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

Managing application instances

You can manage your application instances from the System topology page of the Flex Appliance Console. To access your existing instances, click on the System topology box on the home page or the System topology icon in the left-side navigation bar, then navigate to the Application instances section.

Under Application instances, you can perform the following tasks:

  • Create a new instance.

    See Creating application instances.

  • Select an existing instance to:

    • Relocate it to another node if you have a multi-node appliance.

    • Stop or start it.

      Note:

      When you start an instance, Flex Appliance automatically determines which node to start it on for optimal load balancing. Therefore, it may not start on the same node that it was located on when it was stopped. If you want the instance to run on a specific node, you can relocate it after it starts.

    • Use the Manage drop-down to delete it.

    • Use the Manage drop-down to resize the storage.

      See Resizing instance storage.

    • Use the Manage drop-down to upgrade it.

      See Upgrading application instances.

  • Click on an existing instance to perform the following tasks:

You can also perform the following tasks outside of the Flex Appliance Console:

  • View live performance metrics of all of the instances on your appliance from the Flex Appliance Shell. See Viewing instance performance metrics.

  • Run NetBackup commands on a NetBackup master or media server instance from an SSH session.

  • Set environment variables on NetBackup 8.2 or later master server instances. See Setting environment variables on NetBackup instances.

  • Modify or disable the nbdeployutil utility.

    The nbdeployutil utility may adversely affect performance of NetBackup applications instances on a Veritas 5150 Appliance. If you do not need this feature or if you determine that it causes performance issues due to high CPU usage, you can modify the configuration or disable it as follows:

    • Log in to the master server instance and create the following nbdeployutil configuration file if it is not present:

      /usr/openv/var/global/nbdeployutilconfig.txt

    • Refer to the topic "Scheduling capacity licensing reports" in the NetBackup Administrator's Guide, Volume II for the procedure to use custom values for the capacity licensing report.

Note:

Flex Appliance does not support adding local directories or manually editing most files on application instances. If you create a local directory or manually edit a file and the instance is relocated or stopped for any reason, the changes are not maintained when the instance restarts.

However, if you must store a small amount of critical data on an instance, you can store it in the /mnt/nblogs directory. Note that this directory has 250GB of storage space that cannot be resized. If you use too much storage space, the instance may be affected.

See Storing custom data on a NetBackup instance.