Best practices Delphix engine data protection FAQ
Frequently Asked Questions
Why does Delphix recommend SAN snapshots or Delphix replication for backup?
There are a few possible methods for data protection of the Delphix Engine. Those methods are SAN snapshots, Delphix replication, and virtual machine snapshots (for very small engines only). Because the Delphix Engine is itself a backup of source environments, many customers simply plan to rebuild in the event of a disaster.
What is the DXToolkit, and how can it help?
The professional services team has created a Perl-based “DXToolkit” which can help export and import certain configuration data over web services. This toolkit can be leveraged to assist with would normally be a manual re-install outside of the above methods.
For further detail around data protection, please speak with your Delphix contact.
Can I use a VMware-based backup solution such as VEEAM to backup my Delphix Engine?
Yes, VMWare backup solutions are useful for backing up guest VMs. However, Delphix suggests that you only use this approach for Delphix Engines which have a smaller storage footprint (perhaps < 2 TB) and are less active.
Running this type of backup puts a load on the environment, which might adversely impact Delphix VM performance.
Can I use a VMware snapshot for backing up Delphix for a small window – for example, during an engine upgrade?
Yes. However, even though snapshots are instantaneous, they track changes separately from the base disks and can grow to consume as much space as the original.
Upgrades, in particular, can change substantial amounts of data.
If you lose physical disks, snapshots are useless because it needs them to make up the current state of VM.
A Delphix Engine is often allocated multiple terabytes of storage and is often very busy due to load aggregation from virtual databases on multiple target servers, so this approach may be challenging.
Snapshots cannot detect storage corruption.
Can I use a Storage snapshot solution to protect Delphix against Storage and Delphix corruption?
Yes. However, please note that the caveats which apply to VMWare snapshots will also apply here.
A specific concern related to storage layer snapshots is that you must create a consistency group that contains both the OS and Data disks.
Can I use RMAN to backup my VDBs just like a Physical database to provide extra protection?
You can backup Delphix VDBs using Oracle RMAN tools, but the recovery database would first require re-hydration of that VDB, which might take up equivalent production storage space.
Furthermore, that re-hydrated database needs to be brought into the Delphix framework as a dSource, after which you can provision a VDB to complete recovery. The whole process might take hours or days to recover.
The best approach is to use the VDB Snapshot capability to backup VDB frequently and then leverage Delphix Replication capability to protect underlying Delphix storage, which holds that VDB snapshot.