Nakivo Backup & Replication 6.1 released

Nakivo released Backup & Replication 6.1 introducing new features to improve VMware backup performance and simplify the backup management.

Instant Object Recovery and Log Truncation for Exchange, Hot Add transport mode and Job Chaining are the main features introduced with the new release.

What’s new

Instant Object Recovery for Microsoft Exchange 2016/2013 – this agentless feature enables browsing, searching, and recovering Microsoft Exchange 2016/2013 objects directly from compressed and deduplicated VMware VM backups, without the need to restore the entire VM first.

Log Truncation for Microsoft Exchange 2016/2013 – Nakivo now provides an option to truncate logs of Microsoft Exchange 2016/2013 after a successful backup saving disk space.

Hot Add – enables writing VM data directly from/to the VM datastore, bypassing the network. Nakivo automatically uses Hot Add to offload production LAN from the data protection traffic.

Job Chaining – the new feature allows to trigger another job in a chain when the first job finishes. You can run Backup job that saves data locally then trigger a Backup copy job to send backup copies to another location.

Update the Virtual Appliance

To upgrade the VA to the new release, login the Nakivo VA by entering the administrative credentials then click Log In.

In the web console, click on Product update available button or download the latest Linux/VA updater from Nakivo website.

Click Download.

From Nakivo website, select Linux/VA Updater download.

Stop running jobs or repository maintenance tasks and upload the updater file to the /opt/nakivo/updates folder on the VA. Using a tool like WinSCP to copy the file to the VA, select the updater to copy and choose Binary from the Transfer settings dropdown menu. Click Copy to transfer the file.

The file is being copied into the VA.

From the VMware vSphere Web Client, access the Nakivo VA console. Select the VA and click Launch Remote Console.

Select Software update option and press Enter.

Select the updater file and press Enter.

The installation begins.

Type y to accept the EULA.

Type y to proceed with the update.

When the update process has completed successfully, press Esc to exit.

Login to the Nakivo Web Console. Note the new option Remember me.

Click the question mark ? in the top-right side and select About to show current version.

The procedure to update the VA to version 6.1 is now complete.

Veeam Backup & Replication 9.0 Update 2 is GA

Veeam Veeam Backup & Replication 9.0 Update 2 has been released introducing over 300 enhancements and bug fixes.

Before installing the update make sure you are running version 9.0.0.902 or 9.0.0.1491. 

What’s new

Several enhancements have been introduced with Update 2. Most significant are the follow:

New platform support

The following products are now supported:

• Cisco HyperFlex HX-Series support for Direct NFS backup mode
• EMC Unity support for Backup from Storage Snapshots and Veeam Explorer for Storage Snapshots functionality, EMC Data Domain DD OS 5.7 support for DD Boost integration
• ExaGrid 4.8.0.351.P28 is now the minimal ExaGrid firmware version supported
• NetApp Data ONTAP 8.3.2
• VMware vCloud Director 8.10, VMware VSAN 6.2

Engine

• Backported a number of isolated Enterprise Scalability enhancements from 9.5 code branch to improve transaction log backup, tape backup and user interface performance
• Updated OpenSSH client to version 7.2
• Improved iSCSI target performance
• iSCSI mount operations are now retried automatically (by default 6 times every 10 seconds). To change the number of retries, create IscsiMountFsCheckRetriesCount (DWORD) registry value under HKLM\SOFTWARE\Veeam\Veeam Backup and Replication key

Backup Copy

• To reduce backup server load, Backup Copy jobs targeting shared folder or deduplicating appliance backed repositories with the gateway server setting set to Automatic selection will now start data moves on the mount server associated with the backup repository
• Backup Copy performance should now be more consistent due to preserving backup files cache when the job is switching to idle mode

Microsoft SQL Server

• Improved performance and reduced resource consumption of Microsoft SQL Server transaction log backups

Microsoft Exchange

• CAS server can now be forced for Veeam Explorer for Microsoft Exchange via DefaultCASServer (DWORD) registry value under HKLM\SOFTWARE\Veeam\Veeam Backup and Replication key
• Exchange autodiscovery policies order can now be changed for Veeam Explorer for Exchange

Oracle

• Added ability to restore Oracle databases while preserving certain parameters which are critical to RMAN

Cloud Connect Replication

• Support for Planned Failover functionality with cloud replicas

Veeam Cloud & Service Provider Partners

• Introduced some changes and fixes around rental licensing as well as specific enhancements and bug fixes

Install the update

To proceed with a safe installation, reboot the Veeam server to clear any locks on the Veeam then stop all the Veeam jobs.

Run the installer to start the wizard then click Next.

Click Install to proceed with the installation.

The update is being installed.

When the process has been completed, click Finish to exit the wizard.

Access the Veeam console to update the remote components. Click Next to proceed.

When the components have been upgraded, click Finish to close the window.

After upgrading, your build will be version 9.0.0.1715.

The local Veeam Backup & Replication console is automatically updated at first run.

Additional info can be found in the Release Notes and the update can be downloaded here.

VMware Horizon 6 upgrade to version 7

VMware Horizon is a solution that allows to deliver virtual or hosted desktops and applications through a single platform.

The upgrade process is pretty straightforward but should be planned carefully to avoid service interruption.

Features introduced in Horizon 7

The new version introduces some new features that extend the product functionality.

Instant Clones – allow to clone a virtual desktop in memory from an existing running virtual desktop and do not rely on additional components, such as View Composer.

Smart Policies – the administrators have the possibility to enable, disable or control some features based on not only who the user is, but on the many different variables available through Horizon: client device, IP address, pool name, etc.

Blast Extreme – added the support for the new Blast Extreme display technology, purpose built and optimized for the mobile cloud. This technology supports the broadest range of client devices that are already H.264 capable. Customers can choose between Blast Extreme, PCoIP, and RDP.

True SSO – provides the ability to seamlessly sign onto a virtual desktop a single time using two-factor authentication via Identity Manager or Workspace ONE.

Cloud Pod Architecture – now scales to support 50,000 sessions across up to 10 sites, with 25 pods of infrastructure.

Upgrade procedure

For a safe procedure, stop current running pools and provisioning and perform the upgrade following this order:

• Composer Server
• Connection Servers
• Security Servers (if any)

Upgrade Composer Server

First component to upgrade is the Composer Server. Login to the server and run the installer.

The wizard detects an existing installation. Click Next to perform the upgrade.

Accept the EULA then click Next.

Leave default location and click Next.

Specify the Data Source Name for the Horizon Composer database by clicking the ODBC DNS Setup button.

Select the correct ODBC DNS and click OK.

Enter the ODBC Data Source Administrator credentials then click Next.

Leave default SOAP port and specify the SSL Certificate type. Click Next.

Click Install to proceed with the upgrade.

The upgrade is being installed.

When the installation has completed, click Finish to exit the wizard.

Click Yes to reboot the server.

Upgrade Connection Server

Login to the Connection Server and run the installer.

A previous installation is detected. Click Next to continue.

Accept the EULA then click Next.

Click Install to begin installation.

The upgrade is being installed in the system.

When the installation has completed, click Finish to exit the wizard.

From the Connection Server, access the Horizon View Administrator web console and click Edit License to insert the new license.

Type the license key then click OK.

The license has been applied successfully.

Upgrade View Agent

Login to the RDS Host Server and run the View Agent installer.

The system detects a previous installation. Click Next to continue.

Accept the EULA then click Next.

Select the IP protocol to be used then click Next.

Select features required in your environment and click Next.

Specify the Horizon Connection Server and the Administrator credentials to register the machine then click Next.

Since we are performing an upgrade, the installer detects the agent is already installed. Click OK to continue.

Click Install to proceed with the upgrade.

The upgrade is being installed.

When the installation has completed, click Finish to exit the wizard.

Click Yes to reboot the RDS Host Server.

Access the Management Console

After the upgrade, during the access to the web management console from a client you may experience the issue the system is not able to connect to the Connection Server and the page displays a blank error window.

To fix the problem, login the Connection Server and locate the setting.properties file in C:\Program Files\VMware\VMware View\Server\sslgateway\conf. Right click the file and select Open with option choosing the tool Notepad as editor.

In setting.properties file add the line:

checkOrigin=false

Restart the VMware Horizon View Connection Server service.

From the client, open the favorite browser and type the Horizon Administrator’s login page address and enter the administrative credentials. Click Log In.

Now the access to the Horizon 7 Administrator console is successful.

The upgrade procedure is now complete and you can take benefit of the new available features.

VMTurbo rebranding to Turbonomic

VMTurbo, the self-managing applications, infrastructure and cloud in real-time solution, has re-branded his name to Turbonomic in order to reflect their extended support for different markets than just VMware.

The new name Turbonomic is a combine of two principles:

• Economic – to enable cloud and virtualized environments to self-organize and self-manage.
• Autonomic – to enable you to accelerate your next transformation and deliver the applications your users demand.

In addition, one of the reasons for the name change is the old name (VMTurbo) caused some issues with VMware due to a name identifiable with VMware itself.

With the new name, mission and vision of the company remain the same and next software releases will have a new HTML 5-based UI, moving away from Flash technology and making the product manageable from any device.

Turbonomic enables you to deliver better applications faster regardless of cloud, infrastructure or architecture.

For additional info, check the full press release.

Veeam 9: scale-out backup repository setup

Feature introduced in Veeam Backup & Replication 9, Scale-out Backup Repository is a logical entity made of multiple simple repositories that can be used to store backup and backup copy jobs.

The Scale-out Backup Repository can comprise one or more extents where an extent is a standard backup repository configured in the backup infrastructure.

This feature is available only in Veeam Enterprise and Enterprise Plus editions with the following limitations:

• Enterprise – allows up to 3 extents
• Enterprise Plus – unlimited extents

Backup storage management

In medium and large environments, the management of backup storage devices can be a hard work for administrators. Repositories have a fixed size and space may not be consumed properly over time.

Using simple repositories, each backup job needs to be assigned to a specific repository.

Using Scale-out Backup Repository instead, a backup job is pointed to the scale-out repository which decides the best target to run the job. The backup storage devices management can be reduced without the issue of underutilized backup devices, optimizing IT costs and improving backup performance.

This solution avoid the problem of relocating backup chains when repositories run out of space and administrators can easily add a new extent to the existing Scale-out Repository.

Setup a Scale-out Backup Repository

To configure a Scale-out Backup Repository you need to choose the available storage devices from Backup Repositories tab.

Access the Backup Infrastructure section and select Scale-out Repositories tab. Click Add Scale-out Repository to run the wizard.

Enter the Name for the Scale-out Repository and optionally a Description then click Next.

Click Add button to specify the extents to use. Select the backup repositories to include and click OK.

Click Advanced button to access the Advanced Settings. Two options are available:

• Use per-VM backup files – enabled by default, it improves performance optimizing disk usage. If existing repositories are imported with backup files already stored, an Active Full Backup needs to be run to switch to per-VM files.
• Perform full backup when required extent is offline – if the extent containing the backup chain is not available, it allows to complete a successful backup. This feature increase the space consumption each time a new full backup is created.

Once configured the Advanced Settings, click OK.

When all the required extents have been selected, click Next to continue.

Select the Policy to use as backup files placement and click Next. You have two different policies available:

• Data locality – all extents are at the same level and all dependent files are stored on the same extent.
• Performance – backups are stored on different extents separating full backups from incremental backups improving performance. If the full backup is stored on a failed repository or stored on an extent under maintenance, the system may create a new full backup breaking your incremental backup chain.

When the Scale-out Backup Repository has been created successfully, click Finish to exit the wizard.

The new created repository.

Configure a Backup Job

From the Veeam console, add a new Backup Job. Enter a job Name and click Next.

Specify the VMs to backup and click Next. Note that a VMware vSphere tag has been used in this backup job.

Select the Scale-out Backup Repository just created. The total amount of available space is the combined space of the extents added during the configuration.

Leave default if you don’t need VSS processing. Click Next.

Specify a Schedule then click Next.

Click Finish to save the Backup Job configuration.

Right click the Backup Job and select Start to test the new repository.

Maintenance

Two service actions can be performed with extents of scale-out backup repositories:

• Put extents to the maintenance mode
• Evacuate backups from extents

Maintenance Mode

If you want to upgrade the backup repository server and add more memory or replace a storage device, you must put the extent to the maintenance mode.

Right click the repository to process and select Maintenance mode option.

The repository has been put in maintenance mode.

When an extent is in maintenance mode, the functionality is limited:

• New tasks targeted at this extent are not started.
• VM data from backup files residing on the extent cannot be restored.

When you enable the maintenance mode, the Repository Maintenance job checks the status of jobs and tasks targeted at the extent and puts the extent to one of the following modes:

• If no tasks using the extent are currently running, the job puts the extent to the maintenance mode immediately.
• If the extent is busy with any task, the job puts the extent to the Maintenance pending state and waits for the task to complete. When the task is complete, the extent is put to the maintenance mode.

Backup Files Evacuation

To exclude an extent from the scale-out backup repository, the backup files need to be evacuated from this extent. The extent must be put to the Maintenance mode before you can evacuate backups. When the procedure is executed, the system moves backup files from the extent to other extents that belong to the same scale-out backup repository maintaining the backup chains consistent.

To evacuate backup files, right click the extent in maintenance mode and select Evacuate backups option.

Click Yes to proceed.

Files are evacuated from selected extent.

When the evacuation is completed, the processed extent can be safely removed from the Scale-out Backup Repository.

VMware Horizon 7: Instant Clone setup

Instant Clone is a technology that allows to rapidly clone and deploy a virtual machine sharing a virtual disk of a parent VM consuming less storage than full VMs.

Instant Clones utilize the vmFork technology, a solution that allows admins to fork a running virtual machine, meaning, it is not a full clone. The parent VM is brought to a state where the admin will Instant Clone it, at which time the parent virtual machine is quiesced and placed in a state of a parent VM. Instant clones are always created in a powered-on state and when a user logs out, the desktop VM is deleted.

Compared to Linked Clones technology, Instant Clones don’t rely on View Composer and the installation of this server can be skipped.

Requirements

This feature is available only in Horizon Enterprise edition and must meet the following requirements:

• vSphere 6.0 Update 1 or later
• Only VSAN and VMFS datastores are supported
• RDSH servers are not supported
• Windows 7 or Windows 10 are supported
• Virtual machine hardware version 11
• 3D rendering is not supported

Configure the parent VM

Deploy a Windows 7 o Windows 10 VM to be used as master image and install the View Agent.

Click Next.

Accept the EULA then click Next.

Select the protocol to be used and click Next.

Select VMware Horizon Instant Clone feature and click Next.

Click Install to begin installation.

The agent is being installed.

When the installation has completed, click Finish to exit the wizard.

Click Yes to reboot the VM.

When the configuration of the master image is complete, from the vSphere Web Client take a snapshot of the VM Instant Clone will use.

Define an Instant Clone Domain Administrator

An Instant Clone Domain Administrator must be defined in order for Instant Clone to work properly. The user account used must have certain Active Directory domain privileges:

• List Contents
• Read All Properties
• Write All Properties
• Read Permissions
• Reset Password
• Create Computer Objects
• Delete Computer Objects

To configure an Instant Clone Domain Administrator, from the View Administrator console under View Configuration > Instant Clone Domain Admins click Add button.

Enter User name and Password then click OK.

The Instant Clone Domain Administrator has been configured.

Storage Accelerator

Another requirement is to enable the View Storage Accelerator.

Under View Configuration > Servers select vCenter Servers tab, select the vCenter Server in use then click Edit. Select the Storage tab then make sure Enable View Storage Accelerator option is checked. Click OK to confirm.

Configure an Instant Clone Pool

Under Catalog > Desktop Pools click Add button to configure a new pool.

Since only Automated Desktop Pools are supported, select this option and click Next.

Select Floating as User assignment because it is the only supported method.

Check Instant clones option and select the vCenter Server. Click Next to continue.

The Desktop Pool Identification window follows the same rules as for a Linked Clone Pool. Enter the ID, a Display name, the Access group and optionally a Description. Click Next.

Enable HTML Access option to allow users to connect to View machines from web browsers. View Client software does not have to be installed on the client devices. Click Next to continue.

Assign a Naming pattern for the pool and how to deploy Instant Clone virtual desktops. You can specify the Provisioning timing in two ways:

• Provision machines on demand – machines are provisioned as needed and the system creates the number of machines specified in Min number of machines field.
• Provision all machines up-front –  the system provisions the number of virtual desktops specified in Max number of machines field.

Click Next when done.

If you don’t have an available VSAN, leave default and click Next.

Specify the Parent VM to use for virtual desktops by clicking on Browse button.

Select the virtual machine to be used as the parent VM and click OK.

Specify the Snapshot to use as master image. Click Browse to select the snapshot to use then click OK.

Click Browse to specify the VM folder location. Select the folder to store the VM and click OK.

Select the Cluster on which to run the VM. Click Browse to select the cluster then click OK.

Again, click Browse to specify the Resource Pool to use then click OK.

Click Browse to specify the Datastores to use for the desktop pool. Select the datastores and click OK to confirm.

Click Next to continue.

Click Browse and specify the AD container to use then click OK.

Click Next to continue.

Click Finish to complete the wizard.

If you receive this error it means the VM used as master image doesn’t have the correct HW version. Access the vSphere Web Client to set the correct HW version for the VM used.

During the creation of the configured Instant Clone Desktop Pool, several folders have been created in the VMs and Template view of the vSphere Web Client:

• ClonePrepInternalTemplateFolder – cp-template-xxx is the template VM created from master image that is used to create the Instant Clones.
• ClonePrepParentVmFolder – cp-parent-xxx the VMs in this folder should match the number of hosts in your cluster (two in this example). Each ESXi server has one powered on and in memory to create the Instant Clone VMs.
• ClonePrepReplicaVmFolder – cp-replica-xxx is the VM used to create the cp-parent VMs. It is used to provision additional cp-parent VMs.
• ClonePrepResyncVmFolder – if you update the clones using a new image, a VM is created in this folder for staging.

Entitle the users

Under Catalog > Desktop Pools, click Entitlements button and select Add entitlement.

Click Add button, select the group/user to entitle then click OK.

Click OK to close the window.

Check provisioned VMs

Under Resources > Machines select vCenter VMs tab to check the provisioned VMs.

Update the Instant Clone Image

When the master image needs to be updated, it must be pushed to the pool of desktops. To update the parent virtual desktop, you need to perform the following steps:

• power on the parent virtual desktop
• make required changes
• take a snapshot

Once the new snapshot has been completed, from Catalog > Desktop Pools double click the Desktop Pool to update. Select Summary tab and click Push Image button and choose Schedule option.

Click Change to select the new snapshot to push to desktops then complete the wizard.

A 60-day trial of Horizon 7 is available for testing purposes.

Veeam Next Big Thing

Last week Veeam announced a series of new products and tools available later this year that will extend its backup and restore capabilities.

Lot of the new features announced will ensure a stronger data protection and availability regardless where the data actually resides.

Main features announced

Veeam Backup for Microsoft Office 365: Veeam added the capability to backup Office 365 mailboxes mitigating the risks of loosing access to the email data and ensuring availability to the users. Backups will be written to a new repository type known as Office 365 Repository.

Advanced ReFS Integration: file system introduced with Windows 2012 aimed to replace NTFS, it allows better performance and capacity efficiency. Deduplication is not currently available under ReFS.

Veeam Agents: Veeam is currently offering Veeam Endpoint Backup client for Windows and the Veeam Agent for Linux (currently in beta but available in November 2016) to backup physical machines. Endpoint has been renamed to Veeam Agent for Windows and should be available on December 2016.

Three new versions of Agent will be available:

• Free
• Workstation
• Server

Main features:

• Direct restore to Azure: a previously backed up machine can be restored directly to Azure
• Integration with Veeam Cloud Connect – it’s now possible to direct backup from clients and servers to Cloud Connect repositories
• Backup cache for remote targets: in case you can’t backup to the repository, a local cache will be written and synced to the repository when possible
• Veeam Agent for Linux: not available in the public beta, it will be introduced the integration with Veeam Repositories

Veeam Availability Console: a cloud-enabled platform for Service Providers and Enterprises to manage Veeam products from a single pane of glass. Expected to be released Q1 2017.

Veeam Availability Orchestrator: it allows to create defined plans for backups and replications performing an automated non disruptive testing to verify everything works as expected. VAO automatically produces disaster recovery documentation ensuring you always have the most up to date documentation.

Veeam One 9.5: introduces the new chargeback function for Veeam Cloud Service Providers with the ability to charge for consumed resources that covers Hyper-V, vSphere and vCloud Director.

Enterprise Scalability Features: scale efficiently and effectively regardless of the size of your environment with processing engine enhancements.

Veeam v10:  one of the new features introduced in version 10 (tech preview available at VeeamOn 2017) will be the storage integration with IBM (Storwize family and SAN Volume Controller).

Currently release dates, pricing and technical details are not yet available but in the days to come Veeam will provide all needed info.

Runecast Analyzer setup – pt.1

Runecast is a software analyzer solution that allows the administrators to know the status of the their VMware vSphere environments.

The software comes as a virtual appliance in OVA format allowing an easy and quick deployment.

Blog series

Runecast Analyzer setup – pt.1
Runecast Analyzer analysis – pt.2

Main benefits

VMware KB Scan: to discover hidden issues in the vSphere environment using information from the VMware Knowledge Base articles to proactively scan your infrastructure.

Compliance Checks: scans your specific configuration and provides Best Practices fit gap analysis report and Security Hardening checks.

Log Analysis: acts as a syslog server and collects the logs from your ESXi hosts and virtual machines parsing the logs in real time and filters out the important entries.

Quick and Secure Deployment: coming as a virtual appliance in OVA format, all data and logic are contained in the appliance.

Requirements

Hardware

The minimum resources required to run Runecast Analyzer appliance are the following:

• 2 vCPU
• 6 GB RAM
• 40 GB Storage
• 100 Mbit network (1 GBit or above recommended)

Firewall ports

To run Runecast, the following ports must be open:

• 443, 5988, 5989 from Runecast appliance to vCenter and ESXi hosts
• 514 UDP port from ESXi hosts to Runecast Analyzer for log collection
• 31415 to the Runecast Analyzer web interface
• 5480 to the Runecast Analyzer admin interface

Permissions

It is suggested to use a dedicate Active Directory service account (i.e. vmrunecast) to connect Runecast with the vCenter Server in Read Only mode and grant the user the following privileges on vCenter:

Read Only

• Host > CIM > CIM interaction
• Host > Configuration > Change settings

Auto ESXi syslog configuration

• Host > Configuration > Advanced settings
• Host > Configuration > Security profile and firewall

Auto VM syslog configuration

• Virtual Machine > Configuration > Advanced

Assign the new created service account role on vCenter.

Licensing

Runecast Analyzer is licensed based on number of CPU sockets. It is available as 30-day trial for testing purposes.

Install Runecast

From Runecast website, create your account and sign in to download the software.

Open the vCenter Server Web Client, right click the datacenter to install Runecast and select Deploy OVF Template option.

Click Browse to select the downloaded OVA file then click Next.

Click Next to continue.

Click Accept button to accept the EULA.

Click Next to continue.

Assign the appliance a Name and select the desired Folder. Click Next.

Select the location to run the appliance and click Next.

Select the virtual disk format and the datastore then click Next.

The IP allocation field is set as Static – Manual. Click Next.

Configure Application and Networking Parameters then click Next.

Optionally enable Power on after deployment and click Finish to start deployment.

Configure the appliance

Once the appliance have been deployed, open the VA console to check the IP address to use for configuration.

Access the management web console by typing in your favorite browser the address https://IP_address_VA:5480 and enter the default User name and Password (rcadmin/admin). Click Login.

From the System tab you can Reboot/Shutdown the VA and adjust the Time Zone.

Form the Network tab you can change the network parameters.

The Update tab is used to check for updates and upgrade the VA.

Configure Runecast

Now from your favorite browser access the main console typing the address https://IP_Address_VA.  Enter the default User name and Password (rcuser/Runecast!) and click Login.

Once you have logged in to the appliance, you are prompted to configure the connection to the vCenter Server. Click the Settings link to be redirected to the configuration window.

In the vCenter Connection tab, click Edit.

Enter the vCenter Server FQDN and the credentials to access it using the previously created AD service account. Click Update to save the configuration.

The Status of the vCenter connection is now set as Enabled. Select Automatic Schedules tab to set the scheduler.

Click Edit to configure the scheduler.

Set the Schedule analysis to run field and click Update to save the parameters.

The scheduler is now enabled. Select the User Profile tab to enable Active Directory authentication.

Under Active Directory, click Edit.

Specify the Domain and the Domain Group enabled to access Runecast then click Update.

The configuration has been saved.

Now select the Licenses tab to apply the purchased license. Click Add License.

Click on Choose File button to browse for the license file received from Runecast.

Click Add license.

Based on the purchased license, select the hosts to license then click Update License.

Under License column you can check the licensed hosts.

The Runecast configuration has been completed.

Access the Dashboard

From the main screen, select the Dashboard and click Analyze Now or wait for your scheduled scan in order to scan your environment.

Depending on the size, Runecast takes some minutes to scan your environment.

When the scan has been completed, the Dashboard display the result of the analysis.

The Runecast Analyzer’s installation and configuration procedure is now complete.  Part 2 will cover functions and analysis available in Runecast.

Runecast Analyzer analysis – pt.2

Runecast Analyzer is a proactive issue prevention solution for your VMware vSphere environment that offers some analysis to check the status of your infrastructure.

Once the product has been installed and configured, the scan of your environment produces some reports ready to be analyzed.

Blog series

Runecast Analyzer setup – pt.1
Runecast Analyzer analysis – pt.2

Access the Dashboard

Login to the appliance by entering the correct credentials then click Login.

Dashboard

From the Dashboard you have a global overview of the status of your environment with some info like the number of issues found, configuration items with issues and the top 10 configuration items with the highest number of issues.

Inventory

From the Inventory you can check a specific component of your virtual infrastructure with four available categories: Compute, VMs, Storage and Network. From the Inventory menu, select the category and the desired component to analyze (i.e. cluster).

In the right pane, the system displays the issues found related to the selected component. Click on the plus “+” symbol for the details. You can also use the Filter function to filter the issues by Severity or Source.

The description of the selected warning.

Issue List

This view displays all the issues found in the inventory showing the number of objects affected by the problem.

Click on the plus “+” symbol for the details.

All KBs

This view shows the list of used KB articles used for analysis without showing the actual issues detected on your environment.

Configuration analysis

This section displays the configuration issues that were detected during the scan of the environment and analyzing the configuration settings.

KBs Discovered

From the KBs Discovered you can check the detected issues derived from VMware Knowledge Base articles.

Best Practices

The configuration items are checked against VMware best practices. The result of the analysis is reported in the following way:

• Pass – if a best practice is followed for the related objects
• Fail – if a best practice it is not followed for at least one of the affected objects

Security Hardening

This view shows the security rules to apply based on the official VMware Security Hardening guides. If one object is not compliant with a specific security check, this check will be marked as Fail.

The Severity warning depends on the security check:

• Low: intended for highly secure environments only
• Medium: related to common environments
• Major: related to any environment

Log analysis

This section contains views related to log analysis. Logs from hosts and VMs can be redirected to the VA to be analyzed.

KBs discovered

Based on a configurable period of time, a notification is displayed if a log pattern described in the VMware KB articles is found on your logs.

Verbose dashboards

Common error messages from the logs are tagged by Runecast and represented in a historical chart ready to be examined. Before using this view, you need to configure the syslog.

Configure the syslog

When you access the Verbose dashboards and no syslog has been configured yet, you receive a warning message. Click on the Log Analysis – Status link to be redirected to the Status page.

To setup the Host syslog, click on the settings icon.

Select the hosts to enable syslog and click Configure.

Click OK to confirm.

The syslog in the selected hosts is now enabled. Click Close to exit.

In the Status page you can check the enabled hosts.

Access the Verbose dashboards view to see the collected data from the configured hosts.

Status

From this page you can check the status of the log collector and perform automatic log configuration for your ESXi hosts and VMs.

This tool allows the administrators to keep the health status of the environment under control avoiding services interruption and possible issues.

Veeam Cloud Connect backup configuration

Veeam Cloud Connect is a feature available in Veeam Backup and Replication that allows to backup, replicate and restore virtual machines from the cloud.

To take benefit of this solution, just leverage cloud backup repository services from a Veeam Cloud and Service Provider. With Veeam Cloud Connect you can also follow the 321 backup rules having an offsite backup and assuring a higher data protection level.

Veeam Cloud Connect features

• Get your backups offsite to a hosted cloud repository through a secure SSL connection
• Access and recover data in hosted backup repositories directly from the backup console
• Data encryption for all data at source (before it leaves your network perimeter), in flight and at rest
• Backup Copy jobs with Built-in WAN Acceleration, forever incremental backups, GFS retention policies

Veeam Cloud and Service Provider

To use Veeam Cloud Connect, you need to find a Veeam Cloud and Service Provider partner that offers hosted services using Veeam products. For example, OffsiteDataSync is a premium provider of cloud services that offers Veeam Cloud Connect.

You need to register and activate your service to get a Veeam cloud repository. The parameters required to setup the Veeam repository in your system are the following:

• Cloud Gateway
• Username and Password

OffsiteDataSync offers a 30-day trial to test the service.

Configure a Service Provider

From Veeam console, access the Backup Infrastructure area and select Service providers tab. Click on Add Service Provider.

Enter the DNS name or IP address received from the service provider. This is the Cloud Gateway you need to connect to the cloud services. Click Next.

Click Add to enter the credentials received from the service provider.

Enter Username and Password then click OK.

The connection to the service provider has been established successfully. Click Next to continue.

This screen displays the backup repositories features assigned by the service provider: Capacity and the WAN Accelerator feature status. Click Next.

When the settings have been saved to the configuration, click Next.

The Summary displays the available cloud resources. Click Finish to complete the setup.

The service provider is now displayed in the list.

Configure the Backup Copy job

Access the Backup & Replication area and select Jobs. Click Backup Copy to start the job configuration wizard.

Give the job a Name and specify how often backup copies are created. Click Next when done.

Click Add and select VMs to include in the backup job. Click Next.

As Backup Repository, select the cloud repository previously configured and specify the Restore points to keep. Click Next to continue.

Select the Data Transfer method to use. Use Direct option if the service provider’s WAN accelerator is unavailable. WAN accelerator is a feature that reduces the bandwidth required for transferring backups and replicas over the WAN. Click Next to continue.

Select the allowed time to transfer data over the network and click Create.

Click Finish to save the job configuration.

The new created backup job is displayed in the console.

Running the job, data are transferred to the cloud repository following the copy interval specified during the job configuration.

When the first Backup Copy job has completed, backups are available in the new created Cloud item under Backups.

Restore from the Cloud

To restore from the cloud, the process is still the same as for local backups restore. Access the backup set stored offsite, right click the VM to process and select the restore type to perform.

Enable WAN Accelerator

WAN Accelerator is a built-in feature of Backup & Replication that reduces the amount of data transferred across the WAN by using caching and data compression techniques. A WAN accelerator works by caching duplicate files so they can be referenced in global cache instead of having to be sent across the WAN again.

This solution doesn’t require any appliance to deploy, agents to install or changes in the network infrastructure. To use the WAN accelerator capability both sides must have WAN Accelerator feature enabled.

WAN Acceleration feature is available in Veeam Backup & Replication Enterprise Plus Edition.

Enable Service Provider’s WAN accelerator

Go in touch with your service provider to enable WAN Accelerator feature. Once the activation has been confirmed, under Backup Infrastructure section select Service providers, right click the configured service provider and select Rescan option.

Checking the available resources, WAN Acceleration is now set as Enabled.

Configure WAN accelerator in Veeam

Access the Backup Infrastructure section and select WAN Accelerators. Click Add WAN Accelerator to start the configuration wizard.

Specify the server to use then click Next.

Specify location and size of the global cache used by WAN Accelerator then click Next.

If the selected disk doesn’t have enough free storage you may receive the following error. Keep in mind before production. Click Yes to continue.

In the Review page click Next to continue.

When the configuration has been completed, click Next.

Click Finish to close the window.

The created WAN Accelerator is now displayed in the list.

Enable WAN Accelerator in the Backup Copy job

When the WAN Accelerator has been enabled in the service provider side, also the Backup Copy job must be configured to use WAN Accelerator.

From Veeam console, right click the Backup Copy job to modify and select Edit option.

In Data Transfer tab, select Through built-in WAN accelerators method and specify the Source WAN Accelerator previously configured. Click Finish to save the configuration. Note Target WAN accelerator is now set as Available.

The Backup Copy job will now use the WAN Accelerator feature increasing the backup speed reducing the used bandwidth.

HPE VM Explorer 6.2 is GA

HPE released VM Explorer 6.2 fixing some bugs and introducing new features like Hyper-V 2016 support and backup on Microsoft Azure.

The legacy interface has been retired and HPE VM Explorer can now be accessed through the web-based interface only. In addition VMware ESX 3.x is no longer supported.

What’s new

Support for Hyper-V 2016 & Windows Server 2016

Added support for Hyper-V 2016 and Hyper-V Cluster 2016 and the software can also be installed on Windows Server 2016. The new Hyper-V version allows faster backups due to the new Resilient Change Tracking technology that tracks changes occurred for incremental backup and replication.

New cloud backup option: Microsoft Azure

Microsoft Azure cloud storage can now be configured as a backup target allowing a maximum VM size of 195 GB (current Microsoft Azure limitation). The configuration is similar to backing up VMs on Amazon S3, OpenStack and Rackspace environments.

Remote Desktop Connection from the HPE

It’s now possible to download a Remote Desktop Connection (*.rdp) file directly from the User Interface (UI). You can use the *.rdp file to connect to Hyper-V Server and Hyper-V Cluster, or to a Windows virtual machine.

From the Datacenter view, right click the VM to connect and select Open in Remote Desktop option.

Open or save the .rdp file to start the Remote Desktop Connection with the selected VM.

The RDP connection is established with the Windows-based virtual machine.

VMware vSphere Web Client from HPE

Added possibility to open vSphere Web Client for ESXi servers from the Datacenter view.

Enhanced multiple language support

Added new language translations for the web interface:

• Russian
• Chinese (Simplified)
• Portuguese (Brazilian)

Fixes

The following main issues have been fixed:

• Fixed bug that make NFS server consume CPU
• Various graphical improvements
• Minor bugfixes

Upgrade VM Explorer

The upgrade process is pretty straightforward and requires just few clicks.

Download VM Explorer 6.2 from HPE website and run the installation. Click Next to start the wizard.

Accept the EULA then click Next.

Leave default destination folder and click Next.

Click Install to proceed with installation.

VM Explorer is being installed.

When the installation has completed, click Finish to launch the product.

Click Web Interface to access VM Explorer console. Just remember the legacy interface has been retired.

Enter the credentials and click Login.

To check the installed VM Explorer version, select from the top-right menu the option admin > About.

Additional information can be found at HPE website.

Nakivo Backup & Replication storing backups to AWS

With Nakivo Backup & Replication you can store backups to AWS (Amazon Web Services) Elastic Cloud Compute (EC2) environment.

This solution increase the data protection allowing the administrators to follow the 321 backup rule. Having at least one copy of your critical backups offsite you can save your data in case of a local disaster.

Prerequisites

In order to backup your VMs to Amazon cloud, you need to configure the AWS environment first:

• Sign up for Amazon Web Services.

• To access the Amazon cloud from Nakivo you need to create a dedicated User from the AWS IAM Console. A IAM (Identity and Access Management) user is used to control who can use your AWS resources (authentication) and what resources they can use and in what ways (authorization).

• Create a Group (i.e. NakivoBackup), assign the Users membership and attach the requested Policies to grant specific permissions to access the EC2 instance.

• In the AWS EC2 Console, create a Key Pairs used by Amazon EC2 to encrypt and decrypt login information. Without specifying the name of the created key pairs when you launch an instance, you won’t be able to connect to the instance.

Setup Nakivo AWS EC2 instance

To start using Amazon EC2, a virtual server known as an Amazon EC2 instance has to be launched. There are two ways to deploy the additional Nakivo component:

• from Nakivo console
• from the AWS Market Place

Deployment from AWS Market Place

From the AWS Market Place, enter the Nakivo keyword in the search bar and select Nakivo Backup & Replication as application to use.

In the application page click Continue.

Enter your credentials to sign in to Amazon.

In this page you can change the default configuration of the Nakivo EC2 instance.

Specify a Region to run the instance and the Instance Type. The instance type determines the hardware of the host computer (CPU, memory, and instance storage) used for your instance. The minimum requirement for NAKIVO Backup & Replication is the t2.micro instance type.

Set the desired values in the Security Group section to control the allowed traffic.

From the drop-down menu select the name of the Key Pair to use with the instance.

Click Accept Software Terms & Launch with 1-click button to launch the Nakivo EC2 instance.

The instance is now configured and ready to be deployed on EC2.

From the AWS EC2 console, select Instances to check the deployment status.

You can assign a Tag (i.e. Name) to the instance to better identify the application. Select the Tags tab and click Add/Edit Tags button to manage the tags to assign.

The Instance Status set as running means the EC2 instance is fully working.

Configure Nakivo for AWS

To establish the connection with the configured EMC2 instance, you need to configure the AWS Account in the Inventory, add a new Transporter then add a new Repository.

Access the Nakivo web console and click on Configuration.

Select Inventory tab, click Add New button then select AWS Account.

Enter a Display name and select AWS account as Type from the drop-down menu. Enter the AWS access Key ID and the Secret access key you got during the user creation (check IAM Console > Users > Security Credentials) then click Add.

The new Inventory is being added to Nakivo.

Once the AWS Inventory has been added, the running EC2 instance is displayed under the chosen Region.

Select Transporter tab and click Add Transporter button. Select Add existing transporter option.

Specify the Transporter type and the AWS account to access the EC2 instance. Click Browse to upload the Private Key needed to access the instance and enter the Transport name. Click Add to continue.

Keep in mind the private key is created in the EC2 console > Key Pairs section.

The new AWS transporter is being added to the system.

The transporter has been added successfully.

Select Repositories tab and click Add Backup Repository button. Select Create new backup repository option.

Specify the Name, the Assigned Transporter and select from the drop down menu Amazon EBS item as Type.

Optionally you can specify a schedule to Detach/Attach the repository.

The new repository is being added.

The repository has been created successfully.

Configure a backup to AWS

Storing your backup copies to a local repository only doesn’t protect the data in case of local storage failure. Placing the secondary backup repository in Amazon cloud, you can guarantee a better security for the data integrity. Data are transferred via AES 256 encrypted link and only changed data are transferred to the offsite repository since Nakivo performs forever-incremental backups.

From the Dashboard menu, click Create and select Backup copy job option.

Select the source backup to copy offsite then click Next.

Select the previously configured AWS Backup repository and click Next.

Specify a Schedule and click Next when done.

Give a Job Name and configure the available options. Specify the desired Recovery points retention and click Finish to save the configuration.

To run the job immediately, right click the backup copy job just created and select Run Job.

Click Run to confirm.

The selected VMs are copied to the Amazon EC2 instance.

When the job has completed, you can check result and statistics directly in the Dashboard.

Granular recover from AWS backups

With Nakivo you can recover files, Microsoft Exchange objects, and Microsoft Active Directory objects from compressed and deduplicated AWS EC2 backups without recovering the full AWS EC2 instance first.

From the Dashboard menu click Recover and select Individual files option.

Select a backup and specify the recovery point to use then click Next.

Select the files to recover then click Download Selected.

Check the Download folder to find the recovered files.

Using Amazon AWS to store copies of your backups, you can have a fast, reliable, and affordable cloud repository.

Nakivo Backup & Replication 6.2 released

Nakivo released Backup & Replication 6.2 offering some new exciting features mainly focused on improved Amazon Web Services (AWS) integration.

Backup of AWS EC2 istances and improved notifications and alarms are the new added features that make this new release very interesting.

What’s new

Support for AWS EC2 instances sold through AWS Marketplace

The new release now provides a simple, reliable, and affordable way to backup paid AWS EC2 instances, sold through AWS Marketplace.

Automated Transporter deployment in AWS Cloud

To back up EC2 instances in an AWS region you need to deploy a Transporter in that region. During backup job creation, Nakivo will now suggest and automatically deploy a new Transporter, if it’s not available in a particular region. AWS EC2 instances can be backed up to the same AWS region, a different AWS region, or to an on-premises location.

By default, AWS EC2 backups are application-aware and contain consistent data of Windows-based and Linux-based EC2 instances.

Automated Transporter Instance start and shutdown in AWS

Transporter instances in AWS can be automatically powered off if there are no tasks for them. Once a task is available for a particular AWS Transporter, new version will power it on for the duration of the task.

This solution allow to save costs.

Improved display of alarms and notifications

Job and group dashboards now aggregate alarms and notifications in the Info widget for a cleaner and a more consistent look.

Pricing

Nakivo is licensed per physical CPU socket for each server on which you backup or replicate VMs. You do not need to license target servers for your replicas or servers on which you want to recover backed up VMs.

Check out Nakivo’s pricing webpage for additional details.

Upgrade VA to version 6.2

When a new update is available, in the top right corner of Nakivo web console a Product update available button is displayed to download the latest Linux/VA updater. Click Download to get the updater file. A detailed upgrade procedure can be found here.

Once the download has completed, stop running jobs or repository maintenance tasks and copy the updater file to the /opt/nakivo/updates folder on the VA using a tool like WinSCP. Select Binary from the Transfer settings drop-down menu and click Copy to transfer the file.

The file is being copied into the VA.

Access the Nakivo console, select Software update option and press Enter.

Press Enter to start the upgrade process.

The system is being updated.

When the update process has completed successfully, access Nakivo web console.

Nakivo Backup & Replication has been updated to version 6.2.

Check out the press release to discover all details about version 6.2.

Veeam Backup for Microsoft Office 365 overview

Veeam Backup for Microsoft Office 365 is a new product of Veeam family that allows the administrators to save 365 mailboxes to local storage devices.

Currently available in beta version only, the new product offers a better capability to backup and restore mailboxes and is very similar to Veeam Explorer for Exchange available in Veeam Backup and Replication suite.

Features

Two packages are required to manage the backups: Veeam Backup for Microsoft Office 365 and Veeam Explorer for Exchange.

Two versions are available:

• integrated in the existing Veeam infrastructure – standard repository are used to store the backups
• as stand-alone – local folders are used to store the backups

The backup can protect every object in the mailbox (attachments, calendars, contacts, etc) and shared mailboxes as well.

A Veeam Proxy is not required because it connects directly to the Microsoft tenant and after the first full backup, next backups copy only the changes in the mailboxes since the forever incremental mode is used. Currently encryption is not supported.

Install Veeam Backup for Microsoft Office 365

Download the beta from Veeam website and run the installer. Click Next to start the wizard.

Accept the EULA and click Next.

Leave default location and click Next.

Click Install to begin the installation.

Veeam backup is being installed.

When the installation has completed, click Finish to exit the wizard.

Install Veeam Explorer for Exchange

To browse objects and manage restores the Veeam Explorer for Exchange package has to be installed.

Run the installer and click Next to start the installation wizard.

Accept the EULA and click Next.

Leave default location and click Next.

Click Install to begin the installation.

Veeam Explorer is being installed.

When the installation has completed, click Finish to exit the wizard.

Configure the Organization

Open Veeam Backup for Microsoft Office 365 console and click on Add Org button to add your Organization.

Enter Username and Password of the 365 Administrator account and click Next.

Veeam verify the connection and organization parameters. Click Finish when done.

When your organization has been created successfully, it appears under Organizations.

Configure the Backup Job

From the Veeam Backup console, select the organization just configured and click the Backup icon.

Enter a Name and a Description for the Backup Job and click Next.

Select Backup the following mailboxes option to specify the mailboxes to backup and click Select button.

Select the mailboxes to backup and click OK to confirm.

When the mailboxes have been selected, click Next.

Specify the schedule options and click Finish.

The Backup Job is now configured and the first backup is being performed.

When the backup completes, select the processed Backup Job to display the statistics.

Restore Office 365 objects

Open a 365 mailbox and delete an email.

The email with the subject Office 365 configuration has been deleted.

To restore the deleted item, right click the configured Backup Job and select Explore point-in-time state option to specify the desired RPO.

Select Use the following point in time option and specify the restore point. Click Finish.

Expand the mailbox to restore and select the object to recover.

Right click the item to recover and select the desired restore mode from the available options.

Enter the 365 administrative credentials and click OK.

The item is being restored to the specified location.

When the restore has been completed, click OK.

In the user’s mailbox, the restored item is now available again.

Currently pricing is unavailable but the stand-alone version should have a monthly fee per mailbox while it will be included in Veeam Backup and Replication 9.5.

Veeam Backup for Microsoft Office 365 beta is available to download for testing purposes.

VMware vSphere 6.5 announced

During the last VMworld Europe VMware announced vSphere 6.5, the latest version of its industry-leading virtualization platform.

The new release brings Virtual Hardware v13 and VMs can now support up to 6 TB of memory. The UEFI secure boot for guest OS as well as a simplified user experience enforce the VMware platform introducing some big enhancements in the following areas:

• vCenter Server
• vSphere Client
• Security

vCenter Server

The vCenter Server Appliance introduces several new features with a new modern look and feel. Linux and Mac are now supported platforms along with Microsoft Windows. The vCenter Server Appliance now brings new features such as:

• Migration
• Improved Appliance Management
• VMware Update Manager
• Native High Availability
• Built-in Backup / Restore

Migration

Migrating to the vCenter Server Appliance is no longer an issue as the installer has a built in Migration Tool that allows a more granular selection of migrated data:

• Configuration
• Configuration, events, and tasks
• Configuration, events, tasks, and performance metrics

Compared with previous release, Migrate and Restore have been added enhancing the capabilities of the Installer.

VMware Update Manager

VMware Update Manager (VUM) has been fully integrated into vCenter Server Appliance. No need to have a separate Windows server for VUM.

During the migration process the vCenter configuration, inventory, and alarm data is migrated by default.

Improved Appliance Management

The new release brings an improved appliance management capabilities. The GUI now shows network and database statistics, disk space, and health in addition to CPU and memory statistics which reduces the reliance on using a command line interface for simple monitoring and operational tasks.

vCenter Server High Availability

vCenter Server 6.5 has a new native high availability solution that consists of Active, Passive, and Witness nodes which are cloned from the existing vCenter Server. Failover within the vCenter HA cluster can occur when an entire node is lost (host failure for example) or when certain key services fail.

Backup and Restore

It’s now possible to backup and restore vCenter Server 6.5 with its built-in backup and restore out-of-the-box functionality enabling customers to protect vCenter Server and Platform Services Controller appliances directly from the VAMI or API, and also backs up both VUM and Auto Deploy running embedded with the appliance.

vSphere Web Client

The version 6.5 is still based on the Adobe Flex platform and requires Adobe Flash to use. Most significant improvements introduced in the new release are the following:

• Inventory tree is the default view
• Home screen reorganized
• Renamed Manage tab to Configure
• Removed Related Objects tab
• Performance improvements, live refresh for power states, tasks, and more

vSphere Client

It is available a fully supported version of the HTML5-based vSphere Client with limited features that will run alongside the vSphere Web Client. The vSphere Client will be reachable via http://<vcenter_fqdn>/ui.

Some of the benefits in the new vSphere Client:

• Clean, consistent UI built on VMware’s new Clarity UI standards
• Built on HTML5 so it is truly a cross-browser and cross-platform application
• No browser plugins to install/manage
• Integrated into vCenter Server for 6.5 and fully supported
• Fully supports Enhanced Linked Mode

Security enhancements

With the new release 6.5 it is now possible to encrypt VMs in order to protect against unauthorized data access. Also vMotion is now encrypted increasing the security during data at-rest and data in-motion.

Secure Boot is another feature implemented in this release that prevents the loading of unauthorized components during startup. It protects both the hypervisor and the guest operating system.

The enhanced Audit-Quality Logging capabilities help the IT to better understand who did what, when, and where on a vSphere system.

vSphere 6.5 brings new features to the datacenter that confirms the evolution of vSphere and consolidating VMware’s leadership in virtualization market.

Turbonomic Cloud Cost Compare

Cloud Cost Compare (C^3) is the new free service offered by Turbonomic that provides the best decision of where to run your apps to assure performance while minimizing costs.

Developers and deployment engineers are at the forefront of building, deploying and improving the applications their business counterparts depend upon. Delivering a reliable service without over spending on Azure, AWS or the favorite cloud makes the decision of where to run applications more complex.

The service leverages an Autonomic Platform and its core economic decision engine running in AWS. C^3 takes both real-time performance and cost considerations into account when making the decisions.

Register to Cloud Cost Compare

To register to the service, open your favorite browser and type the address  https://c3.turbonomic.com/.

Enter your Email address and click Start Now.

The system sends an email to the specified email address with a confirmation link.

Click on the received link and enter the requested info in the web page. Click Create Account when done.

Define your application

Once created the new account, select Manual Entry option in order to enter specific details.

Type the details of your application and click Submit.

After few seconds, the recommendations for the specified application are displayed. You can also export the report by clicking on Export Results as PDF button.

The exported report in PDF format.

Where should you run that new or existing workload, where will it best perform, how much will it cost to run, how long will it take to figure all of this out? Try Cloud Cost Compare to get the answers.

Virtual SAN 2-node cluster installation for ROBO – pt1

Virtual SAN for ROBO is a solution designed for smaller Remote Office, Branch Office (ROBO) that want the benefits provided by a traditional Virtual SAN cluster implementation without the minimum requirement of three nodes.

Feature introduced with VSAN 6.1, it has been improved in version 6.2 in terms of QoS, Performance Service and Metrics.

Blog series

Virtual SAN 2-node cluster installation for ROBO – pt1
Virtual SAN 2-node cluster configuration – pt2

Virtual SAN for ROBO edition

This solution built on the foundations of Fault Domains concept, is based on three nodes for the failure zones:

• Two physical nodes (hosts equipped with at least one HDD and one SSD)
• One Witness virtual appliance

Using the Witness VA eliminates the requirement of a third physical node allowing the ROBO to lower the costs of the implementation.

Witness Virtual Appliance

The Witness VA is required to provide the cluster quorum services during failure events and to store witness objects and cluster metadata information.

Witness VA limitations

• One Witness VA is required per Virtual SAN ROBO cluster.
• The appliance does not contribute compute nor storage resources to the cluster and it is not able to host virtual machines.
• The Witness VA is supported and available only for Virtual SAN Stretched Clusters and Virtual SAN ROBO edition.
• The Virtual SAN ROBO edition is only capable of supporting a single failure within the cluster (FTT=1) due to the support of only three fault domains.

Witness VA deployment

Access VMware vSphere Web Client and right click the configured cluster. Select Deploy OVF Template option to start the wizard.

Click Browse and select the Witness appliance .ova file downloaded from VMware website. Click Next.

Click Next to continue.

Accept the EULA then click Next.

Enter the appliance Name and select the desired folder. Click Next to continue.

Depending on the size of your network, select the Configuration that best fits your environment.

Select the disk format and the location to store the VA then click Next. There is no requirement to use a flash device in the appliance.

Static IPs should be used in the VA network configuration. Click Next.

Set the Password for the root account then click Next.

Click Finish to start the deployment.

Configure the Management Network

Power on the VA and access the console.

Insert the root credentials to access the configuration.

Assign a static IP to the Management Network and apply the configuration.

Add Witness VA to vCenter Server

Once the Witness virtual appliance has been deployed e configured with a static IP, it should be added to vCenter as an ESXi host. Right click the Datacenter and select Add Host option.

Type the Host name or IP address and click Next.

Enter the credentials to connect to the host and click Next.

Click Yes to accept the certificate.

Click Next to continue.

The Witness appliance comes with per-configured license so already installed licenses are not consumed.

If you need to restrict the access to the appliance, enable the Lockdown mode. Leave default value Disabled and click Next.

Specify the VM location and click Next.

Click Finish to save the configuration.

The Witness VA has been added to the Datacenter. Note that the Witness appliance is in blue to distinguish it from other ESXi hosts in the cluster. In addition there is a No datastores have been configured warning on the host because the nested ESXi host doesn’t have any VMFS datastores configured. This warning can be ignored.

Configure the VSAN network

From the VMware vSphere Web Client select the Witness VA and access the Manage > Networking > Virtual switches tab. By default the appliance comes with two virtual standard switches with configured uplinks:

• vSwitch0 – used for the management network
• witnessSwitch – used for the VSAN network

Since the VSAN network on the witness site needs to communicate to the VSAN network, edit the witnessSwitch and add a VLAN for the VSAN network.

Set the correct VLAN ID used for the VSAN communication and click OK.

In the VMKernel adapters tab, highlight the witnessPg portgroup and click the pen icon to edit the parameters. Don’t remove this port group because it is configured so that the virtual machine network adapters MAC addresses matches the vmnic MAC address of the nested ESXi host.

In the Port properties you find a VMKernel port already configured with the Virtual SAN traffic option enabled.

In the IPv4 settings you can specify a static IP address. Click OK to save the configuration.

In part 2 the configuration will be completed with the creation of the Fault Domains and the VSAN cluster setup.

Virtual SAN 2-node cluster configuration – pt2

Virtual SAN is the solution VMware introduced to meet the needs of remote and branch offices at very cost effective pricing.

Despite the 25 VMs limit per site, the very interesting feature introduced with VSAN ROBO edition is the capability of running Virtual SAN on only 2 nodes with the use of a witness appliance (ESXi nested) that doesn’t require an additional license. 

Blog series

Virtual SAN 2-node cluster setup for ROBO – pt1
Virtual SAN 2-node cluster configuration – pt2

Configure VSAN network

Select the host to enable VSAN and go to Manage > Networking > VMKernel adapters tab. Click Add host networking icon to setup the new VMKernel adapter.

Select VMKernel Network Adapter option and click Next.

In the Select an existing standard switch field, click Browse and select the vSwitch to use. Click OK to confirm then Next.

Enter a Network label and specify the VLAN ID to use. Enable the Virtual SAN traffic service and click Next.

Assign a static IPv4 address and a Subnet mask then click Next.

Click Finish to save the configuration.

Repeat same steps for the other host used for VSAN setup.

Configure VSAN cluster

If your cluster is configured with vSphere HA, you can use Virtual SAN with a vSphere HA cluster only if the following conditions are met:

• The cluster’s ESXi hosts all must be version 5.5 or later
• The cluster must have a minimum of three ESXi hosts

If you have only two hosts, before configuring VSAN make sure vSphere HA is disabled.

Select the cluster to configure and go to Manage > Settings > General tab. Click on Configure button.

Set Add disk to storage field as Manual and choose Configure two host Virtual SAN cluster option. Click Next to continue.

If the all the hosts in the cluster have a VMKernel adapter configured for VSAN traffic enabled, click Next.

Select which disks should be claimed for cache in the VSAN cluster and click the Claim for cache tier icon.

Select which disks should be claimed for capacity in the VSAN cluster and click the Claim for capacity tier icon.

Take a look at the Total cache and capacity available in the VSAN cluster and click Next to continue.

Select the Witness host previously configured and click Next.

Select the Witness’ disks for cache and capacity tier then click Next.

Click Finish to complete the configuration.

When the configuration has been completed, the Virtual SAN is set as ON.

Check Fault Domains configuration from Manage > Settings > Fault Domains & Stretched Cluster tab.

Fault Domains allow to maintain a full copy of the virtual machine data even when a rack fails since virtual machine components are deployed across the Fault Domains. In case of a single rack failure will not make the VM inaccessible.

In the Monitor > Virtual SAN > Health tab you can check the VSAN status.

The new vsanDatastore storage is now available in the storage area.

When the configuration has been completed, vSphere HA can be enabled again.

The installation of VSAN solution is pretty easy and cost-effective. There is no need to purchase expensive SANs anymore as well as expensive Support Contracts from storage vendors.

Top backup solutions for VMware

Protecting the virtual infrastructure and its data it’s a mandatory task for each IT administrator and the market offers several valid solutions you can choose from.

During the backup products selection there are different aspects to consider: infrastructure complexity, supported platforms, backups type, licensing, budget and so forth.

The backup solutions described in this post are some of the products available in the market and the description doesn’t follow any classification, the sequence is purely random. The solution I use or I prefer doesn’t mean that it is the product that meets your business requirements and fits in your environment.

Nakivo Backup & Replication

Nakivo Backup & Replication is currently available as 6.2 release and, compared with other solutions, it can be deployed as virtual appliance saving Windows license costs. Windows, Linux are the other supported platforms. The management is done through an easy and intuitive HTML5-based console.

The installation and usage are very simple and this product offers all the features required by modern datacenter. You just need few minutes to have the software up and running.

To test the product a setup guide is available in this blog. Check out other articles related to Nakivo.

Features

• Supported platforms: Windows, Linux, Virtual Appliance, NAS
• Backup: Full VM backup, Incremental backup, Copy backup, Cloud backup, Replication, Cloud replication
• Restore: Restore Full VMs, Instant file recovery, Instant object recovery (Active Directory, Exchange)
• Cloud platforms: Amazon EC2 (you can back up and replicate EC2 instances), Azure
• Instant VM recovery: supported
• Deduplication: supported
• Supported hypervisors: VMware
• Licensing: per physical CPU Socket
• Trial: 15-days full product. Free edition available but supports only two VMs.

Website: www.nakivo.com

Veeam Backup & Replication

Veeam Backup & Replication is currently available as 9.0 release but newest 9.5 will be soon released. Easy to install and manage, Veeam offers robust and powerful backup and replication features to protect the entire virtual infrastructure.

The product management is done through a console you deploy in the administrators’ computers or with a web-based console addressed for corporate environments (management of multiple backup servers). Despite its simplicity, Veeam just works and protect the infrastructure in a very robust and reliable way.

To test the product is available an easy setup guide and some articles related to Veeam.

Features

• Supported platforms: Windows
• Backup: Full VM backup, Incremental backup, Copy backup, Cloud backup, Tape backup, Replication, Cloud replication
• Restore: Restore Full VMs, Instant file recovery, Instant object recovery (Active Directory, Exchange, MS-SQL, SharePoint, Oracle)
• Cloud platforms: Amazon EC2, Azure, Veeam Cloud Connect
• Instant VM recovery: supported
• Deduplication: supported
• Supported hypervisors: VMware, Hyper-V
• Licensing: per physical CPU Socket
• Trial: 30-days full product. Free edition available but limited to full backups only and vPower and VMs replication are not available.

Website: www.veeam.com

Altaro VM Backup

Altaro VM Backup is currently available as 6.5 release and it is deployed to Windows platform. Altaro started covering VMware vSphere environment from version 6.0 (previously they were focused on Hyper-V only) and offers all the features required by the disaster recovery to protect the virtual infrastructure. There’s no need for a dedicated Windows machine or SQL service and the product is easy to use with an intuitive design and a full control over backup jobs across all hosts.

The application is managed by a console you can deploy in the administrators’ computers. The management console can be used as a central monitoring for several Altaro VM instances.

To test the product a detailed setup guide is available as well as some articles related to Altaro.

Features

• Supported platforms: Windows
• Backup: Full VM backup, Incremental backup, Copy backup, Cloud backup, Replication
• Restore: Restore Full VMs, Instant file recovery, Instant object recovery (Exchange)
• Cloud platforms: Amazon EC2, Azure, Google Cloud Platform
• Instant VM recovery: currently not supported
• Deduplication: supported
• Supported hypervisors: VMware, Hyper-V
• Licensing: per physical host
• Trial: 30-days full product. Free edition available but supports only two VMs.

Website: www.altaro.com

HPE VM Explorer

HPE VM Explorer is currently available as 6.2 release and can be deployed on Windows Server and Client VMs. Formerly known as Trilead VM Explorer, the software is managed using a simple and easy web-based console.

The product is available in different languages you can select from the configuration area: English, German, Italian, French, Spanish, Chinese, Russian, Japanese and Portuguese.

To test the product a step-by-step setup guide is available in this blog. Check out other articles related to HPE.

Features

• Supported platforms: Windows
• Backup: Full VM backup, Incremental backup, Copy backup, Cloud backup, Tape backup, Replication
• Restore: Restore Full VMs, Instant file recovery
• Cloud platforms: Amazon S3, OpenStack, HP, Rackspace
• Instant VM recovery: supported
• Supported hypervisors: VMware, Hyper-V
• Licensing: per physical CPU Socket. VM explorer editions are licensed with a Starter Pack (Pro 4 CPU sockets, Enterprise 6 CPU sockets)
• Trial: 30-days full product. Free edition available but only supports full backups and no scheduler available.

Website: www.hp.com

How to choose the right solution?

During the product selection some considerations should be done before taking the final decision:

• requirements – rpo? rto? network complexity?
• supported platforms – windows? linux? apple? appliance?
• cloud support – aws? azure?
• quality of product support – technical support response time? quality?
• management console – local installation? HTML based?
• patching (ESXi updates often broke the backup functionality) – time needed to release a fix?
• licensing model – per cpu socket? per host?
• costs – features vs performance? maintenance?

Network infrastructures and configurations are very different among companies and the right solution can be found when the business requirements are met. If you make the wrong choice, the backup solution change can be a hard job with the result of wasting a lot of money and time.

Moving a vmdk to a different VM retaining NTFS permissions

In VMware vSphere you can migrate all vmdk virtual disks to a different datastore retaining Windows NTFS permissions in a very easy way.

If the current server belong to an AD domain, the migration of the stored data to a new server raises the problem of the applied NTFS permissions. How to retain all the settings? 

Remove the disk to migrate

Before proceeding, ensure to have a full backup of the data in case of any corruption.

From the Windows Server to process open the Disk Manager, right click the disk to migrate and select Offline option.

The disk is then put in offline mode and no longer accessible from the Windows Server.

Open the vSphere Web Client, select the VM and go to Manage > Settings. In this example the Hard disk 2 has to be migrated. Click Edit button.

Expand the Hard disk 2 and click the X in the right side to remove the disk from the selected VM. Write down the Disk File name and the location.

Leave Device will be removed and Delete files from datastore options unchecked to keep all the stored data. Click the arrow in the right side to cancel the removal. Click OK to confirm.

The Hard disk 2 has been removed from the VM hardware.

The vmdk disk to migrate is no longer attached to the VM but still resides in the VM’s folder on its datastore.

Add the migrated disk to the new server

From the vSphere Web Client, select the new Windows Server and access the VM Hardware section.

Now we need to add the previously detached hard disk to the new server. From the New device drop down menu, select Existing Hard Disk item and click Add.

From the Select File window, locate and select the disk name to migrate from the old server location folder and click OK.

The New Hard disk is added in the new server. Click OK to confirm.

Expand the hard disks installed in the new VM. Note the new added disk kept the old VM name and it is still stored in the old location.

[ts421_lun01_raid5]w12r2-services/w12r2_services_1.vmdk
[ts421_lun02_raid5]w2k8r2-vproxy01/w2k8r2-vproxy01_1.vmdk

Access the Disk Management of the new Windows Server and run the scan disks task to detect the new attached disk. Right click the detected disk and select Online option.

The new disk is online and accessible from the new server.

Checking the NTFS permissions from the new Windows Server, all the NTFS permissions have been retained. Only the shares need to be recreated since the server name has changed.

All stored data are available to users again in a transparent way. The administrators only need to configure the new disk map in AD to point to the shares of the new server.

Rename the vmdk

From the vSphere administration point of view, leaving the configuration like it is could be tricky to manage. You have the new server with a disk located in a different datastore with the vmdk that still holds the old server name.

The solution to this matter is called Storage vMotion. Storage vMotion is a feature of vSphere that allows to move VM and disks to a new location giving to existing disks and the new disk, from the old VM’s datastore, the same name as the current VM.

From vSphere Web Client, right click the VM and select Migrate.

Select Change storage only option and click Next.

Select the destination storage and click Next.

Click Finish to proceed with storage migration. Keep in mind that Storage vMotion can move powered on VMs only if you have vSphere Enterprise Plus edition.

The VM is being relocated.

When the process has been completed, also the disk from the old location has been moved to the same location as the VM renaming the vmdk with the new VM’s name.

If for storage performance reasons you need to migrate the VM and disks back to previous datastore, use Storage vMotion tool once again changing the destination storage.