With CDP 5.1, SonicWALL CDP extend its comprehensive end-to-end data protection solution with advanced backup and disaster recovery and central policy management functionalities - arming IT with better tools to achieve simpler administration, enhanced backup scheduling and greater control of bandwidth utilization within the local network as well as over the internet.
New feature highlights include:
The SonicWALL CDP MAC Agent is supported on the following MAC distributions:
- Apple Mac OS X 10.5.6 Leopard
- Apple Mac OS X 10.5.7 Leopard
- Apple Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard
- Apple Mac OS X Server 10.5
- Apple Mac OS X Server Snow Leopard
Bandwidth management.
There are two places where the amount of bandwidth used can be managed.
Between CDP and upstream CDP or SonicWALL Offsite Portal.
The CDP Web UI provides the option to specify the maximum number of kilobits per second (kbps) transmitted from a CDP to either the Offsite Portal or to another CDP on a per-downstream CDP basis.
The bandwidth limit settings appear in the Web UI menu under “Network” as shown in figure 1. It allows enabling/disabling this feature (by default disabled). If enabled, it will limit outbound bandwidth to the specified value.
Between Agent and CDP
The Enterprise Manager gives the option to limit the number of connections used to communicate between an Agent and the CDP to a number between 1 and 10 on a per-Policy basis.
The setting appears in “Add Policy” or “Edit Policy” window in the Enterprise Manager under Policies ->Add/Edit Policy -> General Settings as shown in figure 2.
Enhanced scheduling for continuous file and folder backup.
This feature allows the ability to specify start/stop time for file/folder backups for each policy. When enabled, the file/folder backups are permitted only during the interval specified from the agents under that policy. By default the scheduling is turned on for 24 hrs from the time the new policy is created.
Since the scheduling only applies to files, folders and Client Applications, this scheduling feature is independent of Server Application scheduling and only applies to files, folders and Client Applications.
The setting appears in the “Add Policy” or “Edit Policy” window in the Enterprise Manager under Policies ->Add/Edit Policy -> Scheduling as shown in figure 3.
Enhanced scheduling for application backup.
This feature allows the ability to configure the exact day and start time for scheduled Full, Differential, and Log backups in a repeatable and predictable way for Exchange, Active Directory and SQL Server.
Server Application Scheduling appears in server application backup interval window as shown in figure 4.
Time required for backup based on selected interval.
| Interval | Day (Month/Week) | Backup start time | Remarks |
|---|---|---|---|
| Monthly | 1-31, last | Scheduled time | Monthly will run a backup on the selected day of the month on specified time. On the last day of the month we will check is there any backups scheduled on the non existing days and run them too. Example is on February 28 we will run backups scheduled on Monthly 29, 30, 31. |
| Biweekly | Sunday to Saturday | Scheduled time | Biweekly will run backups on every second week, on the selected day of the week, and time specified in the UI. |
| Weekly | Sunday to Saturday | Scheduled time | Weekly will run backups every week, on the selected day of the week, and time specified in the UI. |
| Daily | N/A | Scheduled time | Will run backups every day |
| 12 hours | N/A | N/A | Will run backups every 12 hours starting January 1, 1601(Win32 epoch) |
| 6 hours | N/A | N/A | Will run backups every 6 hours starting January 1, 1601(Win32 epoch) |
| 4 hours | N/A | N/A | Will run backups every 4 hours starting January 1, 1601(Win32 epoch) |
| 3 hours | N/A | N/A | Will run backups every 3 hours starting January 1, 1601(Win32 epoch) |
| 2 hours | N/A | N/A | Will run backups every 2 hours starting January 1, 1601(Win32 epoch) |
| 1 hour | N/A | N/A | Will run backups every 1 hours starting January 1, 1601(Win32 epoch) |
| 30 minutes | N/A | N/A | Will run backups every 30 minutes starting January 1, 1601(Win32 epoch) |
| Default(*) | Inherited values | Inherited values | If default is selected, the schedule settings will be inherited its containing elements. Object is contained by Instance and Instance by Application. The settings will be grayed – and to edit them please visit the entity this values were inherited from. |
| Never | N/A | N/A | Will never perform a backup. Now is available for diff and log backups only |
Alert & Upstream Settings
Alert Settings
This feature provides the ability to enable/disable specific event alerts to be forwarded to authorized administrator via email when it occurs for analysis and ensures problem resolutions. Administrator has the flexibility to enable/disable specific general alerts through a simple user interface providing greater visibility and management of overall backup environment. For examples:
- If the CDP appliance disk usage exceeds 80% of available disk storage, an alert of type “Local Storage Near Full” gets issued to the administrator if enable.
- If there is the presence of Offsite, an alert of type “Offsite Connection Failure” gets issued to the administrator if enable.
Because CDP monitors connectivity on a time interval, basis, an “Alert Skip Counter” feature is added allowing an administrator to configure the minimum number of failed attempts prior to sending an error message to notify potential connectivity problem.
The Settings appear in the web UI under System / Alert Settings as shown in figure 5.
Upstream Settings
This feature provides the ability to specify the upstream synchronization in term of time interval. The Upstream is either a Sonicwall Portal or Upstream CDP appliance. Minimum value is 15.
The setting appears in web UI under System / Upstream Settings as shown in figure 6.
Example
- Alert skip counter is set to 4
- Upstream settings is set to every 15 minutes
- An Offsite Connection Failure alert will be received after every 4th attempt or every 60 minutes
Manual Keyset
This feature provides the ability to download and install licenses from MySonicWALL and enable SSH access for support related activities if the SonicWALL CDP appliance is deployed in an environment where Internet connectivity is restricted.
Steps to acquire the license
- User will obtain the encrypted license key information from his/her http://www.mysonicwall.com account for the CDP appliance as shown in figures 7 and 8.
- User will copy the license to Manual Keyset field in System»Licenses page in WEB UI as shown in figure 9. Note: This feature is available for CDP users who have account with mysonicwall.com. Enabling root SSH access is only for SonicWALL Tech Support.
Improved Large File Handling
Using snapshots on Windows clients allows CDP to safely freeze large and frequently changing files to be backed up from the snapshot thus preventing the aborted transfers that occur when a file is written to while it is being backed up. This ensures files are reliably backed up every time.
