Documentation
Configure the servers and virtual machines for backup
This article covers the steps required to get started with backing up the servers and virtual machines in your environment.
Virtual machine backup
Perform the following tasks to set up Phoenix to back up your virtual machine setup.
| Task Number | Task | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Get ready to prepare your VMware setup | ||
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1 |
Determine if you want to configure Phoenix for VMware ESXi or VMware vCenter Server. |
You can choose to configure Phoenix for:
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2 |
Ensure that your VMware setup has sufficient resources for a backup proxy deployment |
Backup proxy is bundled along with a CentOS installer in an OVF virtual appliance. When you deploy the appliance, a new CentOS virtual machine is created along with an installation of backup proxy. To enable backup proxy to work as expected, ensure that your setup is such that you can assign the minimum resources that backup proxy requires. For more information, see Prerequisites for setting up Phoenix for VMware. |
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3 |
Ensure that you have adequate storage |
Depending on your data needs, the Druva Support team creates and assigns storage for your setup. To request for additional storage, write to the Druva Support team. Alternatively, get in touch with your account executive. |
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4 |
Log on to Phoenix Management Console |
To begin, log on to Phoenix Management Console with the credentials that you received in the invitation email.
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| Prepare your VMware setup for backup | ||
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5 |
To enable backup across virtual machines, you must deploy one or multiple instances of backup proxy on ESXi hypervisors or vCenter Servers, depending on whether you want to enable backup for virtual machines created on specific hosts or virtual machines across all hosts. Thereafter, you must register and configure backup proxy. At the time of registration, Phoenix generates an activation token. At the time of configuration, use this token to activate backup proxy. |
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6 |
After activating backup proxy, virtual machines hosted on ESXi appear under All Virtual Machines on the VMware Setups page. Configure your virtual machines to schedule for automatic backups. |
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MS-SQL server backup
You can set up SQL server for backup after you have completed the initial configuration. Initial configuration includes:
- Creating/selecting an organization: In Phoenix, Organization is an access-based control mechanism to configure the servers for backup and restore. Organizations create a logical partitioning of the entities, such as servers, backup policies, retention policies and so on. Phoenix provides a default organization (called Default Site) that you can select and register your servers.
- Creating administrators: Administrators are users that control server registration and configuration for backup and restore.
After the initial configuration is complete, perform the following steps to let Phoenix back up databases created and managed using MS-SQL server.
| Task Number | Task | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Prepare your SQL servers for backup | ||
| 1 | Log on to Phoenix Management Console and select an organization to register a server. | From the Phoenix management console, select an organization in which you want to register a SQL server. Use the Register New Server option from the Servers tab of the selected organization to download the Phoenix agent and generate the activation token. |
| Register and configure your SQL servers for backup | ||
| 2 | Register your server | Go through the prerequisites, install the Phoenix agent on the system that hosts SQL server instance(s), and activate the agent using the activation token. When you activate your agent, you provide a server name for the system on which the agent is installed. Your system is registered with the server name you provide. To see your server, log on to Phoenix management console, select your organization and then click Servers. You can see your server under the Registered tab. |
| 3 | Configure your server for backup | Select your server, and attach it to a server group. Backup and retention policies specified for the server group are applied to your server. You can:
Backup policies specify the backup content, backup schedule which defines when a backup job should get triggered, and the bandwidth available to the agent to execute a job. |
| Back up databases | ||
| 4 | Agent triggers backup based on backup policy | Phoenix agent triggers a backup job based on the schedule you specify in the backup policy. When a full or differential backup job is triggered, Phoenix backs up the selected database, and its snapshot is created. When a log backup is triggered, transaction log of the database is backed up. |
| Restore databases | ||
| 5 | Trigger restore from the Phoenix Management console | When you require a recovery, you trigger a restore job from the Phoenix management console. Phoenix lets you perform the following restore jobs: |
File server backup
The following diagram depicts the steps to set up Phoenix to back up files and folders.
The following table summarizes the steps to setup Phoenix to back up your File servers.
| Task Number | Task | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Get ready to prepare your File servers for backup | ||
| 1 | Ensure that you have adequate storage | Depending on your data needs, the Druva Support team creates and assigns storage. To request for additional storage, write to the Druva Support team (support@druva.com). Alternatively, get in touch with your account executive. |
| 2 | Log on to Phoenix Management Console |
To begin, log on to Phoenix Management Console with the credentials that you received in the invitation email.
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Prepare your File servers for backup |
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| 3 | Register a new server |
To establish a connection between your servers and Phoenix Cloud, register the servers. At the time of registration, Phoenix generates an activation token. Use this token to activate Phoenix agents that are installed on your servers. |
| 4 | Prerequisites for File Server | The prerequisites for installing Phoenix agent. |
| 5 |
Install Phoenix agent on the servers that you want to back up. Thereafter, activate the agents to establish a connection between Phoenix Cloud and all agent instances. Use the token that Phoenix generated at the time of registering servers. |
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| 6 | Configure file servers |
After activating Phoenix agents, the activated servers appear as registered servers under Manage > Servers. Configure these servers to ensure their readiness for backup. |