StarWind VTL Storage Gateway for Azure and Veeam Installation and Configuration Guide

Transcription

1 One Stop Virtualization Shop StarWind VTL OCTOBER 2018 TECHNICAL PAPER

2 Trademarks StarWind, Starind Software and the StarWind and the StarWind Software logos are registered trademarks of StarWind Software. StarWind LSFS is a trademark of StarWind Software which may be registered in some jurisdictions. All other trademarks are owned by their respective owners. Changes The material in this document is for information only and is subject to change without notice. While reasonable efforts have been made in the preparation of this document to assure its accuracy, StarWind Software assumes no liability resulting from errors or omissions in this document, or from the use of the information contained herein. StarWind Software reserves the right to make changes in the product design without reservation and without notification to its users. Technical Support and Services If you have questions about installing or using this software, check this and other documents first - you will find answers to most of your questions on the Technical Papers webpage or in StarWind Forum. If you need further assistance, please contact us. Copyright StarWind Software Inc. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior written consent of StarWind Software. About StarWind StarWind is a pioneer in virtualization and a company that participated in the development of this technology from its earliest days. Now the company is among the leading vendors of software and hardware hyper-converged solutions. The company s core product is the years-proven StarWind Virtual SAN, which allows SMB and ROBO to benefit from cost-efficient hyperconverged IT infrastructure. Having earned a reputation of reliability, StarWind created a hardware product line and is actively tapping into hyperconverged and storage appliances market. In 2016, Gartner named StarWind Cool Vendor for Compute Platforms following the success and popularity of StarWind HyperConverged Appliance. StarWind partners with world-known companies: Microsoft, VMware, Veeam, Intel, Dell, Mellanox, Citrix, Western Digital, etc. TECHNICAL PAPER 2

3 Contents Contents... 3 Introduction... 4 Pre-Configuration... 5 Downloading, Installing, and Registering the Software... 6 Configuring Virtual Tape Library Getting Cloud Account Credentials in Microsoft Azure cloud storage Configuring Replication Mounting VTL on the backup host Installing tape library drivers Adding StarWind VTL device to Veeam B&R Tape Infrastructure Configuring File to Tape job with automatic offload to Azure cloud storage Restoring tapes from Azure cloud storage Disaster recovery of tapes from Azure cloud storage Conclusion Contacts TECHNICAL PAPER 3

4 Introduction This technical paper provides the information on how to deploy StarWind Storage Gateway configure its integration with Microsoft Azure Blob storage and enable Veeam Backup & Replication archiving backups/files there. StarWind Storage Gateway uses a Virtual Tape Library interface to connect to the existing IT infrastructure. The client OS recognizes the gateway as an industry-standard LTO Tape Library. Virtual Tape is replicated and stored as an image file in Azure cloud storage. This way any backup, media asset management, or workflow application can work with a cloud storage, omitting the technical limitations of the cloud storage. This guide is intended for experienced StarWind users, Windows system administrators and IT professionals who would like to configure StarWind Storage Gateway and integrate it with Microsoft Azure Storage. A full set of up-to-date technical documentation can always be found here, or by pressing the Help button in the StarWind Management Console. For any technical inquiries please visit our online community, Frequently Asked Questions page, or use the support form to contact our technical support department. TECHNICAL PAPER 4

5 Pre-Configuration It is recommended to deploy the main components (StarWind VTL and Veeam Backup & Replication Server) according to your specific infrastructure requirements. This guidance describes the configuration process using the simplest setup as an example. All the components are deployed on the single standalone server. TECHNICAL PAPER 5

6 Downloading, Installing, and Registering the Software 1. Launch the downloaded setup file on the server where StarWind VTL has to be installed. The Setup wizard will appear. 2. Read and accept the License Agreement. Click Next to continue. TECHNICAL PAPER 6

7 3. Read carefully the information about new features and improvements. Note that the text in red indicates warnings for users who are updating existing software installations. Click Next to continue. 4. Click Browse to modify the installation path if necessary. Click Next to continue. TECHNICAL PAPER 7

8 5. To install StarWind VTL service along with StarWind Virtual SAN service, enable the checkboxes as in the image below. Click Next to continue. 6. Specify the Start Menu folder. Click Next to continue. TECHNICAL PAPER 8

9 7. Enable the following checkbox to create a desktop icon. Click Next to continue. 8. The wizard will prompt a time-limited fully functional evaluation key or a FREE version key. You can also apply a commercial license key sent to you with the purchase of StarWind Virtual SAN. Select the appropriate option. Click Next to continue. TECHNICAL PAPER 9

10 9. Review the licensing information and click Next to apply the license key. 10. Verify the installation settings. Click Back to make any changes. Click Install to continue. TECHNICAL PAPER 10

11 11. Enable the appropriate checkbox to launch the StarWind Management Console right after the setup wizard is closed. Click Finish to close the wizard. TECHNICAL PAPER 11

12 Configuring Virtual Tape Library 12. Launch the StarWind Management Console by double-clicking the StarWind tray icon. NOTE: If the StarWind service and Management Console are installed on the same server, the Management Console will automatically add the local StarWind instance to the Console tree after the first launch. Then, Management Console automatically connects to it using the default credentials. To add remote StarWind servers to the Console, use the Add Server button on the control panel. 13. StarWind Management Console will ask to specify the default storage pool on the server you are connecting to for the first time. Please, configure the default storage pool to use one of the volumes you have prepared as StarWind storage earlier. All the devices created through the Add Device wizard will be stored on that storage pool by default. If an alternative storage path is used for StarWind virtual disks, please use the Add Device (advanced) menu item. 14. Press the Yes button to configure the storage pool. Should you require to change the storage pool destination, press Choose path and point the browser to the necessary disk. 15. Select the StarWind server where the device needs to be created. TECHNICAL PAPER 12

13 16. Press the Add VTL Device button on the toolbar. 17. Specify the Virtual Tape Library location in the appeared window and click Next. TECHNICAL PAPER 13

14 18. Select the Device Model from a drop-down list. You can also fill all slots in the newly created Tape Library with empty tapes. Click Next to continue. 19. Provide Target Alias or choose the default one. Click Next. TECHNICAL PAPER 14

15 20. Press the Create button to start the creation process. 21. Once the device creation is completed, click Close. TECHNICAL PAPER 15

16 22. Once the VTL device is created, the tapes can be added. To do this, select the VTL device and click the Create Tape button located in the Tapes section. 23. The Create Tape wizard will appear. Optionally, specify the custom path where the tape files must be stored. Click Next to continue. TECHNICAL PAPER 16

17 24. Specify the Number of Tapes, Tape Type, and other parameters and click the Create button. TECHNICAL PAPER 17

18 25. The created tape appears in the first slot of the VTL device in the StarWind Management Console. NOTE: Other tapes can be created and added if required. TECHNICAL PAPER 18

19 Getting Cloud Account Credentials in Microsoft Azure cloud storage 26. From a browser, navigate to the Azure portal and sign in with your Azure account. 27. Create a Resource group in the Azure portal. It s a container that collects related resources for an Azure solution, or those resources that ought to be managed as a group. Make sure you have selected the location with minimal network latency. 28. In the portal, click New. In the Search the marketplace field, type Resource group. Locate Resource group from the returned list and click it to open the Resource group blade. Near the bottom of the Resource group blade, click Create. TECHNICAL PAPER 19

20 29. Navigate to Resource group and select it. In the top menu, select Add. In the Search the marketplace field, type Virtual Network. Locate Virtual Network from the returned list and click it to open the Virtual Network blade. Use Resource Manager as a deployment model. 30. In the Search the marketplace field, type Storage account. Locate Storage account - blob, file, table, queue from the returned list and click it to open the Storage account blade. 31. Select the account type as StorageV2 (general purpose v2). 32. Specify the performance tier: Standard or Premium. Select Replication plan. TECHNICAL PAPER 20

21 33. Specify default Access tier: Hot or Cool. Click here for more details. TECHNICAL PAPER 21

22 34. Open a storage account. Navigate to Blobs. 35. Create a Blob TECHNICAL PAPER 22

23 36. Go back to the storage account. Open Access Keys. 37. Click copy key1 or key2 to get an access. NOTE: When you regenerate a new access key, the old one will no longer work. TECHNICAL PAPER 23

24 Configuring Replication 38. To enable the replication between StarWind and Microsoft Azure cloud storage, navigate to the VTL device and click Cloud Replication. TECHNICAL PAPER 24

25 39. Choose Microsoft Azure cloud storage and click Next. 40. In the Replication Settings, specify Storage Account Name, Account Key, Container Name obtained and configured previously and press the Next button. TECHNICAL PAPER 25

26 41. Specify Tape File Retention Settings and click Apply. You can also select Create new empty tapes automatically when the existing tape is exported for replication. The automatic tape replication to Microsoft Azure cloud storage is successfully configured according to the retention policy specified above. IMPORTANT: You should configure the Retention Settings according to your corporate RTO and RPO requirements. TECHNICAL PAPER 26

27 Mounting VTL on the backup host To pass-through the VTL device to the Veeam Backup and Replication Server, the corresponding VTL iscsi target should be mounted first. Since all components (Veeam B&R Server and StarWind VTL) are deployed and configured within a single standalone server, the tape library iscsi target, in this example, will be mounted locally as well. 42. Open Microsoft iscsi Initiator, navigate to the Discovery tab, and press the Discover Portal button. TECHNICAL PAPER 27

28 43. Enter the localhost address ( ) and press the Advanced button. 44. Select Microsoft iscsi Initiator from the Local Adapter drop-down list and press OK. 45. You should notice the newly added Discovery Portal in the list. 46. Navigate to the Targets tab, find the iscsi target which corresponds to the StarWind VTL device, and press the Connect button. TECHNICAL PAPER 28

29 47. Skip the Enable Multipath option and press the Advanced button. 48. Set Local adapter as Microsoft iscsi Initiator, specify / 3260 as Target portal IP and double-click the OK button to complete the target connection. You should notice that the VTL iscsi target is shown as Connected in the list. TECHNICAL PAPER 29

30 Installing tape library drivers It s recommended to install the latest update driver from HP. The driver for HP MSL8096 can be downloaded here: HPE StoreEver Tape Drivers for Microsoft Windows. The current version that supports Windows Server 2016 is HP drivers must be installed on the host (localhost in this example) where StarWind VTL device is mounted via iscsi. 49. Extract the downloaded driver and launch cpqsetup.exe. 50. Select All and click Install. TECHNICAL PAPER 30

31 51. Once the drivers are installed, the Medium Changer devices is shown as Hewlett Packard MSL G3 Series library (x64 based). The tape library is ready to be added to Veeam B&R. TECHNICAL PAPER 31

32 Adding StarWind VTL device to Veeam B&R Tape Infrastructure NOTE: Please refer to the following guide if having any question about Veeam Backup & Replication deployment: Open the Veeam Backup & Replication console. Open the Tape Infrastructure tab. TECHNICAL PAPER 32

33 53. Open the Add Tape Server wizard. Choose the local server and press Next. 54. Complete the wizard and press the Finish button. TECHNICAL PAPER 33

34 55. After Tape Inventory job is finished, the newly added tape library device will appear. TECHNICAL PAPER 34

35 Configuring File to Tape job with automatic offload to Azure cloud storage NOTE: You can also configure Backups to Tape Job. More details for configuration of a such job here: Navigate to the Home tab, press the Backup Files button, specify the job name and description in the appeared window, and press Next. TECHNICAL PAPER 35

36 57. Choose files to be backed up and press Next. 58. Press Add New to add the new Media Pool. TECHNICAL PAPER 36

37 59. The New Media Pool wizard will appear. Specify the name and description of the new Media Pool and click Next. 60. Add existing tape(s) to the Media Pool, click OK and Next to select the tapes. Press Next. TECHNICAL PAPER 37

38 61. Specify the Media Set name, configure additional settings if necessary, and click Next. 62. Specify the preferred retention settings if necessary and press Next. TECHNICAL PAPER 38

39 63. Specify the additional options if necessary and click the Create button. 64. Review the Summary and press Finish. TECHNICAL PAPER 39

40 65. Move back to the New File to Tape Job wizard and press Next to continue. 66. Configure the Incremental Backup schedule if necessary. Choose the same Media Pool or add the new Media Pool for the incremental backups. Press Next to proceed. TECHNICAL PAPER 40

41 67. Specify the additional settings and check the Export current media set upon job completion box to allow the automatic tape offload to Azure cloud storage after backup job is completed. It is also recommended to eject media upon job completion. Click Save to proceed. 68. Enable the Run the job when I click Finish option if the backup job needs to be run right away. TECHNICAL PAPER 41

42 69. Use the Running jobs navigator to see the Job progress. 70. After the job is finished, the tape is automatically ejected, exported, and marked as Offline according to job settings configured above. TECHNICAL PAPER 42

43 71. Since the tape was automatically exported upon job completion and StarWind VTL Replication policy was set to Replicate Immediately, the replication process to Azure cloud storage has started automatically. The progress can be checked in StarWind Management Console using the Offline Shelf overview. NOTE: The tape can be kept in its tape library slot upon backup job completion and offloaded to Azure cloud storage later. In order to achieve this, use the disable Export current media set upon job completion and Eject media upon job completion options in File to Tape Job settings using the Veeam B&R console. After the backup job is finished, in the Veeam B&R console, navigate to Tape Infrastructure >Libraries -> Media >Online choose the tape to upload, right-click it, and press Export. The tape will be automatically offloaded to Azure cloud storage according to the specified Retention Settings of StarWind VTL. TECHNICAL PAPER 43

44 72. When the tape is successfully uploaded to the cloud, the tape location status in Offline Shelf overview will be changed to Cloud = Yes. 73. The tape is now located in Azure cloud storage according to StarWind VTL retention settings. 74. If the local copy of the tape is not removed after replication, but already moved to Offline Shelf, it can be inserted back into the library by clicking on the Insert button. TECHNICAL PAPER 44

45 Restoring tapes from Azure cloud storage After the time specified in StarWind VTL retention settings, the local copy of the tape will be deleted, but the tape can be restored from the Cloud. In this case, information about the tape is located in the local database. 75. To restore the tape from the Cloud, open StarWind Management Console and choose the VTL device. 76. Click on the Restore from Cloud option. The corresponding wizard will appear. TECHNICAL PAPER 45

46 77. Identify the tape using its barcode. Click on the tape and press Restore. 78. The download progress can be checked in the Offline Shelf overview. When the download is completed, the tape location status in Offline Shelf overview will be changed to Local = Yes / Cloud = Yes. TECHNICAL PAPER 46

47 Disaster recovery of tapes from Azure cloud storage For the cases when the VTL server failed due to a disaster and there is no local database, the tapes can be easily recovered from the Cloud. To complete this operation, use any existing StarWind server with appropriate license installed or, alternatively, the new instance of StarWind VSAN can be installed as it is specified in the Downloading, Installing, and Registering the Software section. 79. Open StarWind Management Console and select the StarWind server where the device needs to be created. 80. Press the Add VTL Device button on the toolbar. Complete the StarWind VTL device creation according to the instructions in the Configuring Virtual Tape Library section and add it to Veeam B&R Tape Infrastructure following the steps specified above in this document. TECHNICAL PAPER 47

48 81. Once the device is created, click on the Cloud Replication button and configure the replication to the Cloud as it is specified in the Configuring Replication section. TECHNICAL PAPER 48

49 82. To restore tapes from the Cloud, click on the Restore from Cloud button. 83. In the appeared window, select the Browse Cloud for Tapes option and the tape which should be restored from the Cloud and click the Restore button. TECHNICAL PAPER 49

50 84. The selected tape will appear in Offline Shelf where download progress can be checked. TECHNICAL PAPER 50

51 85. When the download is completed, the tape location status in Offline Shelf overview will be changed to Local = Yes / Cloud = Yes. TECHNICAL PAPER 51

52 86. Once the tape is downloaded to the Offline Shelf section, select it there and press the Insert button to insert the tape into the tape library. 87. Now, the tape is located in the tape library. TECHNICAL PAPER 52

53 88. In the Veeam B&R console, navigate to Tape Infrastructure, right-click the tape library device, and choose the Catalog Library option. 89. After сataloging is finished, the tape is inserted into a free drive slot. TECHNICAL PAPER 53

54 90. Use the Restore File wizard to restore data from the tape. TECHNICAL PAPER 54

55 Conclusion StarWind Storage Gateway offers an additional level of protection and availability for your backup sets. It can be used in different environments according to your needs or requirements. Also, StarWind Storage Gateway allows users to copy backup sets to Microsoft Azure cloud storage (including Azure Blob Storage) and provides any company with a resilient disaster recovery strategy. TECHNICAL PAPER 55

56 Contacts US Headquarters EMEA and APAC (UK) (Spain and Portugal) Customer Support Portal: Support Forum: Sales: General Information: StarWind Software, Inc. 35 Village Rd., Suite 100, Middleton, MA USA , StarWind Software Inc. All rights reserved. TECHNICAL PAPER 56