Best practices for Delphix Engine data protection

Error protection methods:

• For physical host failure protection → leverage VMware HA.

• For storage failure protection → leverage Delphix replication. 

• For administrative error protection → leverage storage snapshots. 

• For site failure protection → leverage Delphix replication. 

Infrastructure backup of the Delphix VM: 

• To protect Delphix VM storage, take consistent group snapshots of all VM components, including the system disk, VM configuration, and database VMDKs/RDMs. While this approach provides VM-level recovery, it has higher RTO and RPO compared to Delphix Replication due to its "all-or-nothing" restore granularity.

• Virtual Machine backup: For VM backups, create a VM snapshot, use a backup solution (e.g., via a proxy server), and then remove the snapshot. VMware API-compatible products like NetBackup for VMware, TSM, and Networker work well for this purpose, though backup size is typically best kept under 2TB to minimize impact on VM performance.

• Storage array backup: For storage-level protection, create a consistent storage snapshot, replicate it to tape or VTL media servers, and then remove the snapshot. Products such as Hitachi Shadow Copy, EMC SnapCopy, and HP Business Copy can be effective for this approach.

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 users simply plan to rebuild in the event of a disaster. 

• What is the DXToolkit, and how can it help? 

  • The Professional Services team has developed a Perl-based tool called “DXToolkit” that simplifies exporting and importing configuration data over web services. This toolkit can streamline tasks that would otherwise require a manual reinstallation, complementing the other backup and recovery methods outlined above.

  • 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 with a smaller storage footprint (perhaps <2TB) 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 a 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 applied to VMWare snapshots 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.