Veritas NetBackup™ Virtual Appliance Getting Started Guide

To perform the initial configuration on a NetBackup Virtual Appliance with the combined primary and media server role

1. After you have deployed a new virtual appliance, log on to the NetBackup Virtual Appliance Shell Menu.

   The logon is admin, and the default password is P@ssw0rd.

2. Use the following command to start the initial configuration:

   Main > Appliance > Configure

   A message about the Virtual Appliance Initial Configuration Wizard appears. This wizard will walk you through the process to configure this appliance.

3. The wizard prompts you to change the default passwords.

   Change each user account password as prompted.

   Review the following password policy before setting a new password:

   • Passwords must contain at least eight characters.

   • Passwords must contain at least one lowercase letter (a-z) and one number (0-9).

   • Dictionary words are considered weak passwords and are not accepted.

   • The last seven passwords cannot be reused and the new password cannot be similar to previous passwords.

   Note:

   If you enter five consecutive invalid passwords for any user account, the appliance aborts the initial configuration process automatically. You must start the initial configuration process again.

   Note:

   If you enable the STIG feature after completing the initial configuration, you may be prompted to change the new passwords you entered here to meet the requirements of the STIG password policy.

4. The wizard takes you to the network configuration.

   Specify the following:

   • Hostname

     Enter a short host name or a fully qualified domain name (FQDN) for this appliance. As a best practice, Veritas recommends that you use an FQDN.

     Caution:

     After the initial deployment has completed successfully, the only way to change the host name is to redeploy the appliance.

     Note:

     If you plan to configure Active Directory (AD) authentication on this appliance, the host name must be 15 characters or less. Otherwise, AD configuration can fail.

   • DNS domain name

     Enter a DNS domain name for this appliance.

   • IPv4 address

     Enter the IPv4 address to be used for this appliance.

   • Netmask

     Enter the netmask that corresponds to the IP address.

   • Gateway IP address

     Enter the IPv4 address of the gateway (network point) that acts as an entrance to another network.

   • DNS server 1 IP address

     Enter the IPv4 address of the primary DNS server for this appliance.

   • DNS server 2 IP address(Optional)

     Enter the IPv4 address of the secondary DNS server for this appliance.

   When you are prompted with the following message, choose whether you want to add the host name and IP address to the HOSTS file.

   The host name must be resolvable with a DNS or a HOSTS file for the initial configuration to be successful. Do you want to write the host name resolution information to the HOSTS file? [yes, no](no)

   Note:

   The host name must be resolvable with a DNS server or a HOSTS file for the initial configuration to be successful. If DNS is not available, you can add the host name and IP address to the HOSTS file.

5. A Call Home settings test is performed. If Call Home is enabled, a Call Home test is performed. You can enable a proxy server if the test fails.

   If Call Home is disabled, a prompt appears to enable Call Home. Veritas recommends that you enable Call Home for an improved support experience and recommendations through the NetInsights Console. However, you can ignore the warning and continue to the next step if you do not want to enable Call Home.

6. After the network configuration is completed, the wizard takes you to the next step for the Veritas Usage Insights customer registration key. You cannot complete the configuration until you provide the registration key. To obtain a key, follow the onscreen prompts.
7. Once the file is uploaded, the wizard takes you to final step for storage configuration.

   Specify the following:

   • AdvancedDisk disk pool name

     Enter a name for the AdvancedDisk disk pool on the appliance.

   • AdvancedDisk storage unit name

     Enter a name for the AdvancedDisk storage unit on the appliance.

   • MSDP storage unit name

     Enter a name for the MSDP storage unit on the appliance.

   • MSDP disk pool name

     Enter a name for the MSDP disk pool on the appliance.

   The storage configuration may take several minutes.

8. Use the following command to verify that the configuration completed successfully:

   Main > Appliance > Status

   The command output should contain a message similar to the following:

   Appliance Version is 5.1.1.
   
   Appliance is configured as primary appliance.
   

   If the output does not show that the appliance is configured as a primary appliance, you need to redeploy the appliance or perform other troubleshooting steps to fix the issue before you proceed to the next step. See Troubleshooting NetBackup Virtual Appliance deployment or initial configuration issues.

9. Use the following command to change the nbasecadmin account password from the known default password (P@ssw0rd):

   Main > Settings > Password nbasecadmin

   Note:

   You cannot access the NetBackup web UI until you have changed the nbasecadmin user password.

10. Use the following command to set the time zone:

    Main > Network > TimeZone Set

    Select the appropriate time zone from the displayed list.

11. Use the following command to add a Network Time Protocol (NTP) server:

    Main > Network > NTPServer Add <Server>

    Where <Server> is the name of the NTPServer.

12. Add a permanent license key before the evaluation key expires with the following command:

    Main > Manage > License > NetBackup > Add

    You can locate your permanent license key from the Veritas Entitlement Management System (VEMS). To access VEMS, click Licensing on the Veritas Support website.

    Warning:

    If the correct license key is not installed, the appliance services stop functioning after the evaluation key expires. Make sure that the NetBackup license you add includes support for NetBackup Virtual Appliance.

    See Managing license keys on the NetBackup Virtual Appliance.

13. (Optional)

    If you want to configure an IPv6 address for the appliance, run the following command:

    Main > Network > IPv6 <IPAddress> <Prefix> InterfaceName

    Where <IPAddress> is the IPv6 address and <Prefix> is the prefix length.

14. (Optional)

    If you want to configure an IPv6 DNS server on the appliance, run the following command:

    Main > Network > DNS Add NameServer <IPAddress>

    Where <IPAddress> is the IPv6 address of the additional DNS server. Only global-scope and unique-local IPv6 addresses are allowed.

15. (Optional)

    If you want to use an external Certificate Authority (CA) for communication between the appliance and your other NetBackup hosts, run the following command:

    Main > Settings > NetBackup CertificateUsage Enable ECA

16. (Optional)

    If you plan to connect this combined primary and media server to another media server in a NAT network, perform the following tasks:

    • Enable the NetBackup DNAT feature on this combined primary and media server as follows:

      Main > Settings > NetBackup DNAT Enable

    • Add the name of the other media server to the NetBackup Servers list on this combined primary and media server as follows:

      Main > Settings > NetBackup NATServers Add

17. (Optional)

    If you deployed a product file with an initial storage capacity of .5 TB and want to add storage up to a total of 16 TB, use the following steps to add additional disks:

    • Use the VMware vSphere Client to create new virtual disks with sizes that are multiples of 0.5 TB, or 512 GB.

    • From the NetBackup Virtual Appliance Shell Menu, run the following command:

      Main > Manage > Storage > Scan

      This command refreshes the storage disks and device information to locate available disks.

    • Run the following command:

      Main > Manage > Storage > Add

      This command launches a wizard that displays the available disks. Follow the prompts to add the disks. To add multiple disks at one time, use a comma-separated list.

18. Log on to the appliance from the NetBackup Administration Console and activate the NetBackup catalog backup policy.

    By default, the appliance creates an inactive backup policy that uses a Storage Lifecycle Policy (SLP) to protect the NetBackup catalog. The SLP backs up the data to AdvancedDisk and then duplicates it to MSDP. You are then able to use Auto Image Replication to save your catalog backup off site. Veritas recommends that you use this replication-based strategy for disaster recovery (DR) due to the combined primary and media server role of the appliance.

    To activate the policy, navigate to the NetBackup Management > Policies tab in the Administration Console, right-click on the nbu-catalog policy, and select Activate.

    Note:

    You must set a encryption passphrase for the disaster recovery package for the catalog to be successful. Catalog backups continue to fail until the passphrase is set.

    For more information about the security requirements for disaster recovery , see the NetBackup Security and Encryption Guide.

    If you plan to use AdvancdDisk to back up your clients, note that the AdvancedDisk does not support Auto Image Replication. If you want to save the data off site, create an SLP to duplicate the backup data on AdvancedDisk to MSDP. You are then able to use Auto Image Replication to transfer the data off site.

19. If you want to configure the appliance for MSDP cloud, log in to the NetBackup web UI as the nbasecadmin user and configure the MSDP cloud storage as follows:

    • Create a disk pool.

    • Create a storage unit.

      For details, see the NetBackup Web UI Administrator's Guide.