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VERSION 1.1 / NOVEMBER 2015

Nutanix VMware Protection Best Practices Guide

Co m m vau lt Nu t an ix Best P rac t ic es VMw are – v1 . 1 NOVEMBER 2 0 1 5

COMMVAUL T P ROD UCTS

FOR GENERAL RELEASE P a g e | 2

Table of Contents

Overview .................................................................................................................................. 4

Commvault Components & Sizing .................................................................................................. 4

Commserve ..................................................................................................................................................................... 4

Media Agent ................................................................................................................................................................... 5

Virtual Server Agent (VSA) ........................................................................................................................................... 5

Requirements................................................................................................................................................................ 5

Deployment Models.................................................................................................................... 5

VMware Transport Methods....................................................................................................................................... 5

VSA on Proxy VM ........................................................................................................................................................... 6

Media Agent on VM ...................................................................................................................................................... 7

Physical Media Agent.................................................................................................................................................... 8

Disk Libraries ............................................................................................................................. 8

Nutanix............................................................................................................................................................................. 8

Other Disk Targets ......................................................................................................................................................... 9

Cloud Storage ................................................................................................................................................................. 9

Backup Types and Schedules ........................................................................................................ 9

DASH Full ......................................................................................................................................................................... 9

Incremental Forever Approach.................................................................................................................................10

Best Practices List ..................................................................................................................... 10




Revision History

Version Data Changes 1.0 October 2015 Initial Document Publication 1.1 November 2015 Minor Updates & Revisions




Overview

This document will serve to provide architecture examples and best practices for using Commvault to

protect VMware on Nutanix.

The scalability of the Nutanix solution matches well with the architecture and flexibility of Commvault

software. Together, these products create an optimum solution to manage filesystem and application

data across multiple hypervisors. Commvault can be deployed on a Nutanix cluster, in combinat ion with

physical machines, or entirely on physical machines. This document will assume the architects and

administrators have some knowledge of each system.

At the time of publication, the latest versions are Commvault 10 SP12+ or 11 SP2+. Check with

Commvault for latest updates.

Commvault Components & Sizing

Commserve

The CommServe® is the command and control center. It contains the Microsoft SQL database

that stores the CommCell group members, settings, and other metadata. Because a distributed,

two-tiered indexing system for tracking managed data is used, the size of the metadata database

is controlled. The CommServe is responsible for managing administrative functions,

communicating with agents and Media Agents to initiate data protection, management and

recovery operations.

For details on Commserve requirements based upon environment size, follow the following link:

Commserve Sizing can be found here

http://documentation.commvault.com/commvault/v11/article?p=system_requirements/commcell_sizing/commserve.htm




Media Agent

The MediaAgent is the data transmission server. It provides high performance data movement

and manages the data storage. MediaAgent tasks are coordinated by the CommServe. For

scalability, there can be more than one MediaAgent in a CommCell. The MediaAgent software

can be installed in physical, virtual, and clustered environments.

Refer to the Media Agent sizing guidelines here: Media Agent Sizing

Virtual Server Agent (VSA)

The Virtual Server Agent (VSA) provides a unified protection and recovery vehicle for all virtual

machine data. In addition to complete protection of entire virtual machines for disaster recovery,

the Virtual Server Agent also provides granular backup and recovery options.

Requirements Windows Server 2008 or higher

CPU and Ram based on TB of data being protected

If performing backups with the granular recovery option enabled, the location of

the Job Results folder should contain additional space to accommodate at least 2

percent of the total amount of data being backed up.

Deployment Models

VMware Transport Methods Commvault will utilize the vStorage API (VADP) to backup VMware environments. During

backups, the Virtual Server Agent requests a snapshot of the virtual machine hosted on the

datastore. The snapshot VMDK and virtual machine configuration files are then copied to the

storage media without requiring any dedicated disk cache on the proxy server.

http://documentation.commvault.com/commvault/v11/article?p=system_requirements/commcell_sizing/ma_standard_mode.htm




Commvault recommends using network block device (NBD) as the transport mode rather than

Hot-Add or San mode. This ensures optimal performance and reliability when using the Nutanix

platform. This method will also allow for the greatest ease in scaling the system as the Nutanix

cluster grows. While Hot-Add mode is possible, NBD has proven to be a better choice in most

Nutanix environments.

An important consideration here is the network interface. When using NBD mode, data will

transfer over ESXi management interfaces. For this purpose, the management interface should be

configured on the 10Gb NICs rather than 1Gb. If using physical Commvault Media Agents or VSA

proxies, best performance will be achieved by utilizing 10Gb NICs in those machines as well.

Additionally, the data path should not be routed or pass through any software firewalls.

VSA on Proxy VM Deploying the VSA directly on a Windows VM running on a Nutanix node allows for greatest

flexibility, while reducing hardware footprint. Creating a virtualization client with multiple proxies

is useful to force VMware transport modes across all proxies and provides greater fault tolerance.

Commvault dynamically distributes virtual machines for backup across available VSA proxies, both

at the beginning of the backup job and while the backup is running. When a backup operation

starts, the first VSA proxy listed for the Virtual Server instance acts as a coordinator, controlling

traffic for backups across all proxies. Dynamic distribution improves performance, enhances

scalability, and ensures fault tolerance for backup operations. The figure below illustrates

multiple VSAs in a group under a single management point.




Media Agent on VM The Media Agent software can be installed in physical, virtual, and clustered environments. For

protection of hyper converged environments, the recommended deployment is on a VM. Unless

direct tape-out is necessary, a VM running on a Nutanix node will provide the same feature set as

a physical machine. The figure below illustrates the Media Agent, VSA proxy and Commserve all

running as virtual machines on the Nutanix platform. Note that cloud storage is supported using

the native cloud connector in the Commvault software.

In order to provide optimal performance for the deduplication database hosted on

the MediaAgent, the Solid State Disk pinning feature should be used. Currently

(Nutanix version 4.5.1) the administrator must enable this from the Nutanix

command line, as the option is not visible in the PRISM interface.

To pin a disk to SSD, you must know the id of the disk, as well as the tier. To get these attributes,

use the virtual-disk list and list tier commands. Once you have this information the following

command can be used to pin a disk to SSD. Follow the media agent sizing guidelines to determine

the amount of storage necessary for the database.

virtual-disk update-pinning id=”diskid” tier-name=”tierid” pinned-space=”amountofGBforDDB”




Physical Media Agent

When a physical Media Agent is desired, such as instances requiring direct tape-out,

simply install and configure the Media Agent according to Commvault

documentation. A virtual machine can still host the VSA, and the data will be

transferred to the physical MediaAgent at the time of backup. Source-side

deduplication and compression will assist in minimizing the impact to production

networks. See the example below of multiple options for writing to a physical media

agent with disk and tape libraries. Note the optional data flow, as the data would be

directed to the physical machine absent a virtual proxy.

Disk Libraries

Nutanix If storing the backup data on a disk library inside a virtual machine, use the VMware PVSCSI

controller. This is generally only recommended for vSphere 5.5 and higher as previously virtual

disks are limited at 2TB. For larger scale deployments, it may be recommended to deploy the

Commvault Media Agent and disk libraries on a separate Nutanix cluster. This allows for

expansion without interruption as well as increased redundancy. The diagram below illustrates a

secondary Nutanix cluster hosting Commvault infrastructure and storage, while receiving data

from VSA’s on production Nutanix clusters.




Other Disk Targets

If using disk storage outside of Nutanix is desired, either for primary or secondary copy storage,

simply configure the disk library according to Commvault documentation. Examples of external

libraries would be CIFS, NFS or SMB based network storage, block based storage using isci, or

even removable hard disk devices. Some consideration is needed when creating external libraries

and using Media Agents hosted on a Nutanix cluster. Although possible, using scsi or fibre

channel attached devices with virtual machines can require extra configuration. For this reason, it

is generally ideal to use physical Media Agents if possible when needing to control tape libraries.

Refer to VMware support for more information.

Cloud Storage

Commvault enables the use of many Cloud Storage providers as locations for data storage and

recovery. No separate gateways or appliances are needed; the client computers are connected to

the cloud library through the MediaAgent. During a data protection operation, the MediaAgent

sends the client data directly to the cloud storage.

All data is transferred through secured channels using HTTPS protocol and can be further

encrypted during network transfer as well as at rest. Additionally, the deduplication feature

enables you to reduce cloud storage space usage and use network bandwidth efficiently.

Backup Types and Schedules

DASH Full

Synthetic full backups consolidate the data from the latest full or synthetic full backup together

with any subsequent incremental backups into one archive file, instead of reading and backing up




data directly from the client computer. Since synthetic full backups do not back up data from the

client computer, this operation imposes no load on the client computer.

When using Commvault deduplication, synthetic full backups can be created in an accelerated

mode to significantly reduce the copy duration. This is done by identifying and transferring the

data signatures (instead of the data itself) to the target wherever possible. This is referred to as a

DASH Full backup.

For more information on accelerated Synthetic Full backups see the documentation here: DASH

Full Backups

Incremental Forever Approach

For most virtual protection jobs, Commvault recommends using an incremental forever

approach, where DASH Full backups are scheduled periodically. In the case of incremental

backups, Change Block Tracking (CBT) helps quickly identify the data blocks on the virtual

machine that have changed since the last backup. When combining CBT with Commvault

deduplication and compression, the amount of data and load on the virtual machines during

incremental backups is minimal resulting in the fastest and most efficient backup.

Best Practices List

Use Network Mode (NBD) as the transport mode whenever possible.

Configure the management interfaces to use the 10Gb NICs

Pin DDB disk to SSD when running Media Agents as virtual machines

If using Nutanix as a disk library, or when desiring to use an all Nutanix deployment, place media

Agents and disk libraries on secondary cluster.

Use DASH full backups and the incremental forever approach.

Make sure to apply latest service packs and hotfixes from Commvault before deployment.

http://documentation.commvault.com/commvault/v11/article?p=features/backup/syn_full_advanced.htm

http://documentation.commvault.com/commvault/v11/article?p=features/backup/syn_full_advanced.htm