Search <book_title>...

Veritas NetBackup™ Virtual Appliance Getting Started Guide

Last Published: 2020-03-24

Product(s): Appliances (3.2)

Platform: NetBackup Virtual Appliance

NetBackup Virtual Appliance 3.2 new features, enhancements, and changes

The following list describes the new features, enhancements, and changes in the NetBackup Virtual Appliance 3.2 release:

About the Upgrade rpm preflight check and Appliance Upgrade Readiness Analyzer
Starting with appliance release 2.7.3, appliance upgrade rpms run a script for a preflight check to determine if the appliance is ready for an upgrade. The preflight check analyzes several system parameters and provides information about what was found and whether an upgrade can proceed. If the preflight check detects any issues that fail to meet the upgrade requirements, the upgrade is not allowed. You must address all reported issues before the next upgrade attempt.
The Appliance Upgrade Readiness Analyzer tool includes the same base check items as the upgrade rpm. The tool can also contain additional check items that are not included in the upgrade rpm. The differences between the upgrade rpm and the analyzer tool can occur as Veritas learns about other upgrade issues after the release of an upgrade rpm. The analyzer tool can be updated and released anytime between appliance releases.
To ensure that you get the most accurate pre-upgrade check results, Veritas recommends that you download the latest available version of the analyzer tool and run it before any upgrade attempt. To download the analyzer tool, see the following article:
https://www.veritas.com/support/en_US/article.100040055
Starting with this release, the Instant Access feature is supported on the NetBackup virtual appliances. This feature allows you to create an Instant Access VM from a NetBackup backup image. The VM is available almost instantaneously, achieving a near-zero recovery time objective. NetBackup mounts the VM snapshot directly on the backup storage device to allow your ESXi host or cluster to treat the snapshot as a normal VM.
Additionally, the following capabilities are provided for VMware support with the Instant Access feature:
- Multi-file and multi-folder download and restore operations
- Enhanced error codes
- vMotion support for VMs
- LDM support
- Ability to preserve Windows ACLs
- Enhanced SFR speed
- Ability to display NBU jobs status
- While browsing files additional details are visible for each file
For information about how to use this feature, see the NetBackup Web UI VMware Administrator's Guide.
Starting with this release, NetBackup Virtual Appliance supports external certificate authority (ECA) deployment. The deployment takes place when you configure a media server or a combined master and media server appliance.
Note:
Upgrades to version 3.2 do not support ECA deployment. After a successful upgrade, you can enable the ECA for NetBackup with the Settings > NetBackup CertificateUsage Enable ECA command.
Starting with this release, you can update client software and install EEBs from an appliance master server using VxUpdate. New commands have been added to the NetBackup Virtual Appliance Shell Menu for managing the NetBackup package repository that is used to store VxUpdate packages.
Note:
VxUpdate only supports updating the existing software version on a client. It does not support deploying new client installations on a client.
Starting with this release, the following banner appears when you try to log in to the appliance shell menu while a rollback from an upgrade is in progress:
```
Rollback is in progress.....
```
```
Cannot interrupt or stop a rollback that is in progress.
```
```
Wait for rollback to complete.
```
Starting with this release, the upgrade process checks the status of all storage partitions. If any partitions are not imported or mounted successfully, the upgrade either pauses or starts a rollback.
Starting with this release, NetBackup Virtual Appliance gathers more detailed telemetry information during upgrades. Information about service status, storage status, space usage, and IPMI status are collected at various stages of the upgrade in the form of events. If Call Home is enabled, the collected logs and events are sent to the AutoSupport server. If Call Home is disabled, the logs and events are saved on the appliance.
Destination Network Address Translation (DNAT) is now supported on NetBackup Virtual Appliance. This feature provides support for communication with Network Address Translation (NAT) clients. DNAT can be enabled from the appliance shell menu, after you have completed the appliance initial configuration.
Starting with this release, NetBackup Virtual Appliance supports two-factor authentication (2FA). The following describes the 2FA support for this release:
- The nbasecadmin user or any user with the NetBackup Adminstrator role can configure 2FA for the NetBackup Web UI.
- 2FA configuration requires separate LDAP configuration for NetBackup, even if LDAP is already configured on the appliance.
- 2FA is only supported for LDAP users with the NetBackup™ Web UI. The 2FA feature is not currently supported through the NetBackup Virtual Appliance Shell Menu.
The NetBackup Virtual Appliance Cloud Catalyst now supports Snowball and Azure cloud storage.
The initial configuration procedure for a NetBackup Virtual Appliance Cloud Catalyst has changed in this release. Configuration for the cloud storage provider must be done using the Cloud Storage Configuration wizard in the NetBackup Administration Console. After this configuration is completed, you must manually create a backup policy for the deduplication (MSDP) pool catalog. See the configuration procedure for more details.
This release supports the use of the Appliance Management Console for EEB management and for upgrades from version 3.2. For more information about the Appliance Management Console, see the Appliance Management Guide.
Starting with this release, the Security Technical Implementation Guide (STIG) rules are supported. These rules provide technical guidance for increasing the security of information systems and software to help prevent malicious computer attacks. You can enable OS STIG hardening rules for increased security.
Starting with this release, NetBackup appliances support the Federal Information Processing Standards (FIPS), as defined specifically by the FIPS 140-2 standard. From the NetBackup Virtual Appliance Shell Menu, you can enable the FIPS feature to increase security for NetBackup MSDP and the Veritas Operating System (VxOS).
NetBackup Virtual Appliance version 3.2 supports OpenStorage (OST) plugins. You can install and open an OpenStorage (OST) plugin using the NetBackup Virtual Appliance Shell Menu. The OST plugins enable you to install multiple plugins to communicate with their corresponding storage systems.
VMware vSphere version 6.7 is now supported for deployment. vSphere version 5.5 is no longer supported.