Veritas NetBackup™ Cloud Administrator's Guide

Last Published:
Product(s): NetBackup (9.1)
  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.  
        Permissions required for Amazon S3 cloud provider user
      4.  
        Amazon S3 cloud storage provider options
      5.  
        Amazon S3 cloud storage options
      6.  
        Amazon S3 advanced server configuration options
      7.  
        Amazon S3 credentials broker details
      8.  
        About private clouds from Amazon S3-compatible cloud providers
      9.  
        About Amazon S3 storage classes
      10.  
        Amazon virtual private cloud support with NetBackup
      11. About protecting data in Amazon for long-term retention
        1. About protecting data in Amazon Glacier
          1.  
            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
      12. Protecting data using Amazon's cloud tiering
        1.  
          About backing up data using LIFECYCLE storage class
        2.  
          About restoring data from LIFECYCLE storage class
      13. About using Amazon IAM roles with NetBackup
        1.  
          Configuring AWS IAM Role with NetBackup
      14.  
        About NetBackup character restrictions for Amazon S3 cloud connector
      15. Protecting data with Amazon Snowball and Amazon Snowball Edge
        1.  
          Configuring NetBackup for Amazon Snowball with Amazon Snowball client
        2.  
          Configuring NetBackup for Amazon Snowball with Amazon S3 API interface
        3.  
          Using multiple Amazon S3 adapters
        4.  
          Configuring NetBackup with Amazon Snowball Edge with file interface
        5.  
          Configuring NetBackup for Amazon Snowball Edge with S3 API interface
        6.  
          Configuring SSL for Amazon Snowball and Amazon Snowball Edge
        7.  
          Post backup procedures if you have used S3 API interface
    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
      5.  
        Protecting data in Microsoft Azure Archive for long-term retention
    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 NetBackup KMS for encryption of NetBackup cloud storage
    12.  
      About external KMS for encryption of NetBackup cloud storage
    13.  
      About cloud storage servers
    14.  
      About object size for cloud storage
    15. About the NetBackup media servers for cloud storage
      1.  
        Using media server as NetBackup Cloud master host
    16. Configuring a storage server for cloud storage
      1.  
        KMS database encryption settings
      2.  
        Assigning a storage class to Amazon cloud storage
    17.  
      Changing cloud storage server properties
    18. NetBackup cloud storage server properties
      1.  
        NetBackup cloud storage server bandwidth throttling properties
      2.  
        NetBackup cloud storage server connection properties
      3.  
        NetBackup cloud storage server encryption properties
    19.  
      About cloud storage disk pools
    20.  
      Configuring a disk pool for cloud storage
    21.  
      Saving a record of the KMS key names for NetBackup cloud storage encryption
    22.  
      Adding backup media servers to your cloud environment
    23. 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
    24.  
      About NetBackup Accelerator and NetBackup Optimized Synthetic backups
    25.  
      Enabling NetBackup Accelerator with cloud storage
    26.  
      Enabling optimized synthetic backups with cloud storage
    27.  
      Creating a backup policy
    28. Changing cloud storage disk pool properties
      1.  
        Cloud storage disk pool properties
    29.  
      Certificate validation against Certificate Revocation List (CRL)
    30.  
      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
    5.  
      Using csconfig reinitialize to load updated cloud configuration settings
    6.  
      Enabling or disabling communication between master server and legacy cloud storage media servers
  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
      12.  
        Post processing fails for restore from Azure archive
    8.  
      Troubleshooting Amazon Snowball and Amazon Snowball Edge issues
  7.  
    Index

About object size for cloud storage

During backup, NetBackup divides the backup image data into chunks called objects. PUT request is made for each object to move it to the cloud storage.

By setting a custom Object Size, you can control the amount of PUT and GET requests that are sent to and from the cloud storage. The reduced number of PUT and GET requests help in reducing the total charges that are incurred for the requests.

During the creation of a cloud storage server, you can specify a custom value for the Object Size. Consider the cloud storage provider, hardware, infrastructure, expected performance, and other factors for deciding the value. Once you set the Object Size for a cloud storage server, you cannot change the value. If you want to set a different Object Size, you must recreate the cloud storage server.

Guidelines for selecting the Object Size

The combination of object size, number of parallel connections, and the read or write buffer size contribute to the performance of NetBackup in the cloud.

To enhance the performance of backup and restore operations, NetBackup uses multiple parallel connections into cloud storage. The performance of NetBackup depends on the number of parallel connections. Number of parallel connections are derived from the read or write buffer size and the object size.

Read or Write buffer size (user set) ÷ Object Size (user set) = Number of parallel connections (derived). The following diagram illustrates how these factors are related:

The following diagram illustrates how these factors are related:

Figure: Object size

Object size
  • Consider the following factors when deciding the number of parallel connections:

    • The maximum number of parallel connections the cloud storage provider permits.

    • Network bandwidth availability between NetBackup and the cloud storage environment.

    • System memory availability on the NetBackup host.

  • If you increase the object size, the number of parallel connections reduce. The number of parallel connections affect the upload and the download rate.

  • If you increase the read or write buffer size, the number of parallel connections increase. Similarly, if you want lesser number of parallel connections, you can reduce the read or write buffer size. However, you must consider the network bandwidth and the system memory availability.

  • Cloud providers charge for the number of PUT and GET requests that are initiated during a backup or restore process. The smaller the object size, higher the number of PUT or GET requests, and therefore, higher charges are incurred.

  • In case of temporary failures with data transfer, NetBackup performs multiple retries for transferring the failed objects. If the failures persist, the complete object is transferred again. Also, with higher latency and higher packet loss, the performance might reduce. To handle the latency and the packet loss issues, increasing the number of parallel connections can be helpful.

  • NetBackup has some time-outs on the client side. If the upload operation takes more time (due to big object size) than the minimum derived NetBackup data transfer rate, there can be failures with NetBackup.

  • For legacy environments without deduplication support, if the number of connections are less, parallel downloads are less compared to older number of connections.

    For example, while restoring from back-level images (8.0 and earlier), where the object size is 1MB, the buffer of 16 MB (for one connection) is not completely used while also consuming memory. With the increased object size, there is a restriction on number of connections due to the available read or write buffer size memory.

Current default settings

The default settings are as follows:

Table: Current default settings

Cloud storage provider

Object size

Default read or write buffer size

Amazon S3/Amazon GovCloud

16 MB (fixed)

400 MB (configurable between 16 MB to 1 GB)

Azure

4 MB (fixed)

400 MB (configurable between 4 MB to 1 GB)