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

Microsoft Azure plug-in configuration notes

The Microsoft Azure plug-in lets you create, delete, and restore snapshots at the virtual machine level and the managed disk level.

Before you configure the Azure plug-in, complete the following preparatory steps:

  • (Applicable only if user proceeds with application service principal route) Use the Microsoft Azure Portal to create an Azure Active Directory (AAD) application for the Azure plug-in.

  • Assign the required permissions to a role to access resources.

    For more information on Azure plug-in permissions required by Snapshot Manager, See Configuring permissions on Microsoft Azure.

    In Azure you can assign permissions to the resources by one of the following methods:

    • Service principal: This permission can be assigned to user, group or an application.

    • Managed identity: Managed identities provide an automatically managed identity in Azure Active Directory for applications to use when connecting to resources that support Azure Active Directory (Azure AD) authentication. There are two types of managed identities:

      • System-assigned

      • User-assigned

For more details, follow the steps mentioned in the Azure documentation.

Table: Microsoft Azure plug-in configuration parameters

Snapshot Manager configuration parameter

Microsoft equivalent term and description

Credential type:

Application service principal

Note:

Assign a role to the application service principal.

Tenant ID

The ID of the Azure AD directory in which you created the application.

Client ID

The application ID.

Secret key

The secret key of the application.

Credential type:

System managed identity

Enable system managed identity on Snapshot Manager host in Azure.

Note:

Assign a role to the system managed identity.

Credential type:

User managed identity

Note:

Assign a role to the user managed identity.

Client ID

The Client ID of the user managed identity connected to the Snapshot Manager host.

Following parameters are applicable for all the above credential type's

Regions

One or more regions in which to discover cloud assets.

Note:

If you configure a government cloud, select US Gov Arizona, US Gov Texas US, or Gov Virginia.

Resource Group prefix

The prefix used to store the snapshots created for the assets in a different resource group other than the one in which the assets exist.

For example, if an asset exists in Snapshot Manager and prefix for resource group is snap, then snapshots of assets in Snapshot Manager resource group would be stored in snapSnapshot Manager resource group.

Protect assets even if prefixed Resource Groups are not found

On selecting this check box, Snapshot Manager would not fail the snapshot operation if resource group does not exists. It tries to store the snapshot in the original resource group.

Note:

The prefixed resource group region must be same as the original resource group region.

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 Subscriptions. 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 server, the number of assets being managed by a single Snapshot Manager instance might get too large. Hence it would be better to segregate the assets across multiple Snapshot Manager servers for better load balancing.

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

Azure plug-in considerations and limitations

Consider the following before you configure the Azure plug-in:

  • The current release of the plug-in does not support snapshots of blobs.

  • Snapshot Manager currently only supports creating and restoring snapshots of Azure-managed disks and the virtual machines that are backed up by managed disks.

  • Snapshot Manager does not support snapshot operations for Ultra SSD disk types in an Azure environment. Even though Snapshot Manager discovers the ultra disks successfully, any snapshot operation that is triggered on such disk assets fails with the following error:

    Snapshots of UltraSSD_LRS disks are not supported.

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

  • When you create snapshots, the Azure plug-in creates an Azure-specific lock object on each of the snapshots. The snapshots are locked to prevent unintended deletion either from the Azure console or from an Azure CLI or API call. The lock object has the same name as that of the snapshot. The lock object also includes a field named "notes" that contains the ID of the corresponding VM or asset that the snapshot belongs to.

    Ensure that the notes field in the snapshot lock objects is not modified or deleted. Doing so will disassociate the snapshot from its corresponding original asset.

    The Azure plug-in uses the ID from the notes fields of the lock objects to associate the snapshots with the instances whose source disks are either replaced or deleted, for example, as part of the 'Original location' restore operation.

  • Azure plug-in supports the following GovCloud (US) regions:

    • US Gov Arizona

    • US Gov Texas

    • US Gov Virginia

    • US Gov Iowa

    • US DoD Central

    • US DoD East

  • Azure plug-in supports the following India regions:

    • Jio India West

    • Jio India Central

  • Snapshot Manager Azure plug-in does not support the following Azure regions:

    Location

    Region

    US

    • US DoD Central

    • US DoD East

    • US Sec West

    China

    Snapshot Manager does not support any regions in China.

    • China East

    • China East 2

    • China North

    • China North 2

    Germany

    • Germany Central (Sovereign)

    • Germany Northeast (Sovereign)

  • Snapshot Manager also supports Microsoft Azure generation 2 type of virtual machines.

  • Snapshot Manager does not support application consistent snapshots and granular file restores for Windows systems with virtual disks or storage spaces that are created from a storage pool. If a Microsoft SQL server snapshot job uses disks from a storage pool, the job fails with an error. But if a snapshot job for virtual machine which is in a connected state is triggered, the job might be successful. In this case, the file system quiescing and indexing is skipped. The restore job for such an individual disk to original location also fails. In this condition, the host might move to an unrecoverable state and requires a manual recovery.