Solution Architecture
The recommended architecture for protecting virtual machines in a VMware Cloud on AWS SDDC allows a customer to protect virtual machine workloads within the SDDC by providing backup to a centralized vSnap server outside of the SDDC and as shown in the diagram below:
The IBM Spectrum Protect Plus components for this solution are:
- IBM Spectrum Protect Plus server which provides automated, centrally scheduled, policy-managed backup capabilities for virtual machines and other workloads. This server will be responsible for moving data from the SDDC datastore to the vSnap server for backup and recovery operations. This component is installed in the VMware Cloud on SDDC.
- vSnap backup storage which will consist of disk-based storage organized in storage pools. The storage can be in the customer’s AWS VPC or on-premise. The vSnap server must be located outside of the SDDC.
- VADP proxy that must be located inside the SDDC. This proxy server must be connected to datastore in the SDDC. This will allow the use of HotAdd transport mode for backups.
- Another recommendation is to also have a separate cloud storage to offload the backup data from the vSnap server. This cloud-based offload target must be a certified object storage environment. The cloud storage can be AWS S3, IBM COS, Azure Blob or any S3 compatible storage.
Solution Components
The following components are required for data protection of virtual machines in VMware Cloud on AWS:
- IBM Spectrum Protect Plus Server 10.1.5 or later.
- IBM Spectrum Protect Plus vSnap Server 10.1.5 or later.
- IBM Spectrum Protect Plus VADP Proxy 10.1.5 or later.
Detailed information about the solution can be found in the
IBM Knowledge Center.
Installation and Configuration
Installation and configuration of the IBM Spectrum Protect Plus server component can be found in the
Installing IBM Spectrum Protect Plus.
Steps to install and configure IBM Spectrum Protect Plus server
- Review the IBM Knowledge Center article: Installing IBM Spectrum Protect Plus.
- Deploy the IBM Spectrum Protect Plus OVA in the SDDC.
- Deploy the IBM Spectrum Protect Plus vSnap OVA in AWS or on-premise.
a. If deploying IBM Spectrum Protect Plus vSnap server in AWS, review the deployment guide for Spectrum Protect Plus on AWS: IBM Spectrum Protect Plus on AWS Deployment Guide. When deploying in AWS, it is recommended to deploy to the connected VPC in SDDC.
- Ensure that there is communication between the IBM Spectrum Protect Plus server and the vSnap backup server.
- Launch the IBM Spectrum Protect Plus user interface and register the vSnap server as a backup storage disk. This will set up the storage pool on the vSnap server.
- Deploy a VADP proxy to backup data from the datastores to the vSnap server. Review the requirements for a VADP proxy: VADP Proxy Requirements.
- Navigate to System Configuration > VADP Proxy to make edits to the VADP Proxy. For any VADP Proxy that is registered in IBM Spectrum Protect Plus, select the ellipsis (…) and select proxy options.
a. Confirm that the correct site is being used for the VADP Proxy.
b. For “Transport Modes”, only HotAdd should be selected. De-select any other transport mode besides HotAdd.
- Navigate to Manage Protection > Hypervisors > VMware. Click the button “Manage vCenter” to expand the list of vCenters. Click the button “Add vCenter” which opens a form to register the vCenter Server.
a. Enter the fully qualified domain name of the vCenter Server.
b. Enter the vCenter Server Username and Password.
- Navigate to Job and Operations and confirm that the “Hypervisor Inventory” job completes.
- To back up a VM, add the VM to an SLA policy.
a. Navigate to Manage Protection > Hypervisors > VMware and click on the vCenter link in the VMware Backup section to expand the list of virtual machines.
b. Select the virtual machine to be backed up and click the “Select SLA Policy” button. Select the SLA policy for the VM.
c. Under the SLA Policy Status section, expand the action menu and click the start option. This will start the backup of the virtual machine.
d. To view the status of the backup job, navigate to Job and Operations and look for the job under the Running Jobs tab.
VMware Cloud on AWS Network configuration
Review the information about
Required communications ports in the IBM Knowledge Center to configure the appropriate ports between the IBM Spectrum Protect Plus components and the VMware Cloud on AWS components.
At a minimum, you will need to create an inbound rule for port 443 as shown in the VMware on AWS console screenshot below:
Interoperability with VMware Cloud on AWS product features
The IBM Spectrum Protect Plus solution provides data protection for virtual machines deployed in SDDC on VMware Cloud on AWS. It is not intended to provide protection for hybrid solutions such as protecting virtual machines in a traditional data center (or traditional vSphere datacenter) and recovering the virtual machine to a SDDC or visa-versa.
Support Information
For more information on IBM Spectrum Protect and IBM Spectrum Protect Plus, see the
IBM Spectrum Protect Plus home page.