Sealing the Deduplication Database

Use deduplication database (DDB) sealing:

When large amount of data on the disk is unreadable due to disk corruption or other hardware issues.
When the size of data managed by the DDB needs to be controlled for data pruning on the cloud storage library.
When using Deduplication to Tape (Silo Storage).

You can also seal the DDB using XML. See Sealing the Deduplication Database using XML for instructions.

Note

In case of widespread corruption of deduplicated backup data, you must perform a start over operation instead of sealing the deduplication database.

About This Task

The active DDB can be sealed:

On-demand - using Seal Deduplication Database operation.
Periodically - based on the rules for DDB creation.

See Deduplication Database Creation for more information.
Incidentally - based on Seal and Start new DDB automatically on detection of inconsistency option.

See Modifying Deduplication Database Recovery Settings for more information.

When the DDB is sealed, the sealing process closes the DDB and starts a new DDB. When the new database is started, the next instance of each data block processed creates a new signature tracking entry and the data block is written to the disk again as a new initial baseline.

The sealed DDB is automatically deleted only after all the jobs (with their data block signatures stored on the DDB) are aged or deleted and the corresponding volumes are deleted from the disk.

Before You Begin

Ensure that the following conditions are met:

No DDB Move jobs are running.
Ensure that all the partitions in the DDB are on the same version of MediaAgent. Otherwise, the DDB cannot be sealed.
For database agents, when the backup jobs are in Running or Suspended state.

To proceed with sealing, wait for the backup jobs to complete or stop (kill) all the jobs.
Sealing the DDB process might require more space on the disk library as the new baseline for backup is created after sealing.

Therefore, make sure that there is enough space available on the disk.

Procedure

From the CommCell Browser, expand Storage Resources > Deduplication Engines > storage_policy_copy.
Right-click the deduplication_database and then click All Tasks > Seal Deduplication Database.
Click Yes on a confirmation message.

A message appears that tells you that the DDB sealing requires double the amount of disk space on the library.
Type space available for sealing ddb and then click OK.

Note

You can view the Estimated baseline size of a new DDB in the Storage Policy Copy Properties window, on the Deduplication tab, on the DDB Information subtab.

Result

When the DDB is sealed, the following event message appears in the Event Viewer window.

Deduplication store [SIDB_DDB01_Primary(Jan 01 2014 2:58PM)] has been sealed. Sealed Reason: Sealed by User. Sealed by User: [admin]