EVault Software Agent for VMware 6.91 User Guide

Transcription

1 EVault Software Agent for VMware 6.91 User Guide.

2 Contents 1 Agent for VMware Overview Features Configuring the Agent Requirements Obtaining the Product Deploying the OVF Template via the OVA File Setting Up the Appliance Configuring the Time Zone vcenter Registration Windows CentralControl Registration Web CentralControl Registration VMware User Privileges for Backup and Restore Create a Role with the Correct Privileges for the Backup User How to Assign a Role to the User vcenter Credentials and CBT CLI Commands agent config mount net ntp ssh support system vcenter webcc Backing Up Creating a Backup Job Running a Backup Job Scheduling a Backup Job Restoring Best Practices vcenter Login Credentials Domain Name, Username and Password Limitations Organization and Naming Conventions Contents Page 2 of 52

3 5.4 Performance - Settings and Hardware Change Block Tracking (CBT) Limitations: VMs, VMDKs, Snapshots, and Templates Snapshot Name Limit VM Name Limit VMDK Name Limit Concurrent Backup Session Limit VM Size Limit Maximum Job Size Limit VMDK Size Limit Virtual Machine Templates Raw Disk Mapping (RDM) - Virtual and Physical Using Microsoft s SQL Server with VMware vcenter VMware HA (High Availability) Appendix How to Change the vcenter Login Credentials How to Upgrade the Agent with System Upgrade System Upgrade with DNS and Internet Access System Upgrade with Internet Access and without DNS System Upgrade without Internet Access How to Create a Share and Work with Mounts with the VRA How to Create a Share and Add External Mounts to the VRA How to View Your Existing Mounts Mounts: Remove 1 by 1 or All: Mount Remove All How to Create and Send a Support Bundle How to Restore a VRA Contents Page 3 of 52

4 Revision: This manual has been updated for Version 6.91 (March 2012). Software Version: EVault Inc. EVault, A Seagate Company, makes no representations or warranties with respect to the contents hereof and specifically disclaims any implied warranties of merchantability or fitness for any particular purpose. Furthermore, EVault reserves the right to revise this publication and to make changes from time to time in the content hereof without obligation of EVault to notify any person of such revision of changes. All companies, names and data used in examples herein are fictitious unless otherwise noted. No part of this document may be reproduced, transmitted, transcribed, stored in a retrieval System or translated into any language including computer language, in any form or by any means electronic, mechanic, magnetic, optical, chemical or otherwise without prior written permission of: EVault, A Seagate Company c/o Corporation Trust Center 1209 Orange Street Wilmington, New Castle Delaware EVault, EVault Software, EVault SaaS, and EVault DeltaPro, are registered trademarks of EVault, A Seagate Company. All other products or company names mentioned in this document are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners. Acknowledgements: Two encryption methods, DES and TripleDES, include cryptographic software written by Eric Young. The Windows versions of these algorithms also include software written by Tim Hudson. Bruce Schneier designed Blowfish encryption. Part of the software embedded in this product is gsoap software. Portions created by gsoap are Copyright Robert A. van Engelen, Genivia Inc. All Rights Reserved. THE SOFTWARE IN THIS PRODUCT WAS IN PART PROVIDED BY GENIVIA INC., AND ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE ARE DISCLAIMED. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHOR BE LIABLE FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS OR SERVICES; LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION) HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT LIABILITY, OR TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY OUT OF THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGE. The EVault Software Agent, EVault Software CentralControl, and EVault Software Director applications provide encryption options for 128/256-bit AES (Advanced Encryption Standard). Advanced Encryption Standard algorithm (named Rijndael, pronounced Rain Doll ) was developed by cryptographers Dr. Joan Daemen and Dr. Vincent Rijmen. This algorithm has been chosen by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) of the U.S. Department of Commerce to be the Federal Information Processing Standard (FIPS). The EVault Software Agent and EVault Software Director applications include the security feature of over-thewire (OTW) encryption. Copyright Page 4 of 52

5 1 Agent for VMware 1.1 Overview The 6.91 Agent for VMware can back up virtual machines (VMs) and restore multiple virtual machines (VMs) and individual virtual disks (VMDKs) in VMware vsphere environments, including ESXi and ESX, without requiring the VMware ESX Console. By deploying the 6.91 Agent for VMware on its own VM, the Agent can back up and restore multiple VM s simultaneously. Also, an Agent is not required to be installed on every Virtual Machine you wish to back up (These features were not part of the previous VMware Plug-In). Control and configuration of your backups and restores is done through Windows CentralControl or Web CentralControl in much the same manner as the other Agents. The Agent for VMware allows you to back up your VMs and virtual disks to a secure, remote Vault. The Agent for VMware is pre-installed on a VM and is called a Virtual Recovery Appliance (VRA). The appliance ships in an Open Virtualization Appliance (OVA) file, which installs directly in a vsphere environment. The CLI (command line interface) is used to initially configure connectivity between the Agent, CentralControl, and the vcenter. Each VM in a vsphere environment represents a complete system, with processors, memory, networking, storage, and BIOS. So Windows, Linux, Solaris, and NetWare operating systems can run in those virtual environments. 1.2 Features Agent can be controlled and configured through Web CentralControl or Windows CentralControl. Agent performs backups using the vsphere APIs for Data Protection (VADP), ensuring correct backups regardless of the power state of the VM. Backups read only the disk areas that are being used by the operating system, and delta backups use Change Block Tracking (CBT) to reduce backup time and space required on the Vault. Agent backs up the VMs to a secure, remote Vault. Agent restores VMs to their original datastores, or consolidates them to an alternate datastore. Restored VMs are registered with the host on which they were running at the time of backup, or a selected alternate host. Upon restore of a VM or VMDK, the original disk provisioning is preserved from the time of backup. Disks that were thin-provisioned will remain thin-provisioned. When Agent for VMware updates are available, upgrades can be easily performed from the CLI when backups or restores are not in progress. Agent for VMware Page 5 of 52

6 2 Configuring the Agent The Agent for VMware is packaged as an Open Virtualization Formation (OVF) and compressed into an Open Virtualization Appliance (OVA) file. Virtualization Format (OVF) is a platform independent and open packaging format for deploying virtual machines. An open virtualization appliance (OVA) file is a single compressed file containing the contents of an OVF folder. It can easily be deployed in your vcenter using File/Deploy OVF template or using VMware ovftool. The name of the OVA file could be AgentForVMware.ova or something similar. Your service provider might have renamed this file or changed its version number. Note: For information about creating Agents for backup and recovery, creating backup Jobs, scheduling backups, and disaster recovery, refer to the operations guides and user guides. 2.1 Requirements Please consult the latest VMware Agent release notes for supported ESX / ESXi platform combination compatibility with VMware / vsphere vcenter server. The Agent for VMware appliance requires 26 GB of free space. 2.2 Obtaining the Product Download the installation package from your provider s website and place it in a local directory. The default package name is AgentForVMware-6-91-xxxx.ova. Next, deploy the OVF template contained within the OVA file. Configuring the Agent Page 6 of 52

7 2.3 Deploying the OVF Template via the OVA File. 1. To deploy the OVF template, log into your vsphere client. 2. From the File menu, select Deploy OVF Template. Note: The Deploy OVF Template selection is used with the OVA file. The OVF file contained within the OVA file will be automatically unpacked and deployed. Configuring the Agent Page 7 of 52

8 3. Enter the location of the OVA file, or browse to it. (This is the AgentForVMware xxxx.ova file from the installation package.) Click Next. 4. Review the template details. Click Next to continue. 5. Accept the End User License Agreement. Click Next to continue. Configuring the Agent Page 8 of 52

9 6. Specify a name and location for the deployed template. Click Next. 7. Select the host or cluster on which you wish to run the deployed template. Click Next. Configuring the Agent Page 9 of 52

10 8. Specify where you want to store the VM files. Click Next. 9. Select a format for storing the virtual disks. Click Next. Thick provisioned format is the default. This is the recommended deployment format. Note: The VRA OVA automatically deploys as thick provisioned in vcenter 4.0. Configuring the Agent Page 10 of 52

11 10. Select a network the deployed template should use. Click Next. 11. Review the Ready to Complete information. Click Finish. Configuring the Agent Page 11 of 52

12 Deployment will begin and its progress will be displayed. Configuring the Agent Page 12 of 52

13 12. When the deployment finishes, select the newly created appliance, and click the green arrow under the Home icon. Otherwise, you can right-click on the appliance name and select Power > Power On (or Ctrl + B). Open the console for the appliance and you will see the startup process of the VRA. 2.4 Setting Up the Appliance When the startup process finishes, you can begin to set up the Agent. Press 1 to launch the Command Line Interface (CLI). Note: You can press Enter to view or change your default network settings. Configuring the Agent Page 13 of 52

14 The Agent for VMware Service Console will open. Log in as sysadmin (password is sysadmin). The Agent for VMware Appliance Shell will open. Record the IP address of your appliance. You will need it later to register with CentralControl. Configuring the Agent Page 14 of 52

15 2.5 Configuring the Time Zone As part of the setup, you must configure the time zone. From within the Appliance Shell, using the CLI, you assign the correct time zone by running this command: config set timezone timezone For example, to choose US Eastern time, use this command: config set timezone US/Eastern The default time zone is US/Pacific. To show a list of time zone regions, use this command: config show timezones regions To show a list of available time zones within a region, use this command: config show timezones list nameofregion Note: Ensure that your date/time is set correctly. To adjust your date/time, you can use the command: Config set date MM/DD/YYYY HH:MM[:SS] 2.6 vcenter Registration To register your appliance with a vcenter, use the vcenter register command. Enter your information as you are prompted for your vcenter Address, Username and Password. You will require a vcenter account with Full Administrator privileges to back up and restore your VMs. Configuring the Agent Page 15 of 52

16 After registration, the IP address of the appliance appears is the IP address of the appliance in this example. Note: Record this address because you will need to supply it later for Windows CentralControl or Web CentralControl registration. The Network Address (located on the Agent Properties screen of CentralControl) must match the IP of the Virtual Recovery Appliance (VRA) Windows CentralControl Registration Open Windows and start to create a new Agent. Note: For details about configuring an Agent through CentralControl, refer to the CentralControl Operations Guide or CentralControl online help. Retrieve the IP address of the appliance. This is the address that appeared after vcenter registration (see the previous page). On the Agent Properties screen: 1. Enter the IP address of the appliance in the Network address field. 2. Provide the same vcenter credentials that you used to configure the appliance. 3. Check that the appliance has registered properly by clicking Get Status. Configuring the Agent Page 16 of 52

17 The Agent Status screen will open. Configuring the Agent Page 17 of 52

18 To access the vcenter Credentials and Change Block Tracking (CBT) settings, right-click on the newly created Agent, select Agent Configuration, and then click the vcenter tab. Enter the vcenter credentials here. You must check that you have the correct vcenter credentials by clicking Test. If you make changes to your vcenter credentials you must also make those changes within the Agent Configuration > vcenter Tab. Click Test to verify that any changed credentials are correct. Changed Block Tracking (CBT) is selected by default. Backups always use CBT for VMs that have it enabled. If you clear the Enable Change Block Tracking (CBT) for Virtual Machines during backup checkbox, this does not disable CBT for systems that already have it enabled. It will only stop the application from enabling CBT for future VMs. In other words, clearing this checkbox does not stop the Agent from using CBT for backups if the VM has it turned on. Note: For details about configuring an Agent through Windows or Web CentralControl, refer to the CentralControl Operations Guide or the Web CentralControl Help. Configuring the Agent Page 18 of 52

19 2.6.2 Web CentralControl Registration To control the VRA through Web CentralControl you will first need to register the VRA to Web CentralControl via the command line and then configure the VRA from within Web CentralControl. To register the VRA to Web CentralControl, use the webcc register command with the syntax: webcc register <WebCCAddress> <port> <login> <password> The webcc register command can also step you through the registration process if you prefer. Type in the webcc register command and hit enter. You will then be asked to answer the following questions. What is the Web-based Agent Console address? What is the Web-based Agent Console connection port? [8086] What is your Web-based Agent Console username? What is your Web-based Agent Console password? Note: When you are asked for the connection port, you may hit enter to accept the default port of When the registration is complete, Agent restarted successfully. will be displayed. You then need to enter the correct vcenter credentials in Web CentralControl. Configuring the Agent Page 19 of 52

20 To do this, open Web CentralControl and select the unconfigured VMware Agent. Hover over the Edit button (upper right) and select Agent Settings from the dropdown menu. Retrieve the IP address of the appliance. This is the address that appeared after vcenter registration. Enter the vcenter credentials here. You must check that you have the correct vcenter credentials by clicking Test. If you make changes to your vcenter credentials you must also make those changes within the Agent Settings > vcenter Tab. Click Test to verify that any changed credentials are correct. Configuring the Agent Page 20 of 52

21 Changed Block Tracking (CBT) is selected by default. Backups always use CBT for VMs that have it enabled. If you clear the Enable Change Block Tracking (CBT) for Virtual Machines during backup checkbox, this does not disable CBT for systems that already have it enabled. It will only stop the application from enabling CBT for future VMs. In other words, clearing this checkbox does not stop the Agent from using CBT for backups if the VM has it turned on. Note: For details about configuring an Agent through Windows or Web CentralControl, refer to the CentralControl Operations Guide or the Web CentralControl Help. Configuring the Agent Page 21 of 52

22 2.7 VMware User Privileges for Backup and Restore Full Administrator rights with root privileges are the minimum permissions required for the service account that will be configured for the Appliance to allow backup and restore of a virtual machine Create a Role with the Correct Privileges for the Backup User View => Administration => Roles If you wish to create a custom user role it can be cloned user role based on "Administrator". Select the administrator role and clone it. If you wish to back up VM s in a particular datacenter, the administrator role should be propagated from this level. To back up the entire vcenter, the administrator role should be propagated from the top level down How to Assign a Role to the User Pre-requisites: The role (EVault Backup Agent) should be created. If it does not exist, Browse to HOME>Administration>Roles. On this page, you are able to clone, add or edit an existing role. View => Inventory => Hosts and Clusters 1. In the tree panel, select the level at which you want the user permission to start. 2. Select the Permissions tab. 3. Right-click to add permissions. 4. Select the new role on the right. 5. Click Add. On the left, select the new user or existing user. 6. Click OK vcenter Credentials and CBT You can reach the vcenter tab by selecting a VMware vsphere Agent and clicking Tools > Agent configuration > vcenter. vcenter Credentials Provide the same credentials that you use for vcenter. You might require updated credentials if someone reconfigures the Agent appliance. Configuring the Agent Page 22 of 52

23 Changed Block Tracking Backups always use CBT for VMs that have it enabled. If you clear the Enable Changed Block Tracking (CBT) for Virtual Machines during backup checkbox, this does not disable CBT for systems that already have it enabled. It will only stop the application from enabling CBT for future VMs. In other words, clearing this checkbox does not stop the Agent from using CBT for backups if the VM has it turned on. Configuring the Agent Page 23 of 52

24 2.8 CLI Commands The following is a list of the commands available through the CLI (command line interface) agent agent start launches the EVault Agent processes agent stop stops running EVault Agent processes agent restart relaunches running EVault Agent processes agent status displays the run status of both the VVAgent and buagent processes as well as their PID (Process ID) also reports running backups or restores config config set date MM/DD/YYYY HH:MM[:SS] - manually sets the date and time for the appliance config set timezone <timezone> - sets the timezone of the appliance This is necessary for proper operation of the appliance config show timezones [help regions all] [list <region-name>] [search <pattern>] - lists available regions such as Canada, America and Europe - based on the region, you can list available timezones in that region (i.e. Eastern, Pacific, Toronto) mount mount add [//host/share [[domain/]username guest]] - mount a share from a Unix or Windows host used when backing up to disk mount remove [all] - removes a previously added mount by selection mount list - Displays a listing of the existing mounts net net hosts add <ipaddr> <host-list> - lets you map an IP address to a hostname net hosts del <ipaddr> - Delete the mapping of the IP address specified net hosts show Configuring the Agent Page 24 of 52

25 - Lists the IP/Hostname mappings currently configured net hosts reset - Clears the entire list of IP/hostname mappings net nslookup <hostname ipaddr> - performs a names server lookup to determine the IP address of a hostname net ping <host> - sends a ping to a specified hostname or IP net reset - resets all networking configuration to default values net set hostname <hostname> - sets the hostname for the Appliance net show config [all] - displays current networking configuration of the Appliance net show dhcp - displays current dhcp portion of the networking configuration of the appliance net show hostname - displays the hostname of the appliance net show routes - displays the routing table of the appliance net show status - displays the current connections as well as open and listening ports on the appliance ntp ntp add <server> - adds a server address to the list of Network Time Protocol (ntp) servers configured for the appliance ntp del <server> - removes a server address from the ntp list ntp show - displays a list of ntp servers currently configured ntp sync - manually synchronizes the date/time between the configured ntp servers and the Appliance ntp reset - resets the list of ntp servers to the default (pool.ntp.org) ssh ssh enable - enables ssh for the appliance which is necessary for the SCP portion of the support command ssh disable -Disables the SSHD daemon for incoming connections to the appliance. You will not be able to use SSH (like putty) to connect to the appliance. Does not disable outgoing SSH connections from the VRA. You can still use support logs with scp. Configuring the Agent Page 25 of 52

26 ssh status - displays the run status of the ssh service support support logs scp [[user@]host[:path]] copy [//hostname/share/path[[domain/]username guest]] See section 6.2 for details on How to Create and Send a Support Bundle system system reboot [force] - reboots the appliance if there are no backups or restores running use the [force] option if you wish to reboot the appliance regardless of backups and restores running. It is NOT recommended to force reboot the VRA. system show date - shows the current date/time of the appliance system password - change the password for the <sysadmin> user of the appliance system show uptime - displays total uptime of the appliance system shutdown [force] - shuts down the appliance if there are no backups or restores running use the [force] option if you wish to shut down the appliance regardless of backups and restores running. It is NOT recommended to force shutdown the VRA. system upgrade - checks for available appliance updates and performs the update if available vcenter vcenter register [<vcenter> [<backup username>]] - registers the appliance to your vsphere s vcenter server this is required before EVault backups can be performed vcenter change login [<backup username>] - enables changing the user and password associated to the vcenter registration vcenter show - show which vcenter the appliance is registered to if any vcenter force-unregister - unregisters the appliance from your vsphere s vcenter server webcc webcc register <WebCCAddress> <port> <login> <password> - registers the appliance to your Web CentralControl server. Webcc register cannot be run when backups and restores are in progress. vcenter register must be run first, before webcc register. Configuring the Agent Page 26 of 52

27 3 Backing Up This chapter describes how to create and run an ordinary backup. Note: The steps outlined here for Windows CentralControl are fundamentally the same as when using Web CentralControl. See the Web CentralControl Help for details. 3.1 Creating a Backup Job To create a backup Job, you must have an Agent already installed and configured. 1. In Windows CentralControl, select an Agent, and choose File > New Job. The New Job Wizard opens. Click Next to continue. Backing Up Page 27 of 52

28 2. The Backup source type is always VMware vsphere. This is the only available selection because the Agent for VMware only supports backup and recovery of virtual machines. 3. Select a Vault from the Destination menu, or click New to create a new destination. Note: To add a New Vault, please refer to the Windows CentralControl Operations Guide, Windows CentralControl Help or Web CentralControl Help. Backing Up Page 28 of 52

29 4. Enter a name for your Job. 5. Click Add to include VMs in your backup. The Include/Exclude screen will open, allowing you to choose which VMs to back up. You must select at least one VM. Backing Up Page 29 of 52

30 6. Open the Virtual Machines directory. All VMs that are available to the Agent will display. 7. Select a VM from the list, and click Include. The name of the VM that you select will appear in the Virtual Machine pane. You can include more than one VM in your backup. If you simply use Virtual Machines (i.e., the directory name) as your Include selection, a confirmation screen appears: This screen allows you to provide wildcards for the names of VMs to include: * (asterisk) - signifies a wildcard string up to the next separator character? (question mark) - signifies a single wildcard character Separate your wildcard selections with commas. The wildcards resolve at backup time to determine exactly which VMs to include. Backing Up Page 30 of 52

31 Finish making your Include / Exclude selections, and click OK. The names of the VMs that you have chosen will appear in the Virtual Machine pane of the Source screen. Any wildcards that you have specified will not appear in the pane. Click Next to continue. 8. Specify Backup time options (e.g., Disable deferring) if you wish. Backing Up Page 31 of 52

32 9. You can encrypt your backup data if you wish. 10. If you choose Create log file, select the Log detail level that you want. You can also specify the number of logs to keep. Backing Up Page 32 of 52

33 11. When you finish, you can exit from the wizard, schedule the Job, or run the Job immediately. If you choose Just exit from this wizard, remember to click Finish to save your Job. Note: The user should avoid running concurrent backups of the same VM or Job from the same VRA or another VRA. This can cause negative results in CBT and delta backups to be out of synch. Note: Renaming a datastore folder will cause backups to fail. VMware cannot interact with the VM. This will render the VM in a non-functional state (will not boot, VMware cannot find the file). Backing Up Page 33 of 52

34 3.2 Running a Backup Job To run a backup Job on demand: 1. Select a Job. 2. Click the Backup icon. The Backup Wizard will open. 3. Complete the Backup Wizard. Backing Up Page 34 of 52

35 3.3 Scheduling a Backup Job To schedule a backup Job, you must schedule a Backup command. The Backup command can run the Job according to a schedule. 1. Select an Agent. 2. Select Tools > Schedule Entries. The Schedule List screen will open. 3. Click New. The Schedule Wizard will open. 4. Complete the Schedule Wizard.. Backing Up Page 35 of 52

36 4 Restoring To restore from a backup in Windows CentralControl: Note: The steps outlined here for Windows CentralControl are fundamentally the same as when using Web CentralControl. See the Web CentralControl Help for details. 1. Select an Agent. 2. Select a Job. 3. Click the Restore icon, click Ctrl R, or right click then select Restore. Note: The Restore process requires 10-15% more space as compared to the initial size of the VM being restored. Restoring Page 36 of 52

37 The Restore from a backup workflow will open. 4. Select Virtual Machines or Virtual Disks. Note: If you choose to restore virtual disks (VMDKs) the restore procedure is almost the same as outlined in the steps that follow. 5. Select a source (usually a Vault) from which to restore data. 6. Select an item (i.e., a recovery point) from the Safeset menu. 7. Click Next. Restoring Page 37 of 52

38 The Select Virtual Machines to restore screen will open. 8. Use the checkboxes to select the VMs that you want to restore. Click Include. Note: If you choose to restore virtual disks (VMDKs), the VMs displayed can be expanded to show the VMDKs available for selection for restore. See the Select Virtual Disks to restore screen below for an example of VMDK selection. 9. The VM names that you choose will appear in the right-hand pane. Click Next. The next screen is the Select the datastore where you want to restore the Virtual Machine. Restoring Page 38 of 52

39 10. Select a datastore from the menu. 11. Choose one of the options under the menu. These options define the conditions for restoring VMs to the selected datastore. First option: Restore all of the selected Virtual Machines to the selected datastore only. Second option: Restore to the selected datastore only when a Virtual Machine s original datastore is not available. If a VM spans more than one datastore, and one or more of those datastores has become unavailable, the entire VM will be restored to the datastore selected from the menu. Note: If you restore a VM or TEMPLATE to a vcenter and the original VM is present, it does not matter if your VM is restored to original host/datastore, it will always restore as a COPY. The VM will be restored as a copy of the original and named {VMNAME}-vrarestored-{DATE}. The VM will be restored as a copy regardless if the original VM is powered On, or Off, or Suspended. If your original host is powered on and using a static IP Address, you may encounter an IP Address conflict when the newly restored (copied) VM is powered on. Restoring Page 39 of 52

40 If you have chosen to restore virtual disks (VMDKs) rather than VMs, a slightly different restore destination screen will appear. See the Select where to restore the Virtual Disks screen example below. When restoring a VMDK you can select the folder location for restore or create a new folder. Note: When restoring to a new folder, a data store must be selected before Use New Folder becomes available. Then you can enter a folder name in the Use New Folder section. 12. Click Next to continue. The next screen will allow you to choose Where to register your Virtual Machines as well as Registration Options. Based on the datastore you select, you will only see a list of hosts that this datastore is accessible on. Note: Restore of a VMDK does not use where to register virtual machines, therefore these screens do not apply to VMDK restores. 13. Select a host where you want to register your VMs from the dropdown menu. 14. Choose one of the registration options under the menu. These options define the conditions for registering your VMs with the selected host. First option: Register all selected Virtual Machines with the selected host only. Second option: Register with the selected host only when a Virtual Machine s original host is not available. Restoring Page 40 of 52

41 Also, if you wish, enable the Power VMs on after restoring option. Note: When restoring a VM (that was either moved or copied) while using the option to "Power VMs on", the VM will be registered but may not power on until a question proposed by the vcenter of whether the VM was "moved" or "copied" is answered. Answer the question and the VM will continue the power on cycle and complete the restore. 15. Click Next to continue. 16. Choose Log file detail level and Performance options. Restoring Page 41 of 52

42 17. Click Next to continue. 18. A summary screen will appear for your review. If you are satisfied with your settings, click Run Restore. Restoring Page 42 of 52

43 5 Best Practices 5.1 vcenter Login Credentials The user account for registering to the vcenter from the VRA and the account used for connecting to the VRA from Windows or Web CentralControl > Properties, should be the same backup user (with Full Administrator rights for performing backup and restore operations). If you change to a different user in the VRA using "vcenter change login", you should change the account in Windows or Web CentralControl Properties. In CentralControl, on the Agent Configuration > vcenter tab, provide the same credentials that you used for vcenter. 5.2 Domain Name, Username and Password Limitations Domain name: The Domain field value accepts alphanumeric characters and dash -. The value should start with a letter. The maximum length is 15 characters. There are two places where the domain field might be set: Agent Properties window, Domain field Agent Configuration window: VCENTER tab: Username field using mask shown in the example presented below the Username field. Username: Username field accepts alphanumeric characters and the following characters:!#$%-'(). The maximum length is 20 characters. The Agent Properties window and Agent Configuration window are two places where the username field is used. Password: Accepts alphanumeric characters and!"#$%&'()*+,-./~`[]?\^<>= The maximum length is 31 characters in the Agent Properties window. The Agent Properties window and Agent Configuration window are located in two places where the username field is a user with different limitations: Best Practices Page 43 of 52

44 The Agent Properties window and Agent Configuration window accept up to 31 characters. 5.3 Organization and Naming Conventions Use meaningful names when deploying VMs to help you distinguish them from other appliances. Since you can have more than one VRA in the same vcenter, name your VRAs carefully. Names such as VRA-Win and VRA-Unix might be helpful. On the Agent Properties screen of CentralControl, it might be useful for you to make the Description field match the name of the VRA. Note: The following characters cannot be used and are not supported for VM names: # { } " / 5.4 Performance - Settings and Hardware The OVA is deployed with 2GB of ram and 2 virtual CPU s. You can increase the ram limit to any higher values supported by your system. Changing the ram setting will require you to power off the VM. When you deploy OVF files through vsphere, the appliance will perform better if you choose Thick provisioned format. This is the default behavior. Eager Zeroed recommended. Environmental burden and vcenter load affects backup windows and performance. For example, running a large migration of VMs during an evening may cause backup Jobs to exceed normal backup time windows due to vcenter load and disk I/O. Do not exceed 250 VMs per VRA per vcenter. We recommend 1 VRA per vcenter. To distribute the workload, you can have up to 4 VRAs in a single vcenter. Avoid removing the original network adapter from the deployed VRA. If it is removed or replaced, network services may need to be reset from the VRA console. Note: VMware Fault Tolerance (FT) through FDM (Fault Domain Manager) is not supported. 5.5 Change Block Tracking (CBT) For CBT to occur, the VM and vcenter must be CBT-capable, and you must enable CBT through CentralControl. Enable CBT through the Agent Configuration > vcenter tab. Best Practices Page 44 of 52

45 The appliance enables CBT for CBT-capable VMs. This results in an attempt to change ctkenabled, which is an Advanced Property of the VM: If ctkenabled is false or not set (null), the attempted change is to make it true. If ctkenabled is already true, there is no change, and CBT continues to be enabled. The benefits of Changed Block Tracking will not be realized in the following situations: The hardware of the virtual machine is lower than version 7. With any disks that use Virtual Raw Device Mapping. If a VM is in SUSPENDED state and has not been previously backed up with CBT, then CBT will not be set on the VM because the Advanced Properties of the VM cannot be accessed in this state. As a result, this VM will not take advantage of CBT until the VM is powered on and a backup is performed. Note: If you add a VM that has CBT enabled to an existing Job, you will not see any messages regarding CBT until the subsequent backup. This is expected behavior as the VM must be read in full before CBT can be applied. 5.6 Limitations: VMs, VMDKs, Snapshots, and Templates Snapshot Name Limit VMware imposes an 81 character maximum to overall snapshot names. For pan_create_snapshot() in libpan, the suffix length max is 20 characters VM Name Limit Up to the VMware maximum of 80 characters, including exporting the VM folder in /export. The characters # { } " / cannot be used in VM names. There will be errors reading the OS Filesystem and a snapshot cannot be created VMDK Name Limit Up to the VMware maximum of 27 characters, which includes 17 characters for the base name plus suffix (e.g., suffix of "-flat.vmdk") Concurrent Backup Session Limit VMware has maximum session limitations. Our recommendation is not to exceed 10 concurrent backups or restores VM Size Limit There is no size limit imposed. Best Practices Page 45 of 52

46 5.6.6 Maximum Job Size Limit Currently tested up to 1 TB VMDK Size Limit Currently tested up to 1 TB Virtual Machine Templates Virtual machine templates which were backed up in a Folder (container created by VMware) are restored outside the Folder Raw Disk Mapping (RDM) - Virtual and Physical Backups and restores of physical RDMs are not supported. Backups and restores of virtual RDMs are supported. If you created a backup of a VM with a Virtual Raw Disk Mapping on a different datastore (rather than with the VMDK), upon restore of your VM that contains a virtual RDM disk, the restore will attempt to restore the virtual RDM to the datastore used for the mapping. The total size of the virtual RDM disk is usually larger than the datastore used for storing the mapping. As a result, you may see a warning in the log that indicates that the space maybe insufficient. Since a virtual RDM is restored as a VMDK, please ensure that the datastore used for storing the mapping has sufficient space to store the VMDK. Virtual RDM disks will be restored as VMDKs on an accessible datastore Using Microsoft s SQL Server with VMware vcenter When using Microsoft SQL server with the VMware vcenter, VMware has a best practice for installation and sizing. It is recommended that you follow VMware best practice guidelines. They can be accessed at VMware s Knowledge Base VMware HA (High Availability) The VMware HA (High Availability) feature, "VM Monitoring", is not supported. Best Practices Page 46 of 52

47 6 Appendix 6.1 How to Change the vcenter Login Credentials If you wish, you can change the vcenter login credentials through the vcenter change login command. For example, type: vcenter change login NewUser This command changes the existing login name to: NewUser The change occurs after the password for NewUser has been authenticated. Appendix Page 47 of 52

48 6.2 How to Upgrade the Agent with System Upgrade System Upgrade with DNS and Internet Access The CLI command system upgrade is used to upgrade the Agent/appliance. System upgrade will check for available Agent/appliance updates and perform the updates if available. Before performing system updates/upgrade, ensure that you have no backups or restores running. If you have backups or restores running, you will get the following message: 26l2233a5-07> system upgrade A backup or restore operation is currently running. Please quit them before system upgrade. If there are no updates, or you are already have the latest version, running system restore will indicate that there are no updates: Please reboot the VRA if upgrade is successful. agent 951 B 00:00 Setting up Update Process No Packages marked for Update If there are updates available, you will see the updated RPMs on the server. You have the option to select Y or N. If you select Y, then the upgrade will commence. Note: Do not disrupt or power off the appliance during the upgrade process. After the process is complete, the customer must run system reboot to complete the process. During the update, the process progress will be displayed similar to below: 26l2233a5-07> system upgrade Please reboot the VRA if upgrade is successful. agent 951 B 00:00 agent/primary 3.1 kb 00:00 agent 14/14 Setting up Update Process Resolving Dependencies --> Running transaction check ---> Package EVLT-vmware-appliance-agent.i386 0: set to be updated ---> Package agent-combined.noarch 0: set to be updated ---> Package vmware-appliance.i386 0: set to be updated ---> Package vmware-appliance-buagent.i386 0: set to be updated ---> Package vmware-appliance-languages.i386 0: set to be updated Appendix Page 48 of 52

49 ---> Package vmware-appliance-thirdparty.i386 0: set to be updated ---> Package vmware-appliance-vsphere-plugin.i386 0: set to be updated ---> Package vmware-appliance-vv.i386 0: set to be updated ---> Package vmware-appliance-vvagent.i386 0: set to be updated ---> Package vmware-recovery-appliance.i386 0: set to be updated --> Finished Dependency Resolution Dependencies Resolved =================================================================================== Package Arch Version Repository Size =================================================================================== Updating: EVLT-vmware-appliance-agent i agent 6.5 k agent-combined noarch agent 16 M vmware-appliance i agent 10 M vmware-appliance-buagent i agent 3.8 M vmware-appliance-languages i agent 79 k vmware-appliance-thirdparty i agent 2.9 M vmware-appliance-vsphere-plugin i agent 11 M vmware-appliance-vv i agent 2.4 M vmware-appliance-vvagent i agent 2.4 M vmware-recovery-appliance i agent 1.6 k Transaction Summary =================================================================================== Install 0 Package(s) Update 10 Package(s) Remove 0 Package(s) Total download size: 49 M Is this ok [y/n]: System Upgrade with Internet Access and without DNS If you do not have name resolution configured, you will need to manually add a static entry in the hosts table. You can do this by using the following command: net hosts add vraupdate.evault.com This host entry will allow you to use the system update command System Upgrade without Internet Access Please contact support for upgrade assistance. Appendix Page 49 of 52

50 6.3 How to Create a Share and Work with Mounts with the VRA (Supports the CIFS protocol - a.k.a. Microsoft Sharing) How to Create a Share and Add External Mounts to the VRA 1. Create a Windows share. The share must have write access for the user that you will establish the connect with (or Allow Full Control for Everyone). 2. If you do not have name resolution, use the IP of your Windows machine and run the following command: mount add //<hostname>/megatest SSV/<username> Password: {enter password} How to View Your Existing Mounts vra-9f0023> mount list Mounted shares: //<hostname>/megatest Name: <hostname>-megatest User: <username> //<hostname>/disk1 Name: <hostname>-disk1 User: <username> Mounts: Remove 1 by 1 or All: vra-9f0023> mount remove 1. <hostname>-megatest (//<hostname>/megatest) 2. <hostname>-disk1 (//<hostname>/disk1) Specify mount number (1-2), "all", or "list". Press ENTER to cancel. Remove which mount? Appendix Page 50 of 52

51 6.3.4 Mount Remove All vra-9f0023> mount remove all... Successfully removed mounted share "//<hostname>/megatest".... Successfully removed mounted share "//<hostname>/disk1". 6.4 How to Create and Send a Support Bundle If you should require assistance from support, they may ask you to create and send them a support bundle. This will assist them in diagnosing the situation. To create a support bundle: 1. The syntax is: support logs scp [[user@]host[:path]] 2. Ensure there is a Windows share accessible with the appropriate permissions set for the user intended (example: /home/evault/support_bundle). 3. Also ensure you can access the destination from the VRA. This can be checked by pinging the IP address or hostname you wish to reach by typing net ping <IP or hostname>. 4. At the command line type: support logs scp evault@ :/home/evault/support_bundle 5. You will see Collecting Support logs. This may take a while 6. At the end of this, you will be asked for your user s password to complete the request. 7. Also, you will be asked if you want to save the RSA key for future sessions. 8. Once completed successfully, you will find a file similar to the following: supportbundle tar.bz2 (the numbers are datestamp and timestamp). Appendix Page 51 of 52

52 6.5 How to Restore a VRA If you need to recover your VRA, follow the procedure outlined below. 1. Ensure the previous VRA is cleaned up (removed) if necessary. 2. Deploy a new VRA of the same version. 3. Configure the new VRA and register to vcenter. 4. Connect with Windows or Web CentralControl and add the vcenter credentials. 5. Perform a re-register from the Vault. 6. Perform a synchronize for delta recreation of the Job(s). 7. Backups can proceed. Note: CBT will be re-read on the first backup Job on your recovered VRA. If CBT was enabled on your previous virtual machine(s), after restoring your VRA the first delta backup of an existing Job will perform a full-read. CBT will be used on the third delta backup. Appendix Page 52 of 52