Veritas NetBackup™ Cloud Administrator's Guide

Last Published:
Product(s): NetBackup (8.1.2)
  1. About NetBackup cloud storage
    1.  
      About cloud storage features and functionality
    2.  
      About the catalog backup of cloud configuration files
    3.  
      About support limitations for NetBackup cloud storage
  2. About the cloud storage
    1.  
      About the cloud storage vendors for NetBackup
    2. About the Amazon S3 cloud storage API type
      1.  
        Amazon S3 cloud storage vendors certified for NetBackup
      2.  
        Amazon S3 storage type requirements
      3.  
        Amazon S3 cloud storage provider options
      4.  
        Amazon S3 cloud storage options
      5.  
        Amazon S3 advanced server configuration options
      6.  
        Amazon S3 credentials broker details
      7.  
        About private clouds from Amazon S3-compatible cloud providers
      8.  
        About Amazon S3 storage classes
      9.  
        Amazon virtual private cloud support with NetBackup
      10. About protecting data in Amazon for long-term retention
        1. About protecting data in Amazon Glacier
          1.  
            About backing up data to Amazon Glacier
          2.  
            About restoring data from Amazon Glacier
        2. About protecting data in Amazon Glacier vault
          1.  
            About backing up data to Amazon Glacier vault
          2.  
            About restoring data from Amazon Glacier vault
      11. Protecting data using Amazon's cloud tiering
        1.  
          About backing up data using LIFECYCLE storage class
        2.  
          About restoring data from LIFECYCLE storage class
      12.  
        About NetBackup character restrictions for Amazon S3 cloud connector
    3. About Microsoft Azure cloud storage API type
      1.  
        Microsoft Azure cloud storage vendors certified for NetBackup
      2.  
        Microsoft Azure storage type requirements
      3.  
        Microsoft Azure cloud storage provider options
      4.  
        Microsoft Azure advanced server configuration options
    4. About OpenStack Swift cloud storage API type
      1.  
        OpenStack Swift cloud storage vendors certified for NetBackup
      2.  
        OpenStack Swift storage type requirements
      3.  
        OpenStack Swift cloud storage provider options
      4.  
        OpenStack Swift storage region options
      5.  
        OpenStack Swift add cloud storage configuration options
      6.  
        OpenStack Swift proxy settings
  3. Configuring cloud storage in NetBackup
    1.  
      Before you begin to configure cloud storage in NetBackup
    2.  
      Configuring cloud storage in NetBackup
    3.  
      Cloud installation requirements
    4. Scalable Storage properties
      1.  
        Configuring advanced bandwidth throttling settings
      2.  
        Advanced bandwidth throttling settings
    5. Cloud Storage properties
      1.  
        Adding a cloud storage instance
      2.  
        Changing cloud storage host properties
      3.  
        Deleting a cloud storage host instance
    6. About the NetBackup CloudStore Service Container
      1.  
        NetBackup CloudStore Service Container security certificates
      2.  
        NetBackup CloudStore Service Container security modes
      3.  
        NetBackup cloudstore.conf configuration file
    7.  
      Deploying host name-based certificates
    8.  
      Deploying host ID-based certificates
    9.  
      About data compression for cloud backups
    10.  
      About data encryption for cloud storage
    11.  
      About key management for encryption of NetBackup cloud storage
    12.  
      About cloud storage servers
    13.  
      About object size for cloud storage
    14. About the NetBackup media servers for cloud storage
      1.  
        Using media server as NetBackup Cloud master host
    15. Configuring a storage server for cloud storage
      1.  
        KMS database encryption settings
      2.  
        Assigning a storage class to Amazon cloud storage
    16.  
      Changing cloud storage server properties
    17. NetBackup cloud storage server properties
      1.  
        NetBackup cloud storage server bandwidth throttling properties
      2.  
        NetBackup cloud storage server connection properties
      3.  
        NetBackup CloudCatalyst storage server properties
      4.  
        NetBackup cloud storage server encryption properties
    18.  
      About cloud storage disk pools
    19.  
      Configuring a disk pool for cloud storage
    20.  
      Saving a record of the KMS key names for NetBackup cloud storage encryption
    21.  
      Adding backup media servers to your cloud environment
    22. Configuring a storage unit for cloud storage
      1.  
        Cloud storage unit properties
      2.  
        Configure a favorable client-to-server ratio
      3.  
        Control backup traffic to the media servers
    23.  
      About NetBackup Accelerator and NetBackup Optimized Synthetic backups
    24.  
      Enabling NetBackup Accelerator with cloud storage
    25.  
      Enabling optimized synthetic backups with cloud storage
    26.  
      Creating a backup policy
    27. Changing cloud storage disk pool properties
      1.  
        Cloud storage disk pool properties
    28.  
      Managing Certification Authorities (CA) for NetBackup Cloud
  4. Monitoring and Reporting
    1.  
      About monitoring and reporting for cloud backups
    2.  
      Viewing cloud storage job details
    3.  
      Viewing the compression ratio
    4.  
      Viewing NetBackup cloud storage disk reports
    5.  
      Displaying KMS key information for cloud storage encryption
  5. Operational notes
    1.  
      NetBackup bpstsinfo command operational notes
    2.  
      Unable to configure additional media servers
    3.  
      Cloud configuration may fail if NetBackup Access Control is enabled
    4.  
      Deleting cloud storage server artifacts
  6. Troubleshooting
    1. About unified logging
      1.  
        About using the vxlogview command to view unified logs
      2.  
        Examples of using vxlogview to view unified logs
    2. About legacy logging
      1.  
        Creating NetBackup log file directories for cloud storage
    3.  
      NetBackup cloud storage log files
    4.  
      Enable libcurl logging
    5.  
      NetBackup Administration Console fails to open
    6. Troubleshooting cloud storage configuration issues
      1.  
        NetBackup Scalable Storage host properties unavailable
      2.  
        Connection to the NetBackup CloudStore Service Container fails
      3.  
        Cannot create a cloud storage disk pool
      4.  
        Cannot create a cloud storage
      5.  
        Data transfer to cloud storage server fails in the SSL mode
      6.  
        Amazon GovCloud cloud storage configuration fails in non-SSL mode
      7.  
        Data restore from the Google Nearline storage class may fail
      8.  
        Backups may fail for cloud storage configurations with Frankfurt region
      9.  
        Backups may fail for cloud storage configurations with the cloud compression option
      10.  
        Fetching storage regions fails with authentication version V2
    7. Troubleshooting cloud storage operational issues
      1.  
        Cloud storage backups fail
      2.  
        Stopping and starting the NetBackup CloudStore Service Container
      3.  
        A restart of the nbcssc (on legacy media servers), nbwmc, and nbsl processes reverts all cloudstore.conf settings
      4.  
        NetBackup CloudStore Service Container startup and shutdown troubleshooting
      5.  
        bptm process takes time to terminate after cancelling GLACIER restore job
      6.  
        Handling image cleanup failures for Amazon Glacier vault
      7.  
        Cleaning up orphaned archives manually
      8.  
        Restoring from Amazon Glacier vault spans more than 24 hours for single fragment
      9.  
        Restoring from GLACIER_VAULT takes more than 24 hours for Oracle databases
      10.  
        Troubleshooting failures due to missing Amazon IAM permissions
      11.  
        Restore job fails if the restore job start time overlaps with the backup job end time

About cloud storage features and functionality

NetBackup Cloud Storage enables you to back up and restore data from cloud Storage as a Service (STaaS) vendors. NetBackup Cloud Storage is integrated with Veritas OpenStorage.

Table: Features and functionality outlines the features and functionality NetBackup Cloud Storage delivers.

Table: Features and functionality

Feature

Details

Configuration Wizard

A Cloud Storage Server Configuration wizard is incorporated to facilitate the cloud storage setup and storage provisioning. Cloud storage provisioning now happens entirely through the NetBackup interface.

Compression

NetBackup Cloud Storage Compression compresses the data inline before it is sent to the cloud. The compression feature uses a third-party library called LZO Pro (with compression level 3).

Encryption

NetBackup Cloud Storage Encryption encrypts the data inline before it is sent to the cloud. Encryption interfaces with the NetBackup Key Management Service (KMS) to leverage its ability to manage encryption keys.

The encryption feature uses an AES 256 cipher feedback (CFB) mode encryption.

Throttling

NetBackup Cloud Storage throttling controls the data transfer rates between your network and the cloud. The throttling values are set on a per NetBackup media server basis.

In certain implementations, you want to limit WAN usage for backups and restores to the cloud. You want to implement this limit so you do not constrain other network activity. Throttling provides a mechanism to the NetBackup administrators to limit NetBackup Cloud Storage traffic. By implementing a limit to cloud WAN traffic, it cannot consume more than the allocated bandwidth.

NetBackup Cloud Storage Throttling lets you configure and control the following:

  • Different bandwidth value for both read and write operations.

  • The maximum number of connections that are supported for each cloud provider at any given time.

  • Network bandwidth as a percent of total bandwidth.

  • Network bandwidth per block of time.

Metering

The NetBackup Cloud Storage metering reports enable you to monitor data transfers within NetBackup Cloud Storage.

Cloud-based storage is unlike traditional tape or disk media, which use persistent backup images. Your cloud storage vendor calculates cloud-based storage costs per byte stored and per byte transferred.

The NetBackup Cloud Storage software uses several techniques to minimize stored and transferred data. With these techniques, traditional catalog-based information about the amount of protected data no longer equates to the amount of data that is stored or transferred. Metering allows installations to monitor the amount of data that is transferred on a per media server basis across one or more cloud-based storage providers.

Metering reports are generated through NetBackup OpsCenter.

Cloud Storage service

This is applicable to media server versions 7.7.x to 8.1.2 only.

The NetBackup CloudStore Service Container (nbcssc) process performs the following functions:

  • Generates the metering information for the metering plug-in

  • Controls the network bandwidth usage with the help of the throttling plug-in

Note:

For NetBackup media server versions beyond 8.1.2, these Cloud Storage functions are performed by the NetBackup Service Layer (nbsl) service.

On Windows, it is a standard service installed by NetBackup. On UNIX, it runs as a standard daemon.

The NetBackup CloudStore Service Container (nbcssc) uses certificate-based authentication. The authentication method used in previous releases (legacy authentication) is disabled by default. Veritas recommends that you upgrade media servers configured as a cloud storage server to NetBackup 8.1 or later.

If you cannot upgrade these servers, use the Enable insecure communication with 8.0 and earlier hosts option on the NetBackup master server. The option is available in the NetBackup Administration Console on the Security Management > Global Security Settings > Secure Communication tab.

NetBackup Web Management Console

The NetBackup Web Management Console (nbwmc) process manages requests for certificate and host management.

This process now also controls the configuration parameters that are related to NetBackup Cloud Storage.

The process is installed as a NetBackup service on Windows and runs as a standard daemon on UNIX.

NetBackup Service Layer

The NetBackup Service Layer (nbsl) service facilitates the communication between NetBackup graphical user interface (UI) and the NetBackup logic. This service is required to run NetBackup OpsCenter which manages and monitors multiple NetBackup environments.

This service is also required for Cloud Storage and now performs the following functions:

  • Generates the metering information for the metering plug-in

  • Controls the network bandwidth usage with the help of the throttling plug-in

Note:

For media server versions 7.7.x to 8.1.2, these Cloud Storage functions are performed by the NetBackup Cloud Storage Service Container (nbcssc).

Storage providers

Veritas currently supports several cloud storage providers. More information is available about each of these vendors.

See About the cloud storage vendors for NetBackup.

OpsCenter Reporting

Monitoring and reporting of the data that is sent to cloud storage is available through new cloud reports in OpsCenter. The cloud reports include:

  • Job Success Rate: Success rate by backup job level across domains, clients, policies, and business level views filtered on cloud-based storage.

  • Data Expiring In Future: Data that expires each day for the next 7 days filtered on cloud-based storage.

  • Cloud Metering: Historical view of the data that is written to cloud per cloud provider.

  • Average Data Transfer Rate: Historical view of average data transfer rate to cloud per cloud provider.

  • Cloud Metering Chargeback: Ranking, forecast, and distribution view of the cost that is incurred on cloud-based storage per cloud provider.

Note:

Among all Amazon S3-compatible cloud providers that NetBackup supports, OpsCenter supports monitoring and reporting of Amazon S3 and Amazon GovCloud (S3) only.

Note:

Where Amazon is the cloud service provider, OpsCenter cannot report on the data that MSDP cloud storage servers upload to the cloud.