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Veritas NetBackup™ Cloud Administrator's Guide

Last Published: 2019-05-14

Product(s): NetBackup (8.1.2)

About cloud storage features and functionality

NetBackup Cloud Storage enables you to back up and restore data from cloud Storage as a Service (STaaS) vendors. NetBackup Cloud Storage is integrated with Veritas OpenStorage.

Table: Features and functionality outlines the features and functionality NetBackup Cloud Storage delivers.

Table: Features and functionality

Feature	Details
Configuration Wizard	A Cloud Storage Server Configuration wizard is incorporated to facilitate the cloud storage setup and storage provisioning. Cloud storage provisioning now happens entirely through the NetBackup interface.
Compression	NetBackup Cloud Storage Compression compresses the data inline before it is sent to the cloud. The compression feature uses a third-party library called LZO Pro (with compression level 3).
Encryption	NetBackup Cloud Storage Encryption encrypts the data inline before it is sent to the cloud. Encryption interfaces with the NetBackup Key Management Service (KMS) to leverage its ability to manage encryption keys. The encryption feature uses an AES 256 cipher feedback (CFB) mode encryption.
Throttling	NetBackup Cloud Storage throttling controls the data transfer rates between your network and the cloud. The throttling values are set on a per NetBackup media server basis. In certain implementations, you want to limit WAN usage for backups and restores to the cloud. You want to implement this limit so you do not constrain other network activity. Throttling provides a mechanism to the NetBackup administrators to limit NetBackup Cloud Storage traffic. By implementing a limit to cloud WAN traffic, it cannot consume more than the allocated bandwidth. NetBackup Cloud Storage Throttling lets you configure and control the following: Different bandwidth value for both read and write operations. The maximum number of connections that are supported for each cloud provider at any given time. Network bandwidth as a percent of total bandwidth. Network bandwidth per block of time.
Metering	The NetBackup Cloud Storage metering reports enable you to monitor data transfers within NetBackup Cloud Storage. Cloud-based storage is unlike traditional tape or disk media, which use persistent backup images. Your cloud storage vendor calculates cloud-based storage costs per byte stored and per byte transferred. The NetBackup Cloud Storage software uses several techniques to minimize stored and transferred data. With these techniques, traditional catalog-based information about the amount of protected data no longer equates to the amount of data that is stored or transferred. Metering allows installations to monitor the amount of data that is transferred on a per media server basis across one or more cloud-based storage providers. Metering reports are generated through NetBackup OpsCenter.
Cloud Storage service	This is applicable to media server versions 7.7.x to 8.1.2 only. The NetBackup CloudStore Service Container (`nbcssc`) process performs the following functions: Generates the metering information for the metering plug-in Controls the network bandwidth usage with the help of the throttling plug-in Note: For NetBackup media server versions beyond 8.1.2, these Cloud Storage functions are performed by the NetBackup Service Layer (`nbsl`) service. On Windows, it is a standard service installed by NetBackup. On UNIX, it runs as a standard daemon. The NetBackup CloudStore Service Container (nbcssc) uses certificate-based authentication. The authentication method used in previous releases (legacy authentication) is disabled by default. Veritas recommends that you upgrade media servers configured as a cloud storage server to NetBackup 8.1 or later. If you cannot upgrade these servers, use the Enable insecure communication with 8.0 and earlier hosts option on the NetBackup master server. The option is available in the NetBackup Administration Console on the Security Management > Global Security Settings > Secure Communication tab.
NetBackup Web Management Console	The NetBackup Web Management Console (`nbwmc`) process manages requests for certificate and host management. This process now also controls the configuration parameters that are related to NetBackup Cloud Storage. The process is installed as a NetBackup service on Windows and runs as a standard daemon on UNIX.
NetBackup Service Layer	The NetBackup Service Layer (`nbsl`) service facilitates the communication between NetBackup graphical user interface (UI) and the NetBackup logic. This service is required to run NetBackup OpsCenter which manages and monitors multiple NetBackup environments. This service is also required for Cloud Storage and now performs the following functions: Generates the metering information for the metering plug-in Controls the network bandwidth usage with the help of the throttling plug-in Note: For media server versions 7.7.x to 8.1.2, these Cloud Storage functions are performed by the NetBackup Cloud Storage Service Container (`nbcssc`).
Storage providers	Veritas currently supports several cloud storage providers. More information is available about each of these vendors. See About the cloud storage vendors for NetBackup.
OpsCenter Reporting	Monitoring and reporting of the data that is sent to cloud storage is available through new cloud reports in OpsCenter. The cloud reports include: Job Success Rate: Success rate by backup job level across domains, clients, policies, and business level views filtered on cloud-based storage. Data Expiring In Future: Data that expires each day for the next 7 days filtered on cloud-based storage. Cloud Metering: Historical view of the data that is written to cloud per cloud provider. Average Data Transfer Rate: Historical view of average data transfer rate to cloud per cloud provider. Cloud Metering Chargeback: Ranking, forecast, and distribution view of the cost that is incurred on cloud-based storage per cloud provider. Note: Among all Amazon S3-compatible cloud providers that NetBackup supports, OpsCenter supports monitoring and reporting of Amazon S3 and Amazon GovCloud (S3) only. Note: Where Amazon is the cloud service provider, OpsCenter cannot report on the data that MSDP cloud storage servers upload to the cloud.