Acronis Backup Recovery for vCloud Administrator's Guide

Acronis Backup & Recovery for vCloud

Administrator's Guide

Table of contents

1 Administrator's Guide ............................................................................................................4

1.1 About this document ................................................................................................................. 4

1.2 Introduction to Acronis Backup & Recovery for vCloud ............................................................ 4

1.2.1 Software requirements ................................................................................................................................... 4

1.2.2 Acronis Backup & Recovery for vCloud architecture .................................................................................... 5

1.2.3 Planning hardware resources ......................................................................................................................... 7

1.3 Installing Acronis Backup & Recovery for vCloud ...................................................................... 9

1.3.1 Preparation ...................................................................................................................................................... 9

1.3.2 Installing and configuring RabbitMQ Server ............................................................................................... 10

1.3.3 Installing Acronis Backup & Recovery Management Server ...................................................................... 11

1.3.4 Using the management console .................................................................................................................. 14

1.3.5 Integrating the management server with vCenter Server ......................................................................... 15

1.3.6 Deploying Agent for ESX(i) ............................................................................................................................ 15

1.3.7 Installing Acronis Backup & Recovery Agent for vCloud ............................................................................ 17

1.3.8 Configuring Acronis Backup & Recovery Agent for vCloud ........................................................................ 17

1.3.9 Checking network connections .................................................................................................................... 20

1.3.10 Uninstallation ................................................................................................................................................ 21

1.4 Logging in to the backup service .............................................................................................22

1.5 Administering organizations ....................................................................................................22

1.5.1 Monitoring organizations ............................................................................................................................. 22

1.5.2 Enabling backup for an organization ........................................................................................................... 23

1.5.3 Disabling backup for an organization .......................................................................................................... 25

1.5.4 Operating within an organization ................................................................................................................ 26

1.6 Configuring the backup service ...............................................................................................26

1.6.1 Managing system backup plans ................................................................................................................... 28

1.7 Generating usage reports ........................................................................................................29

1.8 Advanced cases ........................................................................................................................30

1.8.1 Recovery of files from a backup of a virtual machine ................................................................................ 30

1.8.2 Disaster recovery of physical machines to vCloud ..................................................................................... 31

1.8.3 Changing the backup storage ....................................................................................................................... 32

2 User's Guide ........................................................................................................................ 34

2.1 About the backup service ........................................................................................................34

2.2 Supported web browsers .........................................................................................................34

2.3 Installing VMware Tools ..........................................................................................................34

2.4 Basic operations .......................................................................................................................35

2.4.1 Logging in to the service ............................................................................................................................... 35

2.4.2 Backing up virtual machines ......................................................................................................................... 35

2.4.3 Applying a backup plan ................................................................................................................................. 36

2.4.4 Overwriting a virtual machine with its backed-up version ........................................................................ 37

2.4.5 Recovering a virtual machine ....................................................................................................................... 38

2.4.6 Monitoring protection statuses ................................................................................................................... 40

2.5 Operations with backups .........................................................................................................40

2.6 Operations with backup plans .................................................................................................41

2.6.1 Creating a backup plan ................................................................................................................................. 41

2.6.2 Editing a backup plan .................................................................................................................................... 44

2.6.3 Revoking a backup plan ................................................................................................................................ 45

2.6.4 Deleting a backup plan.................................................................................................................................. 45

2.7 Generating usage reports ........................................................................................................45

3 Terminology reference ......................................................................................................... 47

1 Administrator's Guide

1.1 About this document

This document is intended for system administrators of VMware vCloud Director who want to provide a backup service to vCloud organizations by using Acronis Backup & Recovery for vCloud.

The document explains how to:

 Install Acronis Backup & Recovery for vCloud  Configure it to work with vCloud Director  Enable the backup service for organizations  Administer the backup service (monitor the service status, configure backup and recovery

options, generate usage reports, and more)

For information about how to back up and recover virtual machines and administer an organization, please refer to the Acronis Backup & Recovery for vCloud User's Guide (p. 34).

Acronis Backup & Recovery for vCloud belongs to the Acronis Backup & Recovery product family. Additional information about Acronis Backup & Recovery can be found in the Acronis Backup & Recovery Web Help: http://www.acronis.com/support/documentation/ABR11.5/

1.2 Introduction to Acronis Backup & Recovery for

vCloud

Acronis Backup & Recovery for vCloud is a solution for backup and recovery of virtual machines managed by VMware vCloud Director.

Acronis Backup & Recovery for vCloud provides the backup service at a system administrator level and organization user level. The backup service is available through a web interface. Users log in to the service by using their vCloud Director credentials.

In order to deploy the backup service to your vCloud Director infrastructure, you need to install Acronis Backup & Recovery for vCloud components and integrate them with the vCloud Director components.

Please review the topics in this section before starting with the installation.

1.2.1 Software requirements

Supported VMware vCloud Director versions

 VMware vCloud Director 1.5  VMware vCloud Director 5.0  VMware vCloud Director 5.1  VMware vCloud Director 5.5

Supported guest operating systems

Acronis Backup & Recovery for vCloud supports a wide range of guest operating systems, including Windows 8, Windows Server 2012, and all popular Linux distributions.

Supported web browsers

 Google Chrome 12 or later  Mozilla Firefox 12 or later  Windows Internet Explorer 9 or later  Safari 5 or later running in the Mac OS X and iOS operating systems

In other web browsers (including Safari browsers running in other operating systems), the user interface might be displayed incorrectly, or all functions might not be available.

Make sure that JavaScript is enabled in the browser.

The screen resolution for displaying the graphical user interface must be 1024x768 or higher.

1.2.2 Acronis Backup & Recovery for vCloud architecture

Acronis Backup & Recovery for vCloud consists of multiple components that can be installed on separate machines.

Components of Acronis Backup & Recovery for vCloud

A typical installation includes at least two virtual machines located in the vCloud management cluster and a number of virtual appliances running in the vCloud resource group.

The following components run in the vCloud resource group:

 Agents for ESX(i) run as virtual appliances.

Agent for ESX(i) performs backup and recovery of ESX(i) virtual machines without installing agents into the guest systems.

The following components run in the management cluster:

 Management Server needs to be installed on a virtual machine running Windows.

The management server integrates with vCenter Server (the one that is allocated for the resource group), deploys Agents for ESX(i), and manages backup and recovery.

The management server stores its configuration, logs and statistics in Microsoft SQL databases. The databases can be attached to the SQL Server Express instance that is installed by default with the management server, or to any other SQL Server instance accessible by the management server.

 Agent for vCloud runs on a Linux virtual machine, which also serves as the web server. The agent

is delivered as an Open Virtualization Format (OVF) template.

The agent enables communication between the management server and vCloud Director. It queries vCloud Director for necessary information and provides it to the management server. Agent for vCloud can retrieve the protection status of virtual machines directly from the management server database. Also, the agent provides the graphical user interface to the users.

Software that is necessary for using Acronis Backup & Recovery for vCloud

vCloud users interact with Acronis Backup & Recovery for vCloud by using a web browser. To log in to the backup service, they use the same credentials as they use to log in to vCloud Director. The web

browser connects to the agent's web server and displays the information that the agent provides. The amount of information depends on the user rights in vCloud Director.

Acronis Backup & Recovery Management Console enables you to connect directly to the management server. This connection is required to integrate the management server with vCenter Server and to deploy Agents for ESX(i). Once these operations are completed, the console is not necessary for functioning of Acronis Backup & Recovery for vCloud. However, you may need it for deploying additional agents, for troubleshooting, and for other administrative tasks. The console can be installed along with the management server or on any other machine that has network access to the management server.

Agent for vCloud obtains events from vCloud Director via the RabbitMQ Server AMQP broker. This component is not a necessary part of vCloud deployment, so you might need to deploy it in addition to Acronis Backup & Recovery for vCloud.

Installation example

The following diagram illustrates a typical installation and interaction of the components. In our example, we assume that vCloud Director uses Microsoft SQL databases. Therefore, we can place the management server databases on the same virtual machine with vCloud Director databases. However, the management server databases must run on a separate SQL Server instance.

Acronis Backup & Recovery Management Console is installed on the same virtual machine with the management server.

Virtual machines that run Acronis Backup & Recovery for vCloud components are colored light blue.

Memory

Hard disk size

CPU number

Virtual machines that run VMware vCloud components are colored light green.

1.2.3 Planning hardware resources

Consider how much vSphere capacity you need for running Acronis Backup & Recovery for vCloud and where you will store the backups.

1.2.3.1 vSphere capacity requirements

Agent for ESX(i) (Virtual Appliance)

Agents for ESX(i) run as virtual appliances in the vCloud resource group. If a cluster contains a large number of virtual machines to be backed up, you may want to deploy more than one agent to this cluster.

The following table shows vSphere capacity requirements for Agent for ESX(i) (Virtual Appliance).

1 GB

6 GB (thick

provisioning)

2 (the default Virtual Appliance setting)

4-8 (recommended if backing up 5-10 VMs simultaneously)

Agent for vCloud

Memory

Hard disk size

CPU number

2 GB

8 GB (thin

provisioning)

Software installed on the machine

Memory

Hard disk size

CPU number

Management Server + Management Console

2 GB

min 20 GB (thick

provisioning)

Management Server + Management Console + Microsoft SQL Server Express (installed by default with the management server)

3 GB

min 30 GB (thick

provisioning)

Agent for vCloud needs to be imported from the OVF template to the management cluster.

The following table shows vSphere capacity requirements for Agent for vCloud.

Management Server

Acronis Backup & Recovery Management Server needs to be installed in the management cluster on a virtual machine running Windows.

The following table shows vSphere capacity requirements for a machine running Windows Server 2003/2008 R2 and the specified components.

1.2.3.2 Planning backup storages

Acronis Backup & Recovery for vCloud stores backups in shared folders on the network.

Supported network protocols

The following network protocols are supported:

 NFS

Important. If you want to use NFS shares to store backups, install Microsoft Windows Services for NFS on the machine where Acronis Backup & Recovery Management Server is installed. To do this, open Control Panel, go to Programs and Features, click Turn Windows features on or off, and then select the Services for NFS check box and its nested check boxes.

 SMB  FTP  SFTP

Backup storages

A backup storage is a folder allocated for storing organization's backups. A path to a backup storage should be specified in one of the following formats:

 NFS

nfs://ServerX/ExportPath:/PathInExportFolder (for example: nfs://Server/Backups/Organizations:/OrgName)

Note the colon after the export folder path. To specify the export folder without a subfolder, use the following notation: nfs://ServerX/ExportPath:/

 SMB

smb://ServerX/.../FolderName (for example, smb://Server/Backups/Organizations/OrgName)

\\ServerX\ShareA\...\FolderName (for example, \\Server\Backups\Organizations\OrgName)

 FTP

ftp://ServerX/.../FolderName (for example, ftp://Server/Backups/Organizations/OrgName)

 SFTP

sftp://ServerX/.../FolderName (for example, sftp://Server/Backups/Organizations/OrgName)

We strongly recommend that you create a separate folder for each organization. If you allow multiple organizations to share a common backup storage, every organization administrator will be able to see, delete, and even perform recovery from other organization's backups.

Storage capacity requirements

The storage space required for an organization's backups depends on the amount of the backed-up data, the backup schedule, retention rules, and other factors. As a rough estimate, you can expect that the backups will occupy as much space as is allocated for the organization in vCloud Director.

Organizing a backup storage on a LUN device

You can use the NFS protocol to access logical unit number (LUN) devices in a Fibre-Channel or iSCSI storage area network (SAN).

To organize an NFS folder on a LUN device

1. Install an NFS server on a machine running Linux.

2. Assign the LUN device to the machine so that the device appears as a local disk.

3. In the NFS server configuration, specify the LUN device as an NFS export folder.

Now you can create subfolders and specify their paths as described above for the NFS protocol.

Changing a backup storage

The organization's backup storage can be changed by a vCloud system administrator, if necessary. For more information about how to do this, refer to "Changing the backup storage" (p. 32).

1.3 Installing Acronis Backup & Recovery for vCloud

1.3.1 Preparation

Before starting the installation, please familiarize yourself with the Acronis Backup & Recovery for vCloud architecture (p. 5) and make sure that:

 vCloud Director is installed and configured.  Sufficient vSphere resources are available to deploy Acronis Backup & Recovery for vCloud. Refer

to the exact values in "vSphere capacity requirements" (p. 7).

 You have storage that supports any of the following network protocols: NFS, SMB, FTP, or SFTP.

Refer to the exact requirements in "Planning backup storages" (p. 8).

 You have a virtual machine running a Windows operating system (except for the Start, Home,

and RT editions) to install Acronis Backup & Recovery Management Server on. The machine must

have network access to the vCenter Server for the resource group and to the resource group ESX(i) clusters.

1.3.2 Installing and configuring RabbitMQ Server

Agent for vCloud obtains events from vCloud Director via the RabbitMQ Server AMQP broker.

If your vCloud Director already uses RabbitMQ Server, make sure that the exchange type is set to topic, and continue to "Installing Acronis Backup & Recovery Management Server" (p. 11).

If RabbitMQ Server is already installed, but not used by vCloud Director, skip to step 5 of the following procedure.

To install and configure RabbitMQ Server

1. Download RabbitMQ Server from http://www.rabbitmq.com/download.html.

2. If you want to install RabbitMQ Server on a machine running Windows, download and run Erlang

Windows Binary File, which is available at http://www.erlang.org/download.html.

3. Follow the RabbitMQ installation instructions to install RabbitMQ on any convenient host. The

host must have network access to vCloud Director.

4. The RabbitMQ management plug-in is required so that you can configure RabbitMQ Server. Do

one of the following, depending on the operating system of the RabbitMQ Server host:

 In Linux, run the following commands:

rabbitmq-plugins enable rabbitmq_management service rabbitmq-server stop service rabbitmq-server start

 In Windows:

 Go to Start > All programs > RabbitMQ Server > RabbitMQ Command Prompt.  Run the following command: rabbitmq-plugins enable rabbitmq_management  Run Start > All programs > RabbitMQ Server > RabbitMQ Service - stop.  Run Start > All programs > RabbitMQ Server > RabbitMQ Service - start.

5. Open a web browser and go to the RabbitMQ Server Web UI located at: http://<server

name>:15672/. Here, <server name> is the address of the RabbitMQ Server host.

6. Provide the credentials of a RabbitMQ Server user. The default credentials are:

 User name: guest  Password: guest

7. Click Exchanges.

8. Under Add a new exchange: a. In Name, specify a name for a new exchange that will be used by Agent for vCloud. For

example, specify vcdExchange.

b. In Type, select topic. c. Leave the default values for all other settings. d. Click Add exchange.

9. Log in as an administrator to vCloud Director.

10. Click Administration.

11. Under System settings, click Extensibility.

12. Under Notifications, select the Enable notifications check box.

13. Under AMQP Broker Settings: a. In AMQP Host, specify the name or IP address of the RabbitMQ Server host. b. In AMQP Port, type 5672. c. In Exchange, specify the name of the new exchange that you created in step 8. d. In vHost, type /. e. In Prefix, type vcd. f. In User Name, type guest. g. In Password, type guest.

14. Click Apply.

1.3.3 Installing Acronis Backup & Recovery Management Server

Acronis Backup & Recovery Management Server stores its configuration, logs, and statistics in Microsoft SQL databases. There are two options for storing the databases:

 Install and use SQL Server Express supplied with the management server. This option is available

through typical installation.

 Use any existing SQL Server instance accessible by the management server. This option is

available through both typical and custom installation.

The custom installation method also enables you to specify other installation parameters.

Depending on where you want the management server to store its databases, follow one of the procedures below.

1.3.3.1 Typical installation

1. On the machine that will act as the management server, log on as an administrator.

2. Start the Acronis Backup & Recovery setup program.

3. Click Install Acronis Backup & Recovery.

4. Accept the terms of the license agreement.

5. Select the Centrally monitor and configure backing up of physical and virtual machines check

box.

6. Provide the license for Acronis Backup & Recovery for vCloud. Type all your license keys or

import them from a text file.

7. Choose whether the machine will participate in the Acronis Customer Experience Program (CEP).

8. Click Install to proceed with installation.

9. On successful installation, click Finish to close the wizard window.

10. Copy the script enable_remote_sql_access.js that is distributed with the product, to the

management server machine.

Details. The script configures the SQL Server instance to be accessible to Agent for vCloud. It creates a new SQL Server account that Agent for vCloud will use, configures the instance to listen to a static port, and configures Windows Firewall to allow connections through that port.

11. Run the script in the following format:

cscript enable_remote_sql_access.js <new-user-name> <new-password> [-p <port>]

Where:

 <new-user-name> and <new-password> are the user name and password for the new

account.

 -p <port> is an optional parameter that enables you to specify the port to use.

For example:

C:\>cscript enable_remote_sql_access.js User 123 -p 3322

If you do not specify the port, it will be chosen automatically. Examine the port number that was chosen by the script:

Port 1433 is picked

Important. Remember the credentials and the port number. You will be asked for them when configuring Agent for vCloud.

1.3.3.2 Custom installation

Preparing SQL Server

Ensure that the SQL Server instance that will be used by the management server meets the following requirements:

 The instance uses the mixed authentication mode. This mode guarantees that Agent for vCloud

can also access the instance.

 The TCP/IP protocol is enabled for the instance, the instance uses a static TCP port, you know the

port number, and your firewall allows connections through this port.

To change the authentication mode

1. Run Microsoft SQL Server Management Studio.

You can download Microsoft SQL Server Management Studio from http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=7593

2. Right-click the instance, and then select Properties.

3. In Security, under Server authentication, select SQL Server and Windows Authentication mode.

4. Restart the service for the instance.

To set the required TCP/IP properties

1. In Microsoft SQL Server Configuration Manager, expand the SQL Server XXXX Network

Configuration node. (Here, XXXX is the version of SQL Server, such as 2008.)

2. Select the instance.

3. In the details pane, double-click TCP/IP.

4. On the Protocol tab, in Enabled, make sure that Yes is selected.

5. On the IP Addresses tab, under IPAll, do the following:

 View or change the value in TCP Port.

 Make sure that the TCP Dynamic Ports field is blank.

6. If you made changes to the fields in the previous steps, restart the service for the instance.

Preparing user accounts

Decide whether the management server will use Windows Authentication or SQL Server Authentication to connect to the SQL Server.

 [Recommended] If Windows Authentication will be used, create local administrator accounts

with the same user name and password on the machine running SQL Server and the machine where the management server will be installed.

After the installation, you can remove the account from the Administrators group on the SQL Server machine. On the management server machine, the account must remain a local administrator.

 If SQL Server Authentication will be used, create a SQL Server login account that is a member of

the sysadmin role.

After the installation, you can replace the sysadmin role with the dbcreator role. To further restrict the account (for example, when the instance runs databases used by other products), edit the account properties as follows: In Server Roles, clear all check boxes; in User Mapping, select the acronis_cms and acronis_reports check boxes.

Installing the management server

1. On the machine that will act as the management server, log on as an administrator.

2. Start the Acronis Backup & Recovery setup program.

3. Click Install Acronis Backup & Recovery.

4. Accept the terms of the license agreement.

5. On the How do you want to use this machine page:

 Select the Centrally monitor and configure backing up of physical and virtual machines

check box.

 Select the I want to manually select the Acronis components and customize the installation

process check box.

6. [Optional] On the Select the components that you want to install page, clear the check box for

Components for Remote Installation. This will save about 900 MB of disk space.

7. Provide the license for Acronis Backup & Recovery for vCloud. Type all your license keys or

import them from a text file.

8. Keep the default installation path.

9. Acronis Backup & Recovery Management Server runs as a service. Specify the user account for

running the service in either of these ways:

 [If you opted for Windows Authentication] Click Use an existing account, click Select, and

then specify the account of a local Windows administrator that you created in the "Preparing user accounts" step. If prompted, confirm adding the additional user rights to the account.

 Keep the default setting to create a dedicated user account for running the service.

10. Specify the Microsoft SQL Server instance for both Operational SQL Server and Reporting SQL

Server.

For each of the servers:

a. Click Change > Use existing SQL server and specify the name of the instance in the

MachineName\InstanceName format. For example: dbserver\MyDatabases.

b. Choose how the management server will connect to the SQL server:

 [If you opted for Windows Authentication] Choose the Acronis Management Server

Service account option. The management server will connect using the account of the

management server service.

 If you choose the SQL Server Authentication option, specify the login name and

password of a SQL server login account that is a member of the sysadmin server role.

11. Do not enable the Management Server Web page.

12. Choose whether the machine will participate in the Acronis Customer Experience Program (CEP).

13. Click Install to proceed with installation.

14. On successful installation, click Finish to close the wizard window.

1.3.4 Using the management console

Acronis Backup & Recovery Management Console enables you to connect directly to the management server. The console can be installed along with the management server (by default) or on any other machine that has network access to the management server.

To be able to connect the console to the management server, a user must be a member of the Acronis Centralized Admins group on the management server machine.

If the console is installed on a different machine, the user must also be a member of the Acronis Remote Users group on the management server machine.

Both groups are automatically created during the management server installation. Members of the Administrators group are silently included in both groups.

To start the management console

Double-click the Acronis Backup & Recovery icon on the desktop, or select from the Start menu: Acronis > Acronis Backup & Recovery Management Console > Acronis Backup & Recovery.

To connect the console to the management server

1. Click Connect to a management server.

2. Specify the host name or IP address of the management server machine and the credentials of a

user account that has the rights described earlier in this topic.

1.3.5 Integrating the management server with vCenter Server

Acronis Backup & Recovery Management Server has to be integrated with the vCenter Server for the resource group.

To do this, use Acronis Backup & Recovery Management Console. The console is automatically installed with the management server.

To integrate the management server with the vCenter Server

1. Connect the console to the management server as described in "Using the management console"

(p. 14).

2. In the Navigation tree, click Virtual machines and then click Configure VMware vCenter

integration.

3. Select the Enable integration with the following vCenter Server check box.

4. Specify the IP address or name of the vCenter Server for the resource group. Provide access

credentials for the server.

Details. This account will be used for deploying agents from the management server. This means the account must have the necessary privileges for creating virtual machines on the vCenter Server. We also recommend that the account have the necessary privileges for backup and recovery, because the agents will use this account to connect to the vCenter Server by default. For the exact list of the necessary privileges, refer to the "Privileges for VM backup and recovery" section of the Acronis Backup & Recovery built-in help.

5. If a DHCP server is present on the network, you may want to leave the Automatically deploy

Agent for ESX(i) (Virtual Appliance) check box selected. When a backup is about to start, the management server will automatically deploy Agent for ESX(i) to every cluster that has virtual machines to be backed up but does not have the agent yet.

If the network uses static IP addresses, or if you prefer to deploy the agents manually, or if the automatic deployment fails, clear the Automatically deploy... check box. You will need to perform a few additional steps described in "Deploying Agent for ESX(i)" (p. 15).

6. Click OK to confirm the changes.

The virtual machines managed by the vCenter Server appear in the Virtual machines section of the Navigation tree. The virtual machines are shown as grayed out because Agent for ESX(i) has not been deployed yet.

1.3.6 Deploying Agent for ESX(i)

Agent for ESX(i) (Virtual Appliance) will be deployed automatically as necessary, if this option was enabled when integrating the management server with the vCenter Server (p. 15).

+ 34 hidden pages

Acronis Backup Recovery for vCloud Administrator's Guide

Specifications and Main Features

Frequently Asked Questions

User Manual

1 Administrator's Guide

1.1 About this document

1.2.1 Software requirements

1.2.2 Acronis Backup & Recovery for vCloud architecture

1.2.3 Planning hardware resources

1.2.3.1 vSphere capacity requirements

1.2.3.2 Planning backup storages

1.3 Installing Acronis Backup & Recovery for vCloud

1.3.1 Preparation

1.3.2 Installing and configuring RabbitMQ Server

1.3.3 Installing Acronis Backup & Recovery Management Server

1.3.3.1 Typical installation

1.3.3.2 Custom installation

1.3.4 Using the management console

1.3.5 Integrating the management server with vCenter Server

1.3.6 Deploying Agent for ESX(i)