NetBackup Flex Appliance Getting Started and Administration Guide

Last Published:
Product(s): Appliances (6.3, 6.2, 6.1, 6.0)
Platform: Flex Appliance OS
  1. Product overview
    1.  
      Introduction to Flex Appliance
    2.  
      Flex Appliance terminology
    3.  
      About the Flex Appliance documentation
  2. Release notes
    1.  
      Flex Appliance 6.0 new features, enhancements, and changes
    2.  
      Flex Appliance 6.1 new features, enhancements, and changes
    3.  
      Flex Appliance 6.2 new features, enhancements, and changes
    4.  
      Flex Appliance 6.3 new features, enhancements, and changes
    5.  
      Supported update paths to this release
    6.  
      Operational notes
    7.  
      Flex Appliance 6.0 release content
    8.  
      Flex Appliance 6.1 release content
    9.  
      Flex Appliance 6.2 release content
    10.  
      Flex Appliance 6.3 release content
  3. 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.  
      Setting the date and time for appliance nodes
    7.  
      Common tasks in Flex Appliance
  4. Managing network settings for instances
    1.  
      Creating a network bond
    2.  
      Editing a network bond
    3.  
      Deleting a network bond
    4.  
      Configuring or editing a network interface
    5. Managing the appliance Fibre Channel ports
      1.  
        Viewing the devices that are connected to the Fibre Channel ports
  5. 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 a remote user domain to the Flex Appliance Console
      6.  
        Editing a remote user domain in the Flex Appliance Console
      7.  
        Importing a remote user or user group to the Flex Appliance Console
      8.  
        Managing single sign-on (SSO)
      9.  
        Managing identity providers (IDPs)
      10.  
        Importing a single sign-on user or user group to the Flex Appliance Console
      11.  
        Managing user authentication with smart cards or digital certificates
      12.  
        Changing a local user password in the Flex Appliance Console
      13.  
        Expiring local user passwords in the Flex Appliance Console
      14.  
        Unlocking a user account in the Flex Appliance Console
      15.  
        Managing open sessions
      16.  
        Removing user or service accounts from the Flex Appliance Console
    3.  
      Changing the password policy
    4.  
      Changing the hostadmin user password in the Flex Appliance Shell
    5.  
      Changing the sysadmin user password in the Veritas Remote Management Interface
    6. Managing multifactor authentication
      1.  
        Configuring or reconfiguring multifactor authentication
      2.  
        Enforcing multifactor authentication
      3.  
        Resetting multifactor authentication
      4.  
        Disabling multifactor authentication
    7. Using Flex Appliance Console accounts for API automation
      1.  
        Managing personal API tokens
      2.  
        Managing service accounts
  6. Using Flex Appliance
    1. Managing the repository
      1.  
        Adding files to the repository
      2.  
        Removing files from the repository
    2.  
      Creating application instances
    3.  
      Managing application instances from Flex Appliance and NetBackup
    4. Managing application instances from Flex Appliance
      1.  
        Resizing instance storage
      2.  
        Editing instance network settings
      3.  
        Assigning Fibre Channel ports to an instance
      4.  
        Unassigning Fibre Channel ports from an instance
      5. 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.  
          Updating an application add-on to a newer revision
      6.  
        Clearing a configuration error status on an application instance
      7.  
        Deleting an application instance
    5. Upgrading application instances
      1.  
        Warnings and considerations for instance rollbacks
    6.  
      Updating an application instance to a newer revision
    7. About Flex Appliance updates
      1.  
        Updating Flex Appliance
      2.  
        Updating the firmware
    8.  
      Changing the BIOS password
    9.  
      Locating the node serial number
  7. Remote replication
    1.  
      About remote replication
    2.  
      Pairing appliances for remote replication
    3.  
      Creating a replica
    4. Managing remote replication
      1.  
        Remote replication best practices
      2.  
        Monitoring remote replication
      3.  
        Editing the replication network
      4.  
        Repairing a lost connection between paired appliances
      5.  
        Pausing and resuming replication
      6.  
        Resolving discrepancies between an active and a replica instance
      7.  
        Changing the replication role of an instance
      8.  
        Unlinking active and replica instances
      9.  
        Forgetting a paired appliance
  8. Appliance security
    1.  
      Security overview
    2. About lockdown mode
      1.  
        Changing the lockdown mode
    3.  
      Using a sign-in banner
    4.  
      Using an external certificate
    5. Using network access control
      1.  
        Changing the SSH port
    6.  
      Recommended settings for the remote management (IPMI) port
  9. Monitoring the appliance
    1.  
      Registering an appliance
    2. Configuring alerts
      1. About AutoSupport and Call Home
        1.  
          Configuring Call Home
      2.  
        Configuring email alerts
      3.  
        Configuring SNMP alerts
      4.  
        Setting the threshold values for disk usage alerts
    3.  
      Viewing performance metrics
    4.  
      Monitoring the appliance from the System Health Insights portal
    5. Viewing the hardware status
      1.  
        Viewing node information
      2.  
        Viewing storage shelf information on a 53xx appliance
      3.  
        Viewing storage shelf information on a 52xx appliance
    6.  
      Viewing hardware faults
    7.  
      Viewing system data
    8.  
      Clearing the hardware status
    9.  
      Forwarding logs
    10.  
      Providing access for external monitoring
    11.  
      Revoking access for external monitoring
  10. Reconfiguring the appliance
    1.  
      Reconfiguring the appliance network
    2.  
      Changing DNS or Hosts file settings
    3.  
      Shutting down the appliance
    4.  
      Performing a factory reset
    5.  
      Performing a reimage
    6.  
      Recovering storage data after a factory reset or a reimage
    7.  
      Performing a storage reset
    8.  
      Removing a node
    9.  
      Viewing or resetting the storage shelf order on a 52xx appliance
  11. Troubleshooting guidelines
    1.  
      General troubleshooting steps
    2.  
      Unlocking access in lockdown mode
    3. Gathering logs
      1.  
        Deleting logs

Introduction to Flex Appliance

Flex Appliance is a customizable data management solution that lets you consolidate multiple applications on a single hardware platform. With Flex Appliance, you can run concurrent instances of the following applications:

  • NetBackup primary server

    You can also configure a BMR primary server with this application. However, the BMR boot server cannot be configured on the appliance.

  • NetBackup media server with the following storage options:

    • Media Server Deduplication Pool (MSDP)

      You can also configure MSDP cloud storage with this application. Refer to the NetBackup Deduplication Guide after the instance is created.

    • AdvancedDisk

  • NetBackup WORM storage

The NetBackup applications must follow the same compatibility requirements between NetBackup versions as any other NetBackup environment. See the NetBackup Release Notes for specifics.

For a full list of supported applications and versions for each Flex Appliance release, see the following article on the Support website:

Flex Appliance supported applications and usage information

Flex Appliance is currently available in English only.

This release is compatible with the following hardware:

  • The 5360 Appliance, supporting all PCIe-based I/O configurations.

  • The 5350 Appliance, supporting all PCIe-based I/O configurations.

  • The 5340 Appliance, supporting PCIe-based I/O configurations A, G, and H.

  • An additional 53xx compute node for high availability (HA).

    Note:

    Both nodes must have the same PCIe-based I/O configuration.

  • The 5260 Appliance, supporting all PCIe-based I/O configurations.

  • The 5250 Appliance, supporting all PCIe-based I/O configurations.

  • The 5150 Appliance, supporting all PCIe-based I/O configurations.

See the Product Description guides for additional details about the appliance hardware and the available I/O configurations.