Hi all!
So, we're evaluating backup software to replace Budtool. When we used budtool, it used Netapp's Dump to backup the files, not NDMP.
Now, I don't claim to have all the ins-and-outs down on NDMP, but here's what I understand. NDMP does a sorta flow-control in one stream and dumps in another (or something like that).
My particular questions:
- Do all implementations of NDMP backup/restore at best only allow
choosing directories and NOT files for restore/backup?
I believe you can only specify the backup of directories. All of the tools let you specify a single-file to be restored.
In next version of Ontap, some of the tools will support what is called "direct-access restore." To grab a single-file, you will seek to the spot on the tape where the file is, rather than having to read the whole backup image (the default).
- Does netapp's Dump work such that you can choose to backup/restore
particular files?
If you jump through some command line hoops, you could backup a single-file. There is no equivalent for NDMP right now.
- How does netapp's Dump differ from the dump in the NDMP?
The code is 90 - 95% the same. NDMP enables some options (e.g. direct-access restore) that dump/restore don't have.
But dump/restore have some capabilities (dumping a single file) that NDMP cannot do.
But for the most part, the two use the same code base.
Stephen Manley Data Availability and Management Biographer (soon to be released -- The Mike Federwisch Story)