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Veritas NetBackup™ Appliance Administrator's Guide

Last Published: 2017-12-05

Product(s): Appliances (3.1)

About NetBackup appliances

NetBackup appliances provide a simplified solution for NetBackup configuration and the daily management of your backup environment. The goal is to provide a solution that eliminates the need to provide dedicated individuals to manage their backup environment.

The appliances are rack-mount servers that run on the Linux operating system. NetBackup Enterprise Server software is already installed and configured to work with the operating system, the disk storage units, and the robotic tape device.

You can determine what role you want to configure the appliance to perform. You can choose to configure a 52xx appliance as follows:

As a master server appliance
As a media server for use with an existing master server appliance
As a media server for use in an existing NetBackup environment

With each of these 52xx configurations, you get the added benefit of internal disk storage.

Note:

52xx refers to 5220 and later models. See the NetBackup Appliance Release Notes for details.

A 53xx appliance is configured as a media server by default. You can choose to configure a 53xx appliance as follows:

As a media server for use with an existing master server appliance
As a media server for use in an existing NetBackup environment

Note:

The 53xx compute node does not have internal disk space available for backups or storage. The space available from the Primary Storage Shelf and up to five Expansion Storage Shelves can be used for backups.

This appliance version allows for easy expansion of existing NetBackup environments that have NetBackup 8.1 or greater installed. The appliance also includes its own browser-based interface. This interface is used for local administration of the network, internal disk storage, tape libraries and much more.

NetBackup appliances support the following features:

Three interfaces for appliance configuration and management:
- The NetBackup Appliance Web Console is a web-based graphical user interface. It lets you monitor and manage the specific appliance. This interface is compatible with Internet Explorer versions 11.0 and later, and Mozilla Firefox versions 31.0 and later.
- The Veritas Appliance Management Console is a web-based graphical user-interface that helps you to centrally manage multiple NetBackup appliances from a single interface. For version 3.1, the Appliance Management Console lets you upgrade and install EEBs on multiple appliances. You can always log on to a dedicated appliance and use the NetBackup Appliance Web Console for all the other tasks.
  See the Appliance Management Guide for details.
- The NetBackup Appliance Shell Menu is a command line driven interface. For a complete description of all appliance commands, refer to the following document:
  NetBackup Appliance Command Reference Guide
Configuration H of the NetBackup 5240 appliance supports iSCSI connections. All configurations of the NetBackup 5340 appliance support iSCSI. See the NetBackup Appliance iSCSI Guide for reference.
Copilot enables Oracle database administrators to work with NetBackup appliance administrators to perform a streamlined backup and restore process of Oracle databases.
A NetBackup 5340 appliance supports 1 Primary Storage Shelf and up to 3 Expansion Storage Shelves.
For more information on the hardware enhancements, refer to the NetBackup 5340 Appliance Product Description Guide.
The Primary Storage Shelf and the Expansion Storage Shelf in a NetBackup 5330 appliance support 6TB disks, an enhancement over the previous 3TB disks.
Note:
Individual storage shelves contain either the 3TB disks or the 6TB disks, but not both.
For more information on the hardware enhancements, refer to the NetBackup 5330 Appliance Product Description Guide.
Starting with NetBackup appliance version 2.7.1, you can use the fully qualified domain name (FQDN) as the appliance host name.
Media Server Deduplication Pool (MSDP) is supported on all 52xx and 53xx appliances. MSDP offers up to the maximum available capacity on a 52xx and 53xx appliance.
Starting with NetBackup appliance version 2.7.3, the NetBackup Cloud Storage of data backups and restores are enabled by default on the NetBackup appliances.
For complete details, refer to the NetBackup Cloud Administrator's Guide
Backup of VMware virtual machines. NetBackup appliance supports direct backup of VMware virtual machines. The appliance can back up virtual machines without a separate Windows system as backup host.
Symantec Data Center Security (SDCS) integration. The SDCS agent is installed and configured when you initially configure your appliance. By default, SDCS operates in unmanaged mode and helps secure the appliance using host-based intrusion prevention and detection technology. In managed mode, this agent ensures that the appliance audit logs are sent to an external SDCS server to be validated and verified.
BMR integration. When the appliance is configured as a master server, you can enable Bare Metal Restore (BMR) from the NetBackup Appliance Web Console.
IPv4-IPv6 network support. The NetBackup appliances are supported on a dual stack IPv4-IPv6 network. The NetBackup appliance can communicate with, back up, and restore an IPv6 client. You can assign an IPv6 address to an appliance, configure DNS, and routing to include IPv6 based systems. The NetBackup Appliance Web Console can be used to enter information about both IPv4 and IPv6 addresses.
ACSLS Support. This feature facilitates configuration of NetBackup ACS robotics on the NetBackup appliance. The appliance administrator can change the ACSLS entries in the vm.conf file on the local appliance.
NetBackup SAN Client and Fibre Transport. SAN Client is a NetBackup optional feature that provides high-speed backups and restores of NetBackup clients. Fibre Transport is the name of the NetBackup high-speed data transport method that is part of the SAN Client feature. The backup and restore traffic occurs over a SAN, and NetBackup server and client administration traffic occurs over the LAN.
Starting with software version 2.7.3, you can duplicate data between NetBackup 52xx or 5330 appliances using Fibre Transport. The supported data transfer methods are optimized duplication and Auto Image Replication. To use this feature, both the source host and target host must use the appliance software version 2.7.3 or later.
NetBackup preinstalled. Simplifies the deployment and integration into an existing NetBackup environment.
Note:
The Enhanced Auditing feature that was released in NetBackup version 7.7 is not currently supported for use on NetBackup appliances. This feature should not be configured or enabled on a NetBackup appliance.
Tape out option. The appliance includes a gigabit, dual-port Fibre Channel host bus adapter (HBA).
Multiple FC ports can be used for tape out, as long as they are solely dedicated to the tape out function. For more information, refer to the Veritas NetBackup Appliance Network Ports Reference Guide.
Hardware component monitoring. The appliance can monitor key hardware components such as the CPU, disks, memory, power supply modules, and fans. In addition, the appliance provides an optional Call Home feature that allows proactive monitoring and messaging of these NetBackup components.
The NetBackup appliances support the core NetBackup software agents. The NetBackup agents optimize the performance of critical databases and applications.
See the NetBackup Administrator's Guide Volume I for more information about the policy types that are supported for each software agent. And for the latest NetBackup appliance compatibility information, refer to the Hardware Compatibility List on the Support website.
www.netbackup.com/compatibility
Flexible hardware configuration. The appliance can be ordered in a variety of configurations to provide the necessary Ethernet ports. Along with the built-in Ethernet ports on the motherboard, expansion cards can be specified to provide additional 1 GB or 10 GB Ethernet ports. Dual-port and quad-port expansion cards are supported.

For more information about hardware configuration, refer to the NetBackup Hardware Installation Guide and NetBackup Appliance and Storage Shelf Product Description for the appropriate platform.

The following describes how you can incorporate this appliance into your current NetBackup environment:

Replace unsupported media servers	Replace an existing media server that runs on a platform that is not supported in NetBackup 8.1.
Add deduplication capability	Add the appliance to an existing NetBackup environment or replace an existing media server that does not support deduplication. Configure MSDP partition on the Appliance for deduplication capability.
Use AdvancedDisk for non-deduplicated backups	AdvancedDisk can provide faster restore operation but is not space-optimized like MSDP. This is a good solution for backups that include strict tape out schedules. Backups can be expired after duplication to MSDP and space on AdvancedDisk freed up for next day backups.
Add more storage capability	Add storage capability to existing NetBackup 8.1 and greater environments. Built-in appliance disk storage for 52xx appliances The internal disks can be used for additional backup storage on a 52xx appliance. Note: The 53xx appliance does not have internal disk space available for backups or storage. The space available from the Primary Storage Shelf and Expansion Storage Shelves can be used for storage. Additional external storage The Storage Shelf is an external unit that provides additional disk storage space. You can add up to four of these units to a NetBackup 5220, 5230, or a 5240 appliance. If you need or want to add a Storage Shelf to an existing or an operational NetBackup appliance, your appliance may first require a hardware and/or a memory upgrade. For more information, contact your NetBackup appliance representative about your expansion needs.
Tape backup	The appliance includes a Fibre Channel host bus adapter card for a TLD tape storage device for archive support.