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Configure servers and virtual machines for backup

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This topic 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
Prepare your VMware setup for backup

1

Determine if you want to configure Phoenix for VMware ESXi or VMware vCenter Server.

You can choose to configure Phoenix for:

  • Standalone VMware ESXi 
    If you choose to configure Phoenix to back up virtual machines on ESXi, you require at least one installation of backup proxy for each VMware ESXi hypervisor. One or more instances of backup proxy back up virtual machines created on the associated host. 
  • VMware vCenter Server
    If you choose to configure Phoenix to back up virtual machines hosted on VMware ESXi hosts managed through vCenter Server, you require at least one installation of backup proxy for each vCenter Server. One or more instances of backup proxy back up virtual machines created across hosts associated with vCenter Server.

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 the backup proxy. 

To enable the 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. 

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. 

4

Log in to the Phoenix Management Console

To begin, log in to the Phoenix Management Console with the credentials that you received in the invitation email.

Note: If this is your first login, the welcome screen appears. Click Get Started to set up Phoenix. 
Register your VMware setup and configure virtual machines for backup 

5

Deploy, register, and configure backup proxy

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 the backup proxy. At the time of registration, Phoenix generates an activation token. At the time of configuration, use this token to activate backup proxy. 

6

Configure your virtual machines

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. 

 MS SQL server backup

You can set up MS-SQL server for backup after you have completed the initial configuration. Initial configuration includes:

  • Creating or 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, content rules, backup policies, and so on. Phoenix provides a default organization that you can select and register the servers. 
  • Creating administrators: Administrators are users that control server registration and configuration for backup and restore.

For the details on setting up Phoenix to back up databases to Failover Cluster Instance (FCI), refer to Configure Phoenix for the backup of node-based SQL failover cluster.

After the initial configuration is complete, perform the following steps to let Phoenix back up databases created and managed using MS-SQL server.

SQL workflow-1.png

Task Number Task Description
Prepare MS-SQL servers for backup
1 Log in to the 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 an MS- SQL server.

Use the Register New Server option from the MS-SQL Servers tab of the selected organization to download the Phoenix agent and generate the activation token.
Register MS-SQL server and configure databases for backup
2 Register the server

Go through the prerequisites, install the Phoenix agent on the system that hosts MS-SQL server instance(s), and activate the agent using the activation token. When you activate the 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.

Phoenix agent discovers the instances and AGs running on the server. To see the instances and AGs, log on to Phoenix Management Console, select the organization, and then click Protect > MS-SQL Servers. You can see the instances and AGs under the Instances/AGs tab.
3 Configure instances/AGs for backup
  1. Select the instance or AG and attach it to an administrative group.
  2.  Create a backup set.
    1. Define backup content for the instance or AG: You can back up the instances and the databases within the instances and databases across an availability group.
    2. Attach the instance or AG to an existing backup policy or to a new backup policy: Backup policy specifies the backup schedule, which defines when a backup job should get triggered, and the bandwidth available to the agent to execute a job. It also specifies the duration for which the snapshots and backed up transaction log are retained.
Back up databases
4 Agent triggers backup based on a backup set 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 based on the content rule, and its snapshot is created. When a log backup is triggered, the transaction log of the database is backed up based on the backup policy.
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.

ConfigureFileServer.png

The following table summarizes the steps to set up Phoenix to back up your File servers.

Task Number Task Description

1

Log in to the Phoenix Management Console

To begin, log in to the Phoenix Management Console with the credentials that you received in the invitation email.

Note: If this is your first login, the welcome screen appears. Click Get Started to set up Phoenix. 

2

Prerequisites for File Server

The prerequisites for installing Phoenix agent.

3
  1. Install Phoenix agent on the servers that you want to back up.
  2. Activate the agent to establish a connection between the Phoenix Cloud and the agent. This step also registers the new server on Phoenix Management Console.  To complete this step:
    1. Generate the activation token from Phoenix Management Console.
    2. Activate the Phoenix agent on the server using the activation token. This also registers the server on Phoenix Management Console.

4

Configure file servers

After activating Phoenix agents, the activated servers appear as registered servers under Protect > Windows/Linux Servers > All Servers.

Configure these servers to ensure their readiness for backup. 

Hyper-V backup

Phoenix Editions: File:/tick.png Business File:/cross.png Enterprise File:/tick.png Elite

Before you get into Phoenix configuration, learn more about Phoenix for Hyper-V and read system requirements.

Steps to set up Phoenix to back up virtual machines

Perform the following tasks to set up Phoenix to back up your virtual machines.

Task Number Task Description

1

Prepare your host for backup
  1. Prerequisites for Hyper-V host: Read the prerequisites for installing Phoenix agent.
  2. Log in to the Phoenix Management Console: To begin, log in to the Phoenix Management Console with the credentials that you received in the invitation email.

Note: If this is your first login, the welcome screen appears. Click Get Started to set up Phoenix. 

2

Register your host and configure virtual machines for backup
  1. Windows agent installation and activation: 
    Install Phoenix agent on the virtual machine host.
    Activate the agent to establish a connection between the Phoenix Cloud and the agent. This step also registers the new server on Phoenix Management Console.  To complete this step:
    1. Generate the activation token from Phoenix Management Console
      1. Log on to Phoenix Management Console, and select your organization from the drop-down list in the menu bar.
      2. From the menu bar, click Protect > Hyper-V.
      3. Click Register New Setup.
      4. Follow the steps in the wizard to download the agent and get the activation token. 
    2. Activate the Phoenix agent This also registers the server on Phoenix Management Console.
      1. Install the agent on the host.
      2. Activate the agent on the host.
         
  2. Configure the virtual machines for backup
    After activating Phoenix agents, the activated servers appear as hosts.
    To see the Hyper-V hosts:
    1. Log in to the Phoenix Management Console and select your organization from the drop-down list in the menu bar.
    2. From the menu bar, click Protect > Hyper-V. The registered server appears under the Hosts tab.

The All Virtual Machines tab lists all the virtual machines across the registered hosts. Select the virtual machines you want to configure and click Configure VM for backup.

Next steps

After you have an overview of configuration, see:

 

NAS share backup 

Phoenix Editions: File:/tick.png Business File:/cross.png Enterprise File:/tick.png Elite

Steps to set up Phoenix to back up NAS shares 

The following diagram depicts how to configure Phoenix to back up data from NAS shares.

QuickSetupSteps.png

The following table summarizes how to configure Phoenix to back up your NAS shares. 

Task Number Task Description
1

Read the Prerequisites for the NAS proxy

The system requirements for installing the NAS proxy. 

NAS proxy is the Phoenix agent that handles backup and restore requests from NAS shares from a separate Windows or Linux server. You must install at least one NAS proxy to be able to add a NAS device.

2
  1. Install and activate the NAS proxy. To back up SMB shares, install the proxy on a Windows server. If the shares are of an NFS type, install the proxy on a Linux server.
  2. Activate the NAS proxy. To complete this step:
    1. Generate the activation token from the Phoenix Management Console.
    2. Activate the NAS proxy on the Windows or Linux server using the activation token.
      Activation authorizes the NAS proxy to communicate with the Phoenix Cloud and handle backup and restore jobs from the NAS share. 

3

Add a NAS device

Add a NAS device that you want to back up.

4

Map the NAS proxy to the NAS device

Establish the link between the NAS proxy and the NAS device. 
5 Add a NAS share Add the NAS share to the NAS device.  
6 Configure the backup set using the NAS proxy Set the backup content, backup schedule, retention period, and assign the proxy to perform the backups. 

Oracle database backup 

Perform the following tasks to set up Phoenix to back up your databases.
oracle_qs_workflow-6.png
Click to enlarge

Task Description Where to perform the steps?

 1.  Prerequisites for Oracle

Read the system requirements for deploying the Phoenix Backup Store.

Druva documentation portal
  1. Get started with Phoenix
  1. Log in to the Phoenix Management Console with the credentials that you received in the invitation email.
  2. Create administrators.
  3. Create organizations.
  4. Set up Single Sign-On (SSO), if required.
  5. Log out of the Phoenix Management Console and log in using the updated settings.

For more information, see Get Started with Phoenix.
  • Phoenix Management Console

 
  1. Get the package and the activation token
    • Log in to the Phoenix Management Console
    • Download the Phoenix Backup Store deployment package
    • Generate an activation token

Not all administrators can perform the actions required to configure a Phoenix Backup Store. For more information, see Manage administrator accounts.  
  1. Log in to the Phoenix Management Console.
  2. On the Phoenix Management Console, select an Organization from the top menu.
  3. Click Protect > Oracle on the top menu to navigate to the Oracle page, and then click Register Phoenix Backup Store.
  4. Download the Phoenix Backup Store Debian package or the OVA and generate an activation token. 
Note: If this is your first login, the welcome screen appears. Click Get Started to set up Phoenix. 
  • Phoenix Management Console

 
  1. Deploy and register the Phoenix Backup Store
  • On an Ubuntu server:
    1. Set up the Ubuntu server as described in the system requirements. 
    2. Install the Debian package that Phoenix provides to set up the Phoenix Backup Store.  For more information on the Phoenix Backup Store, see Phoenix components for Oracle. 
    3. Activate the Phoenix Backup Store. 
    4. Create a ZFS pool on which backup mounts will be created. A backup mount is a shared directory on the Phoenix Backup Store. You mount this shared directory on the RMAN host, and it serves as a target location for RMAN to store Oracle RMAN backups.
  • On a VMware setup: 
    1. Deploy the OVA package that Phoenix provides and create a Phoenix Backup Store virtual machine. 
    2. Start the virtual machine and activate the Phoenix Backup Store using the activation token.
    3. Create a ZFS pool using the virtual disks attached to the virtual machine on which backup mounts will be created. A backup mount is a shared directory on the Phoenix Backup Store. You mount this shared directory on the RMAN host, and it serves as a target location for RMAN to store Oracle RMAN backups.
  • On an EC2 instance with Ubuntu as its operating system
    1. Set up the Ubuntu server as described in the system requirements. 
    2. Install the Debian package that Phoenix provides to set up the Phoenix Backup Store.  For more information on the Phoenix Backup Store, see Phoenix components for Oracle. 
    3. Activate the Phoenix Backup Store. 
    4. Create a ZFS pool on which backup mounts will be created. A backup mount is a shared directory on the Phoenix Backup Store. You mount this shared directory on the RMAN host, and it serves as a target location for RMAN to store Oracle RMAN backups.
  • Phoenix Backup Store

 
  1. Configure backup mounts on the Phoenix Backup Store
  • After activating the Phoenix Backup Store, it is registered under the Phoenix Backup Store tab of the Oracle page. After the Phoenix Backup Store is deployed and registered, it works as an NFS server. Create a backup mount on the Phoenix Backup Store that serves as a target location for Oracle RMAN backups. To create a mount: 
    1. Select a registered Phoenix Backup Store on the Phoenix Management Console and click Create Backup Mount. 
    2. Follow the steps on the wizard to create a backup mount. In the wizard: 
      • Provide a name for the mount
      • Select storage for the snapshots
      • Specify IP addresses of the RMAN hosts that can access the mount
      • Specify a bandwidth for the Phoenix Backup Store to upload snapshots to the cloud
      • Provide the retention settings for the snapshots.  
  • Phoenix Management Console

 
  1. Backup Oracle databases
  • The backup mount is created on the Phoenix Backup Store with a shared directory path. Mount the shared directory to the RMAN host. The RMAN hosts with whitelisted IP addresses can store Oracle RMAN backups on the mount. 
  • Run the Phoenix provided RMAN template script with the name of the mount. The script will create an Oracle RMAN backup and store it on the mount. The Phoenix Backup Store will create a snapshot of the Oracle RMAN backup and upload it to the Phoenix Cloud. 
  • The Oracle RMAN backups are available on the Phoenix Backup Store for restore.

The RMAN can store data on the Phoenix Backup Store as long as enough storage is available on it. Phoenix alerts you when the storage on the Phoenix Backup Store is critically low. Backups can fail if enough storage on the Phoenix Backup Store is not available for RMAN to store Oracle RMAN backups.

Ensure that you periodically remove Oracle RMAN backups stored on the Phoenix Backup Store or add capacity to it so that enough storage is available for RMAN to store latest backups. 
  • RMAN host