Configuring HYCU Backup
Installing HYCU Backup on a Nutanix cluster
Last updated 20th July 2022
Objective
HYCU for Nutanix is a backup software available for Nutanix.
Find out how to install, configure and use HYCU on a Nutanix cluster with Object Storage storage provided by OVHcloud.
OVHcloud provides services for which you are responsible, with regard to their configuration and management. It is therefore your responsibility to ensure that they work properly.
This guide is designed to assist you as much as possible with common tasks. Nevertheless, we recommend contacting a specialist provider if you experience any difficulties or doubts when it comes to managing, using or setting up a service on a server.
The HYCU licence is not provided by OVHcloud. For more information, contact HYCU or OVHcloud commercial teams.
Requirements
- A Nutanix cluster in your OVHcloud account
- Access to the OVHcloud Control Panel
- You must be connected to the cluster via Prism Central.
- A Public Cloud project with a High Performance Object Storage type storage bucket, with a user with read and write permissions for this bucket. You can find more information on how to create a Public Cloud project and how to use the High Performance Object Storage service on the following pages:
- 60 GB of storage, 8 GB of memory and 8 cores on your Nutanix Cluster.
Instructions
Log in to Prism Central.
For more information on connecting to the cluster, see the Go further section in this guide.
Installing and configuring HYCU software
Adding HYCU installation image
From the main menu, click Images from the Compute & Storage menu.
Click Add Image.
Choose URL as the source type, enter the URL https://download.hycu.com/ec/v4.X.X/hycu-4.X.X-XXXX.qcow2 in Enter Image URL, and click Upload file.
The URL used for the download is the latest version available on the HYCU website.
Remove the .qcow2 extension behind the name and leave hycu-4.X.X-XXXX. Enter a description and click Next.
It is important to remove the extension in the name to facilitate the HYCU configuration process.
Click Save to import the image.
On the Prism Central dashboard, click the cluster name in the Cluster Quick Access section to go to the Prism Element.
Configuring the IP address for ISCSI
Go to the settings by clicking on the gear icon.
Click Cluster Details.
Enter an unused local IP address in Virtual IP and click Save.
Check your choice and click Yes.
The IP address is displayed in virtual IP.
Adding a user account in Prism Element for HYCU
Click the gear to go to the Prism Element configuration.
Scroll down the menu and click Local User Management.
Click New User.
Enter these values:
- Username:
svc_hycu - First Name:
HYCU - Last Name:
HYCU - Email:
hycu@example.com - Password:
password
This information is provided as an example, the email address is mandatory but is not used.
Select the Cluster Admin checkbox and click Save.
The user is then created.
Creating the virtual machine for HYCU
Go to Prism Central.
In the main menu, click VMs from the Compute & Storage menu.
Click Create VM.
Name the virtual machine and change the properties of the virtual machine with these settings:
- CPU:
4 vCPU - Cores Per CPU:
2 Cores - Memory:
8GB
Click Next.
Click Attach Disk.
Enter these values:
- Type:
Disk - Operation:
Clone from Image - Image:
hycu-4.X.X-XXXX
Click Save.
Click Attach Disk.
Choose these options:
- Type:
Disk - Operation:
Allocate on Storage Container - Image:
default-container - Capacity:
32Gib
Click Save.
Click Attach to Subnet.
Select the base network from the Subnet drop-down menu, select Connected in the Network Connection State drop-down menu. Then click Save.
Click Next.
Create a yaml file by editing these values:
- < IP address >: Local IP address of the cluster.
- < GATEWAY >: Local gateway for the cluster to access the Internet.
- < DNS >: DNS used on the Internet.
#cloud-config
bootcmd:
- /opt/grizzly/bin/cloud_init_setup.sh hycubc < IP address > < GATEWAY > < DNS > `hycu.local,ntnx.local`
Modify Guest Customisation options by selecting Cloud-init (Linux) in the Script Type drop-down menu. Select Custom Script in the Configuration Method drop-down menu.
Copy the contents of the yaml script and paste it to the field below Clear Script. Then click Next.
Click Create VM.
Select the virtual machine created by using the checkbox to the right of the virtual machine.
Click Power On in the Actions menu.
.
The virtual machine is started and has the IP address defined in cloud-init.
Configuring HYCU URL redirection to public network
In this section, we will configure a redirection so that you can configure HYCU using the web interface from outside your cluster.
In the OVHcloud Control Panel, select Bare Metal Cloud, then click on your Load Balancer in the menu bar on the left-hand side.
In the Server clusters tab, click Add a server cluster.
Name your server cluster, then select TCP and enter this information:
- Port:
8443 - Datacenter:
ALL - Private network:
nutanix
Click Add to confirm the server farm creation.
Click Add a server.
Enter these values:
- Name (optional):
VM-HYCU - IPv4 address:
ipaddresshycu - Port:
8443
Click Add to confirm the cluster creation.
Next, click on the Front-ends tab, and Add a front-end.
Name your front-end, choose the TCP protocol, and modify these values:
- Port:
8443 - Datacenter:
ALL - Default server cluster:
HYCU (TCP)
Click Add.
Click Apply configuration.
Select the Datacenter and click Apply configuration.
In the Tasks tab, you can track the progress of applying the changes.
For more information on the OVHcloud Load Balancer, please refer to the Go further section of this guide.
Configuring HYCU
Connect with a web browser to the HYCU administration interface, which should be similar to https://nutanixfqdncluster:8443. The fqdn variable corresponds to the URL provided when the Nutanix cluster was created.
Enter the default password and click Sign In.
Change the login password for more security.
Click Change Password in the admin menu in the top right-hand corner of the interface.
Enter the default password in the OLD PASSWORD field, the new password in the PASSWORD and CONFIRM PASSWORD fields.
Then click Save.
We will now connect HYCU to the Nutanix cluster.
Click the Administration gear icon in the top right corner and choose Sources
Enter information about Prism Element:
- URL:
https://url_prism_element_local:9440 - USERNAME:
Prism Element user - PASSWORD:
Prism Element user password
Click Next.
Enter this information about Prism Central:
- URL:
https://url_prism_central_local:9440 - USERNAME:
Prism Central user - PASSWORD:
Prism Central password
Click Next.
The VALIDATION SUCCESSFUL information appears to indicate that the entered information is correct. Click Save.
Click Close.
Select Targets in the menu on the left and click + Add in the top right of the interface.
Enter the configuration settings and authentication keys for your S3 user with read/write access to the S3 bucket used as explained below:
- name Name
- Size: Storage size
- Type:
AWS S3/Compatible
OVHcloud High Performance Object Storage service has no storage limits and is billed on a per-use basis. In the HYCU software configuration, it is necessary to set a size as in the example below. You can of course choose another value.
Enable ENABLE COMPRESSION and scroll down through the window.
.
Complete the information:
- SERVICE ENDPOINT:
S3 Storage URL - BUCKET NAME:
Bucket name - ACCESS KEY ID:
S3 User Access Key - SECRET ACCESS KEY:
S3 User Secret Key
Enable TARGET ENCRYPTION and click Save.
.
The target is enabled for Nutanix cluster backups.
.
Updating HYCU
HYCU regularly provides updates for which we detail the process below.
Adding sources for a new version of HYCU
From the Prism Central main menu, click Images from the Compute & Storage menu.
Click Add Image.
Select URL.
Enter the URL for the qcow2 image of the latest version of HYCU, such as:
https://download.hycu.com/ec/v4.X.X/hotfixes/4.X.X-XXXX/hycu-4.X.X-XXXX.qcow2
The URL used for the download is the latest version available on the HYCU website.
Click Upload file.
Remove the extension .qcow2 behind the name hycu-'4.X.X-XXXX, enter a description and click Next.
It is important to remove the extension in the name to facilitate the HYCU update process.
Click Save to import the image.
Runing the update from HYCU
Log in via the URL provided when you created the Nutanix cluster, replacing the port https://fqdnclusternutanix:8443.
Go to the HYCU configuration by clicking the Administration gear icon and choose Power Options.
Select Suspend All, check AUTO RESUME AFTER and leave the Hours field at 1, then click Save.
Click Software Upgrade from the Administration gear menu.
Choose the latest version from the AVAILABLE VERSIONS drop-down menu and click Software Upgrade.
Click Yes to start the update process.
A backup copy is made during the update process so that it can be restored if there are any issues.
Log in to the HYCU administration interface.
Click the gear icon and click Power Options.
Uncheck Suspend All and click Save.
Configuring backup in HYCU
Setting up VM login passwords
Virtual machine login passwords enable backup of applications such as a Microsoft SQL database or Exchange server.
Log in via the Virtual Machines menu on the left and click the key-shaped Credentials button at the top right of the interface.
Click the + sign.
Enter these values:
- NAME: password storage name
- PROTOCOL:
AUTOMATIC - USERNAME: virtual machine user account
- PASSWORD: password
Click Save.
Click the + sign to add another account.
Enter these values:
- NAME: password storage name
- PROTOCOL:
AUTOMATIC - USERNAME: virtual machine user account
- PASSWORD: password
Click Save.
Click Close.
Select the virtual machines that will use a password by ticking the box to the right of the virtual machine, then click the credentials key button.
Select the password you want to use and click Assign.
Select another virtual machine that will use a password by ticking the box to the right of the virtual machine, then click the credentials key button.
Select the password you want to use and click Assign.
Creating backup policies
Go to the policies menu on the left and click the + button in the top right corner.
Enter this information:
- NAME:
HYCU VM - BACKUP EVERY:
4 hours - BACKUP THRESHOLD:
42
Leave the BACKUP option checked and use the scroll bar on the right.
Click Save.
This policy is created for the HYCU virtual machine.
In the policies menu, click the + button in the top right corner.
Set the policy name BACKUP to S3 OVHcloud and local SNAPSHOTS in the NAME field.
Check the FAST RESTORE option, leave the BACKUP option checked.
Change the backup options in Backup and change the BACKUP THREESHOLD value to 25. Then scroll down the page.
Edit the Fast restore option with your settings and click Save.
This strategy makes a backup on OVHcloud S3 storage and also takes snapshots inside the Nutanix cluster, allowing for faster recovery.
Assigning backup policies
Select all VMs via the check box next to NAME, then click the shield-shaped Policies button in the top right to assign a policy to all VMs.
Choose the Exclude policy and click Assign.
Select the HYCU virtual machine by selecting the check box next to it, then click the Policies button to assign a policy to this virtual machine.
Choose the HYCU VM policy and click Assign.
Select four virtual machines and click the Policies button to assign a policy.
Choose the BACKUP to S3 OVHcloud and local SNAPSHOTS policy and click Assign.
Monitoring backup status
Go to the Dashboard menu on the left to view the dashboard and view the backup status.
Open the Jobs menu on the left to view the job status.
Restoring from HYCU
Use the Virtual Machines menu and click a backed up virtual machine.
Restoring a virtual machine
Click the Restore VM button in the bottom right-hand corner.
Select Restore VM and click Next.
Leave the default options and click Restore.
The virtual machine is fully restored.
Retrieving a file
Click the Restore files button in the bottom right-hand corner.
Leave AUTOMATIC in the RESTORE FROM drop-down menu and click Next.
Select the file to restore and click Next.
Leave the default options and click Next.
Choose Rename restored and click Restore.
The restored file is located inside the virtual machine with a new name so as not to delete the old file.
Restoring an application
Click the Applications menu and then choose an application to restore by clicking an application below Name.
Click the Restore button in the bottom right-hand corner.
Select Restore Databases and click Next.
Choose a database and click Next.
Disable OVERWRITE EXISTING DATABASES and click Restore.
The database is restored into a new database.
Go further
OVHcloud Load Balancer documentation
Our OVHcloud Object Storage solutions
Join our community of users on https://community.ovh.com/en/.
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