IBM Spectrum Protect Plus Practical Guidance for Deployment, Configuration, and Usage

IBM Spectrum Protect Plus Practical Guidance for Deployment, Configuration, and Usage

by Andre Gaschler, Axel Westphal, Wilhelm Gardt, Mikael Lindström, Peter Minig, Joerg Walter, Daniel Wendler, Bert Dufrasne
Released April 2020
Publisher(s): IBM Redbooks
ISBN: 9780738458045

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Book description

IBM® Spectrum Protect Plus is a data protection solution that provides near-instant recovery, replication, retention, and reuse for virtual machines, databases, and applications in hybrid multicloud environments.

IBM Knowledge Center for IBM Spectrum® Protect Plus provides extensive documentation for installation, deployment, and usage. In addition, IBM Spectrum Protect Plus Blueprint (https://ibm.biz/IBMSpectrumProtectPlusBlueprints) provides guidance about how to build and size an IBM Spectrum Protect Plus solution.

The goal of this IBM Redpaper publication is to summarize and complement the available information by providing useful hints and tips based on the authors' practical experience in installing and supporting IBM Spectrum Protect Plus in actual customer environments. Over time, our aim is to compile a set of best practices that cover all aspects of the product, from planning and installation to tuning, maintenance, and troubleshooting.

Table of contents

  1. Front cover
  2. Notices
    1. Trademarks
  3. Preface
    1. Authors
    2. Now you can become a published author, too
    3. Comments welcome
    4. Stay connected to IBM Redbooks
  4. Chapter 1. IBM Spectrum Protect Plus product architecture and components
    1. 1.1 IBM Spectrum Protect Plus overview
      1. 1.1.1 Key concepts
    2. 1.2 IBM Spectrum Protect Plus architecture
      1. 1.2.1 IBM Spectrum Protect Plus server
      2. 1.2.2 Site
      3. 1.2.3 vSnap Backup Storage server
      4. 1.2.4 VADP proxy server
    3. 1.3 SLA backup policies
      1. 1.3.1 Backup parameters and retention management
      2. 1.3.2 Backup jobs
  5. Chapter 2. Solution architecture, planning, and design
    1. 2.1 System context
    2. 2.2 Roles and responsibilities
    3. 2.3 Solution design considerations
      1. 2.3.1 Dedicated or shared environment
      2. 2.3.2 Network
      3. 2.3.3 Encryption
    4. 2.4 Solution requirements
      1. 2.4.1 Architectural decisions
  6. Chapter 3. Installation and deployment
    1. 3.1 Review the prerequisites for an IBM Spectrum Protect Plus deployment
      1. 3.1.1 Requirements for IBM Spectrum Protect server
      2. 3.1.2 Requirements for the vSnap Backup Storage server
      3. 3.1.3 Requirements for the VADP proxy server
    2. 3.2 Installation and deployment
      1. 3.2.1 Deploy the IBM Spectrum Protect Plus server
      2. 3.2.2 Deploy the vSnap Backup Storage and VADP proxy server
    3. 3.3 Configuration of the IBM Spectrum Protect Plus environment
      1. 3.3.1 Configure the IBM Spectrum Protect Plus server
      2. 3.3.2 Configure the vSnap Backup Storage server
      3. 3.3.3 Configure NTP for the IBM Spectrum Protect Plus and the vSnap server
      4. 3.3.4 Connect the vSnap and VADP Proxy server with the IBM Spectrum Protect Plus server
      5. 3.3.5 Add a SLA for IBM Spectrum Protect Plus catalog backup
      6. 3.3.6 Backing up the vSnap server System Configuration
      7. 3.3.7 Change and verify the schedules of the predefined jobs
  7. Chapter 4. Backup and Restore VM
    1. 4.1 VM backup configuration basics
      1. 4.1.1 Create an Identity
      2. 4.1.2 Add a Hypervisor Resource
      3. 4.1.3 Assign an SLA policy
      4. 4.1.4 Run a backup job for an SLA
      5. 4.1.5 Run a backup for a single VM
      6. 4.1.6 Distributing VM backups to multiple vSnaps
      7. 4.1.7 Backup Options
    2. 4.2 Catalog file metadata for single file restore
      1. 4.2.1 Configure requirements
      2. 4.2.2 Configure file metadata discovery
      3. 4.2.3 Restore single files and directories
    3. 4.3 VM restore and data reuse
      1. 4.3.1 Restore Schedule
      2. 4.3.2 Restore Source (Location) and Restore Points
      3. 4.3.3 Restore Destination
      4. 4.3.4 Restore methods
      5. 4.3.5 Restore Options
      6. 4.3.6 Restore a virtual disk
      7. 4.3.7 Restore a VM
  8. Chapter 5. Backup and Restore databases
    1. 5.1 Database backup configuration basics
      1. 5.1.1 Create an Identity
      2. 5.1.2 Add an application server
      3. 5.1.3 Assign an SLA policy
      4. 5.1.4 Run a backup
    2. 5.2 IBM Spectrum Protect Plus database restore and data reuse
      1. 5.2.1 Test restore
      2. 5.2.2 Instant access
      3. 5.2.3 Production restore
    3. 5.3 Oracle-specific information
      1. 5.3.1 Server registration
      2. 5.3.2 Oracle multi-threading
      3. 5.3.3 Oracle backup information
      4. 5.3.4 Oracle Block Change Tracking
      5. 5.3.5 Compression
      6. 5.3.6 Troubleshooting hint
  9. Chapter 6. Backup and restore MongoDB databases
    1. 6.1 IBM Spectrum Protect Plus requirements for MongoDB
      1. 6.1.1 Fundamental IBM Spectrum Protect Plus requirements for MongoDB
      2. 6.1.2 MongoDB databases without authentication
      3. 6.1.3 MongoDB databases with authentication enabled
      4. 6.1.4 Register a MongoDB server
    2. 6.2 MongoDB backup and restore with Spectrum Protect Plus
      1. 6.2.1 MongoDB backup
      2. 6.2.2 MongoDB restore
  10. Chapter 7. Backup and Restore of Db2 databases
    1. 7.1 IBM Spectrum Protect Plus Db2 features
    2. 7.2 Prerequisites for Db2 databases
    3. 7.3 Protecting Db2 databases
      1. 7.3.1 Registering the Db2 database server
      2. 7.3.2 Backup Db2 data
      3. 7.3.3 Restoring Db2 databases
  11. Chapter 8. Backup and Restore of Microsoft SQL Server
    1. 8.1 IBM Spectrum Protect Plus SQL Server features
    2. 8.2 Prerequisites for SQL Server databases
    3. 8.3 Protecting SQL Server databases
      1. 8.3.1 Register the SQL Server
      2. 8.3.2 Defining a SQL Server backup job
    4. 8.4 Restore SQL Server databases
  12. Chapter 9. Additional Copies of Backup Data
    1. 9.1 Reasons to create additional copies of backup data
    2. 9.2 Additional copies - Overview and comparison of options
      1. 9.2.1 Replication of backup data
      2. 9.2.2 Additional Copies to Cloud storage
      3. 9.2.3 Additional Copies to a Repository server
      4. 9.2.4 Dual-Site Backup using multiple SLAs
      5. 9.2.5 Comparing the options
    3. 9.3 Replication of backup data - Details
      1. 9.3.1 Configure vSnap Replication
      2. 9.3.2 Run the replication
    4. 9.4 Additional Copies to Object, Tape or Archival Storage - Details
      1. 9.4.1 Prerequisites
      2. 9.4.2 Configuring an object storage provider in Spectrum Protect Plus
      3. 9.4.3 Configuring additional copies to Object storage in the SLA
    5. 9.5 Configuring Multi-Site Backup - Details
    6. 9.6 Example: Creating incremental and full copies of backup data to an IBM Spectrum Protect server
      1. 9.6.1 Preparation of the Spectrum Protect server
      2. 9.6.2 Register an IBM Spectrum Protect server as Repository server in IBM Spectrum Protect Plus
      3. 9.6.3 Create a SLA that creates regular additional copies to IBM Spectrum Protect
      4. 9.6.4 Execute the SLA and observe the job results
  13. Chapter 10. Networking
    1. 10.1 Introduction to Networking with IBM Spectrum Protect Plus
    2. 10.2 Configuring IBM Spectrum Protect Plus to use a dedicated backup network
      1. 10.2.1 Preparing the VMware ESXi or Microsoft Hyper-V Hypervisors
      2. 10.2.2 Preparing the IBM Spectrum Protect Plus server
      3. 10.2.3 Preparing the IBM Spectrum Protect Plus vSnap server
      4. 10.2.4 Preparing the IBM Spectrum Protect Plus VADP proxy (VMware only)
      5. 10.2.5 Using a dedicated network for vSnap replication
    3. 10.3 Establishing connections through firewalls
      1. 10.3.1 TCP connections used by IBM Spectrum Protect Plus components
      2. 10.3.2 Editing firewall ports
      3. 10.3.3 Testing network connectivity
  14. Chapter 11. Role Based Access Control
    1. 11.1 Role-based access control overview
      1. 11.1.1 Plan user, roles, and resource groups
    2. 11.2 Create roles
    3. 11.3 Create resource groups
    4. 11.4 Create users
  15. Chapter 12. Maintenance
    1. 12.1 Update IBM Spectrum Protect Plus components
      1. 12.1.1 Update sequence
      2. 12.1.2 Updating IBM Spectrum Protect Plus virtual appliance
      3. 12.1.3 Updating vSnap servers
      4. 12.1.4 Updating VADP proxies
      5. 12.1.5 Applying early availability updates (efix)
    2. 12.2 IBM Spectrum Protect Plus troubleshooting (log files)
    3. 12.3 Managing the vSnap server
    4. 12.4 LDAP and SMTP configuration
      1. 12.4.1 Adding an LDAP server
      2. 12.4.2 Adding an SMTP server
      3. 12.4.3 Editing settings for an LDAP or SMTP server
      4. 12.4.4 Deleting an LDAP or SMTP server
    5. 12.5 Administrative Console
      1. 12.5.1 Log in to the Administrative Console
      2. 12.5.2 System Management
    6. 12.6 Global Preferences
    7. 12.7 Managing the IBM Spectrum Protect Plus catalog
      1. 12.7.1 Restoring the IBM Spectrum Protect Plus application
      2. 12.7.2 Deleting IBM Spectrum Protect Plus resources from the catalog
      3. 12.7.3 Managing IBM Spectrum Protect Plus restore points
    8. 12.8 Search guidelines
      1. 12.8.1 Searching with wildcards
      2. 12.8.2 Match a single character with a question mark:
    9. 12.9 Testing network connectivity
      1. 12.9.1 Running the Service Tool from a command-line interface
      2. 12.9.2 Running the Service Tool remotely
    10. 12.10 Messages
      1. 12.10.1 IBM Spectrum Protect Plus message prefixes
  16. Chapter 13. The vSnap CLI
    1. 13.1 vSnap server CLI
    2. 13.2 vSnap server initialization
    3. 13.3 vSnap server preferences
      1. 13.3.1 Changing replication streams and timeouts
    4. 13.4 vSnap volumes and snapshots
      1. 13.4.1 Volumes and snapshots for backup data
      2. 13.4.2 Volumes and snapshots for replication data
  17. Chapter 14. REST API
    1. 14.1 REST API Overview
    2. 14.2 IBM Spectrum Protect Plus REST API
      1. 14.2.1 REST API documentation
    3. 14.3 Discovering the REST API
      1. 14.3.1 CURL
      2. 14.3.2 Swagger UI
      3. 14.3.3 Firefox RESTclient
    4. 14.4 Use Case: initiate backup of VMs via REST API with Python
      1. 14.4.1 Motivation
      2. 14.4.2 Trace GUI REST operations with Firefox browser
      3. 14.4.3 Python code explained
    5. 14.5 The sppclient: a Python library for REST operations
      1. 14.5.1 The sppclient scripts - general usage information
      2. 14.5.2 The sppclient script overview and selected examples
    6. 14.6 API response code
  18. Related publications
    1. IBM Redbooks
    2. Online resources
    3. Help from IBM
  19. Back cover

Product information

  • Title: IBM Spectrum Protect Plus Practical Guidance for Deployment, Configuration, and Usage
  • Author(s): Andre Gaschler, Axel Westphal, Wilhelm Gardt, Mikael Lindström, Peter Minig, Joerg Walter, Daniel Wendler, Bert Dufrasne
  • Release date: April 2020
  • Publisher(s): IBM Redbooks
  • ISBN: 9780738458045