Symantec AutoSupport is a set of infrastructure, process, and systems that enhance the support experience through proactive monitoring of Symantec Appliance hardware and software, as well as providing automated error reporting and support case creation. Through automation, internet access, and case management integration, Symantec can vastly improve the support process and give our support engineers the tools to solve problems faster. The AutoSupport infrastructure within Symantec analyzes the Call Home data from each appliance to provide proactive customer support and incident response for hardware failures thus reducing the need for an administrator to initiate support cases. It also enables Symantec to better understand how customers configure and use appliances, and where improvements would be most beneficial. AutoSupport can also correlate the Call Home data with other site configuration data held by Symantec, for technical support and error analysis. With AutoSupport, Symantec greatly improves the customer support experience.

1. Copyright © 2014 Symantec Corporation. All rights reserved. Symantec and the Symantec logo are trademarks of Symantec Corporation. All other brands and products
are trademarks of their respective holder/s. 01/2014
Symantec Backup and Recovery Technical Brief
NetBackup Appliance AutoSupport for NetBackup 5330
NetBackup Appliance AutoSupport
Symantec AutoSupport is a set of infrastructure, process, and systems that enhance the support experience through proactive monitoring of Symantec Appliance hardware and software, as well as providing automated error reporting and support case creation.
Through automation, internet access, and case management integration, Symantec can vastly improve the support process and give our support engineers the tools to solve problems faster. The AutoSupport infrastructure within Symantec analyzes the Call Home data from each appliance to provide proactive customer support and incident response for hardware failures thus reducing the need for an administrator to initiate support cases. It also enables Symantec to better understand how customers configure and use appliances, and where improvements would be most beneficial.
AutoSupport can also correlate the Call Home data with other site configuration data held by Symantec, for technical support and error analysis. With AutoSupport, Symantec greatly improves the customer support experience.
AutoSupport Architecture
There are four components that make up the technology of AutoSupport:
 Call Home Agent
 Symantec Appliance Monitoring (SymAppMon) Infrastructure,
 MyAppliance Portal
 Symantec Operations Readiness Tool (SORT)
Figure 1: AutoSupport Architecture
Key Benefits
 Additional level of monitoring and awareness (beyond internal monitoring)
 Lower total cost of ownership
 Proactive identification of issues
 Automated support case management
 Guided workflow
 Faster issue resolution
 Assurance and confidence
 Connected Support Experience
 Downtime minimization

2. Copyright © 2014 Symantec Corporation. All rights reserved. Symantec and the Symantec logo are trademarks of Symantec Corporation. All other brands and products
are trademarks of their respective holder/s. 01/2014
Symantec Backup and Recovery Technical Brief
NetBackup Appliance AutoSupport for NetBackup 5330
Advanced Appliance Monitoring – Early Detection of Data Integrity Issues
The NetBackup Appliances continuously monitors all hardware components within the appliance – including all storage subsystems, to ensure prompt detection of any storage hardware errors that could cause data integrity issues.
If a storage hardware error is detected, the user is immediately alerted via an email, SNMP event and notification in the NetBackup Appliance web console. Users can then take immediate corrective action to ensure continuous availability of data on NetBackup Appliances. This early notification of storage hardware errors is extremely useful when coupled with the RAID6 disk redundancy system utilized by the NetBackup Appliance storage disks. RAID 6 ensures data availability despite the occurrence of two concurrent drive failures to storage disks. NetBackup Appliance Monitoring will immediately alert users of any drive failures to allow users to take corrective action before more than 2 concurrent drives fail. This early detection system helps prevent data loss caused by multiple, simultaneous drive failures.
The Call Home monitoring agent constantly watches the appliance hardware and software components and responds to critical situations by collecting problem determination data, system heath, and inventory data and transmitting it to Symantec via secure HTTPS to aid in the diagnostic and troubleshooting process with Support.
Symantec Appliance Monitoring Infrastructure
The Symantec Appliance Monitoring (SymAppMon) Infrastructure comprise of two independent recipient servers located in redundant, tier-4 secure datacenters in the United States:
 Heartbeat receiver
 SORT data receiver
The support infrastructure consists of:
 Redundant tier-3 Secure Operations Centers (located in the United States and Ireland), to provide first-line incident response and 24-hour monitoring, and
 Symantec Enterprise Support Operations, and
 Symantec Field Services, both of which are globally staffed for 24x7 support
When an appliance transmits a heartbeat to Symantec, it is received by the SymAppMon servers. Should a heartbeat fail, the Secure Operations Center (SOC) is alerted. The appliance will also transmit a DataCollect package to the SORT receiver and an incident ticket is opened to track the status.
A SOC engineer will triage the incident, and determine the course of action – whether to escalate the issue to Support Operations, or to dispatch a hardware repair order to Symantec Field Services.
SymAppMon monitors the following Hardware components:
1. CPU Voltage
2. Disk status
3. Fan speed
4. Power Wattage
5. Fibre channel cards (added in recent software revisions)
6. RAID controllers
7. RAID volume groups
8. System Temperature
9. System Board components via the Integrated Platform Management Interface and the Baseboard Management Controller Chip
10. Storage subsystems (shelves & interconnects)
11. Events (specific to NetBackup deduplication appliances)
Software monitoring is based on the product in which the monitoring agent is running. The Call Home agent monitors slightly different objects depending on the hardware model and software versions. For 5200 series appliances, the agent monitors failed jobs and MSDP capacity utilization.
SORT - Symantec Operations Readiness Tool
Symantec Operations Readiness Tools (SORT) is a web-based application which is designed to help system administrators identify risks in their data centers and increase operational efficiency, enabling them to manage the complexity associated with data center architectures and scale. SORT allows system administrators to identify potential risks in their data centers while eliminating the complexity typically associated with data center architectures. SORT is designed to support Storage Foundation and NetBackup products.
SORT automates and reduces complexity by simplifying some of the most time-consuming tasks. The SORT software gathers important environmental information from servers running NetBackup. SORT supports a wide variety of platforms, including Linux, Solaris, HP-UX, AIX, and Windows servers. It helps in risk management by updating system administrators with real-time patch notifications. The data gathered about NetBackup helps to assess risk and generate actionable server error summaries. SORT provides environment-specific recommendations while adhering to best practices.

3. Copyright © 2014 Symantec Corporation. All rights reserved. Symantec and the Symantec logo are trademarks of Symantec Corporation. All other brands and products
are trademarks of their respective holder/s. 01/2014
Symantec Backup and Recovery Technical Brief
NetBackup Appliance AutoSupport for NetBackup 5330
SORT offers the following benefits:
 Risk evaluation:
o Configuration evaluation service for updating environmental parameters. It increases availability, efficiency, and utilization.
 Patch management:
o Searchable patch repository enables users to download patches and register for notifications related to new patch releases.
 Error code lookup service:
o The message identification code lookup service provides descriptions and remedies for numerous Symantec error codes.
 Installation and upgrade assessment:
o Installation and upgrade evaluation service helps to ensure that the server is ready for installing Symantec Enterprise products.
 Product deployment analysis:
o Evaluation and reporting regarding implemented and used products and licenses.
MyAppliance Portal
The MyAppliance Web portal provides users with a central registration, support, and information store for Symantec appliances. Within the portal, users can view support cases, risks, and other information about their appliance(s), access best practices and other knowledge base articles, as well as register & maintain administrative contact and location information for appliances.
NOTE: Registering appliances on the MyAppliance portal is a critical step in ensuring Symantec’s ability to contact the right person(s) in the event of an identified appliance failure, and to dispatch field services to the correct location for repairs. Refer to Appliance Registration within this guide for further information on how to register your appliances
The MyAppliance portal is integrated with the MySymantec portal and can be accessed directly at: https://my.appliance.symantec.com, or http://my.symantec.com. In either case, a SymAccount user credential is required. If you do not have a login, you can register for a new SymAccount at the portal. The SymAccount credentials will also give you access to MySymantec, MySupport, SymConnect, SymIQ, SORT, and other Symantec Web portals. Once the SymAccount credential is validated, navigate to the Appliances tab to visit the MyAppliance Web portal. From there, you can register appliances, view and edit existing registered appliances, view support cases, and inspect heartbeat data.
For more information on the MyAppliance Portal, please visit https://my.appliance.symantec.com.
Data Transmission
The Call Home functionality transmits diagnostic, inventory, and error condition state information to Symantec on a periodic basis, usually every 30 minutes via a “heartbeat” package, and a “DataCollect” package, every 3 days, and will increase transmission to 15 minutes on detection of a failure until the failure is cleared. A full inventory is instigated every 12 hours which can be collected via MyAppliance Portal. DataCollect packages are exported via the CLISH interface (CLI).
Figure 2: MyAppliance Portal
All data is transmitted securely with SSL-encrypted transmission via HTTPS. The Call Home & DataCollect data is received and stored in a tier-4 secure datacenter located in the United States. Only authorized Support & Engineering personnel have direct access to the raw data via authenticated, controlled access and is held for 60 days for heartbeat data and 15 days for DataCollect. The data collected only contains non PII information for the sole purposes of support troubleshooting.

4. Copyright © 2014 Symantec Corporation. All rights reserved. Symantec and the Symantec logo are trademarks of Symantec Corporation. All other brands and products
are trademarks of their respective holder/s. 01/2014
Symantec Backup and Recovery Technical Brief
NetBackup Appliance AutoSupport for NetBackup 5330
Email Alerts
It is recommended that email alerting (SMTP) is configured on the appliances regardless of whether CallHome is enabled or not such that the customer receives notification emails from the appliances upon critical events such as hardware failures.
Figure 3: Setting up Email Alerts
Enter the SMTP details for your environment, and select a notification interval for how often alerts should be repeated if necessary.
Registering your appliance is a vital step in allowing Symantec the ability to help maximize availability of your systems by providing accurate contact details and site-specific information that aids in expediting support, field services, and customer notification of failures. Registering also enables you to a wealth of additional reporting capabilities for your appliances such as:
 Overview of all registered appliances
 Capacity and utilization details
 View and update support cases
 Update contact & site information detail
 Inspect latest Call Home heartbeat data for security auditing purposes.
NetBackup Product Improvement Program
The NetBackup Product Improvement Program (referenced further as “NBUPIP”) is a feature that allows NetBackup to collect deployment and usage data periodically. The collected information helps identify how customers deploy and use NetBackup. For example, the collected data assists in identifying which features are used most and what the usage patterns are of those common features. The aggregated data allows the NetBackup development and support teams to plan product improvements for ease of use, performance, installation and many other product areas.
For customers who are using or deploying integrated NetBackup Appliances, participation in the NBUPIP is enabled by default in conjunction with the default enabled AutoSupport Call Home functionality. Disabling Call Home will also disable the extended collection of product telemetry data. The data collected and transmitted includes deployment and usage information:
 Hardware and software configuration specifics of each server
o IP Address, IP type
o Fully qualified domain name
o Alias and/or hostname, host ID, platform, and architecture
 CPU name, type, clock speed, Time zone etc.
 Environmental language
 Operating system version level
 Memory size
 Licensed NetBackup software version, features and installed packages
 NetBackup Appliance deployment
 Client counts by policy type and platform
 Media server counts by NetBackup version and platform, hold and retention level
 Policy count by policy type
 Storage Lifecycle Policy counts by operation type

5. Copyright © 2014 Symantec Corporation. All rights reserved. Symantec and the Symantec logo are trademarks of Symantec Corporation. All other brands and products
are trademarks of their respective holder/s. 01/2014
Symantec Backup and Recovery Technical Brief
NetBackup Appliance AutoSupport for NetBackup 5330
The collected information is automatically and asynchronously transferred to Symantec periodically through secure channels. Symantec uses the collected information internally for statistical product deployment analytics to do the following:
 Identify and analyze trends and comparisons in the aggregated install base
 Understand NetBackup licensed software product hardware and software deployment configurations
 Improve Symantec products and services
 Enhance technical support issue research
Summary
In today's world of expensive business downtime from unplanned interruptions, information unavailability, and scheduled maintenance windows, Symantec is committed to simplifying and improving the support experience for its appliance customers.
The Symantec AutoSupport service aims to lower the customer total cost of ownership (TCO) through proactive identification of issues, automated support case management, and guided workflow for faster issue resolution. Symantec AutoSupport helps to provide assurance and confidence to our customers of the security and benefits of this service. With Symantec AutoSupport, a true, Connected Support Experience is delivered.
AutoSupport provides significant support capabilities that are not available to a self-designed deployment. AutoSupport provides an additional level of monitoring and awareness beyond any internal monitoring of systems.
AutoSupport registration saves time when support issues arise by using Issue Correlation to by-pass first level support troubleshooting and can identify problems and save a number of troubleshooting cycles using Downtime Minimization.
“CallHome” provides a more proactive support model and monitor issues for customers to determine if they actually have a problem with a hard drive, power supply, or other hardware component.
Figure 4: NetBackup Appliances AutoSupport Overview
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Appliance Registration: Users can register their Appliance and contact details on the Symantec support website.
Issue Correlation: Symantec support uses registration information when resolving any issues reported by the corresponding user.
Downtime Minimization: Streamlines overall support process allowing Symantec support to minimize downtime.
Proactive Support Model: Enables Symantec support to provide a more proactive approach to support.
CallHome Feature: Uploads data required for troubleshooting from the Appliance to the Symantec AutoSupport server.

6. Copyright © 2014 Symantec Corporation. All rights reserved. Symantec and the Symantec logo are trademarks of Symantec Corporation. All other brands and products
are trademarks of their respective holder/s. 01/2014
Symantec Backup and Recovery Technical Brief
NetBackup Appliance AutoSupport for NetBackup 5330
For More Information Link Description http://www.symantec.com/content/en/us/enterprise/fact_sheets/b-autosupport-for-appliances_ds.pdf AutoSupport Solution Overview
http://www.netbackup.com/
NetBackup Home Page http://go.symantec.com/autosupport Symantec AutoSupport Page
http://www.symantec.com/business/support/index?page=landing&key=58991
Symantec Appliance Support Page http://www.symantec.com/netbackup-appliance-5000 5000 Series
http://www.symantec.com/netbackup-appliance-5200
5200 Series http://www.symantec.com/business/support/index?page=content&id=TECH169018 NetBackup Product Improvement Program
http://www.symantec.com/docs/TECH59978
NetBackup Compatibility Information http://www.symantec.com/docs/DOC6488 NetBackup Documentation
http://www.symantec.com/support
Symantec Support Portal https://my.appliance.symantec.com MyAppliance