Planning for CommServe LiveSync Setup

Verify the prerequisites needed to setup the environment for the CommServe LiveSync feature.

Note

  • Identical software must be used for setting up the production and the standby CommServe hosts. Ensure that the Operating System and SQL Server version (including feature releases) are identical in the both the production and standby hosts.*

  • If you want to use a standalone DR CommServe LiveSync setup as failover, uninstall the existing CommServe and all the Commvault software on the standalone DR CommServe computer, and then install the standby/passive CommServe host as failover.

Hardware

You must have the necessary hardware for setting up the CommServe server on the production host and the standby hosts.

Note

More than one standby host is supported.

For more information on the hardware specification for the CommServe server, see Hardware Specifications for the CommServe Server.

Operating System

CommServe LiveSync can be set up on all operating systems supported by the CommServe server.

For more information on the supported operating systems, see CommServe Server: System Requirements.

Note

CommServe LiveSync is not supported when the CommServe server is configured with Microsoft Failover Cluster.

License Requirements

  • CommServe Server

    No special licenses are required for setting up the CommServe server.

  • SQL Server Agent

    You must have two Microsoft SQL Server agent licenses, one for the production CommServe host and the other for the standby CommServe host.

For information about licensing, see the Commvault Licensing Program Guide.

Installation Packages

The following Commvault installation packages are required for setting up the production host and the standby CommServe hosts:*

  • CommServe

    Additional packages are installed by default during the CommServe installation. For more information, see the Additional Packages Installed with the CommServe section in Preinstallation Checklist for the CommServe.

  • CommServe Failover

    The SQL Server agent and the CommServe Failover package are automatically installed in a new instance. (No additional user intervention is needed.)

  • MediaAgent

    Create a dedicated, non deduplicated storage policy for the LiveSync operation. Create the storage policy using a MediaAgent available in the standby site.

    If the MediaAgents must be available on the CommServe, then it must be installed in the instance in which the SQL Server agent and the CommServe Failover packages are installed. The MediaAgent version must be the same or higher than the production and standby CommServe hosts.

    Avoid hosting LiveSync storage in the cloud because the running time of backup and restore jobs will be more than usual.

    Note

    It is not recommended to install the MediaAgent on the CommServe, when the CommServe is setup with LiveSync. (MediaAgents needs persistent storage for the Deduplication Database (DDB) and Index Cache, which are local to the specific machine and hence not synchronized as part of the LiveSync operation.)

Firewall and Network Requirements

By default, this solution requires that all clients communicate with the CommServe server using a proxy. (By default, the SQL Clients installed in the CommServe hosts is used as the proxy.)

Note

A default topology, Firewall Topology created for failover clients, is created for communication between the production and standby CommServe hosts using ports 8405 and 8408. This default topology routes requests between the CommServe and the SQL instances and is created irrespective of the option selected for communication.
Hence, it is important to verify and ensure that production and standby CommServe hosts are able to reach other using ports 8405 and 8408.

To facilitate communication between the clients and the CommServe, verify the following conditions:

  • Both the active host and the passive CommServe hosts can reach the tunnel ports that are associated with the SQL clients in both the active host and the passive CommServe hosts.

  • If the SQL clients are used as the proxy, verify that all the clients in the CommCell environment can communicate with the port and hostname of the SQL clients in both the active host and the passive CommServe hosts.

  • If a dedicated proxy is already set up and available in your environment, use this dedicated proxy to communicate with the CommServe server.

    Note

    A dedicated proxy is recommended in environments with a large number of clients. (5000 or more approximately.)

  • See Also: Network TCP Port Requirements.

Client Communication with the CommServe (Optional)

By default, the SQL client is used as a proxy to route requests and responses between the CommServe server and the clients in the CommCell, before and after a failover. If necessary, you can setup an alternate client for this purpose.

For more information, see Editing Client Communication With the CommServe.

Floating CommServe Name (Optional)

You can use a floating CommServe hostname to setup the CommServe failover. A floating CommServe hostname can be used either as an alternative to setting up a dedicated proxy, or in combination with an existing proxy setup.

See Setting Up Failovers Using A Floating CommServe Name for more information.

* Any additional packages installed on the primary CommServe host, which includes other Commvault packages, or any third-party components, must be manually installed in the standby CommServe host. Also once the LiveSync operation is enabled, the LiveSync process will synchronize the information stored in the CommServe database from the production to the standby CommServe. For example, passwords and Additional Settings stored in the database. Any additional entities, such as third-party packages, scripts, registry keys, certificates, IIS settings, configuration files, etc. must be manually applied before or after failover as needed.

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