtual server environments because SnapProtect



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provides visibility into VM disk format and application-level information without leveraging primary systemprocessor resources.

In VMware environments, using our virtual server agent plus Snapshot copies is a high-speed alternativeto legacy backup processes. The SnapProtect virtual server agent calls ESX servers to quiesce each ofits guests. When guest VMs are consistent, a Snapshot copy is generated. VM guests remain onlineduring this short process, and policy-based settings allow automated discovery and protection of VMs.

SnapProtect enables VM backups with granular recovery options. To do this, the appropriate Snapshotcopy is mounted to an available ESX server. Once mounted, VMDKs (VMware disks) and guest VMinformation register with the proxy ESX server and VADP to execute off-host protection and metadatacollection of each guest operating system internal to the datastore. Backups can be executed to disk ortape. Flexible recovery options include search and recovery of individual data objects, LUN revert formass recovery of an entire datastore, and recovery of individual VMDKs from a backup copy or aSnapshot copy. SnapProtect automatically determines the optimal restore-from location based onretention and the point-in-time requested.

You can recover your application data in a consistent state with SnapProtect application-aware featuresthat integrate with major enterprise applications and databases. SnapProtect initiates Snapshot copies ofapplication and database together to confirm that all data captured by the Snapshot copy is in a known,consistent state. This generates a point-in-time consistent image of an application running in a VM. For

Microsoft applications and databases such as Exchange, SharePoint, and SQL Server, this isaccomplished through coordination with the Volume Shadow Services (VSS) subsystem to capture andtruncate log files. For Oracle, SnapProtect puts the database in hot backup mode and coordinates withOracle Recovery Manager (RMAN) and Automated Storage Manager (ASM) so that databases arequiesced properly. For restores, SnapProtect gives you a view into the backup so that you can recover

just what you need, down to the file and object levels.

Business Advantages:

Automatically discover and protect new virtual machines based on predefined criteria.

Works with applications running in the VMs to quiesce the dataset and make sure that all data iswritten to disk so no data is lost.

Recover application data to a known consistent state with application-aware agents that integrate withmajor enterprise applications and databases: Exchange, SharePoint, SQL Server, SAP, Oracle, and

DB2.

Recover at any level of granularity: VM, VMware Disk (VMDK) or Virtual Hard Disk (VHD), or VMguest files.

Quickly identify and load requested database tables, documents, or specific data objects that residein VMs, such as individual e-mails and documents.

Achieve granular restores at the file image or incremental level.

Recover applications and data from any datastore or storage tier on which they reside.

Unlike virtualization-only backup solutions, SnapProtect works equally well in hybrid infrastructureenvironments.



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6 UNIFIED MANAGEMENT OF FULL-SCALE BACKUP AND RECOVERY

PROCESSES, EXTENSIBLE FOR DISASTER RECOVERY


Objective: Improve productivity for backup and recovery management in complex virtual

infrastructures.

Strategy: Simplified, automated backup and recovery management for virtual infrastructures,applications, data, and locations that can extend to include disaster recovery, all managed from aunified interface.

SnapProtect software unifies management and monitors all backup and recovery operations. Data isindexed into a common virtual pool, available for viewing across virtual and physical infrastructure,applications, locations, and all of your NetApp storage systems. This equips you with a single policybackup solution across a multi-tiered storage architecture. Snapshot copies are no longer managedseparately from the legacy backup process. SnapProtect merges these into a full-scale, strategic backupand recovery solution, optimized for virtual server environments, which can be easily extended to includedisaster recovery (DR). It offers a common set of tools for recovering applications and data, VMs or entiredatastores. Policy-based settings allow simplified, automated data protection, including automaticdiscovery and protection of VMs.

SnapProtect is extensible for long-term retention, business continuity, and compliance. You can replicateSnapshot copies with NetApp SnapVault for high speed, cost-effective remote recovery. You can alsomanage and configure highly efficient NetApp SnapMirror replication policies for greater protectionagainst data loss while leveraging VMware Site Recovery Manager for automated site failover for reduceddowntime. For compliance requirements, SnapProtect software can be used in conjunction with NetAppSnapLock compliance software, our WORM (write once, read many) storage feature. When properlyconfigured, SnapLock enables compliance with SEC 17a-4, Sarbanes- Oxley, HIPAA, and otherregulations. SnapLock does not require a separate infrastructure and can be activated on any NetAppsystem, enabling compliant and noncompliant data to coexist in the same unit.

You can audit Snapshot execution as well as backup and recovery success with comprehensive reportingfor all applications and data availability throughout their lifecycle. Reports can be sent to mobile devicesor to Microsoft System Center. Storage Resource Management (SRM) for virtual infrastructures canobtain file-level analytics without the need for an agent for each VM on any NetApp NAS system. No datacollection operation is required because SRM leverages information generated by backup indexes duringthe SnapProtect backup process. This means that no additional load is placed on the virtual infrastructureto analyze the exact contents of each VM with an eye toward data growth trends and cost metrics. Thisinformation can be used to reallocate storage to mission-critical, potentially under-allocated VMs.

Business Advantages:

Operations are handled from a single interface, reducing the amount of time spent managingprocesses and allowing faster response to requests.

Controls and monitors Snapshot copy creation and movement over time and across tiers, supporting

disk-to-disk-to-tape strategies and DR. Policy-based settings, including automatic discovery and protection of VMs, help keep up with fast-

growing virtual server infrastructures and reduce the possibility of human error.

Rapid search for specific VMs, files, and images by using catalog and index functions gets this jobdone faster, so staff can concentrate on strategic initiatives.

Comprehensive auditing of Snapshot copies and reporting on the status of backup jobs, includingwhen and by whom backups are accessed, drives accountability and accuracy into backupprocesses.



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Consolidated reporting across virtual server environments, including all applications and dataavailability throughout their lifecycle, helps eliminate unprotected and orphaned VMs so you can restassured that your data is protected and that you can potentially reclaim storage and computeresources.

Manage long-term retention of weeks or months of backups by using NetApp SnapVault replicationsoftware, and improve your ability to restore what users need and improve the reach of e-discovery

applications.

Figure 2) SnapProtect in a virtual server environment

.

7 LOWER COSTS WITH BUILT-IN EFFICIENCIES


Objective: Effectively control opex and capex across backup and recovery processes.

Strategy: Leverage NetApps extensive suite of efficiency technologies.

NetApp storage efficiencies enable you to back up the maximum amount of data in the smallest possiblespace, at the lowest possible cost. NetApp Snapshot technology, introduced in 1992, was the first widely



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used storage efficiency feature available on disk-based open systems enterprise storage arrays.3

Todaywe offer an extensive suite of virtualized tools that enable IT staff to efficiently and cost effectively backup, securely share, provision, clone, and replicate NetApp storage and reduce overall volumerequirements by eliminating redundant data blocks.

The storage supporting your virtual server infrastructure naturally accumulates duplicate data over time,increasing costs and management overhead. Data ONTAP deduplication can be used on all NetApp

storage devices to reduce cost and capacity requirements by as much as 90%. To further improvestorage utilization, NetApp thin provisioning helps keep costs in check by largely eliminating the need topreallocate storage based on forecasted demand, saving you the expense of acquiring unnecessarydisks.

To complement the efficiencies inherent in your virtual server environment, you can share a commonstorage infrastructure securely across applications, business units, or departments as a way to drivedown costs. Secure multi-tenancy using NetApp MultiStore

software is designed so that no information

on a secured virtual partition can be viewed, used, or downloaded by unauthorized users. You canlogically partition physical NetApp storage into multiple virtual storage arrays and divide up your storageresources securely by SLA, application workload, protection tier, and more.

Thin replication, using NetApp SnapMirror software, replicates volumes or qtrees from source todestination, transferring only unique changed blocks in 4KB increments. SnapMirror can reduce

bandwidth requirements for replication by up to 70% with native network compression.Business Advantages:

NetApp Integrated Data Protection delivers enterprise-level backup, disaster recovery, highavailability, and compliance with a 42% risk-adjusted ROI

4over 3 years.

Minimize capacity requirements for backup by as much as 90% and reduce traffic over busy networksby using NetApp FAS and V-Series systems.

Reduce backup sizes by using Snapshot copies that store only new or changed blocks.

Significantly minimize network usage with thin replication.

Divide up storage resources securely in virtual infrastructures and move data quickly and easily withsecure multi-tenancy.

Consolidate and use less storage by leveraging NetApp deduplication and thin provisioning.

Use NetApp RAID-DP technology in combination with high-density disks for better protection atlower cost.

Storage efficiencies apply to primary and secondary tiers for backup, disaster recovery, andcompliance.

8 NETAPP SNAPPROTECT SOFTWARE USE CASES

AUTODISCOVER AND PROTECT VMs

In VMware environments, VMs are added or moved frequently, making it difficult to determine whethernewly created or moved VMs are protected. You can reduce the administrative overhead required to

configure backup jobs in virtual server environments by allowing SnapProtect to automatically discover

3"The NetApp Storage Efficiency Guide," NetApp white paper. Larry Freeman, November 2010.

4ROI based on a composite organization. The Total Economic Impact on NetApp Integrated Data

Protection, a commissioned study conducted by Forrester Consulting on behalf of NetApp, December2010.



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and add VMs to default protection policies. This saves time and provides immediate protection, removingthe need to manually deploy and configure protection policies for each new or moved VM. A number ofdiscovery rules are available, including manual discovery override if needed. You can use protectionpolicies to customize SLAs to automatically optimize your virtual server resources, including adding newVMs to backup policies based on predefined rules.

SnapProtect offers several options for automatically discovering virtual machines. You can browse all

VMs and their policies and check for VMs added since your last Snapshot copy. Or you can add all newor moved VMs or a select group of VMs that satisfy particular criteria to the backup job. There is even acatch-all policy that protects VMs that dont qualify for any predefined policy. For example, using adiscovery rule of Datastore Affinity automatically protects new virtual machines on specific datastores.The following simple steps in the SnapProtect console are all thats required to automatically protect VMswith the Datastore Affinity policy.

So that new VMs are automatically added to the subclient, configure datastore affinity in the backup set.Right-click to access the backup set and select Properties.

Enable rule-based discovery and select DataStore Affinity. Click the Configure button.



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Use the Discover Data Stores button to assign the datastore to the subclient. Newly created or movedVMs are automatically discovered and protected by the policy associated with the selected subclient.



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DISASTER RECOVERY IN A VMWARE ENVIRONMENT

NetApp SnapProtect extends to protect VMware virtual infrastructures against a regional disaster byusing SnapMirror replication technology. SnapMirror replicates data over LAN or WAN to a remote site,providing high data availability and fast disaster recovery for mission-critical applications running on eithervirtual or physical servers. SnapMirror supports synchronous replication, assuring zero data loss; semi-synchronous replication that supports RPOs in seconds with minimal impact on the host application; and

asynchronous replication that can meet RPOs ranging from a minute to a day.

The most comprehensive disaster recovery plan includes a secondary or tertiary site* at a remote locationthat is geographically different from the primary and secondary sites. The DR site looks similar to a single,independent data center, equipped with high-availability features. Figure 3 shows a sample DRconfiguration in a VMware environment. SnapProtect provides point-in-time local Snapshot copies of thedatastores and manages SnapMirror policies to replicate the datastores from the (primary) protected siteto the (DR) recovery site. With data replicated to a DR site, it's important to resume operations as soon aspossible following a disaster. VMware vCenter Site Recovery Manager (SRM) recovers the protectedinventory of VMs at the DR site, accessing the data replica at the DR site, to bring up the failed VMs,reinstating the mission-critical applications. The DR environment is now ready to provide the sameservices as the primary site.

By using SnapMirror to mirror data to one or more NetApp storage systems, you can use the mirrored

data wherever and whenever you need it. A strategic and cost-saving option is to host a variety of VMsrunning applications at the DR site to make productive use of otherwise idle DR assets by using NetAppFlexClone

technology. With FlexClone, you can extend the value of your DR site by cloning your DR

data, instantly creating replicas of data volumes and datasets without requiring additional storage spaceat the time of creation.

SnapProtect generates FlexClone clones for NAS systems and LUN clones for SAN systems. Both typesof clones are based on a Snapshot copy and use no additional storage. The difference is that a LUNclone is generated within a volume and is based on a particular LUN, whereas a FlexClone clone isbased on an entire volume. For LUN clones only, the best practice is to copy clones to a new volume atthe DR site to prevent subsequent Snapshot copies on primary systems from becoming locked.

FlexClone clones and LUN clones can be used for essential enterprise operations such as:

Development and testing

Training and reporting

Off-site tape archiving (replicate to remote site and then back up to tape)

Online data migration

*If you are running a high-availability cluster, such as NetApp MetroCluster software, mirrored to across-campus or other local but separate site, this use case considers that as your secondary site.

Figure 3) Disaster recovery in a VMware environment with cloning for additional business activities



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9 CONCLUSION

The NetApp SnapProtect unified backup and recovery platform lowers costs while minimizing risk indynamic virtual server environments. SnapProtect leverages the best capabilities of new and existingbackup technologies to improve service levels, reduce downtime, and minimize risk of data loss. WithSnapProtect management software, you can protect hundreds of virtual servers with minimal impact onproduction operations and scale to handle even the largest, most demanding virtual server environments.

Application-aware backups and object-level restores in densely consolidated virtual infrastructures deliverbetter response times. Combined with full-scale backup and recovery from a single interface, this abilitysaves time and simplifies protection of your virtual data assets. Extensible for long-term retention,compliance, and business continuity, SnapProtect is part of the NetApp Integrated Data Protection familythat delivers enterprise-level backup and recovery, disaster recovery, high availability, and compliancewith a 42% risk-adjusted ROI

5over 3 years.

5ROI based on a composite organization. The Total Economic Impact on NetApp Integrated Data

Protection, a commissioned study conducted by Forrester Consulting on behalf of NetApp, December2010.



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NetApp provides no representations or warranties regarding the accuracy, reliability or serviceability of anyinformation or recommendations provided in this publication, or with respect to any results that may beobtained by the use of the information or observance of any recommendations provided herein. Theinformation in this document is distributed AS IS, and the use of this information or the implementation ofany recommendations or techniques herein is a customers responsibility and depends on the customersability to evaluate and integrate them into the customers operational environment. This document andthe information contained herein may be used solely in connection with the NetApp products discussedin this document.

2011 NetApp, Inc. All rights reserved. No portions of this document may be reproduced without priorwritten consent of NetApp, Inc. Specifications are subject to change without notice. NetApp, the NetApplogo, Go further, faster, Data ONTAP, FlexClone, MetroCluster, MultiStore, RAID-DP, SnapLock,SnapMirror, SnapProtect, Snapshot, and SnapVault are trademarks or registered trademarks of NetApp,Inc. in the United States and/or other countries. Microsoft, SharePoint, and SQL Server are registeredtrademarks of Microsoft Corporation. Oracle is a registered trademark of Oracle Corporation. SAP is aregistered trademark of SAP AG. VMware is a registered trademark and vCenter is a trademark of VMware,Inc. All other brands or products are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective holders andshould be treated as such. WP-7131-0511


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