How do we ensure that we have a good backup with Avamar? 

We can try using "mccli backup validate..."; but that runs a long time, and I don't see where the results go.

We can look at the "Last Successful Backup Date" from "mccli client show...", but that apparently reports success even if the backup had exceptions.

We can look at activities, and ee if they Completed, Completed With Exceptions, etc.  But do we have to look for a success on each plugin, to be sure?  For example, Windows filesystem and Winodws VSS have to both succeed, right?

Just looking for a straightforward way to day "Yes, we're OK on server xxx".

Thanks.

didn't get a real good answer ...

• Re: Ask the Expert:Avamar Server management best practices

    Validating a backup is essentially doing a restore and discarding the results. It will prove that the backup is consistent (in other words, the backup is on the server and all the bits that were backed up can be restored) but it doesn't tell us anything about the content of that backup. For example, on Windows clients, if VSS is not functioning correctly, any open files on the client will not be backed up. This backup will be valid (since it is consistent and restorable) but if you were trying to restore one of those open files, you will not be able to do so.

  When reviewing the activities, keep in mind that each plugin has a specific purpose. If the filesystem backup succeeds but the VSS backup fails, it will not be possible to perform a bare metal recovery of this system but any data backed up as part of the file system backup will be available for restore. Similarly, if your DB2 backups succeed but your filesystem backups fail, you will be able to recover the databases but not the file system. Naturally, this applies to any plug-in backups.

  There are some reports built into the Avamar Administrator that you may find useful for determining if a client is fully protected or not. In particular, take a look at the "Activities - Exceptions", "Activities - Failed" and "Client - No Activities" reports. The two "Activities" reports are pretty self-explanatory (they report on any clients that complete with exceptions or fail). The "Client - No Activities" report will give you information on any client that is not running backups.

  It is also possible to create your own reports using the GUI, though the options for customization are somewhat limited.

  You can configure the system to send built-in or custom reports to you by e-mail on a daily basis. If you find that these reports are not sufficient for your needs, you could use the ODBC connectivity I mentioned above to "roll your own" or you could use a reporting package such as Data Protection Advisor to generate more in-depth reports "out of the box".