HP Data Protector Backups using Compellent PowerShell snapshots

There are three main steps in this setup:

1. Setup snapshot / scripting host server (in my case this is a virtual machine with iSCSI network connections) 
2. PowerShell Scripts 
3. HP DP configuration

Prerequisites: 

• Snapshot Host machine which is connected to the iSCSI network. 
• Compellent Enterprise Manager Server setup and configured. 

Step 1 – Configure the Snapshot Server for storage access to the Compellent Array 

Configure the Compellent Enterprise Manager Server 

Add the snapshot / scripting server in Compellent enterprise manager using the “Create Server” wizard. 

Get the IQN of the snapshot server: 

Enter Server Name, Windows 2012 MPIO for multi path and the IQN of the server from the iSCSI control panel applet into the Create Server wizard 

On the snapshot server: 

• Install the Windows MPIO feature: 

           Add-WindowsFeature Multipath-IO 

• Click Start, Type MPIO and click the MPIO icon 
• Click “Discover Multi-Paths”  
• Tick add support for iSCSI and click Add 
• Reboot the machine if required 

• Open the iSCSI Control Panel Applet (iscsicpl) on the snapshot / scripting server and enter the target addresses of the SAN. 
• Click connect on each of the discovered targets that appear, ensure enable MPIO is ticked for each. 
• Click volumes and devices and “Auto Configure” 
• There should be a single device showing in the volume list which is the Compellent 

The server should now show as connected in the Compellent Enterprise Manager: 

Step 2 – Configure the PowerShell Scripts on the Scripting / Snapshot Server 

To download the Dell Compellent PowerShell Cmdlets you need to get a Dell Co-Pilot account configured here: 

https://customer.compellent.com/login.aspx?item=%2fdefault&user=extranet%5cAnonymous&site=customerportal  

Once I my account was approved, I was able to login, navigate to the Knowledge Centre, then software. From here I downloaded Dell Storage PowerShell SDK v2.2.1. I have provided the link but it will need registration to download. 

https://kc.compellent.com/Pages/Download.aspx?DocID=2835  

Download and unzip the PowerShell modules to an appropriate location. I use: 

C:\ Scripts\DellStoragePowerShellSDK_v2_2_1_362 

You will need to get a serial number from your controller, this can be found in Enterprise Manager under the hardware tab, then click a controller and the “Index” is the serial required. 

My scripts are available for download on GitHub and can be used with the following syntax: 

C:\Scripts\CompellentSnapAttach.ps1 -scSn "00000" ` 

    -serverName "scriptserver.lan" -Credential $Credentials ` 

    -port 3033 -TargetVolume "My Volume" ` 

    -managementHostName "managementserver.lan"  

The port shown is the default data collection port for the Compellent management server. 

Credentials can be saved using the PowerShell and SecureString method as in the blog post here. 

Step 3 – Configure HP Data Protector to execute PowerShell scripts pre and post backup 

On the Scripting server 

Create .bat files containing the required pre and post code in C:\Program Files\Omniback\Bin 

My scripts are as follows 

AttachGoldImages.bat 

powershell.exe -File "C:\Scripts\AttachGoldImages.PS1" 

DetachGoldImages.bat 

powershell.exe -File "C:\Scripts\DetachGoldImages.PS1" 

In Data Protector Manager 

Open the backup specification and go to the Options tab 

Click the Advanced button in ‘Backup Specification Options’ 

Enter the filenames of the .bat files created earlier. The “On Client” box should be the scripting server that the .bat files are located on. 

Once all of these steps are complete, the scripting server can now mount an iSCSI replay, perform the backup and then remove the replay from both the scripting server and the Compellent array.