NetBackup™ Snapshot Manager Install and Upgrade Guide

Last Published:
Product(s): NetBackup (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

Snapshot Manager extension sizing recommendations

The Snapshot Manager extension serves the purpose of scaling the capacity of the Snapshot Manager host to service a large number of requests concurrently running on the Snapshot Manager at its peak performance capacity. You can install one or more Snapshot Manager extensions on-premise or in cloud, depending on your requirements to run the jobs without putting the host under additional stress. An extension can increase the processing capacity of the Snapshot Manager.

The Snapshot Manager extension can have the configuration same or higher as the Snapshot Manager host.

See Meeting system requirements.

Supported Snapshot Manager extension environments:

  • VM based extension for on-premise

  • Cloud based extension with managed Kubernetes cluster

Note:

For Snapshot Manager 10.0, the VM based extensions are supported on Azure Stack hub and Kubernetes based extension are supported on Azure, AWS and GCP.

Veritas recommends the following configurations for the Snapshot Manager extensions:

Table: Typical Snapshot Manager extension configuration for VM based extension (Azure stack)

Workload metric

Snapshot Manager extension configuration

Up to 16 concurrent operational tasks

CPU: 4 CPUs

Memory: 16 GB

For example, in Azure stack, the Snapshot Manager extension should be an equivalent of a t3.xlarge instance in AWS.

Up to 32 concurrent operational tasks

CPU: 8 CPUs

Memory: 32 GB or more

For example, in Azure stack, the Snapshot Manager extension should be an equivalent of a t3.2xlarge or a higher type of instance in AWS.

Table: Typical Snapshot Manager extension configuration for Kubernetes based extension (Azure, AWS and GCP)

Workload metric

Snapshot Manager extension configuration

Up to 24 concurrent operational tasks

For Azure

  • For 2 CPU's and 8 GB RAM node configuration:

    CPU: More than 2 CPU's

    RAM per node: 8GB

    Maximum pods per node: 6 (system) + 4 (Static pods) + 8*2=16 (Dynamic pods) = 26 or more

    Autoscaling enabled, with minimum=1, maximim=3

  • For 2/4/6 CPU's and 16 GB node configuration

    CPU per node: More than 2/4/6 CPU's

    RAM per node: 16 GB

    Maximum pods per node: 6 (system) + 4 (Static pods) + 16*2=32 (Dynamic pods) = 42 or more

    Autoscaling enabled, with minimum=1, maximum=3

Note:

Above configuration would run 16 jobs per node at once.

Up to 24 concurrent operational tasks

For AWS

CPU: More than 2 CPU's

RAM per node: 8 GB

Autoscaling enabled, with minimum =1 and maximum =3

Note:

Above configuration would run 8 jobs per node at once.

Up to 24 concurrent operational tasks

For GCP

CPU: More than 2 CPU's per node

Memory: 8 GB per node

Autoscaling enabled, with minimum =1 and maximum =3

General considerations and guidelines:

Consider the following points while choosing a configuration for the Snapshot Manager extension:

  • To achieve better performance in a high workload environment, Veritas recommends that you deploy the Snapshot Manager extension in the same location as that of the application hosts.

  • The cloud-based extension on a managed Kubernetes cluster should be in the same VNet as that of the Snapshot Manager host. If it is not, then you can make use of the VNet peering mechanism available with the Azure cloud, to make sure that Snapshot Manager host and extension nodes can communicate with each other over the required ports

  • Depending on the number of workloads, the amount of plug-in data that is transmitted from the Snapshot Manager host can get really large in size. The network latency also plays a key role in such a case. You might see a difference in the overall performance depending on these factors.

  • In cases where the number of concurrent operations is higher than what the Snapshot Manager host and the extensions together can handle, Snapshot Manager automatically puts the operations in a job queue. The queued jobs are picked up only after the running operations are completed.