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

Operational notes

This topic explains important aspects of Flex Appliance 6.x operations that may not be documented elsewhere in the documentation.

The following list contains the notes and the known issues that apply for the Flex Appliance 6.x software:

  • If you configure remote replication with a network interface that has a name that is longer than 13 characters including the VLAN ID, the configuration fails with the following message:

    Failed to create high availability replication link.

    To avoid this issue, make sure that the interface that you select has a name that is 13 characters or less including the VLAN ID.

  • When the appliance turns on, you may receive the following false alerts if the services take longer than usual to start:

    V-475-130-30007: The metrics-node service is not in an optimal state.

    V-475-130-30009: The metrics-storage service is not in an optimal state.

    If you have not received a second alert after four hours, you can safely ignore these alerts.

  • If you have more than 10 VLAN tags configured with an IPv6 network, instances may not start cleanly. To avoid this issue, do not configure more than 10 VLAN tags with an IPv6 network.

  • Flex Appliance does not currently restrict you from adding a local user and a remote user with the same username. However, upgrade issues can occur if you do. Do not use duplicate usernames across local and remote users.

  • If a server communicates with the appliance with a domain name that is not in the appliance hosts file, the server name is not masked in the logs.

  • After a restart, if you check the status of the services on the appliance node, the settings-sync service may show as failed.

    This issue is fixed in version 6.3.

    To resolve the status on an earlier version, restart the node again. Alternatively, you can manually sync the settings with the system sync-settings command, but the command does not change the status of the settings-sync service itself.

  • After you update to version 6.0 or 6.1, the system might send the following alerts once, depending on the load conditions:

    V-475-130-30007: The metrics-node service is not in an optimal state.

    V-475-130-30009: The metrics-storage service is not in an optimal state.

    If you do not receive these alert messages again, the system is functioning normally. You can safely ignore them.

    This issue is resolved in version 6.2.

  • On version 6.0, the Live firewall settings on the instance details page of a WORM instance are not properly aligned, and some of the content is not visible.

    This issue is fixed in version 6.1.

    To work around this issue on version 6.0, copy the content and paste it an editor to view the full contents.

  • When you update the firmware on a multi-node appliance, you may receive alerts between the updates of the first and the second node. Once you complete the update on the second node, you should receive notifications that the alerts have been resolved.

  • When you edit the roles for a user and select a base role, some of the extended roles are grayed out. These extended roles are included as part of the selected base role.

    In version 6.1, the role descriptions have been updated to indicate why the roles are grayed out.

  • If you generate a Data Collect log package with data masking enabled, the private_map file that is included uses the same key value for multiple entries.

  • After a new installation or an upgrade to version 6.x, SAN client (Fibre Transport Media Server) backups do not work on NetBackup application instances earlier than version 10.3. To use SAN client on an earlier supported version, you must install an EEB.

    You can find the EEBs at the following locations:

    Note:

    Update the appliance before you upgrade the instance or install the EEB.

  • For this release, the Performance graphs on the Flex Appliance Console Home page show data only in the UTC time zone.

  • Alerts are not currently sent for the metrics that can be set with the set alerts hardware-threshold command.

  • During a firmware update, an issue can occur with the storage shelf controller that causes an update failure message to appear. If you see a failure message, it may have appeared in error, and the update may still have worked. Run the following command to confirm the firmware version:

    show hardware-health primaryshelf component=controller

  • While an update is in progress on version 6.0 or 6.1, do not perform any other operations in the Flex Appliance Shell or the Flex Appliance Console.

    Starting with version 6.2, all other operations are blocked.

  • When you install application add-ons on an instance, the Flex Appliance Console lets you select different versions of the same OST plug-in. However, this configuration is not supported, and if you select more than one version of the same plug-in, the Install add-ons page shows duplicate entries. Only install one version of each OST plug-in on an instance. If you need to change the version of an OST plug-in that is already installed, first uninstall it, and then install the new version.

  • On version 6.0, if the host0 or host1 port is not connected to the appliance node during initial configuration, the following error message appears that does not provide complete information:

    "Network card for <interface name> is missing. Make sure that all network interfaces are connected to the appliance."

    If you encounter this message, verify that all ports are connected according to the initial configuration guidelines. See Initial configuration guidelines and checklist. Then restart the node to continue the configuration.

    In version 6.1, this message has been updated to provide more accurate information.