NetBackup™ Deployment Guide for Kubernetes Clusters

Last Published:
Product(s): NetBackup (10.2)
  1. Introduction
    1.  
      About NetBackup deployment on Kubernetes clusters
    2.  
      Required terminology
    3.  
      User roles and permissions
    4. About MSDP Scaleout
      1.  
        MSDP Scaleout components
      2.  
        Limitations in MSDP Scaleout
    5.  
      About NetBackup Snapshot Manager
  2. Section I. Deployment
    1. Prerequisites for Kubernetes cluster configuration
      1. Config-Checker utility
        1.  
          How does the Config-Checker utility work
        2.  
          Config-Checker execution and status details
      2. Data-Migration for AKS
        1.  
          How Data-Migration works
        2.  
          Data-Migration execution and status details
      3. Webhooks validation for EKS
        1.  
          How does the webhook validation works
        2.  
          Webhooks validation execution details
    2. Deployment with environment operators
      1. About deployment with the environment operator
        1.  
          Prerequisites
        2.  
          Contents of the TAR file
        3.  
          Known limitations
      2. Manual deployment
        1.  
          Deploying the operators
        2.  
          Deploying NetBackup and MSDP Scaleout
        3.  
          Deploying NetBackup and Snapshot Manager
      3.  
        Configuring the environment.yaml file
      4.  
        Uninstalling NetBackup environment and the operators
      5.  
        Applying security patches
    3. Deploying NetBackup
      1.  
        Preparing the environment for NetBackup installation on Kubernetes cluster
      2.  
        Recommendations of NetBackup deployment on Kubernetes cluster
      3.  
        Limitations of NetBackup deployment on Kubernetes cluster
      4. Primary and media server CR
        1. About primary server CR and media server CR
          1.  
            After installing primary server CR
          2.  
            After Installing the media server CR
        2.  
          Elastic media server
        3.  
          Monitoring the status of the CRs
        4.  
          Updating the CRs
        5.  
          Deleting the CRs
      5.  
        Configuring NetBackup IT Analytics for NetBackup deployment
      6.  
        Managing NetBackup deployment using VxUpdate
      7.  
        Migrating the cloud node for primary or media servers
    4. Deploying NetBackup using Helm charts
      1.  
        Overview
      2.  
        Installing NetBackup using Helm charts
      3.  
        Uninstalling NetBackup using Helm charts
    5. Deploying MSDP Scaleout
      1.  
        Deploying MSDP Scaleout
      2.  
        Prerequisites for AKS
      3.  
        Prerequisites for EKS
      4.  
        Installing the docker images and binaries
      5.  
        Initializing the MSDP operator
      6.  
        Configuring MSDP Scaleout
      7.  
        Using MSDP Scaleout as a single storage pool in NetBackup
      8.  
        Configuring the MSDP cloud in MSDP Scaleout
      9.  
        Using S3 service in MSDP Scaleout for AKS
      10.  
        Enabling MSDP S3 service after MSDP Scaleout is deployed for AKS
    6. Deploying Snapshot Manager
      1.  
        Prerequisites
      2.  
        Installing the docker images
  3. Section II. Monitoring and Management
    1. Monitoring NetBackup
      1.  
        Monitoring the application health
      2.  
        Telemetry reporting
      3.  
        About NetBackup operator logs
      4.  
        Expanding storage volumes
      5. Allocating static PV for Primary and Media pods
        1.  
          (AKS-specific) Allocating static PV for Media pods
        2.  
          (EKS-specific) Allocating static PV for Primary and Media pods
    2. Monitoring MSDP Scaleout
      1.  
        About MSDP Scaleout status and events
      2.  
        Monitoring with Amazon CloudWatch
      3.  
        Monitoring with Azure Container insights
      4.  
        The Kubernetes resources for MSDP Scaleout and MSDP operator
    3. Monitoring Snapshot Manager
      1.  
        Overview
      2.  
        Logs of Snapshot Manager
      3.  
        Configuration parameters
    4. Managing the Load Balancer service
      1.  
        About the Load Balancer service
      2.  
        Notes for Load Balancer service
      3.  
        Opening the ports from the Load Balancer service
    5. Managing MSDP Scaleout
      1.  
        Adding MSDP engines
      2.  
        Adding data volumes
      3. Expanding existing data or catalog volumes
        1.  
          Manual storage expansion
      4.  
        MSDP Scaleout scaling recommendations
      5. MSDP Cloud backup and disaster recovery
        1.  
          About the reserved storage space
        2.  
          Cloud LSU disaster recovery
      6.  
        MSDP multi-domain support
      7.  
        Configuring Auto Image Replication
      8. About MSDP Scaleout logging and troubleshooting
        1.  
          Collecting the logs and the inspection information
    6. Performing catalog backup and recovery
      1.  
        Backing up a catalog
      2.  
        Restoring a catalog
  4. Section III. Maintenance
    1. MSDP Scaleout Maintenance
      1.  
        Pausing the MSDP Scaleout operator for maintenance
      2.  
        Logging in to the pods
      3.  
        Reinstalling MSDP Scaleout operator
      4.  
        Migrating the MSDP Scaleout to another node pool
    2. Upgrading
      1. Upgrading NetBackup
        1.  
          Preparing for NetBackup upgrade
        2.  
          Upgrading NetBackup operator
        3.  
          Upgrading NetBackup application
        4.  
          Upgrade NetBackup from previous versions
        5.  
          Procedure to rollback when upgrade fails
      2.  
        Upgrading MSDP Scaleout
      3. Upgrading Snapshot Manager
        1.  
          Upgrading Snapshot Manager operator
        2.  
          Upgrading Snapshot Manager
        3.  
          Post-migration tasks
    3. Uninstalling
      1. Uninstalling MSDP Scalout from Kubernetes cluster
        1.  
          Cleaning up MSDP Scaleout
        2.  
          Cleaning up the MSDP Scaleout operator
      2.  
        Uninstalling Snapshot Manager from Kubernetes cluster
    4. Troubleshooting
      1. Troubleshooting AKS and EKS issues
        1.  
          View the list of operator resources
        2.  
          View the list of product resources
        3.  
          View operator logs
        4.  
          View primary logs
        5.  
          Socket connection failure
        6.  
          Resolving an invalid license key issue
        7.  
          Resolving an issue where external IP address is not assigned to a NetBackup server's load balancer services
        8.  
          Resolving the issue where the NetBackup server pod is not scheduled for long time
        9.  
          Resolving an issue where the Storage class does not exist
        10.  
          Resolving an issue where the primary server or media server deployment does not proceed
        11.  
          Resolving an issue of failed probes
        12.  
          Resolving token issues
        13.  
          Resolving an issue related to insufficient storage
        14.  
          Resolving an issue related to invalid nodepool
        15.  
          Resolving a token expiry issue
        16.  
          Resolve an issue related to KMS database
        17.  
          Resolve an issue related to pulling an image from the container registry
        18.  
          Resolving an issue related to recovery of data
        19.  
          Check primary server status
        20.  
          Pod status field shows as pending
        21.  
          Ensure that the container is running the patched image
        22.  
          Getting EEB information from an image, a running container, or persistent data
        23.  
          Resolving the certificate error issue in NetBackup operator pod logs
        24.  
          Pod restart failure due to liveness probe time-out
        25.  
          NetBackup messaging queue broker take more time to start
        26.  
          Host mapping conflict in NetBackup
        27.  
          Issue with capacity licensing reporting which takes longer time
        28.  
          Local connection is getting treated as insecure connection
        29.  
          Primary pod is in pending state for a long duration
        30.  
          Backing up data from Primary server's /mnt/nbdata/ directory fails with primary server as a client
        31.  
          Storage server not supporting Instant Access capability on Web UI after upgrading NetBackup
        32.  
          Taint, Toleration, and Node affinity related issues in cpServer
        33.  
          Operations performed on cpServer in environment.yaml file are not reflected
        34.  
          Elastic media server related issues
      2. Troubleshooting AKS-specific issues
        1.  
          Data migration unsuccessful even after changing the storage class through the storage yaml file
        2.  
          Host validation failed on the target host
        3.  
          Primary pod goes in non-ready state
      3. Troubleshooting EKS-specific issues
        1.  
          Resolving the primary server connection issue
        2.  
          NetBackup Snapshot Manager deployment on EKS fails
        3.  
          Wrong EFS ID is provided in environment.yaml file
        4.  
          Primary pod is in ContainerCreating state
        5.  
          Webhook displays an error for PV not found
  5. Appendix A. CR template
    1.  
      Secret
    2. MSDP Scaleout CR
      1.  
        MSDP Scaleout CR template for AKS
      2.  
        MSDP Scaleout CR template for EKS

Recommendations of NetBackup deployment on Kubernetes cluster

Note the following recommendations:

  • Do not delete the disk linked to PV used in primary server and media server CR deployment. This may lead to data loss.

  • Ensure that in one cluster, only one NetBackup operator instance is running.

  • Do not edit any Kubernetes resource created as part of primary server and media server custom resource. Update is supported through custom resource update only.

  • Detailed primary server custom resource deployment and media server custom resource deployment logs are retrieved from NetBackup operator pod logs using the kubectl logs <netbackup-operator-pod-name> -c netbackup-operator -n <netbackup operator-namespace> command .

  • Deploy primary server custom resource and media server custom resource in same namespace.

  • It is recommended to have separate node pool for Media server installation with Autoscaler enabled/installed.

  • Ensure that you follow the symbolic link and edit the actual persisted version of the file, if you want to edit a file having a symbolic link in the primary server or media server.

  • Specify different block storage based volume to obtain good performance when the nbdeployutil utility does not perform well on the following respective storage types based volumes:

    (AKS-specific): Azure premium files

    (EKS-specific): Amazon elastic files

  • Duplication job configuration recommendation:

    While configuring destination storage unit, manually select media servers that are always up, running and would never scale in (by the media server autoscaler). Number of media servers that are always up and running would be same as that of the value mentioned in minimumReplicas field in CR.

    When upgrading from older version of NetBackup 10.2, post upgrade ensure that you manually select media servers mentioned in minimumReplicas field in CR. If the value of minimumReplicas is not specified, the value will be set to the value specified for replicas field.

  • Adjust the value of minimumReplicas field based on the backup environment and requirements.

  • (AKS-specific)

    • Use Azure Premium storage for data volume in media server CR.

    • Use Azure Standard storage for log volume in media server CR.

    • For primary server catalog volume, use Azure premium files as storage type and for media server volumes, use managed-disk as storage type.

    • In case of upgrade and during migration, do not delete the Azure premium files/Azure disk volume linked to the old PV which is used in primary server CR deployment until the migration is completed successfully. Else this leads to data loss.

    • Do not skip the Config-Checker utility execution during NetBackup upgrade or data migration.

    (EKS-specific)

    • Use AWS Premium storage for data volume in media server CR.

    • Use AWS Standard storage for log volume in media server CR.

    • For primary server volume (catalog), use Amazon EFS as storage type. For media server, primary server volumes, log and data volumes use Amazon EBS as storage type.

    • In case of upgrade and during migration, do not delete the Amazon elastic files linked to the old PV which is used in primary server CR deployment until the migration is completed successfully. Else this leads to data loss.