5 1 0:OpenNebula Backup

Are you looking for an alternative for your VMware environment? SEP supports a range of hypervisors, offering snapshot-based online backup of VMs. Click HERE to get an overview of the available SEP modules and explore supported features like CBT, Single File Restore, and more.

Overview

SEP sesam provides efficient data protection for virtual machines (VMs) running in OpenNebula environments. Supported are OpenNebula 5.x and 6.x with DRBD, NFS or local storage backend. For details on supported environment, see SEP sesam support matrix for OpenNebula. By using the SEP Sesam OpenNebula module, you can benefit from online backup of your virtual machines including configuration.

SEP sesam OpenNebula integration advantages

• Live COPY backup of persistent OpenNebula virtual machines via snapshot. You can use SEP Si3 deduplication for your OpenNebula backups to reduce the size of backed up data.
• Backup of the virtual machine configuration.
• You can use SEP sesam Si3 deduplication for your OpenNebula backups to reduce the amount of backed up data.
• Simplified backup of multiple VMs by automatically created tasks for VMs that are connected to the same host. For details, see Automating Backup Process.
• You can perform a simple restore of complete OpenNebula VM or a single file restore of files, folders, and volumes from the OpenNebula VM backup via GUI restore or via the web interface Restore Assistant. For details, see OpenNebula Restore and OpenNebula Single File Restore.

SEP sesam requirements

To ensure error-free operation of SEP sesam and improve performance, make sure that the following conditions are met:

• Check the support matrix for the list of supported OpenNebula versions.
• SEP sesam Server v. 4.4.3 BeefaloV2 or higher. Check Hardware requirements for SEP sesam Server.
• Install the SEP sesam Client package on the OpenNebula control server that runs the oned daemon (OpenNebula backup module is already included in the client package). You can download it from SEP Download Center. For details, see SEP Sesam Quick Install Guide.
• SEP sesam OpenNebula backup module requires a license. For details, see Licensing.

OpenNebula environment requirements

SEP sesam backup module for OpenNebula utilizes the standard OpenNebula toolset. It expects the OpenNebula virtual machines to be manageable using the standard onevm and oneimage tools. It also expects the VMs to be hosted upon central storage within the ONE cluster environment.

Backup environment and workflow

• Snapshot for the virtual machines image file is created using OpenNebula snapshot tools.
• Virtual machine disks are backed up on block level.
• Virtual machine config is backed up.
• Snapshot is deleted.

OpenNebula backup environment

	Tip
	Watch a short demo on how to configure, backup and restore OpenNebula: Convenient Backup and Restore of OpenNebula.

Adding the OpenNebula client to SEP sesam environment

Once you have downloaded the SEP sesam package, configure your OpenNebula Control Server as a client by adding it to the SEP sesam environment. From Main selection -> Components -> Clients -> New Client -> add your OpenNebula client. For details, see Configuring Clients.

	Note
	Before proceeding, you should validate that you can backup to SEP sesam. Run a test Path backup manually to ensure that the backups work. For details on typical backup configuration, see Standard Backup Procedure.

Configuring OpenNebula backup task

Tip

With v. 5.0.0 Jaglion, you can simplify the backup of multiple VMs by automatically creating tasks for VMs that are connected to the same host; you can also automatically create clients for VMs to which the created tasks and ACLs can be assigned. It is recommended to use these features when a new hypervisor is added and many new VMs need to be backed up. For details, see Automating Backup Process.

Configuring an OpenNebula backup on a SEP sesam Server involves creating an OpenNebula backup task, setting up a backup schedule (specifying when you want to back up your data) and linking the schedule to a backup event (specifying how to back up the data and where to back it up to). For general details on backup configuration and prerequisites, see Standard Backup Procedure. However, configuring an OpenNebula backup differs slightly from the standard procedure and requires some OpenNebula-specific steps, which are described below.

Note

Make sure to remove any existing snapshots of the virtual machine you want to back up before starting the backup. When backing up via hypervisor and using external disk, SEP sesam cannot back up the data on the RDM disks or on a VM without attached SCSI controller(s). The data of such disks is silently skipped from backup, hence the backup saveset contains no data for the external disk, while the backup succeeds and no warning about the missing data is issued. If a restore of a VM with external disk is performed to the original VM by using the option overwrite, the disk is re-created and all existing data on the restore target is lost. To back these hypervisors, you have to add one or more SCSI controller to the virtual machine before performing a backup, even if there are no devices to use the SCSI, or you have to install a SEP sesam Client in the virtual machine and perform an additional file or application backup to back up this data.

1. From Main Selection -> Tasks -> By Clients, select OpenNebula client and click New Backup Task. The New Backup Task window opens.
2. Select the Source. Click the Browse button (big arrow) and select the OpenNebula virtual machine that you want to back up from the listed virtual machines detected on the host system.
By selecting the source, the task type and task name are set automatically.

3. If you want to define other options (such as pre/post backup and restore commands, set encryption or compress data (do not use this option if you want to restore a single file!), set credentials for OS access, consolidate individual tasks under a specific task group, assign a task to the schedule), click the corresponding tabs in the New Backup Task window.
   Click OK to create the task.
4. If you want to start the newly created task immediately, right-click the name of the task and click Immediate Start. If you want to create a periodic backup, you have to create a schedule for your backup task: Click New Schedule under Main Selection -> Scheduling -> Schedules and set up a schedule. For more details, see Creating a schedule.

	Tip
	You can also add your backup task to an existing schedule by double-clicking the backup task, selecting the tab Schedules and adding it to one or more schedules. Additionally, you can group your backup tasks to task groups. For details, see Adding a Task to the Task Group.

5. After you have configured a schedule, you must create a new backup event for it. From Main Selection -> Scheduling -> New Backup Event, click the Parameter tab and select the task to which you want to link this event. Note that COPY is currently the only supported backup level for OpenNebula clients. For detailed procedure, see Creating a Backup Event.

Monitoring backups

You can view the status of your backup jobs in the GUI (Monitoring -> Last Backup State or Job State -> Backups) or SEP sesam Web UI. The backup status overview provides detailed information about the last run of backup jobs, including the task name, start and stop time of the last backup, backup level, data size, throughput, assigned media pool, etc.

See also

OpenNebula Restore – Automating Backup Process – Standard Backup Procedure – Adding a Task to the Task Group

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