NetBackup™ Snapshot Manager Install and Upgrade Guide

Last Published:
Product(s): NetBackup & Alta Data Protection (10.1)
  1. Introduction
    1.  
      About the deployment approach
    2.  
      Deciding where to run Snapshot Manager
    3.  
      About deploying Snapshot Manager in the cloud
  2. Section I. NetBackup Snapshot Manager installation and configuration
    1. Preparing for NetBackup Snapshot Manager installation
      1.  
        Meeting system requirements
      2.  
        Snapshot Manager host sizing recommendations
      3.  
        Snapshot Manager extension sizing recommendations
      4.  
        Creating an instance or preparing the host to install Snapshot Manager
      5.  
        Installing container platform (Docker, Podman)
      6.  
        Creating and mounting a volume to store Snapshot Manager data
      7.  
        Verifying that specific ports are open on the instance or physical host
      8.  
        Preparing Snapshot Manager for backup from snapshot jobs
    2. Deploying NetBackup Snapshot Manager using container images
      1.  
        Before you begin installing Snapshot Manager
      2.  
        Installing Snapshot Manager in the Docker/Podman environment
      3.  
        Verifying that Snapshot Manager is installed successfully
      4.  
        Restarting Snapshot Manager
    3. Deploying NetBackup Snapshot Manager extensions
      1.  
        Before you begin installing Snapshot Manager extensions
      2.  
        Downloading the Snapshot Manager extension
      3. Installing the Snapshot Manager extension on a VM
        1.  
          Prerequisites to install the extension on VM
        2.  
          Installing the extension on a VM
      4. Installing the Snapshot Manager extension on a managed Kubernetes cluster (AKS) in Azure
        1.  
          Prerequisites to install the extension on a managed Kubernetes cluster in Azure
        2.  
          Installing the extension on Azure (AKS)
      5. Installing the Snapshot Manager extension on a managed Kubernetes cluster (EKS) in AWS
        1.  
          Prerequisites to install the extension on a managed Kubernetes cluster in AWS
        2. Installing the extension on AWS (EKS)
          1.  
            Install extension using the extension script
      6. Installing the Snapshot Manager extension on a managed Kubernetes cluster (GKE) in GCP
        1.  
          Prerequisites to install the extension on a managed Kubernetes cluster in GCP
        2.  
          Installing the extension on GCP (GKE)
      7.  
        Install extension using the Kustomize and CR YAMLs
      8.  
        Managing the extensions
    4. NetBackup Snapshot Manager cloud plug-ins
      1.  
        How to configure the Snapshot Manager cloud plug-ins?
      2. AWS plug-in configuration notes
        1.  
          Prerequisites for configuring the AWS plug-in
        2.  
          Configuring AWS permissions for Snapshot Manager
        3.  
          AWS permissions required by Snapshot Manager
        4.  
          Before you create a cross account configuration
      3. Google Cloud Platform plug-in configuration notes
        1.  
          Google Cloud Platform permissions required by Snapshot Manager
        2.  
          Configuring a GCP service account for Snapshot Manager
        3.  
          Preparing the GCP service account for plug-in configuration
      4. Microsoft Azure plug-in configuration notes
        1.  
          Configuring permissions on Microsoft Azure
        2.  
          About Azure snapshots
      5. Microsoft Azure Stack Hub plug-in configuration notes
        1.  
          Configuring permissions on Microsoft Azure Stack Hub
        2.  
          Configuring staging location for Azure Stack Hub VMs to restore from backup
    5. NetBackup Snapshot Manager application agents and plug-ins
      1.  
        About the installation and configuration process
      2. Installing and configuring Snapshot Manager agent
        1.  
          Downloading and installing the Snapshot Manager agent
        2. Linux-based agent
          1.  
            Preparing to install the Linux-based agent
          2.  
            Registering the Linux-based agent
        3. Windows-based agent
          1.  
            Preparing to install the Windows-based agent
          2.  
            Registering the Windows-based agent
      3. Configuring the Snapshot Manager application plug-in
        1.  
          Configuring an application plug-in
        2. Microsoft SQL plug-in
          1.  
            Microsoft SQL plug-in configuration requirements
          2.  
            Restore requirements and limitations for Microsoft SQL Server
          3.  
            Steps required before restoring SQL AG databases
          4.  
            Additional steps required after restoring SQL AG databases
          5. Additional steps required after a SQL Server instance snapshot restore
            1.  
              Steps required after a SQL Server host-level restore
            2.  
              Steps required after a SQL Server instance disk-level snapshot restore to new location
        3. Oracle plug-in
          1. Oracle plug-in configuration requirements
            1.  
              Optimizing your Oracle database data and metadata files
          2.  
            Restore requirements and limitations for Oracle
          3.  
            Additional steps required after an Oracle snapshot restore
      4. NetBackup protection plan
        1.  
          Creating a NetBackup protection plan for cloud assets
        2.  
          Subscribing cloud assets to a NetBackup protection plan
      5.  
        Configuring VSS to store shadow copies on the originating drive
      6.  
        Additional steps required after restoring an AWS RDS database instance
    6. Protecting assets with NetBackup Snapshot Manager's agentless feature
      1.  
        About the agentless feature
      2. Prerequisites for the agentless configuration
        1.  
          Configuring SMB for Windows (Optional)
        2.  
          Configuring WMI security for Windows (optional)
      3.  
        Configuring the agentless feature
      4.  
        Configuring the agentless feature after upgrading Snapshot Manager
    7. Volume Encryption in NetBackup Snapshot Manager
      1.  
        About volume encryption support in Snapshot Manager
      2.  
        Volume encryption for Azure
      3.  
        Volume encryption for GCP
      4.  
        Volume encryption for AWS
    8. NetBackup Snapshot Manager security
      1.  
        Configuring security for Azure Stack
      2.  
        Configuring the cloud connector for Azure Stack
      3.  
        CA configuration for Azure Stack
      4.  
        Securing the connection to Snapshot Manager
  3. Section II. NetBackup Snapshot Manager maintenance
    1. NetBackup Snapshot Manager logging
      1.  
        About Snapshot Manager logging mechanism
      2. How Fluentd-based Snapshot Manager logging works
        1.  
          About the Snapshot Manager fluentd configuration file
        2.  
          Modifying the fluentd configuration file
      3.  
        Snapshot Manager logs
      4.  
        Agentless logs
      5.  
        Troubleshooting Snapshot Manager logging
    2. Upgrading NetBackup Snapshot Manager
      1.  
        About Snapshot Manager upgrades
      2.  
        Supported upgrade path
      3.  
        Upgrade scenarios
      4.  
        Preparing to upgrade Snapshot Manager
      5.  
        Upgrading Snapshot Manager
      6.  
        Upgrading Snapshot Manager using patch or hotfix
      7. Migrating and upgrading Snapshot Manager
        1.  
          Before you begin migrating Snapshot Manager
        2.  
          Migrate and upgrade Snapshot Manager on RHEL 8.6 or 8.4
      8. Post-upgrade tasks
        1.  
          Upgrading Snapshot Manager extensions
      9.  
        Post-migration tasks
    3. Uninstalling NetBackup Snapshot Manager
      1.  
        Preparing to uninstall Snapshot Manager
      2.  
        Backing up Snapshot Manager
      3.  
        Unconfiguring Snapshot Manager plug-ins
      4.  
        Unconfiguring Snapshot Manager agents
      5.  
        Removing the Snapshot Manager agents
      6.  
        Removing Snapshot Manager from a standalone Docker host environment
      7.  
        Removing Snapshot Manager extensions - VM-based or managed Kubernetes cluster-based
      8.  
        Restoring Snapshot Manager
    4. Troubleshooting NetBackup Snapshot Manager
      1.  
        Troubleshooting Snapshot Manager
      2.  
        SQL snapshot or restore and granular restore operations fail if the Windows instance loses connectivity with the Snapshot Manager host
      3.  
        Disk-level snapshot restore fails if the original disk is detached from the instance
      4.  
        Discovery is not working even after assigning system managed identity to the control node pool
      5.  
        Performance issue with GCP backup from snapshot
      6.  
        Post migration on host agents fail with an error message
      7.  
        File restore job fails with an error message

Google Cloud Platform plug-in configuration notes

The Google Cloud Platform plug-in lets you create, delete, and restore disk and host-based snapshots in all regions where Google Cloud is present.

Google Cloud Platform plug-in configuration prerequisites

  • Before you configure the Google Cloud Platform plug-in, enable the following APIs under APIs & Services from Google Cloud console:

    • Cloud Resource Manager API

    • Compute Engine API

  • The node pool provided while configuring Kubernetes cluster extension must have all nodes from same region, that is, the node-pool should be single zonal.

  • The region of the Snapshot Manager host and node-pool should be same.

  • For backup from snapshot use case, Snapshot Manager should be installed in cloud only. A provider must be configured for the zone in which Snapshot Manager is installed. If Snapshot Manager is installed in us-west1-b zone then a provider for us-west1 region must be configured.

  • For manual installation (non marketplace) of Snapshot Manager, disable auto-activation of LVM's LV. This can be achieved by setting auto_activation_volume_list parameter to empty list or list of specific VG names which must be auto activated. The auto_activation_volume_list parameter can be set in lvm.conf configuration file.

Google Cloud Platform plug-in configuration parameters

The following parameters are required for configuring the Google Cloud Platform plug-in:

Table: Google Cloud Platform plug-in configuration parameters

Snapshot Manager configuration parameter

Google equivalent term and description

Project ID

The ID of the project from which the resources are managed. Listed as project_id in the JSON file.

Client Email

The email address of the Client ID. Listed as client_email in the JSON file.

Private Key

The private key. Listed as private_key in the JSON file.

Note:

You must enter this key without quotes (neither single quotes nor double quotes). Do not enter any spaces or return characters at the beginning or end of the key.

Region

A list of regions in which the plug-in operates.

Snapshot Manager supports the following GCP regions:

Table: GCP regions supported by Snapshot Manager

GCP regions

  • asia-east1

  • asia-east2

  • asia-northeast1

  • asia-northeast2

  • asia-south1

  • asia-southeast1

  • australia-southeast1

  • europe-north1

  • europe-west1

  • europe-west2

  • europe-west3

  • europe-west4

  • europe-west6

  • northamerica-northeast1

  • southamerica-east1

  • us-central1

  • us-east1

  • us-east4

  • us-west1

  • us-west2

  • us-west3- Utah

  • us-west4 Nevada

  • asia-south

  • australia-southeast2

  • europe-central2

  • northamerica-northeast2

  • southamerica-west1

Configuring multiple accounts or subscriptions or projects

  • If you are creating multiple configurations for the same plug-in, ensure that they manage assets from different Regions. Two or more plug-in configurations should not manage the same set of cloud assets simultaneously.

  • When multiple accounts are all managed with a single Snapshot Manager, the number of assets being managed by a single Snapshot Manager instance might get too large and it would be better to space them out.

  • To achieve application consistent snapshots, we would require agent/agentless network connections between the remote VM instance and Snapshot Manager. This would require setting up cross account/subscription/project networking.

GCP plug-in considerations and limitations

Consider the following before you configure this plug-in:

  • If a region is removed from the GCP plug-in configuration, then all the discovered assets from that region are also removed from the Snapshot Manager assets database. If there are any active snapshots that are associated with the assets that get removed, then you may not be able perform any operations on those snapshots.

    Once you add that region back into the plug-in configuration, Snapshot Manager discovers all the assets again and you can resume operations on the associated snapshots. However, you cannot perform any restore operations on the associated snapshots.

  • The maximum attachment points on GCP instances are 128 and Snapshot Manager host uses 2 attachment points, which leaves 126 attachment point for backup/restore jobs. So at any point in time Snapshot Manager can backup/restore instance as long as attachment points are available (which is 126 attachment points). If all the attachment points are used, backup/restore jobs start failing with following error message:

    Failed to attach disk.

  • The maximum number of labels that can be attached to GCP instances are 64 and Snapshot Manager uses 2 labels. If any instance has more than 62 labels, backup/restore may fail

More Information

Google Cloud Platform permissions required by Snapshot Manager

Configuring a GCP service account for Snapshot Manager

Preparing the GCP service account for plug-in configuration