Veritas Flex Appliance Getting Started and Administration Guide

Last Published:
Product(s): Appliances (1.3)
Platform: Flex Appliance OS
  1. Product overview
    1.  
      Introduction to Veritas Flex Appliance
    2.  
      About the Flex Appliance documentation
    3.  
      Flex Appliance 1.3 new features, enhancements, and changes
    4.  
      Supported upgrade paths to this release
    5.  
      Operational notes
    6.  
      Flex Appliance 1.3 release content
  2. Getting started
    1.  
      Initial configuration guidelines and checklist
    2.  
      Performing the initial configuration
    3.  
      Adding a node
    4.  
      Accessing and using the Flex Appliance Shell
    5.  
      Accessing and using the Flex Appliance Console
    6.  
      Installing the NetBackup Administration Console and client packages
    7.  
      Common tasks in Flex Appliance
  3. Modifying settings
    1.  
      Creating a network bond
    2.  
      Deleting a network bond
    3.  
      Configuring a network interface
    4.  
      Setting the date and time for appliance nodes
    5.  
      Changing DNS or Hosts file settings
  4. Managing users
    1.  
      Overview of the Flex Appliance default users
    2. Managing Flex Appliance Console users and tenants
      1.  
        Adding a tenant
      2.  
        Editing a tenant
      3.  
        Removing a tenant
      4.  
        Adding a local user to the Flex Appliance Console
      5.  
        Connecting an Active Directory domain to the Flex Appliance Console
      6.  
        Importing an Active Directory user or user group to the Flex Appliance Console
      7.  
        Editing an Active Directory domain in the Flex Appliance Console
      8.  
        Changing a user password in the Flex Appliance Console
      9.  
        Removing a user from the Flex Appliance Console
    3.  
      Changing the hostadmin user password in the Flex Appliance Shell
    4. Managing NetBackup application instance users
      1.  
        Adding and removing local NetBackup instance users
      2.  
        Connecting a remote user domain to a NetBackup instance
      3.  
        Changing a user password on a NetBackup instance
  5. Using Flex Appliance
    1. Managing the repository
      1.  
        Adding files to the repository
      2.  
        Removing the current appliance upgrade or update package from the repository
    2. Creating application instances
      1.  
        Creating a NetBackup master server instance
      2.  
        Creating a NetBackup media server instance
    3. Managing application instances
      1.  
        Resizing instance storage
      2.  
        Editing instance network settings
      3. Managing application add-ons on instances
        1.  
          Installing application add-ons
        2.  
          Uninstalling application add-ons
        3.  
          Changing the application add-on installation order
      4.  
        Viewing instance performance metrics
      5. Running NetBackup commands on an application instance
        1.  
          Creating a NetBackup touch file on an application instance
      6.  
        Setting environment variables on NetBackup instances
      7.  
        Storing custom data on a NetBackup instance
      8.  
        Establishing trust with a NetBackup 7.7.3 master server instance
    4. Upgrading application instances
      1.  
        Warnings and considerations for instance rollbacks
    5. About Flex Appliance upgrades and updates
      1.  
        Upgrading Flex Appliance
      2.  
        Updating Flex Appliance
  6. Monitoring the appliance
    1. About AutoSupport and Call Home
      1.  
        Registering an appliance
      2.  
        Viewing Call Home information
      3.  
        Configuring Call Home settings
      4.  
        Deleting and disabling Call Home settings
    2. Monitoring the hardware from the Flex Appliance Shell
      1.  
        Viewing node information
      2.  
        Viewing Primary Storage Shelf information on a Veritas 5340 Appliance
      3.  
        Viewing Expansion Storage Shelf information on a Veritas 5340 Appliance
    3.  
      Viewing hardware faults
    4.  
      Viewing system data
  7. Reconfiguring the appliance
    1.  
      Performing a factory reset
    2.  
      Recovering storage data after a factory reset
    3.  
      Performing a storage reset
    4.  
      Removing a node
  8. Troubleshooting guidelines
    1.  
      General troubleshooting steps
    2.  
      Gathering device logs on a Flex appliance

Initial configuration guidelines and checklist

Review the following information before you perform the initial configuration on a new Veritas Flex appliance:

Table: Flex Appliance configuration guidelines and checklist

Parameter

Description

Network cabling for the Veritas 5340 Appliance

The following Veritas 5340 Appliance ports must be connected to the network for initial configuration:

  • The remote management (IPMI) port

    Used to connect to the Veritas Remote Management Interface.

    Note:

    The remote management port must be configured before you begin initial configuration. If it is not configured, contact Technical Support and ask your representative to reference article 100042482.

  • host1 or host0

    Used to connect to the Flex Appliance Console. Veritas recommends that you connect both host1 and host0 for maximum resiliency, but only one of them is required.

    Note:

    These ports are labeled ETH0 and ETH1 on the 5340 nodes.

  • privnic1 and privnic0 (multi-node appliances only)

    Used for communication between nodes.

    Note:

    These ports are labeled ETH2 and ETH3 on the 5340 nodes.

  • One to ten 10Gb NICs per node

    Used for the application instances.

See the Veritas 5340 Appliance Hardware Installation Guide or the Veritas 5340 Appliance Product Description for more details.

Network cabling for the Veritas 5150 Appliance

The following Veritas 5150 Appliance ports must be connected to the network for initial configuration:

  • The remote management (IPMI) port

    Note:

    The remote management port must be configured before you begin initial configuration. If it is not configured, refer to the Veritas 5150 Appliance Hardware Installation Guide for the procedure.

    Used to connect to the Veritas Remote Management Interface.

  • host0

    Used to connect to the Flex Appliance Console.

  • One or two 10Gb NICs

    Used for the application instances.

See the Veritas 5150 Appliance Hardware Installation Guide or the Veritas 5150 Appliance Product Description for more details.

Connectivity during initial configuration

When you perform the appliance initial configuration, you must take precautions to avoid loss of connectivity. Any loss of connectivity during initial configuration results in failure.

The computer that you use to configure the appliance should be set up to avoid the following events:

  • Conditions that cause the computer to go to sleep

  • Conditions that cause the computer to turn off or to lose power

  • Conditions that cause the computer to lose its network connection

Required names and addresses

Before the configuration, gather the following information:

  • (5340 appliance only) IP address for the Flex Appliance Console

  • (5340 appliance only) Hostname for the Flex Appliance Console

  • IP address for each node in the appliance

  • Hostname for each node in the appliance

  • Default gateway

  • Netmask

  • (Optional) DNS server IP address

  • DNS domain

  • (Optional) Search domain

Note:

If you plan to use DNS, make sure that forward and reverse DNS lookups are configured properly in your environment. If a forward or a reverse DNS lookup returns multiple records, the initial configuration may fail. You can check the DNS configuration with the following commands for each node. Each command should return only one entry.

Linux:

dig +short @<DNS server IP address> a <node FQDN>

dig +short @<DNS server IP address> -x <node IP address>

Windows:

nslookup <node IP address>

nslookup <node hostname>

Default username and password

New appliances are shipped with the following default login credentials:

  • Username: hostadmin

  • Password: P@ssw0rd

    Note:

    When you perform the initial configuration, you are not required to change the default password. However, to increase the security of your environment, Veritas recommends that you change the default password immediately with the set user password command. As a best practice, the password should be changed periodically. Make sure to keep a record of the current password in a secure location.

Firewall port usage

Make sure that the following ports are open if a firewall exists between the appliance and the network:

  • 22 (SSH) must be allowed to each node.

  • 443 (HTTPS) must be allowed to the Flex Appliance Console.

(5340 appliance only) Memory requirements for expanded MSDP storage configurations

For all storage configurations with an aggregate total of all MSDP pools equaling 960TB or larger, Veritas strongly recommends upgrading the memory capacity to 1536GB.

For complete details on the supported expanded storage configurations, see the NetBackup 5340 Appliance Product Description Guide and refer to the topic "Available appliance storage options".