ADMe

Q&A
Version-May 19, 2016
Question & Answer
1 What is ADMe?
ADMe is a scripted utility used to automate the migration of Avamar backups to a staging disk area. A tape
backup of the staged data can subsequently be performed automatically. If the staging disk is cloud enabled
it can be uploaded to a public or private object based storage. An intuitive and easy to use interactive Menu
driven UI is provided along with a Web-UI and was productized with the release of Avamar 7.3. It’s
strongly suggested that EMC Professional Services be used for its initial deployment.

Note: It is not the responsibility of the customer support organization to install and/or configure ADMe for
you. Their involvement is intended for technical break/fix type issues only whether it be with ADMe,
Avamar or Networker.
2 Where can I obtain a copy of ADMe and related documentation?
All ADMe documentation and downloads are available from EMC Community site at
https://community.emc.com/docs/DOC-7910 This link is updated frequently with bug fixes and/or
enhancements posted as soon as they become available therefore the only supported ADMe version is the
latest one. An upgrade of ADMe takes no more than 5 mins. And can be rolled back just as quick if
necessary.
3 What staging methods does ADMe provide?
ADMe supports both incremental and non-incremental staging approach to data migration. A requirement
to using incremental is for one copy of a given clients data to remain on the staging disk between migration
sessions used as a baseline for file timestamp reference points for future incremental sessions. With non-
incremental which ADMe refers to as BYDATE, staged data by default will be deleted once it has confirmed
the tape export was successful. BYDATE can also be used to provide point-in-time copies of backup data
on disk and/or in the cloud while INCREMENTAL provides a point-in-time copy to tape and single instance
at the file level when using cloud storage. If using Cloud Array for a GW its snapshot capability can be used
to provide the logical point in time copies of each incremental stage.
4 Does ADMe automatically delete data on the staging server to make room for additional staging
data if the selected data is too large to fit the available disk space?
No, ADMe only deletes staged data when migrating to tape assuming it has been confirmed to be
successfully written to tape. You need to ensure your ADMe client groups are sized such that their
aggregate data size will fit the available staging disk allocated. Group aggregate size can be calucluated by
ADMe from the e interactive menu or the Web-UI If your client group’s aggregate size exceeds that of your
assigned disk staging area you need to either move some of its clients to another group or expand the
destination staging disk area.
5 Do I have to create and maintain tape scripts to initiate the tape backups?
No, ADMe automatically establishes an appropriate tape export script. They are created in real-time and
executed automatically. Results of the tape scripts execution are captured in ADMe job policy logs
providing informative details returned by the tape application.
6 Where is ADMe executed from?
ADMe is installed and runs on the Avamar Utility/Single/AVE node Its managed using either the interactive
Menu UI or the Web-UI. To start the menu from a putty session you must be root or admin via the sudo
command

ADMe Q & A Document

Page- 1
7 How many migration sessions can I run using ADMe?
By default one MCS session per staging server can be run at a time under the control of an ADMe
environment file but any number of environment files can be established with each defining a unique
staging server name. Documented procedures also exist to increase the MCS thread count pre staging
server and these too can be defined in an environment file. When using multiple SS’s or threads the ADMe
user interface remains consistent regardless of the quantity or type of SS’s or MCS threads involved and all
can be utilized concurrently.
8 What does the client configuration file contain?
The client configuration file identifies the client names to be migrated and is also where clients are divided
into client groups. A client’s entry is comprised of 18 fields in a CSV format with each field containing
information used by the migration process. Various fields define things such as the domain and client
name, the tape policy name to use, whether to auto generate tape scripts, the destination path for the data
and the required staging server OS type.
9 How do I determine the result of a migration session with ADMe?
ADMe Job Manager or the Web-UI Job-Activity tab provides job policy status and progress can be viewed
to easily confirm a jobs status for all phase of the migration process. ADMe job policies are defined and
managed from Job Manager or from the Web-UI Job-Policies tab. The job logs can be browsed and are
color formatted providing a forever history of every migration session.
11 How can I limit or select which backups are to migrate?
The -select action provides a comprehensive choice of filters to accomplish backup selections. Since every
Avamar backup is a synthetic full it is imperative not to select multiple backups for the same client
otherwise data workload will be repeated unnecessarily. Filters can limit by retention type, Avamar
group/name field string value, first or last backup available within date range, day of the week, relative day
or month, last backup of the month, plug-in type. Understanding the various filters and how to leverage
them enables you complete control over which backups are selected for migration.
12 How much staging disk capacity is required?
The absolute minimum disk space required must be large enough to hold the largest individual backup
involved. But from a practical perspective when using non-incremental migration enough staging disk to
support your largest client group is required. For incremental migrations the staging disk must be large
enough to hold a single copy of each clients backup data involved. Migrating to the cloud results in the
local disk cache space consumed initially being reclaimed after the files are synchronized into the cloud.
A good starting point is at least 2-4 TB’s but much more will be needed in larger environments.
13 Are there any restrictions to using incremental migrations?
Yes, typically the incremental benefit which is substantial can only be achieved with file system or ndmp
data. Database or even FS’s where change rates are high will see little if any benefit from using it. Note
that in order to leverage an incremental tape backup you must also use incremental staging. The
advantage of incremental also pertains to the cloud assuming the GW involved caches its meta data
locally.
14 Can I use ADMe just to stage data and perform my own tape backup some time afterwards?
Yes, this can be accomplished using the –s or –stageonly switch during the –migration action.
15 Can I use ADMe to initiate a tape backup after I have performed the staging process after several
days?
Yes, this is accomplished using the –t or –tapeonly switch during a –migration action. This will initiate the
tape backup only with the appropriate tape policy and skip the staging process. A use case might be you
performed the staging activities and the original tape backup phase failed after correcting the tape issue or
you choose to stage all your data and choose to issue a single tape backup afterwards to capture it all.

ADMe Q & A Document

Page- 2
16 Are there any limitations or considerations with respect to which staging server OS to use?
Yes, the following should be considered
 The OS must be a supported client of both Avamar and the tape solution involved
 Cross platform staging is supported but if maintaining unique Windows file attributes are a
requirement Windows data must be staged to a compatible Windows staging server
 Windows staging server OS’s W2K8 and Vista incorporate enhanced security and will result in
challenges related with deleting the staged data due to permission or inheritance issues. Refer to
documented option –upst used to automatically format the staging drive letter involved.
 Typically any Unix or Linux platform can be cross restored to one another unless a unique file
system type is involved such as zfs on Solaris and you want to preserve its expanded ACL’s if used
17 How is the lifecycle management of migrated data accomplished?
When a tape application is used as the target the tape policy specified to ADMe which must be predefined
in the tape application is responsible for its lifecycle management. Retention time on tape, which media to
use etc. is included as part of the definition of a tape policy. A given ADMe client group calls this policy
when required.

If cloud storage is being used as a target and deduplication is not being used the cloud provider’s
capabilities for lifecycle management can be used if they exist. Normally these are applied to the staging
path or top level bucket and/or folder involved. Different providers may offer or may not capabilities with
respect to lifecycle management but how or where these are applied will vary.

The ADMe –expire option can be used to establish a calculated folder formatted as YYYY-MM-DD offering
a visual aide to when a top level folder and its underlying data is to be deleted. This allows the end user to
easily identify long into the future when data is to be deleted and without having any dependencies on
Avamar or ADMe to accomplish the deletion.
18 How does ADMe migrate an existing Avamar backup to the cloud?
The process is identical to when going to tape, selected backups are staged to a predefined staging disk
area therefore it is a simple recovery from Avamar and ADMe perspective. What differs is the fact the
staging disk area is now cloud enabled meaning it is predefined and authenticated to a cloud provider.

Cloud storage can be presented to a system using iSCSI, NFS, CIFS, via 3rd party appliances or using
simple tools similar to EMC GeoDrive for ATMOS, ECS GateWay or TNTdrive for Amazon where a virtual
drive letter(s) is established on a Windows staging server
19 What Avamar system types are supported?
ADMe works with any Avamar system type including single or multi node, source or replication target, AVE,
ABE, VDP & VDPA and when used a Networker de-dup node. Migration from a Networker dedup node can
be directed to any tape backup application and is not limited to Networker. The presence of a Data Domain
being used to store Avamar backups versus a GSAN is transparent to ADMe.

ADMe Q & A Document

Page- 3