Backup and Restore (Server Clusters: Storage Best Practices for Windows 2000 and Windows Server 2003)

Applies To: Windows Server 2000, Windows Server 2003, Windows Server 2003 R2, Windows Server 2003 with SP1, Windows Server 2003 with SP2

As stated earlier, any backup solution that uses the cluster backup APIs are supported.

Tape devices or other non-disk devices the SAN fabric as the cluster: currently we do not support managing any non-disk devices (tapes, optical media etc.) by Server clusters. Tapes or optical media may very well be used as any other SAN component but they cannot be managed by Server clusters as a resource.

Serverless backup- Serverless backup, or SAN-based backup as it is sometimes called, is not supported in Server clusters. This is because nodes in a cluster own physical disk volumes and maintain their ownership through reservations, and this blocks serverless backup mechanisms. In addition backup devices translate incorrectly interpret bus resets leading them to rewind tapes loaded in the drives. This will have serious implications in enterprise backup environments where large data sets are being backed up.

Using backup agents- Some ISVs implement backup agents which are really filter agents that are used to overcome file locking issues. They are also sometime called open file agents. Stability and reliability of the agents and the operating system is the responsibility of the vendor if such solutions are implemented.

Hardware Snapshots- Hardware snapshots are not supported in clustered environments. Clustering software identify disks thru their disk signatures. Disk snapshots or clones are identical copies of the parent disks which means that 2 disks with similar signatures would get exposed to the operating system and clustering software. This could cause unexpected disruptive behavior.