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I have backup software which is installed on RHEL 7 Server. The connectivity between Data Domain and the Backup Server is as below:

Architecture Diagram

Zonning is configured on switch 1 and switch 2 as below:

Alias For Data Domain HBA card 1:

DD_HBA1_P1

DD_HBA1_P2

Alias For Data Domain HBA card 2:

DD_HBA2_P1

DD_HBA2_P2

Alias for Server 001 HBA Card 1:

Server001_HBA1_P1

Server001_HBA1_P2

Alias for Server 001 HBA Card 2:

Server001_HBA2_P1

Server001_HBA2_P2

As Server001 is initiator and there are 4 ports so I created 4 zones for each initiator.

Data Domain storage is configured as open storage in the backup software. We Can't see the disk mounted on the OS. Data Domain is visible on OS as a character device.

I have few queries as below:

  1. Is multipathing required on server001 ? If not then why?
  2. Can I configure multipathing on FC Ports? if Yes, Please guide me by sharing the steps or KB article.
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  • You said the Data Domain is visible as a character device. What is the name of the character device? Is it a generic SCSI device (/dev/sg*), a (virtual?) SCSI tape device (/dev/st*) or something else entirely? Commented Feb 14, 2020 at 7:53
  • Thanks for your reply telcoM, I am not sure about this. I am using DDBOOST and VTL for backup on data domain. I can able to see character devices (nst*, stg* and st*). If you can guide me how can I check this for ddboost that will be very helpful. Commented Feb 18, 2020 at 18:33
  • Unfortunately I have no idea about Data Domain (in our company, there is a dedicated group of people handling the backup systems - and I'm not in that group). Commented Feb 19, 2020 at 9:00
  • Ok, can you suggest for stg devices Commented Feb 19, 2020 at 13:08

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I don't know how it's configured on the storage side, so I could be wrong, but it seems, Data Domain emulates tape drives for you. That's why you see character device and not volumes. So try working with them as with a tapes/tape changers and/robots.

Historically, FC tape devices have single path, so typically multi-pathing is not needed for them. But you can and actually should install/configure multi-pathing software to work with block-devices - volumes. It happens because multi pathing in FC world works with not ports but with paths. Linux has native multi-pathing support and storage vendors provide their own solutions as well.

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