Details
Introduction
DPX is a Catalogic Data Protection solution which facilitates protection of heterogeneous sources (virtual and physical servers running different Operating Systems and a variety of applications). DPX supports backup destination servers and devices comprised of tape libraries, standalone tape drives, disk arrays, NetApp filers and more. Diversity of destinations provides a convenient way to use available resources and to plan protection solutions based on projected data size, data growth, suitable fabric and other internal and external factors. Recently, Catalogic has certified and added cloud targets to the mixture of possible destinations. Cloud availability facilitates and widens DPX customer use cases and creates a virtually infinite data array for storing and retrieving corporate data.
DPX Data Mover Architecture
As stated above, DPX supports disk directory as a destination (target) for backups. Disk directory is used for file level and NDMP backups. Often data is retained on disk for a short period of time to provide the fastest restore time, with subsequent migration to tape. A disk directory device is a directory location predefined on a volume visible from a “device server” and defined within DPX as part of a “Device Cluster” which is a hierarchical subdivision within the DPX Enterprise.
As illustrated on the screenshot below, the definition includes:
● Logical node name. This is a server with attached disk which is a part of the DPX Enterprise, referred to as a “Device Server.”
● Device ID. This is a predefined location on a disk volume attached to the device server. Best results are achieved when the disk is a local array or iSCSI or FC connected directly to the server. NFS / CIFS share is also a supported configuration, however it must be defined as a UNC name and does not support all DPX backup types.
Microsoft Azure Setup
Microsoft Azure has developed mechanisms for accessing the cloud through a variety of methodologies including the use of an iSCSI LUN. This iSCSI methodology presents a gateway to the cloud by allowing a LUN to be attached to a defined DPX Device Server, making it appear as a local drive, and enabling it to be used as a backup destination. The MS Azure methodology used for this process is called StorSimple.
There is ample documentation available describing MS Azure, best practices, and deployment. In a nutshell, you will need to deploy a virtual machine on your Virtual environment (VMware or Microsoft Hyper-V). This virtual appliance (Gateway VM) provides access to the Cloud and serves as a cache buffer for storing and forwarding data. After the appliance is set and configured, you will be able to define an iSCSI LUN that can be attached to the server of your choice. This process can be depicted as below:
Since deployment and setting up of an MS Azure storage gateway is an essential step for providing the iSCSI LUN to be used as a DPX destination device, following are certain individual actions describing the overall process (in this example, VMware is used for the gateway). Before starting, you must understand and plan for the requirements. Refer to information online regarding MS Azure. Initial information can be found here.
Note that to follow this document you deploy a gateway on premises – a virtual machine in your hypervisor environment.
Initially you must register with Microsoft to have access to Azure which allows you to download an OVA file for the gateway, manage your subscription, create volumes, monitor data, etc. As you can see from the screenshot below, you start by downloading an OVA and establishing system parameters for your virtual machine, which you will use for provisioning of a gateway.
After the VM (Virtual Array) is created and deployed, make a note of the IP address and URL – you will use them to complete local setup and registration with Microsoft.
Keep in mind while you will setup your Virtual Array, you will be given a key which will identify you and your devices on the MS Azure cloud. This key must be entered once, however we recommend keeping it in a safe place. To configure the device, use your host IP address and login to the Virtual Array you created. After successful login, you will be guided through several steps.
The most important steps are “Device settings” where you choose device type (iSCSI) and “Cloud settings” where you’re entering your ID to connect to the cloud and configuring cloud storage. Screenshots are below:
After registration is done, continue to the Azure Portal. You should see a newly created device with status, “Ready to Setup.” After several configuration steps you will bring your device online.
The next step is adding a volume. You will be guided through several steps to create a volume, with the last step to attach the volume to the host. An initiator name is required; it can be obtained from the iSCSI initiator property on a host to which your volume will be connected.
After volume and server are set in the MS Azure portal, you can add this volume to the server you intend to use as device server within DPX.
Device Server Setup
After the above procedure is completed, you need to set up a Windows server which will be used as a device server in Catalogic DPX. Setting up of the Windows server follows the regular administrative procedure to attach and configure an iSCSI disk device to the server. If you want to use a Linux server for this role, follow the guidelines for Linux regarding how to scan and attach an iSCSI disk to the server. The following screenshots are taken from Windows 2008 R2; they may look different for other versions of Windows Server, however the substance of the procedure is the same.
- Bring up an iSCSI initiator on a Windows control panel to scan available targets using the IP address of the MS Azure Virtual Array. Find the specific target and connect to it by pressing the “Connect” button. You will get information similar to the below.
- Connect to the target. (Status will be changed to “connected”.)
- Proceed to the disk manager; you should see unknown devices.
- In the Disk Management window, the mounted volumes will appear as shown in the following illustration. Right-click the discovered volume (click the disk name), and then click Online.
- Proceed through the steps to bring the volume online and format it, so the volume appears in a list of healthy available volumes.
After the new volume is configured and visible as a local drive, it can be used as a destination for file level backup and NDMP backup. Check the DPX documentation regarding setup and running of these job types. Keep in mind that the data saved on this drive is transferred to the cloud and the performance of writing data on it depends on several factors which are external to DPX. Currently Microsoft offers a StarWind VTL solution to be used with disk devices. VTL consists of control mechanism and disk devices which can be locally attached to the server or served by MS Azure Virtual Array (cloud). Documentation for StarWind can be found here, its configuration is outside of the scope of this document.