One Stop Virtualization Shop StarWind Storage Gateway for Backblaze JUNE 2018 TECHNICAL PAPER
Trademarks StarWind, StarWind 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. 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. Copyright 2009-2018 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. TECHNICAL PAPER 2
Contents Introduction... 4 Pre-Configuration... 5 Downloading, Installing, and Registering the Software... 6 Configuring StarWind Storage Gateway... 12 Getting Account ID and Application Key in Backblaze B2 Cloud Storage... 19 Creating B2 Cloud Storage Bucket... 20 Configuring Replication... 23 Mounting VTL on Windows Server 2016 host... 26 Installing Tape Library drivers on Windows Server 2016 host... 30 Mounting VTL on the macos host... 32 Installing Tape Library drivers on the macos host... 36 Conclusion... 38 TECHNICAL PAPER 3
Introduction This technical paper provides information on how to deploy StarWind Storage Gateway for Backblaze and connect it to Windows and macos hosts. StarWind Storage Gateway for Backblaze 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 Backblaze B2 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, system administrators, and IT professionals who would like to configure StarWind Storage Gateway for Backblaze. It provides a step-by-step guidance on how to configure the Gateway and connect it to client systems using iscsi. 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
Pre-Configuration In this guidance, StarWind Storage Gateway is installed on a separate Windows Server 2016 host. The target created in StarWind VSAN is connected through the separate ISCSI network (192.168.12.x). The guide further describes how to connect StarWind Storage Gateway on different systems: Windows Server 2016 and macos in the existing infrastructure. TECHNICAL PAPER 5
Downloading, Installing, and Registering the Software 1. Launch the downloaded setup file on the server where StarWind Storage Gateway has to be installed. The Setup wizard will appear. 2. Read and accept the License Agreement. Click Next to continue. TECHNICAL PAPER 6
3. Carefully read 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
5. To install the Cloud Replicator service along with the 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
7. Enable the following checkbox to create a desktop icon. Click Next to continue. 8. The wizard will prompt a license key. Possible options include a time-limited fully functional evaluation key, a FREE version key and a commercial license key sent over with the purchase of StarWind Virtual SAN. Select the appropriate option. TECHNICAL PAPER 9
9. Click Next to continue and specify the path to the license file if appropriate. 10. Review the licensing information and Click Next to apply the license key. 11. Verify the installation settings. Click Back to make any changes, if required. Click Install to continue. TECHNICAL PAPER 10
12. Enable the appropriate checkbox to launch StarWind Management Console right after the setup wizard is closed. Click Finish to close the wizard. TECHNICAL PAPER 11
Configuring StarWind Storage Gateway 13. Launch StarWind Management Console: double-click the StarWind tray icon. NOTE: If 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, the Management Console automatically connects to it using default credentials. To add remote StarWind servers to the console, use the Add Server button on the control panel. 14. StarWind Management Console will prompt a default storage pool on the server being connected to for the first time. Please, configure the default storage pool to use one of the volumes already chosen as a StarWind storage. All the devices created through the Add Device wizard will be stored on that storage pool by default. To use an alternative storage path for the StarWind virtual disks, please use the Add Device (advanced) menu item. 15. Press Yes to configure the storage pool. To change the storage pool destination, press Choose path and point the browser to the necessary disk. 16. Select the StarWind server to create the device on. TECHNICAL PAPER 12
17. Press the Add VTL Device button on the toolbar. 18. Specify the Virtual Tape Library location in the appeared window and click Next. TECHNICAL PAPER 13
19. Select the Device Model from a drop-down list. The wizard also allows filling all slots in the newly created Tape Library with empty tapes. Click Next to continue. 20. Then provide Target Alias or choose a default one and click Next. TECHNICAL PAPER 14
21. Click the Create button to start the device creation process. 22. Once the creation is completed, click Close. TECHNICAL PAPER 15
23. Once the VTL device is created, tapes can be added to it. To do this, select the VTL device and click the Create Tape button located in the Tapes section. 24. The Create Tape wizard will appear. Optionally, specify the custom path where tape files must be stored. Click Next to continue. TECHNICAL PAPER 16
25. Specify the Number of Tapes, Tape Type, and other parameters and click the Create button. TECHNICAL PAPER 17
26. 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
Getting Account ID and Application Key in Backblaze B2 Cloud Storage 27. Sign up to Backblaze B2 Cloud Storage using the following link: https://www.backblaze.com/b2/cloud-storage.html 28. To get the Account ID and Application Key, sign in to Backblaze B2 Cloud Storage, open Buckets, and click on the Show Account ID and Application Key link. 29. Click Create Application Key to get it. NOTE: When you create a new application key, the old one will no longer work. TECHNICAL PAPER 19
Creating B2 Cloud Storage Bucket 30. To create B2 Cloud Storage Bucket, open the Buckets section and click on the Create a Bucket button. 31. Specify Bucket Unique Name and click on the Create a Bucket button. TECHNICAL PAPER 20
32. Once the bucket is created, click on the Lifecycle Settings button to specify custom lifecycle rules. TECHNICAL PAPER 21
33. In Lifecycle Settings, choose Use custom lifecycle rules, edit rules, and click Update Bucket. TECHNICAL PAPER 22
Configuring Replication 34. To enable the replication between StarWind and Backblaze B2 Cloud Storage, navigate to VTL device and click Cloud Replication. TECHNICAL PAPER 23
35. Choose Backblaze B2 Cloud Storage and click Next. 36. In the Replication Settings, specify Account ID, Application Key, Bucket Name obtained and configured previously and press the Next button. TECHNICAL PAPER 24
37. Specify Tape File Retention Settings and click Apply. It is also possible to create new empty tapes automatically when the existing tape is exported for replication. 38. Now, the automatic replication to Backblaze B2 Cloud Storage is successfully configured according to the retention policy specified above. IMPORTANT: Retention Settings should be configured according to corporate RTO and RPO requirements. TECHNICAL PAPER 25
Mounting VTL on Windows Server 2016 host To pass through the VTL device to the backup software, the corresponding VTL iscsi target must be mounted first. In this section, the VTL device will be connected to a separate Windows Server 2016 host. 39. Open Microsoft iscsi Initiator, navigate to the Discovery tab, and press the Discover Portal button. TECHNICAL PAPER 26
40. Enter the IP address of StarWind Storage Gateway and press the Advanced button. 41. Select Microsoft iscsi Initiator from the Local Adapter drop-down list, choose the Initiator IP address and press the OK button twice. TECHNICAL PAPER 27
42. The newly added Discovery Portal will appear in the list. 43. Navigate to the Targets tab, find the iscsi target that corresponds to the StarWind VTL device, and press the Connect button. 44. Leave out the Enable Multipath option and press the Advanced button. TECHNICAL PAPER 28
45. Set Local adapter as Microsoft iscsi Initiator, specify the Initiator IP address and Target portal IP, and press the OK button twice to complete the target connection. 46. The VTL iscsi target will appear as Connected in the list. TECHNICAL PAPER 29
Installing Tape Library drivers on Windows Server 2016 host It is 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 4.2.0.0. HP drivers must be installed on the host where the StarWind VTL device is mounted via iscsi. 47. Extract the downloaded driver and launch cpqsetup.exe 48. Select all and click Install. TECHNICAL PAPER 30
49. Once the drivers are installed, Hewlett Packard MSL G3 Series library (x64 based) appears in the Medium Changer devices. 50. Now, everything is ready for adding the Tape Library to the backup solution. TECHNICAL PAPER 31
Mounting VTL on the macos host To connect the VTL device on the macos host, the Global SAN iscsi initiator will be used. 51. Install the Global SAN iscsi initiator package on the macos host. It can be downloaded here: http://www.studionetworksolutions.com/globalsan-iscsiinitiator/ 52. Start globalsan from System Preferences. TECHNICAL PAPER 32
53. Click the lock to make changes and enter the password to confirm the changes. 54. Click the plus sign (+) and choose Portal/Group from the drop-down menu to add a new group. The Add Portal/Group dialog appears. TECHNICAL PAPER 33
55. Type Group Name, IP address of the StarWind VTL host and click Add. 56. Select the appropriate target in the list. The right part of the window should now look as demonstrated in the screenshot below. TECHNICAL PAPER 34
57. In the Alias field, type the target s name, choose the connection, and click the Connect button. 58. The connected target should look like in the image below. TECHNICAL PAPER 35
Installing Tape Library drivers on the macos host The latest update driver from HP can be downloaded here: https://support.hpe.com/hpsc/swd/public/detail?sp4ts.oid=5336448&switemid=mtx_96f7016e0 be9480795c529a997&swenvoid=4184 59. Launch the downloaded package and click Continue in the appeared window. 60. In the Installation Type tab, click Install. TECHNICAL PAPER 36
61. Enter the administrator password and wait until the package installation is completed. 62. Click the Close button to finish the installation. 63. Now, everything is ready for adding the tape library to the backup solution. TECHNICAL PAPER 37
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 Backblaze B2 Cloud Storage and provides any company with a resilient disaster recovery strategy. TECHNICAL PAPER 38
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