Backup server best practices
The backupserver log should have read permissions for the Delphix environment user
Dump file names should be unique per source backup server.
Dumps should be done to a local backupsever. Dumps done using the “at <backupserver>” syntax are not discovered and ingested/applied.
Dumps of production databases that use the same backup server and same load backup path should be available on the same staging host that was pointed at during the lin
If using a remote backup server as load location, make sure “interfaces” file changes are done to ensure staging host backupserver can communicate with the remote backup server.
A user running backupserver or process owner of the backupserver on the staging host should have read access for all the dump files that belong to dSources that use this backupserver.
Recommendations/best practices
Name the dump files as unique as possible.
Delphix recursively searches for backup files in a given load backup path. So assign or choose the load backup path for a given dSource to be as specific and unique as possible. For e.g, if the load backup path is /dumps for dSource db1, but the database dumps are copied to /dumps/db1, choose /dumps/db1 instead to avoid duplicate files that can happen with other dSources or databases.
Avoid linking sources where it’s backup location is a child directory of another dSource’s backup location. Ideally, each dSource using the same staging host should have its backup path set to sibling directories for ease of search.
Avoid copying files (of any type) with the same name as backup files that are being ingested.
Avoid copying other dSource or database backups to the same load backup path of the dSource of interest. You can copy, as long as dump file names are unique.
Only use a remote backup server as the load location if dumps cannot be available on the staging host.
Avoid, if possible, using production backup server as load location and the backup files are on production host when configuring a dSource with remote backupserver.
DE by default assumes backup files are available on the staging host when searching for them. If the backup files are available on the staging host, avoid using the remote backupserver option on the link/data management wizard.
If validated sync reports any fault, look at other faults that were raised, resolve all of them as well along with the current fault.
When copying striped backups to staging, keep all stripes in the same location.
If possible, create separate database dumps and/or transaction logs by more than 1 minute apart so that the dump header name is unique.
The Delphix Engine, by default, looks for backups that happened within the last six months from the current date/time when a source database is linked for the first time
If there is ever a need to ingest an older backup, use “Specific Backup” sync parameters and specify the location of the backup files to ingest.
Please reach out to Delphix Support for help if there is a reason for concern regarding the 6 months window.
The Delphix Engine periodically purges discovered backup files from its internal catalog that are older than 6 months (default). If there is a need to ingest an old backup, use the “Specific Backup” option as there is no mechanism to rediscover old backups.