Cloud Storage

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Overview

Prerequisites

Cloud as a Direct Storage Target

Direct Deduplication to Cloud Storage

Deduplication Using Cloud Gateway

Configurable Properties

Other Operations

Considerations

Related Reports

Frequently Asked Questions


Overview

Cloud Storage enables you to configure and use online storage devices — cloud storage devices — as storage targets. Cloud Storage reduces the need to maintain hardware resources such as tape or disk storage devices at onsite locations. It also provides the ability to easily increase your storage capacity as and when it is required. Cloud Storage provides centralized data access, better failover capabilities and reduces the day-to-day storage administration tasks.

As the data gets transferred over the network, protecting the integrity of data is an important aspect of any cloud storage implementation. Cloud Storage protects the integrity of the data using the following features:

The deduplication feature enables you to reduce cloud storage space usage and use network bandwidth efficiently. Deduplication identifies and eliminates redundant data in the backup, reducing not only the volume of data stored in cloud but also the bandwidth required for data transfer.

See MediaAgents - Supported Features, Agents and Devices for MediaAgents that support Cloud Storage. See Cloud Storage - Support for the list of supported cloud storage vendors. Cloud Storage is supported for backup agents and migration agents.

Cloud storage libraries and devices can be identified in the CommCell Browser with icon.

The following sections explain Cloud Storage setup and implementation options.


Prerequisites

Purchase your cloud storage account and acquire the access credentials. A list of the supported cloud storage vendors and access to their website containing account purchase information can be accessed from Cloud Storage - Support.


Cloud as a Direct Storage Target

In the direct cloud setup, the client computers are connected to the cloud library through the MediaAgent computer. During a data protection operation, the MediaAgent sends the client data directly to the cloud storage.

The diagram provides a sample direct cloud setup.

License Requirements

Cloud Storage license is required for each MediaAgent that uses cloud storage libraries for data protection operations. This license is consumed when a cloud storage device is configured in the CommCell.

This feature requires a Feature License to be available in the CommServe® Server.

Review general license requirements included in License Administration. Also, View All Licenses provides step-by-step instructions on how to view the license information.

Set up Cloud Storage

To set up Cloud Storage:

  1. From the Library and Drive Configuration window, add the cloud storage hardware as a new cloud device. Provide the access credentials as required. See Add a Cloud Storage Device for step-by-step instructions.
  2. Configure a new cloud storage disk library using the cloud device. See Configure a Cloud Storage Library for step-by-step instructions.

Once configured the cloud storage library operates like a regular disk library.

Setup Proxy on MediaAgent to connect Cloud Storage

If proxy server is used for internet connection on MediaAgent and if you want to use this proxy server to connect to Cloud Storage then use the following steps to set proxy information in the Environment Variables on the MediaAgent. This allows to send the client data to the cloud storage via proxy computer.

Use the following steps to configure cloud storage using proxy computer.

  1. Setup proxy information in the MediaAgent computer.

    Use the following steps to setup proxy:

    Screen shows the example of setting up HTTPS proxy.

  2. Restart the MediaAgent services.
  3. Add the cloud storage hardware as a new cloud device.

    See Add a Cloud Storage Device for step by step instructions.

  4. Configure a new cloud storage disk library using the cloud device.

    See Configure a Cloud Storage Library for step-by-step instructions.


Direct Deduplication to Cloud Storage

Data backed up to a cloud storage library can be deduplicated. Deduplication eliminates redundant data segments from the backup and reduces the size of the backup data. This is particularly useful in Cloud Storage where data is transferred to the storage target over WAN. Deduplication with Cloud Storage not only reduces the storage space requirements but also reduces the data transferred over the network resulting in faster and efficient data protection operations.

Deduplication can be performed at the client or at the MediaAgent. In either case, the deduplicated data is transferred to Cloud Storage library.

The following are not supported:

  • Direct Deduplication to Cloud Storage on Caringo CAStor and Dell DX Object Storage Platforms.
  • Silo Storage and deduplication store reconstruction in Direct Deduplication to Cloud Storage configuration.

    However, Silo Storage feature is supported in Deduplication Using Cloud Gateway configuration.

License Requirements

The following licenses are required for this configuration:

  1. Cloud Storage license is required on all MediaAgents that operate the cloud storage library.
  2. Block Level De-Duplication license for data deduplication. This license is required on MediaAgents hosting the Deduplication Store.

Set up Deduplication

To deduplicate Cloud Storage backups, create Storage Policy Copies with Cloud Storage library as the storage target and enable deduplication on the copy. You can use one of following procedures.

See Deduplication to know more about the feature and its implementation.


Deduplication Using Cloud Gateway

Cloud Gateway setup is a cloud storage implementation that provides the following key features:
  • Local gateway to cloud storage
  • Data deduplication

In the Cloud Gateway setup, a UNC path is designated as the cloud gateway. Individual clients send in their deduplicated backups to this UNC path. The deduplicated data is then moved to the Cloud Storage using Silo Storage. The cloud library is designated as the silo storage destination and data is migrated using convenient schedules.

The diagram provides a sample cloud gateway setup.

Deduplication and Silo Storage features are supported in Deduplication Using Cloud Gateway configuration. Please refer to the corresponding documents for more information on these features.

License Requirements

The following licenses are required for this configuration:

  1. Cloud Storage license is required on all MediaAgents that operate the cloud storage library.
  2. Block Level De-Duplication for data deduplication. This license is required on MediaAgents hosting the Deduplication Store.
  3. Tape De-Duplication license for Silo Storage. This license is required on MediaAgents hosting the Deduplication Store.

This feature requires a Feature License to be available in the CommServe® Server.

Review general license requirements included in License Administration. Also, View All Licenses provides step-by-step instructions on how to view the license information.

Set up Cloud Gateway

To set up Cloud Gateway:

  1. Add the cloud storage device and configure the cloud storage library. Use the following procedures:
  2. Create the deduplication enabled Storage Policy Copy. See Deduplication - Getting Started for instructions.

    Auxiliary copies can also be directed to cloud libraries. See Enable Deduplication in Secondary Copy for instructions.

  3. Enable Silo Storage on the Storage Policy Copy (or Copies) and select the path to Cloud Storage for the Silo data path. See Getting Started - Silo Storage for instructions.

    You will have to configure the necessary Silo Storage parameters. See Silo Storage for more discussions and recommendations.

  4. Configure the client backups to use the Storage Policy Copy for data protection operations.
  5. Start or Schedule the data protection operations.

Configurable Properties

The following configuration options are available:

  1. You can add a new MediaAgent to control the cloud storage library. You can add more MediaAgents for GridStor settings or restore purposes. In a Cloud Storage setup, you can add a MediaAgent from a geographically different area than the one from which the data protection is run, and restore the data to that MediaAgent. See Add a New MediaAgent to an Existing Cloud Device for instructions.
  2. You can configure the mount path allocation policy defining the space allocation parameters and writer assignments. See Configure Mount Path Allocation Policy for step-by-step instructions.
  3. You can configure the timeout parameter that determines how long a job waits for a status response after an operation is requested. See Modify the Mount and Unmount Timeouts for Disk Libraries for step-by-step instructions.
  4. You can modify the device alias name of the cloud storage device. See View or Modify the Device Properties for Disk Libraries with Static Mount Paths for step-by-step instructions.
  5. You can enable/disable the library, or enable/disable a mount path associated with the library. See Enable or Disable a Disk Library and Enable or Disable a Mount Path for step-by-step instructions.

Other Operations

View the Contents of a Mount Path

You can view the contents of a specific mount path. This feature can be used to view a list of data protection operations residing in the mount path. All the details associated with the data protection operation(s) available in the media are displayed. This includes the following:

See View the Contents of a Mount Path for step-by-step instructions.

View the Mount Path Offline Reason

The status of the disk library indicates whether the library is online or offline, and if offline, the reason for the offline status. See View the Disk Library Offline Reason for step-by-step instructions.

Delete the Contents of a Mount Path

The delete contents option can be used to logically delete the contents of a mount path.

This operation deletes the data from the CommServe database. Note that this operation does not free-up the disk space in the mount path. A Data Aging operation must be run subsequently to free-up the disk space.

This option can be used to make media available to complete an important data protection job when there is no free-space available in the library.

CAUTION

Extreme caution should be exercised while using this option as once deleted, the contents of the mount path will not be available for data recovery operations.

The Delete Contents operation is recorded in the Audit Trail.

See Delete the Contents of a Mount Path for step-by-step instructions.


Considerations

Review the following considerations when using Cloud Storage:

General

A cloud storage library cannot be configured with devices that are attached to two different MediaAgents. All devices in a library must belong to the same MediaAgent.

Alternate Data Path

Cloud storage data paths are supported as alternate data paths in GridStor settings.

However, note that data paths from deduplicated Storage Policy Copies cannot be configured as alternate data paths to cloud storage data paths, and vice versa.

Disk Volumes

To efficiently move data to and from the cloud storage space, the default size of disk volumes in Cloud Storage setups is set to 100 MB.

Data Aging

If you have cloud storage configured with deduplication, the pruning of the data will not be done until the store is sealed and all the backup jobs associated to that store meets the retention rules for the store to become aged.


Related Reports

The Library and Drive Report can be used to review the following information.

See Library and Drive Report for information on how to generate and use the report.


Frequently Asked Questions

Can I use different port number to communicate cloud device?

Yes. If you want to use specific port number to communicate cloud device, provide the port number with the host name.

Syntax - [protocol://]<host>[:port]

For example - https://s3.amazonaws.com:1234

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