Overview FAQs
What is the data protection solution for Enterprise Workloads?
Druva offers a cloud-based backup and archival solution primarily for remote office servers. Because Druva is a cloud-targeted backup, you do not need an elaborate deployment to get started. Instead, after you purchase a license, all you have to do is install Hybrid Workloads agents or proxies on your data center servers and virtual machines, or register Azure subscriptions to back up virtual machine data. A connection is established between your servers and the Druva Cloud. After configuring your setup from the Management Console, backups across servers start.
What is a Hybrid Workloads agent?
Hybrid Workloads agent is a component of the Druva solution that you can deploy locally. It communicates with Druva Cloud for backing up and restoring data. To enable backup and restore of server data, you must install and activate Hybrid Workloads agents on the servers that you want to back up. You do not require separate agent installers for File servers and MS-SQL server. The Hybrid Workloads agent installers are designed to identify the type of server. That is why you can use the same installer for installations across File servers as well as MS-SQL server.
What is Cloud?
Cloud comprises cloud storage to which your server data is saved. The domain name is *.druva.com.
How does Druva work?
Druva setup includes the Cloud and multiple instances of Hybrid Workloads agents (deployed on the servers that need to be backed up). Druva follows a client-server architecture to ensure that your server data is backed up at regular intervals.
Cloud triggers backup requests to agents and also handles requests for restores. Hybrid Workloads agent is a component that is installed on servers. It communicates with Cloud for data backup or restore.
What are the unique capabilities of Druva?
Druva is a cloud-based, unified server backup and archiving solution. Built on the advanced cloud technologies offered by Amazon Web services, Druva promises best-in-class durability and infinite scalability for growing server data needs.
The powerful global deduplication that Druva employs ensures reduced backup windows and faster restores. With Druva, you can expect faster backups, with native server connections of up to 100 Mbps. Deduplication brings about effective speeds of up to 1 Gbps.
The flexible design of Druva can be leveraged to support backup and restore needs of organizations of all sizes, from a single remote office File server to a globally distributed enterprise - all from a single console.
A Druva deployment is entirely cloud-based. With Druva, you can free your IT staff from having to manage multi-tier implementations with secondary storage locations. What's more, you can expect to see increased reliability of backups with reduced levels of IT support.
The Druva license depends on how much data you consume, thus ensuring optimum costs, even over longer retention durations. The optional CloudCache can further increase the speed and efficiency of both backups and restores. Ideal for bandwidth-challenged locations or organizations with very short RTO objectives, data can be cached on an appliance close to the server. This allows for LAN speed backups and restores, with the ability to send data to the cloud on a schedule.
How much will Druva cost?
The purchase price of your license depends on the storage that you plan to purchase. To know how much your license will cost, get in touch with your account executive. You can also write to the Support.
What are the purchase terms of a Druva license?
For exact purchase terms, get in touch with your account executive. You can also write to the Support.
Do I need to pay a separate maintenance price?
For details about the maintenance price and the support plan that will best suit your needs, get in touch with your account executive. You can also write to the Support.
What are in-product notifications?
The in-product notifications are communications from Druva to the administrators to keep them updated about the new features, product changes, and enhancements. In-product notifications are displayed under the ❌ icon on the menu bar.
What are the types of in-product notifications?
Informational notifications for a feature or an enhancement release. These notifications include links to release notes where administrators can read up further details. These notifications are represented with the Blue icon. Druva displays only one informational notification at a time.
Actionable notifications for actions that administrators must perform to prepare for the product updates. These notifications can be specific to all organizations or a single organization.
For example, a ‘Configure Cloud administrator’ notification will be applicable to all organizations and you can view it from the All Organization page. And an ‘End of Life notification for a Windows 2003 server’ notification might be applicable only for organizations that have a Windows 2003 server, and you can view the notification on the relevant organization page.
These notifications are represented with the ❌ icon. Druva displays up to four actionable notifications at a time. This notification continues to show up until you perform the required action.
How to view in-product notification for All Organizations?
Login to the Management Console.
On the menu bar, click the ❌ icon.
How to view in-product notification for an organization?
Log in to the Management Console.
On the menu bar, click All Organizations, and select the required organization from the drop-down list.
On the top-right corner of the menu bar, click the ❌ icon.
What is the Druva idle session timeout?
The idle session timeout for Druva is 30 minutes .You will be logged out of the Management Console if the console is idle for 30 minutes.
Configuration FAQs
How do I get started with using Druva?
Druva is easy to set up. You only need to perform a few, quick steps to get your setup ready. To see the chronology that you must follow, see Druva setup process. For a full set of instructions for setting up Druva for your file servers, see Initial configuration of file servers. To know how you can set up Druva for your MS-SQL server, see Introduction to Druva for SQL servers
Do I require separate agent installers for File servers and MS-SQL server?
No, you do not. Hybrid Workloads agents can identify the type of a server at the time of an installation. That is why you do not require separate installers for file servers and MS-SQL server.
What is a backup set?
A backup set is a data set that you can configure for backups by defining the backup content and backup policies for files and databases. A backup set provides configuration options to customize the backup content, backup policy, and retention settings. You can configure multiple data sets for backup with their own policies and settings, independent of each other. For example, if you want to back up files and MS-SQL server database on the same server, you can create two backup sets; one for files and another for the MS-SQL server database with their respective policies.
Can I create multiple backup sets to back up the same content for the same server?
No. Druva allows you to configure different backup sets to back up different data of the same server.
When do I use the Content rule and Custom content?
If you have multiple servers with similar workloads, instead of individually configuring the backup content for each backup set, you can create a content rule and apply to all the corresponding workloads. However, for a workload that needs to back up different content than the other backup sets, you can configure a custom content exclusively for such the backup set. Content rule enables you to configure similar backup sets in bulk whereas the custom content provides the flexibility when dealing with exceptions.
Can I disable a backup set?
Yes, you can disable a backup set of a server for further backup. When you disable the backup set, Druva does not create new recovery points for that backup set, however, retains the existing recovery points.
Can I select a different storage when adding a new backup set to the server?
Yes, Druva allows you to select a different storage when you configure a new backup set for a server.
Can I attach different backup sets of the same server to different CloudCache?
Yes, you can attach different backup sets of the same server to different CloudCache.
What happens to the server with mixed workload which is mapped to the CloudCache post the upgrade to backup sets v2?
If a server is configured to back up mixed workloads and the server is mapped to CloudCache, after the server is upgraded to Hybrid Workloads agent 4.7, two backup sets are created corresponding to the administrative group and backup policy and these backup sets are mapped to the CloudCache.
Would adding new backup set/s to my existing server cost me extra?
No. Druva does not charge anything for creating backup sets. A customer is charged based on the storage usage. For more information about credits, see Druva Credits.
What happens if I change the backup policy for a backupset; does it delete all the previously backed up data?
No. The data backed up with the old policy would be maintained. The recovery points would get deleted with respect to the retention defined in the respective policies.
What happens when a backup set is unmapped from a CloudCache. What happens to the data present on the CloudCache corresponding to the backup set? Would it be lost?
No data is lost in this scenario. The data corresponding to the unmapped backup set, if not already synced to the cloud, will be synced to the cloud depending on the CloudCache schedule. Once it is synced to the cloud, the corresponding disk space occupied on the CloudCache is freed.
Can I install Hybrid Workloads agents first, and then register servers?
At the time of registering servers, Druva generates an activation token. You must use this activation token to activate Hybrid Workloads agents on your servers. You can also use third-party tools such as Microsoft SCCM for mass installation and activation. However, you must have the activation token for activating Hybrid Workloads agents. The order does not matter; you can choose to register servers first and then install Hybrid Workloads agents. Alternatively, you can install Hybrid Workloads agents first, and then register servers. However, to obtain the activation token for activating Hybrid Workloads agents, you must register your File servers or MS-SQL server.
Where can I find the Hybrid Workloads agent installer?
The Hybrid Workloads agent installer is available at http://downloads.druva.com/phoenix/.
Because the Hybrid Workloads agent installer is server-aware, it identifies the type of a server at the time of installation. That is why you need not maintain separate installers for File servers and MS-SQL server.
You can also download the installer from the Management Console at the time of registering servers.
How do I activate Hybrid Workloads agents?
To enable backup and restore of server data, you must install and activate Hybrid Workloads agents on the servers that you want to back up.
Can I mass deploy Hybrid Workloads agents?
You can use a third-party script such as Microsoft System Center Configuration Manager for installing and activating Hybrid Workloads agents. However, we do not provide scripts for configuring the file servers or SQL servers on which Hybrid Workloads agents reside. You must configure each server from the Management Console.
How much free space do I need on my servers?
You must ensure that the free space at locations where Hybrid Workloads agent configuration details, logs, and metadata reside is at least 1% of the size of the data that you want to back up. To know where Hybrid Workloads agent logs and configuration details are available, see Hybrid Workloads agent configuration and log files.
What files can I see on the primary partition where I installed Hybrid Workloads agent?
You can expect to see the application data (the configuration file and the logs) under your primary partition. If you choose to install Hybrid Workloads agent on your primary partition, both the installation directory and the application data will reside on the primary partition.
What is an activation token? How many do I need?
An activation token is generated at the time of registering servers. It performs a one-time authentication for validating Hybrid Workloads agent connections to Druva Master. You can use an activation token to activate as many Hybrid Workloads agents as you want. We recommend that you generate only those many tokens that you plan to use. We also recommend that you use a single token to activate servers that share something in common. For example, you might want to use a token to activate all servers that are geographically co-located. To better manage activation tokens, delete the tokens that you have not used for activating Hybrid Workloads agents. To know more, see Manage activation tokens.
Does Druva store my activation tokens?
Yes, Druva stores your activation tokens. Druva lists the activation token under Manage > ActivationTokens. Your token appears as a string of multiple instances of asterisk (*) on the Management Console.
I deleted some activation tokens. What happens to backups from my servers?
An activation token only performs a one-time authentication of Hybrid Workloads agents. It does not interfere with backups. If you deleted some tokens, backups from your servers will continue as usual.
Can I attach different backup sets of the same server to different CloudCache?
Yes. It is possible to create different backup sets to back up server data and map these backup sets to different CloudCaches. For example, a Windows File server is configured with two backup sets to back up C:\Folder1 and C:\Folder2, respectively. These backup sets are distinct and can be configured to different or same CloudCache for backup.
Backup and restore FAQs
How does the Druva deduplication algorithm work?
Druva uses a deduplication technique that makes use of a variable block sizing technique based on file type to determine globally duplicated data across all your servers. The Hybrid Workloads agent only transfers unique blocks of data to the cloud. This ensures massive bandwidth savings of up to 90% in many cases.
Where is my data backed up?
Druva backs up your data in the cloud hosted by Amazon. Druva relies on the robustness and the security standards of Amazon Web Services to ensure that your backup data stays safe and secure.
What happens if my server loses connectivity?
Druva is designed to work efficiently even for organizations with intermittent connectivity. If Hybrid Workloads agents cannot reach Druva Cloud, backups or restores stop temporarily. When connectivity resumes, backups or restores start again. A single backup can, therefore, span across multiple backup windows.
What are recovery points?
A recovery point is a point-in-time image of your backup data. To know the type of recovery points that Druva supports, see Common terms.
My server is not operational. I want to replace it with another one. Can I?
Druva retains the data from your server that is not operational. You can restore the data to another server.
I deprecate servers every 3 years. Can I configure new servers in their place?
Yes, you can. Druva retains data from the servers that you deprecate. To set up new servers in their place, restore the data from the deprecated servers to the new servers.
I want to back up secondary servers only if the primary server fails. Can I do this?
No, you cannot. However, you can create backup sets to back up the content from your secondary servers and your tertiary servers. Druva will back up data from your primary, secondary, and tertiary servers according to the schedule defined in the backup policy.
Can I specify a bandwidth for backup?
Yes, you can specify the bandwidth limitation for backup.
Can I specify a bandwidth for restore?
No, you cannot specify the bandwidth limitation for restore.
What happens to my data after my contract expires?
After the expiration of your contract, Druva does not back up your servers. However, your data is retained on the cloud. You can choose to extend your contract, and then perform a restore of the data.
Can I export Druva data?
No, you cannot export Druva data. However, you can choose to restore data to the server to which it belongs, or a new server.
Can I perform a restore to a server in another organization under Druva?
Organizations in Druva are independent entities by design. Druva does not have a functionality that allows inter-Organizational restore.
What are the possible factors for low deduplication?
Low deduplication is possible:
if a significant portion of the backup data is unique
when backing up data such as video, images, MP3, and PST
during shorter retention of the deduplicated data
while backing up a large number of compressed files
when a MS SQL agent level backup is performed (recommended) instead of a dump method ( for SQL-specific backups )
Security and certification FAQs
What security standards do you employ?
To ensure that your data stays protected, Druva uses the 256-bit AES at rest and 256-bit Secure Socket Layer (SSL) in transit. Additionally, Druva also employs data scrambling techniques to obscure access to your data.
Does Druva support Safe Harbor?
Yes, Druva does. While configuring a server, the server data can be scoped to administrative groups within a specific geography (known as “availability zone” within Amazon Web Services). This can provide complete assurance that data never leaves a specific geography.
What certifications does Druva adhere to?
Druva adheres to the same certifications as Endpoints.
As an IaaS provider, Amazon regularly updates their compliance certifications for all the standard certifications (See http://aws.amazon.com/compliance/ ). As a SaaS provider, Druva holds a number of certifications for controlling and managing our applications. This includes an ISAE 3000 Type II audit performed yearly by KPMG, certifications around Safe Harbor, and a review of our security and privacy controls for handling HIPAA-compliant protected health information (PHI).
To know the certifications that Endpoints adheres to, contact Support.