netbackup 7.5 for vmware: hands-on lab (beginner)vox.veritas.com/legacyfs/online/veritasdata/im...

NetBackup 7.5 for VMware: Hands-On Lab (Beginner) Description This lab is designed for people that are new to NetBackup for VMware and

will provide you direct, hands on experience with some of the latest NetBackup 7.5 for VMware data protection features. You will walk through the entire installation and configuration process for VMware backups. Features that will be highlighted include VMware Policy setup, an introduction into the Granular File Restore concept, a first glimpse on the power behind Virtual Machine Intelligent Policy (VIP) for dynamic inclusing of Virtual Machines into the backup, how you define Resource Limits to avoid overloading your vSphere environment as well as a basic restore overview for a full Virtual Machine restore but also the simplified Single File Restore capabilities with Operational Restore.

This lab assumes a very basic knowledge of backup and virtual machine concepts.

At the end of this lab, you should be able to

§ Understand NetBackup advanced backup and restore functionalities

§ Backup a virtual machine

§ Configure virtual machine backups so that new virtual machines are automatically included for backup

§ Understand how Resource Limits in NetBackup have a positive effect on your overall backup performance with the least impact on your infrastructure

§ Understand NetBackup 7’s virtual machine single file restore capability for Windows and Linux virtual machines

§ Understand the new OpsCenter Operational Restore benefits to Virtual Machine Protection

Notes § This is a self-‐paced lab. Feel free to proceed with this lab at your own

speed.

§ If you have any questions or problems with the lab, instructors are available and can provide immediate assistance. Simply raise your hand if you need assistance.

§ Thank you for attending our lab session.

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Lab Agenda:

Lab Exercise 1: Define NetBackup and VMware environment for VMware backups 5 Minutes

Lab Exercise 2: Define the VMware vCenter server within NetBackup 5 Minutes

Lab Exercise 3: Configure a NetBackup Media Server Deduplication Pool (MSDP) 10 Minutes

Lab Exercise 4: Configure a NetBackup for VMware Backup Policy 15 Minutes

Lab Exercise 5: Run a full virtual machine backup using the VMware Intelligent Policy 10 Minutes

Lab Exercise 6: Explore NetBackup for VMware single file restore options in the BAR GUI 5 Minutes

Lab Exercise 7: Explore NetBackup for VMware single file restore options in OpsCenter 10 Minutes

Lab Exercise 8: Optional: Restore a deleted Virtual Machine through the Backup Archive Restore GUI 10 Minutes

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Lab Layout: This demo is configured with 3 VMware Workstation based OS images. They are described as follows:

NETBACKUP1 -‐ This is the NetBackup Master Server and the VMware Access Host for this Lab Setup. A VMware Access Host is the system that NetBackup contacts to obtain ESX or ESXi server and virtual machine information including hostnames and IP addresses. Note: For this lab this server also has OpsCenter installed.

VCENTER1 -‐ This system is the brain of the VMware environment. VMware’s vCenter server stores information for every virtual machine (VM) in the environment. NetBackup 7 automatically contacts the vCenter server and collects and caches this VM information. NetBackup then uses this information to select any new or moved VMs so that every VM is automatically protected. NetBackup 7 is fully integrated with VMware’ vCenter server architecture.

ESX1 -‐ This is the ESXi Server running on vSphere 5. You typically do not need to log into this system. The server hosts two virtual machines. When the ESXi system is booted the screen will look like the screen shot below. This is normal.

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NetBackup for VMware 7 Hands on Lab System Diagram This diagram illustrates how this lab is connected from a physical point of view.

Help Icons Throughout this lab document you will see special “help” icons that assist you with the lab or provide additional information. These icons are described as follows:

Now let’s start the lab!

This light bulb indicates that more product information is provided. Information in this box does not need to be read to complete the lab but provides additional product information.

You will see this icon when special lab instructions are provided. Be sure to read this type of instruction box whenever you see it.

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Lab Exercise 1: Define NetBackup and VMware environment for VMware backups 5 Minutes

In NetBackup 7 the system that communicates with the VMware vCenter server is called the VMware Access Host. The VMware Access Host is the system (or systems) that will be a focal point of backup operations. NetBackup supports any number of VMware Access Hosts and/or VMware vCenter servers. This provides a flexible, expansive level of scalability.

The VMware Access Host can be configured as a NetBackup master, media or client. The VMware Access Host is the system that initiates and controls the entire virtual machine backup process for any given VMware environment or domain. We will now define the VMware Access Host within NetBackup.

• If you are not already logged in, log into the virtual machine netbackup1 by clicking on the “NETBACKUP1” tab in VMware Workstation and clicking inside the NETBACKUP1 VMware Workstation pane.

NOTE: You can start the login process by simultaneously selecting “Ctrl+Alt+Ins”. Login using the following credentials (see below):

Login = administrator Password = symc4now

• Click on the Windows Start menu (1), select the NetBackup Administration Console (2).

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NetBackup 7.5 added Media Server Load balancing capabilities now also to Virtual Machines. This adds further automation into the scale out and is covered in the NetBackup for VMware Advanced Lab.

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• From the NetBackup Administration Console (tabs on left side) traverse the following tabs by clicking on the “+” signs next to each entry (see below):

NetBackup Management > Host Properties > Master Servers

• In the center NetBackup Console window, you will see the host netbackup1. Double-‐click on the netbackup1 entry (see below).

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• The Master Server Properties window pops up. Select the VMware Access Host (1) tab on bottom left and select the Add… (2) button on the top right (see below).

• Type in the name of the VMware access host – netbackup1 (see below)

Be sure to carefully type in the proper hostname here (netbackup1). If you type this incorrectly the lab will not function properly.

If you have any questions, feel free to raise your hand and contact a lab attendant.

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• Now select the Add (1) and then the Close (2) button.

• The interface should now look like this:

• Click on the Apply (1) button then select the OK (2) button. Another popup window indicates that NetBackup services may have to be restarted. The NetBackup services do not need to be restarted. This warning can be safely ignored.

We’ve now completed defining the VMware Backup Host. This completes Lab Exercise 1.

We’ve now finished defining a backup system (VMware access host) for VMware backups. NetBackup supports using multiple backup systems for virtual machine backups. This greatly enhances the scalability of NetBackup for protecting growing virtual machine environments.

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Lab Exercise 2: Define the VMware vCenter server within NetBackup 5 Minutes

NetBackup for VMware can work in environments that have only ESX/ESXi systems or also utilize a vCenter server. For this lab we are going to connect and communicate directly with a vCenter server. Once the ESX server or vCenter Server is defined NetBackup can contact each of these systems and automatically discover every virtual machine that exists in the environment.

Regardless of whether a VMware vCenter server, ESX or ESXi server is used, the configuration process for each of these environments is very similar.

We will now define the vCenter server with NetBackup:

(Note: The NetBackup Administration Console should still be visible. If not, select the NetBackup Administration Console from the Windows Taskbar.)

• From the NetBackup Administration Console (tabs on left side) select:

Media and Device Management > Credentials > Virtual Machine Servers

• On the Virtual Machine Servers tab, right-‐click and select “New…” (you should now see the screen shown below)

NetBackup 7 fully integrates with one or any number of VMware vCenter Servers. This greatly enhances the scalability of NetBackup when used with either VI3 or vSphere 4 and 5.

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• Type in the vCenter Server name (see below) – vcenter1

• Select the OK button.

• The “Add Virtual Machine Server” window pops up. Select or enter the following information:

Virtual machine server type: VMware Virtual Center Server

Username: administrator

Password: symc4now

Confirm Password: symc4now

Validate Credentials: Select this checkbox

Port: Leave this selection blank. NetBackup will automatically select the correct port.

Once again be sure to carefully type in the proper hostname here (vcenter1). If you type this incorrectly, the lab will not function properly.

Be careful and type this information correctly.

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• Once these entries have been made, the “Add Virtual Machine Server” window should look like this:

• Select the “OK” button. Because you have selected “Validate Credentials”, a quick check will be made to ensure the login and password you entered are correct. If this check succeeds, a popup window will indicate that NetBackup services may have to be restarted. This warning can be safely ignored. Select the “OK” button.

• If a window pops up that indicates the credential validation failed, reenter the

credentials and try the validation again. We have now successfully defined the VMware vCenter Server within NetBackup. Defining the VMware vCenter server provides NetBackup complete and up to date information related to every Virtual Machine that exists within each ESX (or ESXi) server that is controlled by that vCenter server.

This completes Lab Exercise 2.

During the credentials check, NetBackup automatically uses standard VMware ports 902 or 443. If a non-‐standard port is to be used, simply check the box next to “Connect using port number”.

NetBackup fully supports both ESX and ESXi servers. The exact same backup and restore functionality is available with both ESX and ESXi systems.

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Lab Exercise 3:

The NetBackup 7 release introduced a built-‐in deduplication capability called Media Server Deduplication Pool or MSDP. This deduplication technology is extremely convenient in that it is built into several NetBackup media server distributions including Windows. This works well in VMware environments as the VMware Access (or backup) Host is Windows as well. The NetBackup MSDP technology is specially engineered to provide efficient deduplication of virtual machine data. In this lab we will configure and use MSDP as our backup target.

You can manually configure an MSDP backup target or use a wizard based interface. We will use the MSDP wizard to configure our deduplication backup target.


• From the NetBackup Administration Console (tabs on left side) select the netbackup1 (Master Server) (1) tab which is located near the top (see below).

• The NetBackup wizards are displayed on the right pane. Select the “Configure Disk Storage Servers” (2) wizard (see below).

Configure a NetBackup Media Server Deduplication Pool (MSDP) 10 Minutes

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Besides deduplicaction NetBackup also supports a number of additional advanced disk configurations that include disk staging and load balancing functionalities.

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• An introductory splash screen is displayed (see below). Select “Next”.

Next we see a pull down menu that allows us to select the type of disk storage to be used. As mentioned we are going to select and configure a “Media Server Deduplication Pool” (1). Now select “Next” (2).

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What is an MSDP “Storage Sever”? The deduplication storage server deduplicates the backups and manages the storage.

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In this next screen, select “netbackup1” (1) (the hostname of our NetBackup master server) from the pull down menu

Now enter the following

Username: root

Password: root

Confirm Password: root

You will now get a warning that you have selected the NetBackup master server as the MSDP host. Select “Yes” on this warning screen (see information box on right).

In this next screen, we define the disk location of the MSDP storage. In our case we will select this location by typing in the following path in the “Storage Path” box:

F:\MSDP

Now select “Next >” to proceed to the next screen.

For simplicity we chose “root” here. In productive environment we recommend using a secure username password combination which you can freely choose. Make sure you only use legal characters and you record the information in a safe place. If you ever have to reconnect a MSDP Pool, this information is needed. Why the warning? Deduplication engines work

best on systems with lots of CPU and RAM. These are system resources that are used by the NetBackup master server as well. Running MSDP on an NetBackup master server will work but it is suggested that MSDP be run on a aseparate system from the NetBackup master server.

Once again, be careful to type this information correctly.

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We’re done configuring the MSDP storage server. You should now see the summary screen. Before continuing, be sure that everything matches the screen that is displayed here:

If the information displayed does not exactly match this screen, select the “< Back” button and reenter the proper information.

If the information has been entered correctly, select the “Next >” button:

The NetBackup MSDP wizard will now automatically create the deduplication storage server. This process will take a couple of minutes.

Once the MSDP storage server has been created, you will see the screen on the right. If there are any errors listed here, select the “< Back” button and reenter the required information.

If the MSDP storage server was successfully created, select the “Next >” button.

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We’ve finished creating the MSDP storage server. Now we will create a Disk Pool using the Disk Pool Configuration Wizard. Disk Pools are disk volumes used for backups by one or more media servers.

Select “Next >” to proceed.

Here we see the Disk Pool configuration wizard splash screen.

Select “Next >” to continue.

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The Disk Pool type that we will use is “PureDisk”. The PureDisk technology is NetBackup’s tested and proven deduplication technology that is used with MSDP.

Select the “PureDisk” entry.

Now select “Next >”

Here we see the Storage Server that we just completed creating.

Select the “netbackup1” Storage server.

Click on “Next >”.

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Here we see the PureDisk volume that we previously defined.

Select this checkbox.


Here we name the Disk Pool. In this case we will name it “MSDP_POOL”.

Enter “MSDP_Pool” in this section


Note that the amount of storage associated with this volume is listed here. Keep in mind that this is the actual amount of physical storage that is available to the MSDP system. Once backed up data is deduplicated, this storage can represent significantly larger amounts of data that is protected using MSDP deduplication.

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This summary screen enables us to double check the entries that we have made. Check to be sure that the entries you’ve entered are correct.

Once you are sure that your entries match this screen,select “Next >”.

The wizard now automatically completes the creation of the disk pool.

Once this process is finished, the wizard should indicate that the configuration was successful.


If the configuration did not complete successfully, select the “Back” button to determine the issue. Feel free to ask one of the lab attendants for help.

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We have one final task to perform. We now need to create a NetBackup storage unit. The wizard walks us through this simple process.

Verify that this checkbox is selected.


Here we define the name of the MSDP type of storage unit. We will name it “MSDP_STU”

Type in “MSDP_STU” in the Storage unit name section.

For this storage unit we will increase the maximum number of concurrent jobs to “2” by selecting the up arrow.


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We’re done! You’ve now successfully performed all of the steps required to create an MSDP backup target.


Now lets configure this new MSDP storage unit so that any NetBackup policy can use it.

From the main NetBackup console, expand the “Storage” (1) tab and click on the Storage Units (2) icon (see below).

Double-‐click on the “MSDP_STU” (3) storage unit.

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Deselect the “On demand only” checkbox. This allows any NetBackup policy to use this storage unit.

Make sure that the “maximum concurrent jobs” setting is set to “2”.

Now select “OK”.


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Lab Exercise 4: Configure a NetBackup for VMware Backup Policy 15 Minutes

At this point in the configuration we’ve performed two simple steps to completely configure NetBackup for VMware:

1) VMware Access Host definition

2) VMware vCenter Server definition

The next step in this process is to configure a NetBackup Policy that is designed for VMware virtual machine backups. The goal of this step is to configure a policy that can backup vmdk files yet provide two types of restores – vmdk (for cloning or disaster recovery -‐ DR) and individual file (files that exist inside the virtual machine) restores. Since the NetBackup 7.1 release, single file restores are possible with both Windows and Linux virtual machines. In NetBackup 7.5 ext4 Filesystem support for Linux (SUSE, RedHat) was added.

We will also take advantage of the Virtual machine Intelligent Policy (VIP) feature. VIP can automatically select and backup virtual machines based pre-‐defined criteria such as physical location (e.g. ESX server or ESX datastore) or logical location (e.g. vCenter folder or resource pool). New vSphere 5 capabilites like datastore cluster groups and Storage DRS affinity rules are fully supported in NetBackup 7.5. VIP provides a powerful method of ensuring that any new virtual machines are automatically selected for backup and protected.

A NetBackup for VMware policy can be manually created or created using a wizard. For this exercise, we will use the wizard.

Let’s configure a NetBackup for VMware Policy.

Once NetBackup 7 is installed, no additional software needs to be installed or configured on any VMware component. Everything that is needed for VMware backups is automatically included and installed with NetBackup 7.

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• From the NetBackup Administration Console (tabs on left side) select the netbackup1 (Master Server) (1) tab which is located near the top.

• The NetBackup wizards are displayed on the right pane. Select the “Create a Policy” (2) wizard (see below).

• The new Policy creation Wizard is shown. Select “VMware and Hyper-‐V” in the “Create a backup policy for:” selection. Select “Next”.

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• In this screen the name of the NetBackup Policy and the type of Virtual Machine backup is defined. Type in the policy name “VMware” (1) and select the Virtual Machine Type radio button for Virtual Machine Type “VMware” (2) (see below). Note that with NetBackup 7 both VMware and Hyper-‐V virtual machine backups are supported. Open the drop down menue for VMware backup host (3). This is a new feature in NetBackup 7.5 where Media Server Load Balancing for Virtual Machine protection is applied when “Backup Media Server” is selected. Now select Next.

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Only Windows media servers can be assigned as backup hosts. Backups using UNIX media servers fail with an invalid command parameter error. Windows media servers are automatically enabled for the functionality of Media Server Load Balancing.

Also be aware that policy validation using media server load balancing is not supported. The supported method for validating a policy that will use load balancing is to select one media server, validate the operation of the policy with this individual media server, and then switch back to media server load balancing.

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Next we define some of the VM backup options. By default “Allow individual file restore” is selected as the ability to perform single file restores from an entire image (vmdk) backup is a popular feature. But we also want to perform Block Level Incremental Backups (BLIB). BLIB style of backups utilize VMware’s Changed Block Tracking (CBT) feature. Note that the Virtual Machine Type needs to be of Version 7 or higher to support CBT. This technology provides the ability to perform true time and space saving incremental backups. But CBT only provides the ability to restore an entire image from a NetBackup 7. CBT alone does not provide the ability to restore individual files from within that image (vmdk). NetBackup 7 uniquely adds the ability to perform direct, single file restores from both a full and incremental backup.

• Select the “Enable block-‐level incremental backup” checkbox additionally (see below).

Now we select a number of important attributes associated with the NetBackup for VMware policy. These attributes are described and selected as follows:

• Primary VM identifier: This is how the virtual machine is referenced by NetBackup and within the NetBackup catalog. For this lab we will use the “VM Display Name”. Select the pull-‐down arrow next to “VM hostname” and select VM Display Name (1).

• The next configuration item is the “Transfer Type”. NetBackup supports Fibre, iSCSI, NAS or DAS based ESX storage but for this lab we will be using DAS with network based transfers. Select the “nbd” (2) (network block device) type of transfer as illustrated above.

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For this lab we use the “Display Name” to reference the VM. However, NetBackup 7 can additionally use the VM hostname (should be resolvable) or the Universally Unique Identifier (UUID) to reference the VM.

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NetBackup 7 features an advanced snapshot handling technology. This technology is enabled by default through the “Orphaned Snapshot handling” with the default parameter “Remove NBU” (3).

Have a look at the other “Advanced” Options and the available configuration options from the drop down fields. NetBackup 7.5 allows to narrow down the Virtual disk selection for the backup process by allowing to exclude boot or data disk. Post events to vCenter allows NetBackup 7.5 to report the status of the backup back to vCenter and have it displayed there for the VMware Admin.

Select “Cancel” to get back to the previous screen.

“NBD” stands for Network Block Device. This refers to NFS based ESX Datastores but this backup transfer method can also be used for Datastores that are configured using direct attached storage (DAS).

The “san” transfer type is selected when a shared storage environment is used. Both Fibre and iSCSI are supported when the “san” transfer type is selected.

Selecting the “Remove NBU” option can greatly improve overall virtual machine backup reliability. When selected, before each backup run, this option removes any pre-‐existing NetBackup created snapshots for those cases where vSphere was not able to fulfill the remove Snapshot request at the end of the backup. The snapshot is first commited to the VM before deletion. This significantly improves backup reliability.

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Now select “Next”.

In this next window, we have the options for selecting virtual machines for backups. The first option is to perform a discovery of all virtual machines and then manually selecting the virtual machines to be backed up. First we will look at the manual VM selection process.

• From the “Virtual machine selection” pull down menu, choose the “Select manually” option as shown below. Now click on the “Add…” button.

• Now select the radio button next to the “Browse and select Virtual Machine”.

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When we earlier entered the vCenter server credentials this provided us access so that we can perform this discovery process. Our demonstration environment is small but NetBackup is designed to discover hundreds, even thousands of ESX servers and VM’s.

• Click on each of the “+” (1) signs next to each VMware object.

You will now see the automatically discovered virtual machine environment that is controlled by the vCenter server.

• We are not going to use this method to select VM’s so select the “Cancel” (2) button.

Let’s try the new Virtual machine Intelligent Policy (VIP) and have it automatically select the virtual machines that we want to be backed up.

• From the “Virtual machine selection:” pull down menu choose the “Select automatically through query” (3) option:

• A warning dialogue box will pop up. Select “OK” to proceed.

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A new wizard dialogue box pops up. Make sure you select “netbackup1” as the host for performing the VM slection. Select “Next >”.

Next we see a wizard that will walk us through the process of defining the automatic virtual machine discovery and backup process. This dialogue box allows us to select VM’s for backup based on over 36 vCenter logical and physical definitions including ESX servers, ESX clusters, ESX datastore, display names, hostnames, power state of the VM and many more. For this lab we will use the Display Name of the VM to define it for backup.

• Select the arrow next to the “Field” pull down menu and select “Displayname” (1).

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• Select the arrow next to the “Operator:” pull down menu and select “Contains” (2).

• Select the “Value(s):” section and type in the number “1” and be sure to include the quotes (3) (see below).

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• Now click on the “+” sign icon (1). If you did not include the quotes around the 1, you will get a warning and need to fix this.

This enters the query that we have defined into the query list. The query we’ve defined will automatically backup any VM that has the number “1” in the display name. We can add multiple queries to create very powerful VM selection criteria.

To avoid unnecessary load on the vCenter server, by default NetBackup updates the query results no more frequently than every 8 hours (this is user definable). For the purposes of this lab we need to immediately update the query information.

• In the “Reuse VM selection query results for” (1) window, reduce the time frame to “0”.

• Click on the “Next >” (2) button.

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Make sure that the query results window is set to “0”. If it is not, the balance of the lab will not operate correctly.

In this demo system there is one VM that contain the number “1” in the display name. This query will automatically select and backup the correct VM.

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Now we see how the “Backup Selections” tab in the NetBackup policy will be displayed (1). Because this query is dynamic, as the VM environment changes the actual VMs that will be backed up can vary with every backup run.

• Click on “Next >” (2)

Now we move into the scheduling portion of the policy configuration. We will use the default settings.

• Select Next to proceed.

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This screen (right) is where backup data retention is defined. We will use the default settings.

• Select “Next”.

Backup schedules are defined here. We will use the default settings.

• Select “Next”.

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We’re done! This is just a summary screens that summarizes the selections that we have made.

• Select Finish.

At this point a quick and automatic policy validation process will occur.

Congratulations! You just created a query that will automatically select VM’s for backup protection. From this point on, any new or moved VM’s will automatically be selected for backup based on the criteria we have selected. In this case we are selecting VMs for backup based on the character 1 that might exist as part of the VM display name. Any VM with a “1” in the display name will automatically be backed up.

This is just one very simple example of the powerful VM query generation process that can be created using the NetBackup 7 Virtual machine Intelligent Policy (VIP).

VMware Resource Limits

VIP has another powerful tool that can help ensure optimal backup performance while avoiding random and backup activity on physical VMware objects. This NetBackup 7 attribute is called “Resource Limits”. This setting allows you to effectively limit or throttle VM backup jobs at a global level. For example, a limit of 2 can be set at the ESX level so that no more than two active backups occur per ESX server. When set like this, no ESX server will be performing more than 2 active backups but the balance of backup jobs will be spread across all ESX servers up to the maximum global job limit (this can be set at the NetBackup Policy). This translates into faster overall backups yet less impact on any given ESX server.

Let’s take a look at how easy Resource Limits can be defined.

If the policy validation process does not succeed, look at the error message that is provided to see if you can determine the problem that was encountered.

If you need additional help, do not hesitate to ask one of the lab assistants.

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From the main NetBackup admin console under the “Host Properties” tab select the “Master Servers” (1) tab and then double-‐click on the “netbackup1” (2) master server (see below).

You should now see the “Master Server Properties” dialogue box. On the left hand of this dialogue box pull down the scroll bar (1) and select the “Resource Limit” (2) attribute.

Here you see the eleven different vSphere attributes that can be used to limit VM backups. Several are new with vSphere 5. Two common resource limits are ESXserver and Datastore. When the ESXserver attribute is selected this will limit the number of active backups that can occur with any ESX server. When the Datastore is defined, this limits the number of active backups than can be associated with every ESX datastore in the environment.

For the purposes of this lab we will select the ESXserver attribute.

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Select the “ESXserver” (1) resource type and then select the “Resource Limit” box (2) next to it. Using the scroll arrows, set the ESXserver Resource Limit to “1”

Select “OK” (3) to close this dialogue box. Another policy validation will occur. You will also see the message indicating that daemons may need to be restarted. You can safely ignore this message.

More than one VMware Resource Limit setting can be used to control backup processing. For example you could set a global resource limit for each vCenter server to 20 and set the resource limit for each ESX sever within that vCenter domain to 2. This would have the effect of allowing a total of 20 VM backup jobs to run simultaneously while never impacting any given ESX server with more than 2 active jobs.

As you can see, the new VIP technology used in conjunction with Resource Limits can provide a powerful method to control and enhance VM backup processing.


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Lab Exercise 5: Run a full virtual machine backup using the VMware Intelligent Policy 10 Minutes

Now that our NetBackup policy has been successfully created, let’s test it.

As you recall, we are selecting for backup any virtual machine with the number “1” in the display name. Let’s log into the vCenter server and determine which virtual machines meet that selection criteria.

• From the NBU1 system, click on the Windows “Start” menu and select the “VMware vSphere Client” (see below)

• Log into the vCenter server using the following login information:

vCenter hostname: vcenter1

User name: administrator

Password: symc4now

NOTE: Be careful typing and avoid errors.

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Once the vSphere client is running we can determine which virtual machines have the character “1” in the display name. At this point you should see something similar to the screen shot below. You may need to click on the “+” sign next to each ESX server to expand the list.

As we can see, there are one virtual machines with a “1” in the display name (see above). This virtual machine should be automatically selected and backed up using the VIP policy that we created.

Let’s manually initiate the policy we created and see if the virtual machine (vmwin1) is correctly selected for backup.

• Select the NetBackup Console from the Window taskbar. Under the “Policies” tab Right-‐click (1) on the “VMware” policy we created and select “Manual Backup” (2).

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• The Manual Backup menu will

now be displayed (right). Select OK. This will immediately initiate the virtual machine backup of any VMs that have the character “1” in the display name.

Now that this backup has started, let’s monitor it and get a better idea of exactly what is happening.

• From the NetBackup Administration Console (tabs on left side) select the Activity Monitor (1).

At first you will see one job with two others for a total of three jobs appearing short after. This is normal. To the right of the activity monitor (2) you will see the name of the virtual machines that the VIP technology automatically selected for backup. You should see vmwin1 (which has a “1” in the display name).

VIP automatically refreshes the VM information for every backup window so that any new, moved or modified VMs are automatically selected for backup if they meet the selection criteria defined in the query.

With NetBackup 7.5 resource scheduling has greatly been improved and the job will kick in near immediately.

IMPORTANT: If the job does not show up in the Activity Monitor immediately, be patient. DO NOT START ANOTHER BACKUP.

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Monitor these jobs until they are finished. It should take between 8 and 10 minutes to complete. Feel free to read ahead while the backup is running.

Now that the job is complete the activity monitor should look similar to the diagram below. Also note that the level of deduplication that occurred (1). The NetBackup deduplication technology is specifically designed to deduplicate virtual machine data very efficiently. Keep in mind that this backup is the first backup run for this deduplication pool. Subsequent backups will see even higher levels of deduplication.


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With deduplication, as more data is stored in the deduplication pool (this process is called “seeding”), deduplication rates increase. Using this demo system as an example, subsequent VM backups will typically see virtual machine deduplication rates in excess of 90%.

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Lab Exercise 6 Explore NetBackup for VMware single file restore options 5 Minutes

NetBackup 7 for VMware provides a number of unique protection technologies designed specifically for virtual machines. These include:

• Granular File Restore. The ability to instantly search for and restore single files without needing to first pre-‐restore all VM (vmdk) files to disk. NetBackup 7.1 extended this technology to Linux, NetBackup 7.5 now adds additional ext 4 support. This technology is unique to NetBackup in that it works with any backup destination and is performed inline with the backup. No post processing or special hardware is required for NetBackup’s patent pending single file restore capability.

• Simplified virtual machine recovery. With NetBackup 7 for VMware any virtual machine can be restored quickly and instantly with as few as four mouse clicks.

Let’s take a look at NetBackup 7’s Granular File (single file) restore capability.

From the main NetBackup Administration Console, select the “File” menu and then select the “Backup, Archive and Restore” menu option (see below).

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You should now see the main NetBackup Windows Backup, Archive and Restore interface (below). We need to tell NetBackup which VM we are interested in restoring.

• From the Backup, Archive and Restore interface, select:

File > Specify NetBackup Machines and Policy Type…

• Click the “Edit Client List” and add vmwin1 to the Clients. From the “Select NetBackup Machines and Policy Type” pull down menu, select “vmwin1” (see below). Remember that the VMware Intelligent Policy (VIP) automatically selected this virtual machine for backup. Also set the Policy Type for restores to “VMware”.

The Policy type for restore “VMware” is new in NetBackup 7.5 and was introduced to make the restore process more intuitive and natural. In previous version of NetBackup the Policy Type was “Flashbackup for Windows”.

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• From the Backup, Archive and Restore interface, select the arrow (1) next to the “Select for Restore” menu (see below).

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• Select the Restore from Normal Backup (2) menu option (see above).

Now you should see all the files and folders associated with any standard Windows installation. Feel free to explore any of the files and folders that are displayed. All of this information is automatically collected whenever backing up Windows virtual machines. NetBackup can uniquely restore any file or folder directly from the VM (vmdk) data without needing to first restore the vmdk files to disk.

Restore the full VM by switching the view to “Restore from Virtual Machine Backup”.

Now let’s take a look at how the backup of a Linux virtual machine would be displayed.

For VM restores, NetBackup 7 uses the same restore interface (BAR GUI) that is used for standard client based backups and restores. This makes the VM single file restore process simple and straightforward.

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Once the “Restore from Normal File” View is selected you could see files and folders but these files and folders are obviously from our Linux virtual machine. Your view would be similar to what you see below:

Beginning with NetBackup 7.1 this unique single file restore capability was extended to Linux virtual machines. NetBackup always acurately restores 100% of Windows and Linux file permissions (including ACL’s). NetBackup never needs to perform post backup processing to provide this capability. NetBackup can also restore any file from any backup destination (tape, disk, dedupe, etc.) or from both full and incremental backups.


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Lab Exercise 7: Explore NetBackup for VMware single file restore options in OpsCenter 10 Minutes

A new capability of NetBackup 7.5 is to provide a simplified file restore interface with additional search capabilies in OpsCenter. The feature is called Operational Restore and works for file system restores on either physical or virtual machines, but also other data sources like Replication Director or NDMP backups.

The entire process is very simple. Operational Restore allows you to search data across multiple Master Server environments without having to know all the details about through which Master Server or Policy a server was backed up. Wildcarding as well as specifying date ranges allow even greater flexibility in searching for objects. Additionally you can restore from any copy and have the choice of either submitting the job right away or saving it in a restore basket for later execution.

So, let’s get started!

• Start the OpsCenter WebUI.

• Click “Continue to this website”.

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• Login as “admin” with password “password”. Note the new Hyperlinks on the right side.

• Click “Settings”, “Configuration”, then “Add” for adding a Master Server into the monitoring.

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• Enter “netbackup1” as Master Server name, click “Locate”. Once located successfully click “SAVE” on the bottom of the page.

• Goto “Manage”, select “Restore”. Click on “Restore Files and Directories”.

• Enter “*.pdf” as a search criteria. Click “Browse and select clients”. This allows you to select from any available clients.

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• You can expand the Client List by clicking the “+” sign next to the master. This search can be performed across multiple Master Servers and multiple Clients at the same time. Choose the selection like in the graphic below. Click “OK” on once made your selection.

• Click “Search”.

• Either check the Box in front of the file if you want to restore the latest version, in this case the “Restore Now” button becomes active.

Or click “Backup History Selection” for any displayed file.

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• Note there is a timeline and legend that allows users to easily identify how each backup was stored. Multiple Versions are shown with their timestamps. You can directly restore from any copy number. Lastly, you can add your selection to a restore basket and execute your restore selection at a later time. Click “Add to Restore Cart and Close”.

• On the top click on the “Restore Cart”.

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• Select the file. Click on “Restore now”.

• At this point NetBackup allows you to select your restore options like normal, restore to the same location or any alternate location. Note that because there is no NetBackup Client installed inside the VM for this lab, you need to restore the file to “netbackup1”.

• NetBackup previews your selection. Click “Restore”.

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• You can either monitor the job in OpsCenter or in the NetBackup Activity Monitor.

• The selected file has now been restored.

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Lab Exercise 8: Optional: Restore a deleted Virtual Machine through the BAR GUI 10 Minutes

In this section we do a full recovery of a deleted Virtual Machine.

• Select and open the VMware vSphere Client from the Windows taskbar.

• If it is not already powered off, power off the VM you backed up by right-‐clicking on vmwin1, then selecting it (see right): Power > Power Off The VM must be powered off before it can be deleted.

• Right-‐click on vmwin1 and select “Delete from Disk”.

• At this point you will get a warning screen. Verify that you want to delete this virtual machine by selecting “Yes”.

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• Select the Backup, Archive and Restore interface from the Windows Taks Bar (it should already be open). From the “File > Select NetBackup Machines and Policy Type” pull down menu, select “vmwin1” (see below).

• Select the arrow next to the “Select for Restore” (1) menu (see below).

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• Select the “Restore from Virtual Machine Backup” (2) menu option (see above).

You should see the following screen:

• “vmwin1” should be listed here. Select the checkbox next to “vmwin1”.

The vmdk assocated with “vmwin1” will be listed here.

• Click on the “Start Restore of Marked Files” icon. This will initate the Virtual Machine Recovery Wizard.

Note that the virtual machine individual files are no longer listed. This is because we are going to be restoring the entire virtual machine and not single files. However, both single file and entire virtual machine restores are processed from the same restore interface. There is no need to learn a new interface to process either type of restore.

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The Virtual Machine Recovery wizard (right) displays all information related to the virtual machine that we are restoring. This information was collected at backup time and can be used for reference during entire virtual machine restores, especially in disaster recovery situations.

For this exercise, note that this virtual machine was backed up while it was hosted on the ESX server named “esx1”. We will use this information later in this exercise.

• Select the “Original location” radio button.

• Now select the “Next >” button.

This next screen lists all the automatically populated restore fields. Simply click “Next”.

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Note the available restore options. NetBackup gives you a great amount of flexibility with the restore. Click “Next”.

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Now we see a screen that provides a detailed summary of the restore settings.

But before we begin the restore, NetBackup requires that a “Pre-‐Recovery” check be made to help ensure that the restore process will complete successfully.

• To being the this check, select the “Run Pre-‐Recover Check” button.

After a brief check, we can see that this check completed successfully. Now we can initiate the virtual machine restore.

• Select the “Start Recovery” button.

From this point you can monitor the restore process from either the restore interface or the Activity Monitor in the main NetBackup console. We will monitor the restore from the main console.

• Select “No”.

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• From the Windows Task Bar, select the main NetBackup Administration Console (see below).

• Double-‐click on the restore job.

• Select the “Detailed Status” tab.

The restore process will take between 7 and 10 minutes. Keep in mind that for this Lab everything is running from a single harddrive. You can monitor the process from the “Job Details” window.

NetBackup automatically controls the entire restore process and completely restores the virtual machine to its exact state at the time of the selected backup. Once the restore process is initiated, no other user intervention is required. Everything that is necessary to completely restore an entire virtual machine is automatically handled by NetBackup.

After the restore is 100% complete, we can check to verify that the restore process finished successfully and restored the virtual machine named “vmwin1” to the “esx1” server. We can do this by viewing the restored virtual machine from the vCenter client.

As you can see, the virtual machine restored correctly and is completly operational. The virtual machine disaster recovery procedure is extremely simply with NetBackup 7. No operating system knowledge is required.

This completes the final section of this NetBackup 7 for VMware Hands On Lab. Thank you for joining us today!

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