Veritas Appliance Management Guide

Last Published:
Product(s): Appliances (3.1.2)

About the Appliance Management Server

The following components are key to appliance management:

  • Appliance Management Server (AMS)

  • Appliance Management Agents (Agents)

Any configured NetBackup appliance with version 3.1 or later can be set as an AMS. Veritas recommends that the AMS is configured on a master server. AMS configuration does a number of things like creating a database and a repository. The AMS takes the operational data that is sent by agents and inserts it into the database. There is no limit on the maximum number of agents per AMS.

A single management server manages multiple agents in an environment. Any configured NetBackup appliance with version 3.1 or later can be set as agent. An agent can be a master or a media server. All the agents connect and communicate with the AMS on port 443 (https) via REST API calls. The agents can be located in a single enterprise datacenter or in multiple enterprise datacenters. If agents are in multiple datacenters, all agents are assumed to belong to the same enterprise network infrastructure, that is, they can all connect to each other's IP addresses directly by some form of enterprise-wide VPN. Communication between all components in the same system is secure, based on trusted identity certificates and security tokens. This secure communication infrastructure is deployed during AMS installation and when agents are added to the Appliance Management Console. The security is maintained as certificates and tokens expire or are revoked when agents are removed from the Appliance Management Console.

Note:

An appliance can either be an agent or an AMS and not both.

Only authenticated and authorized AMS administrators can issue AMS commands and control agent nodes. All agents periodically send some state information to the AMS. The flow of information from agents to the AMS is secure and continuous, supporting collection of key time-series data, such as storage consumption, and significant events.

The AMS user role manages appliances from a web-application that is hosted on the AMS. This is called the Appliance Management Console. The Appliance Management Console provides enterprise-wide monitoring and management of NetBackup appliances. It enables you to upgrade and install EEBs on appliances that have the same version. You can always log on to a dedicated appliance and use the NetBackup Appliance Web Console for all the other tasks.