Enabling and Using Selective Copy for Live Sync

By default, Live Sync uses any existing backup history for a virtual machine to create a destination virtual machine. You can specify a selective copy to minimize the amount of data that needs to be copied to a remote site as part of a Live Sync operation.

When copying backup data to a remote site where Live Sync operations will be performed, you can configure Commvault to copy only the most recent full or synthetic full backup and any subsequent incremental backups to the remote site. After this configuration, Commvault moves backup data (either streaming backups or backup copies) from the primary site to a remote site using an auxiliary copy operation.

By default, when you configure Live Sync to start immediately after backup jobs complete, the Live Sync operation starts when the primary backup is complete. Perform the steps below to start Live Sync only after an auxiliary copy operation is complete.

Before You Begin

Identify the MediaAgent that will manage backup data at the remote site.
This procedure assumes that one or more full or synthetic full backups and incremental backups have run for virtual machines that are associated with the storage policy that is used for the auxiliary copy operations or backup copy operations.

Procedure

Create a selective copy for the virtual machines that will be replicated:
1. From the CommCell Browser, expand Policies > Storage Policies.
2. Right-click the storage policy for the source VMs that will be replicated, and then select All Tasks > Create New Copy.
  
  The Copy Properties dialog box appears.
3. On the General tab, perform the following actions:
  - Enter the copy name.
  - Select the Selective Copy check box.
  - Under Default Destination, select the library and the MediaAgent for the remote site.
4. On the Associations tab, select the virtual machines to be included in the selective copy operation.
5. On the Selective Copy tab, select Do not Automatically select jobs.
6. On the Copy Policy tab, clear the All Backups check box, and then click the down arrow to select a date for the Backups On and After value.
  
  Backups that occur on or after the specified date are included in the selective copy operation that copies backup data from the primary copy to the secondary copy.
7. Click OK.
Log in to the CommServe host using qlogin.
Run the following scripts, including single quotation marks (') around parameter values:
```
 
qoperation execscript -sn SelectAdditionalJobs -si @i_SPName = 'storage_policy_name' -si @i_CopyName = 'selective_copy_name' -si @i_BackupTypes = 'n'
```
```
 
qoperation execscript -sn DisablePreviousJobsOnNewFull -si @i_SPName = 'storage_policy_name' -si @i_CopyName='selective_copy_name' -si @i_Set = '1'
```
Where storage_policy_name is the name of the storage policy associated with the source VMs, selective_copy_name is the name of the selective copy for the storage policy, and the @i_BackupTypes value (n) is the backup type:
- 0: Only full backups
- 1: Full and differential backups
- 2: All types of backups
Complete the auxiliary copy operation for all pending backup jobs:
1. Right-click the storage policy, and then select All Tasks > Run Auxiliary Copy.
  
  The Auxiliary Copy Job Options dialog box appears.
2. On the General tab, select the following options:
  - Select the Select a Copy option, and then choose the selective copy from the list.
  - Select the Use Most Recent Full Backup for Auxcopy check box.
3. Click OK.
Change the copy precedence of the Live Sync schedule to the corresponding auxiliary copy or backup copy for the storage policy.

Based on the specified copy precedence, Live Sync runs after the corresponding primary backup, auxiliary copy, or backup copy operation completes.