Virtual Server Agent With Vmware Vadp

Transcript

Virtual Server Agent with VMware VADP February 2011 Commvault Corporate Services February 2011 Summary vStorage APIs for Data Protection (VADP) available with VMware version 4 and later introduces several benefits over the VMware Consolidated Backup (VCB) method of protecting virtual machines. There are several requirements that must be met for VADP to function correctly. This document covers those requirements for both Commvault’s Virutal Server Agent (VSA) and VMware infrastructure. Backup Transport Methods The three methods utilized by VADP to transport backup data are defined here. 1. 2. 3. SAN – Data is read directly from the storage where virtual machines reside. This is also referred to as LANfree since no data is transferred over the network. The LUN(s) containing the virtual machine disks must be visible to the VSA server to support SAN mode backups. SAN mode is supported when utilizing fiber and iSCSI storage. Hot-Add – The VSA is installed on a virtual machine residing on an ESX server. Hot-Add mode can achieve close to SAN mode performance if SAN is not available. The term Hot-Add refers to the way the backups are completed. In Hot-Add the data volumes containing the virtual machines to be included in the backup are automatically mounted to the VSA vm. NBD & NBDSSL - NBD (network block device) & NBDSSL (encrypted NBD) transmit data over the ESX servers TCP/IP connection. This can be the production network or a dedicated backup network. Deployment Scenarios The VSA can be installed on a physical or virtual server and is typically deployed in one of the three following configurations in relation to the corresponding Media Agent (MA). 1. 2. 3. Virtualized VSA/MA - VSA installed in Hot-Add mode along with MA software. Typical backup destination is over the network to CIFS or NFS. Virtualized VSA/Physical MA – VSA installed in Hot-Add mode. Data is transferred over the LAN to a physical MA. Physical VSA/MA – The VSA agent and MA are located on a physical server for SAN only backups with no data transferred over the LAN. VSA Installation Requirements    Windows Server 2003 or later. Microsoft .NET Framework 2.0 or higher. VMware VDDK 1.1.1 or higher. VDDK can be downloaded from the Maintenance Advantage site under the Downloads and Packages tab (logon required). https://services.commvault.com/mainadv.asp Commvault Corporate Services February 2011 VSA Patch Requirements The following VSA patches must be installed and are mandatory for VADP to function correctly. Always check Maintenance Advantage for recent updates when deploying Commvault products.  SP5 (Should SP5 have yet to be installed the following patches are required - SP4 with March 2010 Post Pack, 17262, 17418, 17753, 18431, 18670, 18790) VDDK Installation on 64-bit OS VMware vStorage VDDK must be installed on the same server as the VSA. VDDK will be installed into the Program Files (x86) folder but in order to be supported with VSA it must be moved to the Program Files folder. The steps below outline the process required to support VSA and VDDK on a 64bit operating system. 1. 2. Create a new folder structure to move the VDDK installation to. C:\Program Files\VMware\VMware Virtual Disk Development Kit\ a. Browse to the location below and unzip the vddk64 folder to the location created above. C:\Program Files (x86)\VMware\VMware Virtual Disk Development Kit\bin Create the VMware Virtual Disk Development Kit registry key HKLM\SOFTWARE\VMware, Inc.\VMware Virtual Disk Development Kit a. Create a new STRING value called InstallPath b. Set the value data to: C:\Program Files\VMware\VMware Virtual Disk Development Kit Figure 1 3. Create the Virtual Server registry key. HKLM\SOFTWARE\CommVault Systems\Galaxy\\VirtualServer a. Create new DWORD value called VStorageEnable b. Set the value data to: 1 Figure 2 Commvault Corporate Services February 2011 VADP User Permissions A dedicated account can be used for performing backups on vCenter/ESX. The predefined VCB backup role can be copied and modified to perform VADP Backups. This role will require several additional permissions which are listed below. Backup Permission Requirements Datastore  Allocate Space  Browse a datastore  Low level file operations Virtual machine → Provisioning  Allow read-only disk access  Allow virtual machine download Virtual machine → State Virtual machine → Configuration  Disk Change Tracking  Disk Lease   Create Snapshot Remove Snapshot Restore Permission Requirements Restores are typically performed using the admin/root account. However a dedicated account can be created for this purpose. This account requires additional permissions over the account used for backups. These permissions are defined here. Resource  Assign virtual machine to resource pool  Assign vApp to resource pool Virtual machine → Interaction  Power Off  Power On Virtual machine → Configuration  dd existing disk  Add new disk  Add or Remove device  Advanced  Change CPU count  Change Resource  Disk change Tracking  Disk Lease  Host USB device  Memory  Modify device setting  Raw device  Reload from path  Remove disk  Rename  Reset guest information  Settings  Swapfile placement  Upgrade virtual hardware Virtual machine → Inventory  Create new  Register  Remove  Unregister Commvault Corporate Services Virtual machine → Provisioning   Allow read-only disk access Allow virtual machine download Virtual machine → State    Create snapshot Remove snapshot Revert to snapshot Network  Assign network Datastore  Allocate space February 2011 Configure the Data Transport Mode VADP selects the most appropriate transport mode for moving data from the data store to the VSA by default. VADP also automatically picks an alternate transport mode when the preferred mode is not available. This automation can have unintended consequences. To avoid these situations Update 18431 introduces a new registry value that forces the VSA and VADP to use a specific transport mode. VSA will use NDB if the preferred method is unavailable. 1. 2. Browse to the following location. HKLM\SOFTWARE\CommVault Systems\Galaxy\\VirtualServer Create a new STRING value called: vStorageTransportMode a. Set the desired transport method as the value data: san, hotadd, nbd, or nbdssl Figure 3 Note: This registry key does not have any effect when using the older VCB infrastructure. This applies only when using VADP. To set the transport mode for VCB use the VWTransportMode key described in Books Online as noted here: http://documentation.commvault.com/commvault/release_8_0_0/books_online_1/ VMware Environment Requirements The vCenter server and all ESX servers should be at vSphere 4.1 or 4.0 update 2 if possible. Should either of these not be available, then a common user must be created on the vCenter server and all ESX servers to avoid vmx file download issues.     VMware ESX Server Level - ESX(i) servers must be at version 4.    vAPP - Virtual machines configured as vAPP are not supported.   Duplicate GUID - Virtual machines that have the same GUID may fail on restore. Virtual Machine Hardware Version - VM’s must be at hardware version 7. Disk Types - Independent disks and Physical RDM’s are not supported. Virtual RDM’s are supported. Stand Alone ESXi - Stand-alone ESXi is not supported without the standard license level. License levels are explained in more detail in the following article. http://blogs.vmware.com/esxi/2009/06/esxi-vs-esx-a-comparison-of-features.html Fault Tolerant VMs - Fault Tolerant VM’s are not supported for backup. Duplicate Disk Names - Virtual machines with duplicate disk names may fail to back up due to a duplicate index entry. Migrated/Cloned Machines - Virtual machines that have been cloned or migrated from another ESX Server should be rebooted prior to running the first backup. Commvault Corporate Services February 2011 Change Block Tracking CBT must be enabled to support VADP backup. The VSA agent will automatically check and enable CBT at the time of backup. VSA may not be able to enable CBT for cloned and migrated VMs. CBT can be checked by following the steps documented in the following VMware article. http://kb.vmware.com/selfservice/documentLink.do?externalID=1020128 Considerations  VDDK 1.1.1 does not support HotAdd mode on ESX 4.1. The VDDK must be updated to 1.2 to support this functionality.   Fault Tolerant VM’s are not supported for snapshot operations and cannot be backed up.  Backups performed via the vStorage API cannot be restored through the VMware converter. Converter does not understand the format of vStorage.  When Change Block Tracking is unavailable backups will revert to CRC to determine changed blocks. Since the VSA needs to read the entire virtual machine disk, CRC incremental backups may take almost as long as full backups. However, the amount of data transferred and stored by an incremental backup is limited to the changed blocks within the virtual disk. Correcting CBT on the problematic VM is recommended as quickly as possible to take full advantage of VADP based incremental backups. Tools are available to check the correct installation of the VDDK and for verifying and correcting CBT issues. These can be found at the following location. http://mycv/sites/fieldandcustomersupport/Virtualization%20Field%20Guides/VSA%20Tools/   Helper VM’s are not required for Hot-Add VSA servers utilizing pure VADP (No VCB). The vStorage API can be used to restore backups performed with VCB. The backup data will first be staged to the proxy then vStorage will perform the restore. VMware vCenter Converter Standalone 4.3 no longer supports VCB sources for restores. Version 4.0.1 must be used. Commvault Corporate Services February 2011