NetBackup™ Deployment Guide for Kubernetes Clusters

Last Published:
Product(s): NetBackup & Alta Data Protection (10.4.0.1)
  1. Introduction
    1.  
      About Cloud Scale deployment
    2.  
      About NetBackup Snapshot Manager
    3.  
      About MSDP Scaleout
    4.  
      Required terminology
    5.  
      User roles and permissions
  2. Section I. Configurations
    1. Prerequisites
      1.  
        Preparing the environment for NetBackup installation on Kubernetes cluster
      2.  
        Prerequisites for MSDP Scaleout and Snapshot Manager (AKS/EKS)
      3. Prerequistes for Kubernetes cluster configuration
        1.  
          Config-Checker utility
        2.  
          Data-Migration for AKS
        3.  
          Webhooks validation for EKS
      4. Prerequisites for Cloud Scale configuration
        1.  
          Cluster specific settings
        2.  
          Cloud specific settings
      5.  
        Prerequisites for deploying environment operators
    2. Recommendations and Limitations
      1.  
        Recommendations of NetBackup deployment on Kubernetes cluster
      2.  
        Limitations of NetBackup deployment on Kubernetes cluster
      3.  
        Limitations in MSDP Scaleout
    3. Configurations
      1.  
        Contents of the TAR file
      2.  
        Initial configurations
      3.  
        Configuring the environment.yaml file
      4. Loading docker images
        1.  
          Installing the docker images for NetBackup
        2.  
          Installing the docker images for Snapshot Manager
        3.  
          Installing the docker images and binaries for MSDP Scaleout
      5.  
        Configuring NetBackup IT Analytics for NetBackup deployment
      6. Configuring NetBackup
        1. Primary and media server CR
          1.  
            After installing primary server CR
          2.  
            After Installing the media server CR
        2.  
          Elastic media server
    4. Configuration of key parameters in Cloud Scale deployments
      1.  
        Tuning touch files
      2.  
        Setting maximum jobs
      3.  
        Enabling intelligent catalog archiving
      4.  
        Enabling security settings
      5.  
        Configuring email server
      6.  
        Reducing catalog storage management
      7.  
        Configuring zone redundancy
      8.  
        Enabling client-side deduplication capabilities
  3. Section II. Deployment
    1. Deploying operators
      1.  
        Deploying the operators
    2. Deploying Postgres
      1.  
        Deploying Postgres
      2.  
        Enable request logging, update configuration, and copying files from/to PostgreSQL pod
    3. Deploying Cloud Scale
      1.  
        Installing Cloud Scale
    4. Deploying MSDP Scaleout
      1. MSDP Scaleout configuration
        1.  
          Initializing the MSDP operator
        2.  
          Configuring MSDP Scaleout
        3.  
          Configuring the MSDP cloud in MSDP Scaleout
        4.  
          Using MSDP Scaleout as a single storage pool in NetBackup
        5.  
          Using S3 service in MSDP Scaleout
        6.  
          Enabling MSDP S3 service after MSDP Scaleout is deployed
      2.  
        Deploying MSDP Scaleout
    5. Verifying Cloud Scale deployment
      1.  
        Verifying Cloud Scale deployment
  4. Section III. Monitoring and Management
    1. Monitoring NetBackup
      1.  
        Monitoring the application health
      2.  
        Telemetry reporting
      3.  
        About NetBackup operator logs
      4.  
        Monitoring Primary/Media server CRs
      5.  
        Expanding storage volumes
      6. Allocating static PV for Primary and Media pods
        1.  
          Recommendation for media server volume expansion
        2.  
          (AKS-specific) Allocating static PV for Primary and Media pods
        3.  
          (EKS-specific) Allocating static PV for Primary and Media pods
    2. Monitoring Snapshot Manager
      1.  
        Overview
      2.  
        Logs of Snapshot Manager
      3.  
        Configuration parameters
    3. 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
    4. Managing NetBackup
      1.  
        Managing NetBackup deployment using VxUpdate
      2.  
        Updating the Primary/Media server CRs
      3.  
        Migrating the cloud node for primary or media servers
    5. 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
    6. Managing PostrgreSQL DBaaS
      1.  
        Changing database server password in DBaaS
      2.  
        Updating database certificate in DBaaS
    7. Performing catalog backup and recovery
      1.  
        Backing up a catalog
      2. Restoring a catalog
        1.  
          Primary server corrupted
        2.  
          MSDP-X corrupted
        3.  
          MSDP-X and Primary server corrupted
    8. 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
          1.  
            Recovering MSDP S3 IAM configurations from cloud LSU
      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
  5. Section IV. 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. PostgreSQL DBaaS Maintenance
      1.  
        Configuring maintenance window for PostgreSQL database in AWS
      2.  
        Setting up alarms for PostgreSQL DBaaS instance
    3. Patching mechanism for Primary and Media servers
      1.  
        Overview
      2.  
        Patching of containers
    4. Upgrading
      1.  
        Upgrading Cloud Scale deployment for Postgres using Helm charts
      2. Upgrading NetBackup individual components
        1.  
          Upgrading NetBackup operator
        2. Upgrading NetBackup application
          1.  
            Upgrade NetBackup from previous versions
          2.  
            Procedure to rollback when upgrade of NetBackup fails
        3.  
          Upgrading MSDP Scaleout
        4. Upgrading Snapshot Manager
          1.  
            Post-migration tasks
    5. Cloud Scale Disaster Recovery
      1.  
        Cluster backup
      2.  
        Environment backup
      3.  
        Cluster recovery
      4.  
        Cloud Scale recovery
      5.  
        Environment Disaster Recovery
      6.  
        DBaaS Disaster Recovery
    6. Uninstalling
      1.  
        Uninstalling NetBackup environment and the operators
      2.  
        Uninstalling Postgres using Helm charts
      3.  
        Uninstalling Snapshot Manager from Kubernetes cluster
      4. Uninstalling MSDP Scalout from Kubernetes cluster
        1.  
          Cleaning up MSDP Scaleout
        2.  
          Cleaning up the MSDP Scaleout operator
    7. 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 issue where external IP address is not assigned to a NetBackup server's load balancer services
        7.  
          Resolving the issue where the NetBackup server pod is not scheduled for long time
        8.  
          Resolving an issue where the Storage class does not exist
        9.  
          Resolving an issue where the primary server or media server deployment does not proceed
        10.  
          Resolving an issue of failed probes
        11.  
          Resolving token issues
        12.  
          Resolving an issue related to insufficient storage
        13.  
          Resolving an issue related to invalid nodepool
        14.  
          Resolving a token expiry issue
        15.  
          Resolve an issue related to KMS database
        16.  
          Resolve an issue related to pulling an image from the container registry
        17.  
          Resolving an issue related to recovery of data
        18.  
          Check primary server status
        19.  
          Pod status field shows as pending
        20.  
          Ensure that the container is running the patched image
        21.  
          Getting EEB information from an image, a running container, or persistent data
        22.  
          Resolving the certificate error issue in NetBackup operator pod logs
        23.  
          Pod restart failure due to liveness probe time-out
        24.  
          NetBackup messaging queue broker take more time to start
        25.  
          Host mapping conflict in NetBackup
        26.  
          Issue with capacity licensing reporting which takes longer time
        27.  
          Local connection is getting treated as insecure connection
        28.  
          Primary pod is in pending state for a long duration
        29.  
          Backing up data from Primary server's /mnt/nbdata/ directory fails with primary server as a client
        30.  
          Storage server not supporting Instant Access capability on Web UI after upgrading NetBackup
        31.  
          Taint, Toleration, and Node affinity related issues in cpServer
        32.  
          Operations performed on cpServer in environment.yaml file are not reflected
        33.  
          Elastic media server related issues
        34.  
          Failed to register Snapshot Manager with NetBackup
        35.  
          Post Kubernetes cluster restart, flexsnap-listener pod went into CrashLoopBackoff state or pods were unable to connect to flexsnap-rabbitmq
        36.  
          Post Kubernetes cluster restart, issues observed in case of containerized Postgres deployment
      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
  6. Appendix A. CR template
    1.  
      Secret
    2. MSDP Scaleout CR
      1.  
        MSDP Scaleout CR template for AKS
      2.  
        MSDP Scaleout CR template for EKS

Monitoring with Amazon CloudWatch

You can use Amazon CloudWatch to collect Prometheus metrics to monitor pods in MSDP-X cluster.

To configure Amazon CloudWatch

  1. Install the CloudWatch agent with Prometheus metrics collection on EKS.

    See AWS documentation.

  2. Install the CloudWatch agent on EKS clusters. Select the EC2 launch type, and download the template YAML file Prometheus-eks.yaml.
  3. Add the YAML file with the following sample configuration.
    # create configmap for prometheus cwagent config
    apiVersion: v1
    data:
      # cwagent json config
      cwagentconfig.json: |
        {
          "logs": {
            "metrics_collected": {
              "prometheus": {
                "prometheus_config_path": "/etc/prometheusconfig/
                 prometheus.yaml",
                "emf_processor": {
                  "metric_declaration": [
                    {
                      "source_labels": ["job"],
                      "label_matcher": "^msdpoperator-metrics",
                      "dimensions":[
                        ["ClusterName","NameSpace"]
                      ],
                      "metric_selectors": [
                        "msdpoperator_reconcile_failed",
                        "msdpoperator_operator_run",
                        "msdpoperator_diskFreeLess5GBEngines_total",
                        "msdpoperator_diskFreeMiBytesInEngine",
                        "msdpoperator_diskFreeLess10GBClusters_total",
                        "msdpoperator_totalDiskFreePercentInCluster",
                        "msdpoperator_diskFreePercentInEngine",
                        "msdpoperator_pvcFreePercentInCluster",
                        "msdpoperator_unhealthyEngines_total",
                        "msdpoperator_createdPods_total"
                      ]
                    }
                  ]
                }
              }
            },
            "force_flush_interval": 5
          }
        }
    kind: ConfigMap
    metadata:
      name: prometheus-cwagentconfig
      namespace: amazon-cloudwatch
     
    ---
    # create configmap for prometheus scrape config
    apiVersion: v1
    data:
      # prometheus config
      prometheus.yaml: |
        global:
          scrape_interval: 1m
          scrape_timeout: 10s
        scrape_configs:
        - job_name: 'msdpoperator-metrics'
     
          scheme: https
          tls_config:
            ca_file: /var/run/secrets/kubernetes.io/serviceaccount/ca.crt
            insecure_skip_verify: true
          bearer_token_file: /var/run/secrets/kubernetes.io/serviceaccount
          /token
     
          kubernetes_sd_configs:
          - role: pod
     
          relabel_configs:
          - source_labels: [__meta_kubernetes_pod_annotation_prometheus_io
            _scrape]
            action: keep
            regex: true
          - source_labels: [__meta_kubernetes_pod_annotation_prometheus_io
            _path]
            action: replace
            target_label: __metrics_path__
            regex: (.+)
          - source_labels: [__address__, __meta_kubernetes_pod_annotation_
            prometheus_io_port]
            action: replace
            regex: ([^:]+)(?::\d+)?;(\d+)
            replacement: $1:$2
            target_label: __address__
          - source_labels: [__meta_kubernetes_namespace]
            action: replace
            target_label: NameSpace
          - source_labels: [__meta_kubernetes_pod_name]
            action: replace
            target_label: PodName
     
    kind: ConfigMap
    metadata:
      name: prometheus-config
      namespace: amazon-cloudwatch
    

    Table: Supported Prometheus metrics list in MSDP Scaleout lists the Prometheus metrics that MSDP Scaleout supports.

  4. Apply the YAML file.

    Kubectl apply -f Prometheus-eks.yaml

    The default log groups name is /aws/containerinsights/{cluster_name}/Prometheus.

  5. Create Amazon CloudWatch alarms.

    See Using Amazon CloudWatch alarms in AWS documentation.

  6. In the CloudWatch console, add the related log query. In the navigation pane, select Log Insights.

    For example, the free space size of the MSDP scaleout cluster engines is lower than 1 GB in past 5 minutes. Select the log group from the drop-down list, and select the time duration 5m on the time line.

    Log query:

    fields @timestamp, @message
    | filter msdpoperator_diskFreeMiBytesInEngine <= 100000
    | sort @timestamp desc
    

    If multiple MSDP scaleout clusters are deployed in the same EKS cluster, use the filter to search the results. For example, search the MSDP engines with the free space size lower than 1GB in the namespace sample-cr-namespace.

    Log query:

    fields @timestamp, @message
    | filter msdpscalout_ns == "sample-cr-namespace"
    | filter msdpoperator_diskFreeMiBytesInEngine <= 100000
    | sort @timestamp desc
    

MSDP Scaleout supports the following Prometheus metrics:

Table: Supported Prometheus metrics list in MSDP Scaleout

Metrics

Type

Filters

Description

msdpoperator_reconcile_total

Counter

N/A

The total of the reconcile loops msdp-operator run.

msdpoperator_reconcile_failed

Counter

N/A

The total of the reconcile loops msdp-operator failed to run.

msdpoperator_operator_run

Counter

N/A

The total of the running operator.

msdpoperator_diskFree Less5GBEngines_total

Gauge

msdpscalout_ns

The checked number of the engines which have free spaces lower than 5GB.

msdpoperator_diskFree MiBytesInEngine

Gauge

msdpscalout_ns

The free space of current engine in MiBytes.

msdpoperator_diskFreeLess 10GBClusters_total

Gauge

msdpscalout_ns

The checked number of the msdpscaleout applications that have free spaces lower than 10GB.

msdpoperator_totalDiskFree PercentInCluster

Gauge

msdpscalout_ns

The percent of the msdpscaleout applications that have free spaces. For example, 0.95 means 95%

msdpoperator_diskFree PercentInEngine

Gauge

msdpscalout_ns

The percent of the current engines, which have free spaces.

msdpoperator_pvcFree PercentInCluster

Gauge

msdpscalout_ns, component

The percent of the used PVC, which have free spaces.

msdpoperator_unhealthy Engines_total

Gauge

msdpscalout_ns

The total of unhealthy engines.

msdopoerator_createdPods_total

Gauge

msdpscalout_ns, component

The total of created msdpscaleout pods.