VSAN technical guide for Avamar
Revision History
Date
Rev.
Description of Changes
Owner
3/30/2017
1
First draft of technical guide for team
review
Shahid PP/Samad
Mohammed
Contents
1. Purpose and Scope....................................................................................................................... 4
1.1 Purpose .................................................................................................................................. 4
1.2 Scope ..................................................................................................................................... 4
2. Configuration requirements ......................................................................................................... 4
Supported versions: ..................................................................................................................... 4
Avamar Virtual Edition appliance requirement: ......................................................................... 4
Avamar Virtual proxy appliance requirement: ............................................................................ 5
3. Test Architecture ......................................................................................................................... 5
Avamar virtual edition and proxy architecture ............................................................................ 5
4. Avamar on vSAN ........................................................................................................................ 6
Deployment of Avamar Virtual Edition OVA: ........................................................................... 6
Configuration of the Avamar server appliance: .......................................................................... 7
Adding vCenter authentication certificates to the MCS keystore ............................................... 7
Disabling MCS certificate authentication.................................................................................... 8
Configuration of the vCenter Server in Avamar Server: ............................................................. 8
Deployment of Avamar proxy OVA: .......................................................................................... 9
Configuration of proxy appliance in Avamar Server: ................................................................. 9
Creating a VMware policy: ....................................................................................................... 10
Starting ad-hoc image backup: .................................................................................................. 10
Starting image restore:............................................................................................................... 10
5. Related Documents ................................................................................................................... 11
1. Purpose and Scope
1.1 Purpose
To provide a technical guide on how to configure Avamar Virtual Edition and Avamar
proxy appliance to backup and restore VMs deployed on a VMware vSAN datastore.
Includes component requirement, software version, compatibility list and other
requirements necessary for configuration
1.2 Scope
The guide will include steps on configuration of the Avamar virtual appliance and
Avamar virtual proxy into a VSAN datastore as well as backup and restore of VMs
residing on the VSAN datastore.
2. Configuration requirements
Supported versions:
Component
Version
Avamar Server
7.4.1.58
Avamar proxy
7.4.101.58
Avamar Virtual Edition appliance requirement:
Component
Version
Avamar Virtual Server
System requirements for the AVE include:
(0.5 TB capacity)
CPU: 2 * 2 GHz.
Memory: 6GB.
Disks: 4 disks (126 GB and 3 x 250 GB).
NIC: One E1000 NIC with one port.
Avamar Virtual proxy appliance requirement:
Component
Version
System requirements for the Proxy include:
CPU: 4 * 2 GHz (4 virtual sockets, 1 core for each
socket).
Avamar proxy
Appliance
Memory: 4GB.
Disks: 2 disks (20 GB and 1 GB).
SCSI controller: Maximum 2.
NIC: One vmxnet3 NIC with one port.
3. Test Architecture
Avamar virtual edition and proxy architecture
4. Avamar on vSAN
Avamar supports vSAN datastore both for its virtual server appliance and proxy
appliance, it also fully supports running image backups and restores of virtual machines
running on the vSAN datastores.
Below steps provide detailed information on how to deploy, configure and run
backups/restores on vSAN environment
Deployment of Avamar Virtual Edition OVA:
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Login to the vCenter server web client with user having OVA deployment permission
Right click on the VSAN cluster and choose «Deploy OVF Template»
Select «Local file» and click Browse
Navigate to the AVE OVA package location, select the OVA and then click Open
Click Next in the Select Template screen
On the Select name and location window, specify a name for the virtual appliance,
and optionally the inventory location, for example a datacenter or VM folder. Click
Next.
On the Select resource window, select the cluster, host, vApp, or resource pool in
which to deploy the OVA, and then click Next.
On the Review details window, review the product details such as the product
name, version, vendor, publisher, and download size, and then click Next.
On the Accept License Agreements window, the EULA appears. Review the EULA
and then click Accept. Click Next.
On the Select storage window, select the appropriate VSAN storage policy.
Select the disk format and the destination VSAN datastore on which to store the
virtual appliance files and then click Next.
AVE does not support thin provisioning, so please ensure that amount of storage
space allocated to the virtual appliance is available.
On the Select networks window, select the Destination networks to use with the
appliance, and then click Next.
On the Customize template window, specify the following attributes, and then click
Next.
a. Expand Networking properties, and then perform the following tasks:
1. In the DNS field, specify the IP address of the DNS servers, separated by
commas.
2. In the Default Gateway field, specify the IP address of the gateway host.
3. In the FQDN field, specify the fully qualified domain name of the
Avamar server
4. In the Network IP address field, specify the IP address for the Avamar
server appliance.
5. In the Network Netmask/Prefix field, specify the netmask for an IPv4
Network IP address.
6. In the Additional DNS Search Domains field, specify the list of domain
names to be added to the DNS search path.
On the Ready to Complete window, review the deployment configuration details
and then click Finish
15. The Deploying window appears and provides status information about the
deployment.
Configuration of the Avamar server appliance:
1. Open a web browser and log in to Avamar Installation Manager:
a. Type the following URL:
https://Avamar-server:7543/avi
where Avamar-server is the IP address or the resolvable hostname of
the Avamar server.
b. Type root for the username of the Avamar administrator user account in the
User Name field and changeme for the password in the Password field.
c. Click Login.
2. Click SW Releases.
3. Click Install next to the AVE installation package, ave-config.
4. Monitor the installation progress on the Installation Progress page and respond to
any installation problems:
a. Take the appropriate action to resolve the problem.
b. After resolving the problem, click Call EMC Support.
The Call EMC Support dialog box appears.
c. Click Issue resolved, continuing the installation.
The installation resumes.
d. Repeat these steps for all problems that occur during the installation.
Adding vCenter authentication certificates to the MCS keystore
Configure vCenter-to-Avamar authentication by adding a vCenter authentication
certificate to the MCS keystore. Do this for each vCenter you intend to protect. This
procedure uses the java keytool utility, which manages certificate keys. The keytool
utility is located in the Java bin folder (/usr/java/version/bin), where version is the Java
Runtime Environment (JRE) version currently installed on the MCS. If this folder is not in
your path, you can either add it to the path, or specify the complete path when using
keytool.
Procedure
1. Open a command shell and log in by using one of the following methods:
- For a single-node server, log in to the server as admin.
- For a multi-node server, log in to the utility node as admin.
2. Stop the MCS by typing dpnctl stop mcs.
3. Switch user to root by typing su -.
4. Copy rui.crt from the vCenter machine to /tmp on the Avamar utility node or singlenode server.
5. Copy the MCS keystore to /tmp by typing:
cp /usr/local/avamar/lib/rmi_ssl_keystore /tmp/
This creates a temporary version of the live MCS keystore in /tmp.
6. Add the default vCenter certificate to the temporary MCS keystore file by typing:
cd /tmp
$JAVA_HOME/bin/keytool –import –file rui.crt -alias alias -keystore mi_ssl_keystore
where alias is a user-defined name for this certificate, which can often be the file
name.
7. Type the keystore password.
8. Type yes, and press Enter to trust this certificate.
9. Back up the live MCS keystore by typing:
cd /usr/local/avamar/lib
cp rmi_ssl_keystore rmi_ssl_keystore.date
where date is today's date.
10. Copy the temporary MCS keystore to the live location by typing:
cp /tmp/rmi_ssl_keystore /usr/local/avamar/lib/
11. Exit the root subshell by typing exit.
12. Start the MCS and the scheduler by typing:
dpnctl start mcs
dpnctl start sched
Disabling MCS certificate authentication
If you do not want to add vCenter authentication certificates to the Avamar MCS
keystore, you must disable certificate authentication for all vCenter-to-Avamar MCS
communications.
Procedure
1. Open a command shell and log in by using one of the following methods:
- For a single-node server, log in to the server as admin.
- For a multi-node server, log in to the utility node as admin.
2. Stop the MCS by typing
dpnctl stop mcs.
3. Open /usr/local/avamar/var/mc/server_data/prefs/mcserver.xml in a UNIX text
editor
4. Find the ignore_vc_cert entry key.
5. Change the ignore_vc_cert setting to true.
<entry key="ignore_vc_cert" value="true" />
6. Close mcserver.xml and save your changes.
7. Start the MCS and the scheduler by typing:
dpnctl start mcs
dpnctl start sched
Configuration of the vCenter Server in Avamar Server:
1.
2.
3.
4.
You must add each vCenter you intend to protect as an Avamar client in Avamar
Administrator.
Procedure
In Avamar Administrator, click the Administration launcher button.
Click the Account Management tab.
In the tree, select the top-level (root) domain, and then select Actions > Account
Management > New Client(s).
Complete the following settings:
a. Select VMware vCenter in the Client Type list.
b. Type the vCenter fully qualified DNS name or IP address in the New Client
Name or IP field.
c. Type the vCenter web services listener data port number in the Port field.
443 is the default setting.
d. Type the vCenter user account name in the User Name field.
e. Type the vCenter user account password in the Password field.
f. Type the vCenter user account password again in the Verify Password field.
5. Click OK.
Deployment of Avamar proxy OVA:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
Login to the vCenter server web client with user having OVA deployment permission
Right click on the VSAN cluster and choose «Deploy OVF Template»
Select «Local file» and click Browse
Navigate to the Avamar proxy OVA package location, select the OVA and then click
Open
Click Next in the Select Template screen
On the Select name and location window, specify a name for the virtual appliance,
and optionally the inventory location, for example a datacenter or VM folder. Click
Next.
On the Select resource window, select the cluster, host, vApp, or resource pool in
which to deploy the OVA, and then click Next.
On the Review details window, review the product details such as the product
name, version, vendor, publisher, and download size, and then click Next.
On the Accept License Agreements window, the EULA appears. Review the EULA
and then click Accept. Click Next.
On the Select storage window, select the appropriate VSAN storage policy.
Select the disk format and the destination VSAN datastore on which to store the
virtual appliance files and then click Next.
EMC recommends that you select Thick Provision Lazy Zeroed to ensure that
amount of storage space allocated to the virtual appliance is available
On the Select networks window, select the Destination networks to use with the
appliance, and then click Next.
On the Customize template window, specify the following attributes, and then click
Next.
b. Expand Networking properties, and then perform the following tasks:
1. In the DNS field, specify the IP address of the DNS servers, separated by
commas.
2. In the Default Gateway field, specify the IP address of the gateway host.
3. In the Network IP address field, specify the IP address for the Avamar server
appliance.
4. In the Network Netmask/Prefix field, specify the netmask for an IPv4
Network IP address.
On the Ready to Complete window, review the deployment configuration details
and then click Finish
The Deploying window appears and provides status information about the
deployment.
Configuration of proxy appliance in Avamar Server:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
From the vSphere client, locate and select an Avamar image backup proxy.
Right-click Power > Power On.
Right-clickOpen Console.
From the Main Menu, type 1, and then press Enter.
Type the Avamar server DNS name, and then press Enter.
Type an Avamar server domain name, and then press Enter.
7. From the Main Menu, type 2, and then press Enter to quit.
Creating a VMware policy:
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In Avamar Administrator, click the Policy launcher button.
Select the Groups tab.
In the left pane, select the Avamar domain to which the group should belong.
Select Actions > New Group.
In the Name box, type a name for the group.
Clear the Disabled option to immediately enable regularly scheduled client backups
for the group.
Choose whether to use the assigned schedule for the group or to override the
assigned schedule
Click Next
From the Select An Existing Dataset list, select a dataset for this group
The VMware Image Dataset is the default dataset for protecting VMware entities
with image backup.
Click Next.
From the Select An Existing Schedule list, select a schedule for this group.
Click Next.
From the Select An Existing Retention Policy list, select a retention policy for the
group.
Click Next
Complete the Membership settings
Click Next
In the proxy selection page, select the desired proxy or choose auto proxy mapping
Click Finish
Starting ad-hoc image backup:
1. In Avamar Administrator, click the Backup & Restore launcher button.
2. Click the Backup tab.
3. Select a domain in the upper tree, and then select a virtual machine client,
VMware folder, resource pool, or vApp in the lower tree.
4. In the Browse for File, Folders, or Directories pane, select the data to back
up:
5. Select Actions > Backup Now.
6. The On Demand Backup Options dialog box appears.
7. Click OK.
8. The On Demand Backup Options dialog box closes and the following status
message appears: Backup initiated.
9. Click OK.
Starting image restore:
1.
2.
3.
4.
In Avamar Administrator, click the Backup & Restore launcher button.
Click the Restore tab.
Select a virtual machine client or VMware container:
Select a backup:
5. Click the Browse for Image Restore button directly above the contents
pane.
6. In the contents pane:
a. Select the All virtual disks folder checkbox to restore the entire image.
b. Select one or more drives to only restore those specific drives.
7. Select Actions > Restore Now.
The Restore Options dialog box appears.
8. Please refer to chapter 5 in the Avamar VMware user guide for more details on how
to restore image
5. Related Documents

Avamar Virtual Edition for VMware System Install Guide
https://support.emc.com/docu81577_Avamar_Virtual_Edition_7.4_and_Service_Packs_
for_Vmware_System_Installation_Guide.pdf?language=en_US

Avamar VMware user guide
https://support.emc.com/docu81578_Avamar_7.4_and_Service_Packs_for_VMware_Us
er_Guide.pdf?language=en_US