VSAN technical guide for Avamar

Revision History

Date / Rev. / Description of Changes / Owner
3/30/2017 / 1 / First draft of technical guide for team review / Shahid PP/Samad Mohammed

Contents

1. Purpose and Scope 4

1.1 Purpose 4

1.2 Scope 4

2. Configuration requirements 4

Supported versions: 4

Avamar Virtual Edition appliance requirement: 4

Avamar Virtual proxy appliance requirement: 5

3. Test Architecture 5

Avamar virtual edition and proxy architecture 5

4. Avamar on vSAN 5

Deployment of Avamar Virtual Edition OVA: 6

Configuration of the Avamar server appliance: 7

Adding vCenter authentication certificates to the MCS keystore 7

Disabling MCS certificate authentication 8

Configuration of the vCenter Server in Avamar Server: 8

Deployment of Avamar proxy OVA: 9

Configuration of proxy appliance in Avamar Server: 9

Creating a VMware policy: 10

Starting ad-hoc image backup: 10

Starting image restore: 10

5. Related Documents 11

1. Purpose and Scope

1.1 Purpose

To provide a technical guide on how to configure Avamar Virtual Edition and Avamar proxy appliance to backup and restore VMs deployed on a VMware vSAN datastore. Includes component requirement, software version, compatibility list and other requirements necessary for configuration

1.2 Scope

The guide will include steps on configuration of the Avamar virtual appliance and Avamar virtual proxy into a VSAN datastore as well as backup and restore of VMs residing on the VSAN datastore.

2. Configuration requirements

Supported versions:

Component / Version
Avamar Server / 7.4.1.58
Avamar proxy / 7.4.101.58

Avamar Virtual Edition appliance requirement:

Component / Version
Avamar Virtual Server (0.5 TB capacity) / System requirements for the AVE include:
CPU: 2 * 2 GHz.
Memory: 6GB.
Disks: 4 disks (126 GB and 3 x 250 GB).
NIC: One E1000 NIC with one port.

Avamar Virtual proxy appliance requirement:

Component / Version
Avamar proxy Appliance / System requirements for the Proxy include:
CPU: 4 * 2 GHz (4 virtual sockets, 1 core for each socket).
Memory: 4GB.
Disks: 2 disks (20 GB and 1 GB).
SCSI controller: Maximum 2.
NIC: One vmxnet3 NIC with one port.

3. Test Architecture

Avamar virtual edition and proxy architecture

4. Avamar on vSAN

Avamar supports vSAN datastore both for its virtual server appliance and proxy appliance, it also fully supports running image backups and restores of virtual machines running on the vSAN datastores.

Below steps provide detailed information on how to deploy, configure and run backups/restores on vSAN environment

Deployment of Avamar Virtual Edition OVA:

1.  Login to the vCenter server web client with user having OVA deployment permission

2.  Right click on the VSAN cluster and choose «Deploy OVF Template»

3.  Select «Local file» and click Browse

4.  Navigate to the AVE OVA package location, select the OVA and then click Open

5.  Click Next in the Select Template screen

6.  On the Select name and location window, specify a name for the virtual appliance, and optionally the inventory location, for example a datacenter or VM folder. Click Next.

7.  On the Select resource window, select the cluster, host, vApp, or resource pool in which to deploy the OVA, and then click Next.

8.  On the Review details window, review the product details such as the product name, version, vendor, publisher, and download size, and then click Next.

9.  On the Accept License Agreements window, the EULA appears. Review the EULA and then click Accept. Click Next.

10.  On the Select storage window, select the appropriate VSAN storage policy.

11.  Select the disk format and the destination VSAN datastore on which to store the virtual appliance files and then click Next.

AVE does not support thin provisioning, so please ensure that amount of storage space allocated to the virtual appliance is available.

12.  On the Select networks window, select the Destination networks to use with the appliance, and then click Next.

13.  On the Customize template window, specify the following attributes, and then click Next.

a.  Expand Networking properties, and then perform the following tasks:

1.  In the DNS field, specify the IP address of the DNS servers, separated by commas.

2.  In the Default Gateway field, specify the IP address of the gateway host.

3.  In the FQDN field, specify the fully qualified domain name of the Avamar server

4.  In the Network IP address field, specify the IP address for the Avamar server appliance.

5.  In the Network Netmask/Prefix field, specify the netmask for an IPv4 Network IP address.

6.  In the Additional DNS Search Domains field, specify the list of domain names to be added to the DNS search path.

14.  On the Ready to Complete window, review the deployment configuration details and then click Finish

15.  The Deploying window appears and provides status information about the deployment.

Configuration of the Avamar server appliance:

1.  Open a web browser and log in to Avamar Installation Manager:

  1. Type the following URL:

https://Avamar-server:7543/avi

where Avamar-server is the IP address or the resolvable hostname of the Avamar server.

  1. Type root for the username of the Avamar administrator user account in the User Name field and changeme for the password in the Password field.
  2. Click Login.

2.  Click SW Releases.

3.  Click Install next to the AVE installation package, ave-config.

4.  Monitor the installation progress on the Installation Progress page and respond to any installation problems:

  1. Take the appropriate action to resolve the problem.
  2. After resolving the problem, click Call EMC Support.

The Call EMC Support dialog box appears.

  1. Click Issue resolved, continuing the installation.

The installation resumes.

  1. Repeat these steps for all problems that occur during the installation.

Adding vCenter authentication certificates to the MCS keystore

Configure vCenter-to-Avamar authentication by adding a vCenter authentication certificate to the MCS keystore. Do this for each vCenter you intend to protect. This procedure uses the java keytool utility, which manages certificate keys. The keytool utility is located in the Java bin folder (/usr/java/version/bin), where version is the Java Runtime Environment (JRE) version currently installed on the MCS. If this folder is not in your path, you can either add it to the path, or specify the complete path when using keytool.

Procedure

1.  Open a command shell and log in by using one of the following methods:

-  For a single-node server, log in to the server as admin.

-  For a multi-node server, log in to the utility node as admin.

2.  Stop the MCS by typing dpnctl stop mcs.

3.  Switch user to root by typing su -.

4.  Copy rui.crt from the vCenter machine to /tmp on the Avamar utility node or single-node server.

5.  Copy the MCS keystore to /tmp by typing:

cp /usr/local/avamar/lib/rmi_ssl_keystore /tmp/

This creates a temporary version of the live MCS keystore in /tmp.

6.  Add the default vCenter certificate to the temporary MCS keystore file by typing:

cd /tmp

$JAVA_HOME/bin/keytool –import –file rui.crt -alias alias -keystore mi_ssl_keystore

where alias is a user-defined name for this certificate, which can often be the file name.

7.  Type the keystore password.

8.  Type yes, and press Enter to trust this certificate.

9.  Back up the live MCS keystore by typing:

cd /usr/local/avamar/lib

cp rmi_ssl_keystore rmi_ssl_keystore.date

where date is today's date.

10.  Copy the temporary MCS keystore to the live location by typing:

cp /tmp/rmi_ssl_keystore /usr/local/avamar/lib/

11.  Exit the root subshell by typing exit.

12.  Start the MCS and the scheduler by typing:

dpnctl start mcs

dpnctl start sched

Disabling MCS certificate authentication

If you do not want to add vCenter authentication certificates to the Avamar MCS keystore, you must disable certificate authentication for all vCenter-to-Avamar MCS communications.

Procedure

1.  Open a command shell and log in by using one of the following methods:

-  For a single-node server, log in to the server as admin.

-  For a multi-node server, log in to the utility node as admin.

2.  Stop the MCS by typing

dpnctl stop mcs.

3.  Open /usr/local/avamar/var/mc/server_data/prefs/mcserver.xml in a UNIX text editor

4.  Find the ignore_vc_cert entry key.

5.  Change the ignore_vc_cert setting to true.

<entry key="ignore_vc_cert" value="true" />

6.  Close mcserver.xml and save your changes.

7.  Start the MCS and the scheduler by typing:

dpnctl start mcs

dpnctl start sched

Configuration of the vCenter Server in Avamar Server:

You must add each vCenter you intend to protect as an Avamar client in Avamar Administrator.

Procedure

1.  In Avamar Administrator, click the Administration launcher button.

2.  Click the Account Management tab.

3.  In the tree, select the top-level (root) domain, and then select Actions > Account Management > New Client(s).

4.  Complete the following settings:

  1. Select VMware vCenter in the Client Type list.
  2. Type the vCenter fully qualified DNS name or IP address in the New Client Name or IP field.
  3. Type the vCenter web services listener data port number in the Port field.

443 is the default setting.

  1. Type the vCenter user account name in the User Name field.
  2. Type the vCenter user account password in the Password field.
  3. Type the vCenter user account password again in the Verify Password field.

5.  Click OK.

Deployment of Avamar proxy OVA:

1.  Login to the vCenter server web client with user having OVA deployment permission

2.  Right click on the VSAN cluster and choose «Deploy OVF Template»

3.  Select «Local file» and click Browse

4.  Navigate to the Avamar proxy OVA package location, select the OVA and then click Open

5.  Click Next in the Select Template screen

6.  On the Select name and location window, specify a name for the virtual appliance, and optionally the inventory location, for example a datacenter or VM folder. Click Next.

7.  On the Select resource window, select the cluster, host, vApp, or resource pool in which to deploy the OVA, and then click Next.

8.  On the Review details window, review the product details such as the product name, version, vendor, publisher, and download size, and then click Next.

9.  On the Accept License Agreements window, the EULA appears. Review the EULA and then click Accept. Click Next.

10.  On the Select storage window, select the appropriate VSAN storage policy.

11.  Select the disk format and the destination VSAN datastore on which to store the virtual appliance files and then click Next.

EMC recommends that you select Thick Provision Lazy Zeroed to ensure that amount of storage space allocated to the virtual appliance is available

12.  On the Select networks window, select the Destination networks to use with the appliance, and then click Next.

13.  On the Customize template window, specify the following attributes, and then click Next.

b.  Expand Networking properties, and then perform the following tasks:

  1. In the DNS field, specify the IP address of the DNS servers, separated by commas.
  2. In the Default Gateway field, specify the IP address of the gateway host.
  3. In the Network IP address field, specify the IP address for the Avamar server appliance.
  4. In the Network Netmask/Prefix field, specify the netmask for an IPv4 Network IP address.

14.  On the Ready to Complete window, review the deployment configuration details and then click Finish

15.  The Deploying window appears and provides status information about the deployment.

Configuration of proxy appliance in Avamar Server:

1.  From the vSphere client, locate and select an Avamar image backup proxy.

2.  Right-click Power > Power On.

3.  Right-clickOpen Console.

4.  From the Main Menu, type 1, and then press Enter.

5.  Type the Avamar server DNS name, and then press Enter.

6.  Type an Avamar server domain name, and then press Enter.

7.  From the Main Menu, type 2, and then press Enter to quit.

Creating a VMware policy:

1.  In Avamar Administrator, click the Policy launcher button.

2.  Select the Groups tab.

3.  In the left pane, select the Avamar domain to which the group should belong.

4.  Select Actions > New Group.

5.  In the Name box, type a name for the group.

6.  Clear the Disabled option to immediately enable regularly scheduled client backups for the group.

7.  Choose whether to use the assigned schedule for the group or to override the

assigned schedule

8.  Click Next

9.  From the Select An Existing Dataset list, select a dataset for this group

The VMware Image Dataset is the default dataset for protecting VMware entities with image backup.

10.  Click Next.

11.  From the Select An Existing Schedule list, select a schedule for this group.

12.  Click Next.

13.  From the Select An Existing Retention Policy list, select a retention policy for the

group.

14.  Click Next

15.  Complete the Membership settings

16.  Click Next

17.  In the proxy selection page, select the desired proxy or choose auto proxy mapping

18.  Click Finish

Starting ad-hoc image backup:

1.  In Avamar Administrator, click the Backup & Restore launcher button.

2.  Click the Backup tab.

3.  Select a domain in the upper tree, and then select a virtual machine client,

VMware folder, resource pool, or vApp in the lower tree.

4.  In the Browse for File, Folders, or Directories pane, select the data to back

up:

5.  Select Actions > Backup Now.

6.  The On Demand Backup Options dialog box appears.

7.  Click OK.

8.  The On Demand Backup Options dialog box closes and the following status

message appears: Backup initiated.

9.  Click OK.

Starting image restore:

1.  In Avamar Administrator, click the Backup & Restore launcher button.

2.  Click the Restore tab.

3.  Select a virtual machine client or VMware container:

4.  Select a backup:

5.  Click the Browse for Image Restore button directly above the contents

pane.

6.  In the contents pane:

  1. Select the All virtual disks folder checkbox to restore the entire image.
  2. Select one or more drives to only restore those specific drives.

7.  Select Actions > Restore Now.

The Restore Options dialog box appears.

8.  Please refer to chapter 5 in the Avamar VMware user guide for more details on how to restore image

5. Related Documents

·  Avamar Virtual Edition for VMware System Install Guide

https://support.emc.com/docu81577_Avamar_Virtual_Edition_7.4_and_Service_Packs_for_Vmware_System_Installation_Guide.pdf?language=en_US

·  Avamar VMware user guide

https://support.emc.com/docu81578_Avamar_7.4_and_Service_Packs_for_VMware_User_Guide.pdf?language=en_US