Solution Overview VMWARE PROTECTION WITH EMC NETWORKER 8.2. White Paper

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1 White Paper VMWARE PROTECTION WITH EMC NETWORKER 8.2 Solution Overview Abstract This white paper describes the integration of EMC NetWorker with VMware vcenter. It also includes details on the NetWorker architecture and benefits of using NetWorker for data protection of VMware environments. September 2014

2 Copyright 2014 EMC Corporation. All Rights Reserved. EMC believes the information in this publication is accurate as of its publication date. The information is subject to change without notice. The information in this publication is provided as is. EMC Corporation makes no representations or warranties of any kind with respect to the information in this publication, and specifically disclaims implied warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose. Use, copying, and distribution of any EMC software described in this publication requires an applicable software license. For the most up-to-date listing of EMC product names, see EMC Corporation Trademarks on EMC.com. Part Number H Table of Contents Executive Summary... 4 Introduction and Audience... 5 The Solution Overview... 5 VBA Overview... 6 General Architecture... 7 Role Based Administration

3 Summary

4 Executive Summary More than 500,000 customers leverage VMware as their virtualization platform. Virtual machines are easy to create, are portable, and can move from ESX host to ESX host automatically. Virtualization is enabling companies to deploy new applications within hours versus days, while empowering IT to better service their customers through a service-provider approach to data protection. This approach can accelerate both IT and business initiatives, while transforming IT s data protection approach and technology. One aspect of the transformation includes virtualization teams using virtual machine-specific data protection tools while the business maintains centralized visibility and control of the business policies and retention. The move to virtualization is changing the way companies architect their data protection infrastructure. Traditional backup solutions cause resource contention on the virtual infrastructure, such as network, memory, disk, etc. and do not scale. These resource contentions lead to longer than acceptable backups and recoveries, the inability to meet business SLAs and disaster recovery objectives, as well as placing a burden on the backup administrator who may be required to manage additional backup client resources and schedules. In order to address many of the issues found with traditional backup techniques being applied to virtualized infrastructures, VMware released vsphere 5.1, which provided VMware administrators a rich feature set for backup and recovery through VADP. EMC NetWorker has been taking steps to integrate with VMware management tools, particularly the VMware vsphere Web UI. This integration makes the management of backup and recovery more effective and accessible to those that are responsible for managing the virtualization infrastructure itself. NetWorker vcenter integration was delivered in NetWorker 8.1 with the introduction of the NetWorker VMware Backup Appliance (VBA). The VBA enhances the feature set of the standard VMware VADP offering and adds leading edge functionality for the data protection of VMware. By leveraging VADP s Changed Block Tracking for example, NetWorker is able to reduce the size of the client backup and recovery before it is transferred over the network, eliminating the infrastructure resource issues found with traditional backup solutions. NetWorker eliminates the performance concerns typical with more traditional backup methods by offering 3x faster backup and 30x faster image-based recovery. In NetWorker 8.2 EMC extends NetWorker s VBA capability and flexibility for VM recoveries. First, is the integration with EMC Data Domain systems to provide the flexibility of performing an Instant Access Recovery directly from Data Domain. This enhancement provides for near-instantaneous recovery of a running VM for the most critical business applications running on a virtual infrastructure. Second, is the ability to 4

5 select individual virtual disks from a protected VM to recover, rather than having to recover the entire VM. In the following sections we will go into greater detail on the NetWorker VBA and its robust capabilities. Introduction and Audience This paper provides a technical overview of what functionality is included with NetWorker 8.2 data protection for VMware. Included is an in-depth look at the NetWorker VMware Backup Appliance. The paper is intended for VMware and backup administrators who are looking to better understand the architecture and functionality delivered by the NetWorker solution. Not included in this paper are details surrounding NetWorker s legacy VADP functionality. The Solution Overview NetWorker delivers industry-leading data protection for VMware environments through integration with VMware vcenter. NetWorker integration occurs by deploying an OVA 1 within vcenter. The OVA contains the NetWorker VMware Backup Appliance (VBA) software. The NetWorker solution for VMware empowers the VMware administrator to protect thousands of virtual machines through the vsphere Web Client interface and adds value to data centers that are moving to a self-service model for data protection. The solution provides the flexibility to define policies that match the business requirements. For example, many customers have specific Recovery Time Objectives (RTO) and Recovery Point Objectives (RPO) for their business applications. The business may dictate requirements for specific backup targets, retention policies and replication medium. NetWorker supports a wide variety of disk and tape targets, including EMC Data Domain system for backup as well as replication. Cloning to all supported backup targets, such as Data Domain systems, disk or tape is configurable using the NetWorker Management Console (NMC) and is part of the policy that is automatically pushed out to vcenter. Clone Controlled Replication (CCR), which is the replication of one Data Domain system to another, brings additional benefits by only replicating the deduplicated data. The cloning process will begin automatically after a saveset backup has completed. This adds value by ensuring the data availability is in adherence to the business policies for disaster recovery. It is transparent to the VMware administrator that the data is being replicated. The VMware administrator is able to recover from the primary device as well as the device that contains the replicated data. 1 An OVA (open virtual appliance or application) is a single file distribution stored in the TAR format. 5

6 Scalability is another advantage to the NetWorker solution. Load balancing occurs across universal proxy servers which are automatically selected based on availability. For example, NetWorker will load balance jobs across virtual proxy servers to assure that individual proxies are not overtaxed. Jobs can also be directed to available proxies to handle high-priority workloads. NetWorker s integration with vcenter provides many benefits: Fast and efficient data protection for all of your virtual machines, even those powered off or migrated between ESX hosts Significant reduction in disk space required for the backup data, using patented variable-length deduplication across all backups Forever Full Incremental - Every VBA backup is a full backup. There is no need to restore from the last full and subsequent incremental backups to reach the desired recovery point. After an initial full backup, only the incremental backups are sent to the VBA. The VBA will keep track of all the incremental backups and sends the proper data back to the server during restore. In essence, the process of restoring the incremental data becomes completely transparent and mimics the process of restoring a full backup. This feature is further enhanced through NetWorker s use of Changed Block Tracking APIs offered by VADP. Allows for easy backup and recovery without a need for third-party agents installed on each virtual machine. Flexibility to perform single VMDK backup and restore for a VM when only needing to protect a single virtual disk. Direct access to backup and recovery configurations from within the vsphere Web Client Disaster Recovery readiness, including replication Instant Access Recovery Leveraging integration with Data Domain, the ability to run a virtual machine from a backup image can be orchestrated from the vsphere Web UI. Centralized Policy Management File Level Recovery for Unix and Linux from the EMC Data Protection Restore Client Image level backup and recovery from the vsphere Web Client VBA Overview The VBA is a software appliance providing scalability, enhanced administration, vcenter integration, and deduplication with EMC Data Domain Boost. The primary backup target for the VBA is a Data Domain system. 6

7 NetWorker adds value to the business by providing role based administration, thereby empowering the administrators of VMware, applications, and NetWorker to take control of their environments while eliminating the need to learn new administrative interfaces. This concept brings benefits to those customers that use traditional methods of managing data centers as well as those moving to an IT service provider model. General Architecture The VBA is deployed into the existing VMware infrastructure and includes Data Domain Boost, a backup proxy, and a backup engine. Backup Engine o Provides communication with the proxies, vcenter, and NetWorker. The backup engine is also responsible for Changed Block Tracking. Data Domain Boost 2 o A Data Domain system is the primary backup target for the VBA. Client side deduplication is automatic for all backups through integration with Data Domain Boost. Backup Proxy o The VBA contains its own proxy, configurable for one to eight backup threads (simultaneous VM backups) All internal backup threads on the proxy may be shut down, if desired o For additional scale, external proxies can be deployed (each configurable from one to eight backup threads) o The maximum number of threads supported per VBA is 50 o A NetWorker server can manage multiple VBAs to support backup of hundreds to thousands of VMs per backup window An available proxy with access to the data store of the VM being backed up will use hot add mode. The VMware hot add feature allows for a disk to be added to a VM without a reboot of the VM. This brings value by ensuring that all proxies have adequate resources at any given time to participate in the backup and restore operations. 2 Data Domain Boost must be licensed with NetWorker and on the Data Domain System 7

8 Figure 1: NetWorker VBA Architecture For more information on the VMware integration with NetWorker, reference the NetWorker 8.2 VMware Integration Guide Role Based Administration The NetWorker solution provides tools for each of the administrators responsible for the data protection of VMware servers and applications. The administrative features are a means by which the backup, systems and VMware administrators can collaborate yet function independently to achieve common data protection goals with no need to learn new tools or processes. VMware Administrator: The VMware administrator will use the EMC Backup and Recovery plug-in within the vsphere Web Client to protect the VMware environment. The plug-in is made visible after the installation and registration of the VBA is completed. The integration allows the VMware administrator to initiate backups and restores (including instant access restores) directly through the vsphere Web Client using the same interface they know and use for all other administrative tasks. The policies selected by the VMware administrator are those defined in the NMC; however, it is transparent to the VMware administrator that NetWorker is managing the policies. This ensures that the backups are in adherence to the business policies. The policies that the VMware administrator assigns via vsphere are dynamic, allowing for any VM assigned to a folder to be automatically protected by the folder level policy. This ensures that all new VMs added within that folder are automatically discovered and protected without user intervention. The vsphere Web Client also enables the VMware administrator to perform selfservice image level recoveries, without relying on the Backup Administrator or knowledge of the NetWorker software. This includes the ability to perform single 8

9 vmdk level restores for further flexibility in the VM Admin s backup management capabilities. NetWorker Administrator: The NMC is the interface for the NetWorker administrator. NMC is used to manage and monitor all NetWorker servers, VBAs, backup targets, policies and clients. All VBAs registered with vcenter will automatically be displayed in the NMC Administration window. A default VMware protection policy is created and the policy is automatically assigned to the VBA. It is recommended that upon configuration of the VBA the backup administrator create a customized default backup policy and designate that all new VMs created are automatically joined to this policy. When leveraging a user created default backup policy, the NetWorker administrator does not need to create a client resource for each of the VMs. This reduces the burden on the NetWorker administrator over time and ensures that all VMs are protected immediately upon deployment. Plus, the NetWorker Administrator does not need to have any in-depth knowledge of the VMware environment(s). Changes that are made within the NMC and are relevant to the VBA are pushed to vcenter and made available, transparently, to the VMware administrator through the EMC Backup and Recovery interface. Figure 2: NMC VMware environment mapping view Introduced in NetWorker 8.2, NMC now provides for a VMware Environment Mapping view that allows the NetWorker administrator to easily visualize and perform the following tasks directly from within NMC: Discovery And Visualization From NetWorker Management Console Displays Container Hierarchy And Properties 9

10 View/Edit Associations Between Objects And Policies Shows Protected/Unprotected/Over-Protected VM s Offering this clean visual representation of the entire vcenter environment allows the NetWorker administrator to more easily perform day-to-day management tasks and diagnose and troubleshoot potential issues. System Administrator/End User: Systems administrators and end users are able to recover Windows and Linux files via the EMC Data Protection Restore Client Interface, which is web based. This enables self-service restores bringing additional value to the backup and VMware administrators who no longer need to be burdened with file level restore requests. The EMC Data Protection Restore Client allows for folders and/or files to be restored to the original virtual machine, as well as to a different virtual machine. This support includes file level recovery of Windows and Linux. To access the client, the end user simply enters the URL that points to the VBA and then selects a file-level restore. The end user will only be able to access those files/folders with adequate permissions. Summary EMC NetWorker delivers enhanced backup and recovery capabilities for VMware environments, including integration with vcenter. The VMware and backup administrators are able to easily manage their respective applications and do not need to learn new tools. NetWorker brings additional value and reduces the total cost of ownership by automatically load balancing the backup and restore jobs jobs are directed to proxies based on availability, as well as providing integrated client side deduplication. The NetWorker VMware Backup Appliance is a software appliance that brings benefits to VMware customers. 3x faster backup and 30x faster image-based recovery Changed Block Tracking for both backup and restore Utilizes existing LAN/WAN IP bandwidth and virtual infrastructure Centralized Policy Management Integrated Deduplication Leverages Existing Management Interfaces 10

11 Integration with vcenter Centralized Monitoring and Reporting Instant Access Capabilities via EMC Data Domain integration Single Virtual Disk Granularity for Backup and Recovery Flexible Image-level and End User Self-Service File Recovery Forever Incremental Backup Disaster Recovery and Replication Common Management Interfaces 11