Storage Management Software - Data Backup Software - CommVault CommCell Overview

QiNetix software provides a powerful set of storage management tools that help you move and manage your critical data. These tools enable you to store and retrieve data associated with computer systems in your enterprise.

The QiNetix software consists of integrated software modules which can be grouped together in a CommCell. Each CommCell consists of the following main components:

• One or more of the following Client Agents:
  • i DataAgents™ that perform the backup and restore operations
  • DataMigrator™ agents that perform the data migration, archival and recovery operations
  • DataArchiver Agents
  • Quick Recovery (QR) agents that create and recover QR volumes
  • ContinuousDataReplicator to perform data replication from a source Client to a destination Client
• The Common Technology Engine (CTE) components consisting of:
  • One CommServe StorageManager™
  • One or more MediaAgents™

Client Agents

Client Agents are software modules that perform data protection and data recovery operations for specific operating systems or applications. Multiple agents may be used to protect all types of data residing on a computer. The following sections provide a brief description of each of these Client Agents.

i DataAgents

i DataAgents are software modules that are used for backing up and restoring data. QiNetix software provides a variety of i DataAgents, each one designed to handle a different kind of data. If a given computer has two or more types of data, it requires one i DataAgent for each data type. For example, to secure all the data on a computer where a Microsoft Exchange Server resides, you would need the following i DataAgents:

• One Windows File System i DataAgent to back up the computer’s file system.
• One Microsoft Exchange Database i DataAgent to back up the database.

In the CommCell Console, such a configuration would appear as two i DataAgents on a client computer.

DataMigrator Agents

DataMigrator Agents are software modules that are responsible for periodically moving unused or infrequently used data on their host computers to secondary storage, thereby reducing the size of data on the primary storage. QiNetix software provides several DataMigrator Agents, each one designed to handle a different kind of data. DataMigrator Agents reduce the duration of backup windows by reducing the amount of data to be backed up by an i DataAgent.

DataArchiver Agent

DataArchiver agents are software modules that are designed for long term storage and indexing of data and to meet security and compliance standards. The primary function of DataArchiver is to preserve data outside of the operational environment. DataArchiver removes the data from the source client once it has been archived and/or indexed. In this way, large amounts of data can be stored, for example, and reviewed at a later time. 

Quick Recovery Agents

Quick Recovery agents are software modules that use the snapshot technology to create Quick Recovery (QR) volumes on magnetic disks. These QR volumes can be easily recovered in minutes. Quick Recovery Agent integrates with major storage-intensive applications, such as Microsoft SQL Server 2000, Microsoft Exchange 2000 and Oracle, to ensure that data objects are properly synchronized and easily recovered. Quick Recovery Agents augment the traditional backup and restore operations of an i DataAgent by allowing the user to create frequent images of the data which provides faster application recovery, when needed; while i DataAgents can be used to perform the traditional backup and restore operations of these images.

ContinuousDataReplicator Agent

ContinuousDataReplicator (CDR) agents are software modules that provide protection of application data and file systems, by replicating data from a source computer to a destination computer in nearly real-time. High availability of protected data in a consistent state is accomplished through the creation of Recovery Points, using snapshots created by QSnap on the destination computer, which can be mounted, made available as shares, or recovered using Copyback. In addition, backups can be made from the snapshots of file system data or application data in a consistent state for point-in-time recovery.

Common Technology Engine

Common Technology Engine consists of software modules that provide the necessary tools to manage and administer the Client Agents and also manage the storage media associated with the CommCell. The following sections describe the components of the Common Technology Engine.

CommServe StorageManager

The CommServeTM ties the elements of the CommCell together; it is the coordinator and administrator of the CommCell. The CommServe communicates with all agents in the CommCell to initiate data protection, management and recovery operations. Similarly, it communicates with MediaAgents when the media subsystem requires management. The CommServe maintains a database containing all the information relating to the CommCell. In addition, it provides several tools to administer and manage the CommCell.

MediaAgents

The MediaAgent transfers data between the client computer(s) and the storage media. Each MediaAgent communicates locally or remotely to one or more storage devices, which contains the storage media. The QiNetix system provides support for a wide variety of storage devices.
The MediaAgent can also function as a copy manager that leverages other data transfer mechanisms, such as a third party copy. In such cases, the MediaAgent interfaces with the Quick Recovery Agent and Serverless Data Manager to move data.
The following diagram provides a summary of the CommCell components:

QiNetix Installations

The QiNetix software is modular and can reside on the same and/or separate computers depending on your needs. Some administrators may have a dedicated CommServe computer and a dedicated MediaAgent computer. Others may want to back up the file system data on the CommServe and therefore install the client software on the CommServe computer as well. Still others may use the same computer to serve as the CommServe, MediaAgent, and a client. The QiNetix software supports any and all of these configurations. The following figure shows an example of a CommCell: