Integrating with Azure Cloud

Product version: 8.0

Last modified: 21 September 2018

Questions

1. Can NAKIVO Backup & Replication be configured to store backups in Microsoft Azure?

2. Can NAKIVO Backup & Replication overcome the 4 TB limit in Microsoft Azure?

Overview

NAKIVO Backup & Replication can be integrated with Microsoft Azure to provide an on-demand off-site backup destination.

Microsoft Azure allows you to create virtual machines with data disks that do not exceed 4 TB each in size. For most applications and application servers, 4 TB is enough. However, NAKIVO Backup & Replication users may require disk space that exceeds the 4 TB limit.

To overcome the 4 TB limit, you can use the software RAID-5 approach.

Answers

Please refer to the sections below for answers to your questions.

Note
You may be charged additionally for using a third-party resource. Refer to the third-party resource provider documentation for details.

Configuring NAKIVO Backup & Replication Repository in Microsoft Azure

If the size of your repository is under 4 TB, the following options are available for integrating NAKIVO Backup & Replication with Microsoft Azure:

Using Azure Disks

Azure disks are data disks that are attached to virtual machines. Azure disks are best suited for storing data that is not required to be accessed from outside the virtual machine.

To create a NAKIVO Backup & Replication repository using Azure Disks, follow the steps below:

1. Log in to Microsoft Azure Portal and go to Virtual machines.

2. In the Virtual machines page, click Add.

3. The Compute blade opens. Enter the name of the supported operating system into the Search box and press Enter.

4. The Results list opens. Click the appropriate image name.

5. The list of operating systems opens to the right of the Compute blade. Choose the operating system based on your needs and preferences.

6. The corresponding pane opens for the selected operating system to the right of the Compute blade. Leave the deployment method by default and then click Create.
   

   
   

7. The Create virtual machine wizard opens. On the Basics page, provide the following information:

   1. Name. Enter the name of your virtual machine.

   2. User name. Enter a user name for the administrative account.

   3. Password. Enter a password for your administrative account. The password must meet the Azure Active Directory complexity requirements.

   4. Confirm password. Enter your password again.

   5. Subscription. Choose a valid Microsoft Azure subscription.

   6. Resource group. Create a new resource group or use an existing one. A resource group is a collection of resources that share the same lifecycle, permissions, and policies.

   7. Location. Choose a location from the list.

8. Click Next.

9. The Size page of the wizard opens. Please choose the size of your virtual machine based on your needs. Click Select.
   

   
   

10. The Settings page of the wizard opens. In the Select public inbound ports, select SSH (22) if youneed to deploy a Linux OS, leave the default values for the rest of the options, and click OK.
    

    
    

11. The Summary page of the wizard opens. Review the summary of your virtual machine and click OK.

12. The Create virtual machine wizard closes. Wait until your virtual machine is created.

After your virtual machine is created, it appears in the list of virtual machines.

Follow the steps below to attach data disks to your virtual machine:

1. Click your virtual machine in the list.

2. A blade of your virtual machine opens to the right of the virtual machines list. Click Disks.
   

   
   

3. The Disks blade opens to the right of the virtual machine blade. Click Add data disk.

4. A new row opens in the list of data disks. In the Name box, choose Create disk.
   

   
   

5. The Create managed disk blade opens to the right of the Disks blade. Enter the necessary information for your data disk; make sure that Standard HDD is chosen for the Account type and 4095 is entered into the Size box. Click Create.
   

   
   

6. If your data disk is created successfully, it appears in the list of data disks. Click Save in the Disks blade to confirm creating your data disk.

Make sure that port 445 is open to provide communication for your instance of NAKIVO Backup & Replication: In the Networking section of your virtual machine blade, click Add inbound rule and enable port number 445 (SMB) for everyone.

The next step is preparing your data disk and sharing the disk to your network by means of the virtual machine operating system. Please proceed as follows:

• In Windows:

  1. Log in to the virtual machine with the Remote Connection client.

  2. Open Disk Management with the diskmgmt command.

  3. When the Initialize Disk dialog box opens, select GPT (GUID Partition table) and click OK to initialize your data disk with the GPT partition style. Otherwise, the disk size will be limited to 2 TB.
     

     
     

  4. Right-click the disk and choose New Simple Volume from the context menu.

  5. The New Simple Volume Wizard opens. Follow the steps below to create an SMB share on the newly created RAID-5 volume and set the Full Control permission:

     1. On the Specify Volume Size page, leave the default value for the volume size and click Next.

     2. On the Assign Drive Letter or Path page, click Assign the following drive letter and click Next.

     3. On the Format Partition page, make sure that NTFS is chosen for the file system and the Perform a quick format option is selected. Click Next.
        

        
        

     4. On the completing page of the wizard, review the summary of your volume and click Finish.

     5. If the volume is formatted successfully, it appears in the list of volumes. Right-click the volume and choose Properties from the context menu.

     6. In the Properties window that opens, go to the Sharing tab and click Advanced Sharing.

     7. In the Advanced Sharing dialog box that opens, select Share this folder andspecify users who can access the volume share.
        

        
        

     8. Apply your changes and exit Disk Management.

• In Linux:

  1. Log in to the virtual machine with an SSH client.

  2. Create a disk partition for your data disk with the parted utility:

     parted /dev/sdc

     parted) mklabel gpt

     parted) unit %

     parted) mkpart primary 0 100

  3. Create a file system for the array:
     

     sudo mkfs -t ext4 /dev/sdc1

  4. Inform the operating system on the partition changes:
     

     sudo partprobe /dev/sdc1

  5. Create a mount point for your new disk:
     

     sudo mkdir /mnt/share02

  6. Set permission for the mount point:
     

     chmod 0777 /mnt/share02

  7. Mount your disk device to the share:
     

     mount /dev/sdc1 /mnt/share02

  8. Install the samba package:
     

     sudo apt-get install samba

  9. Configure a username and password that will be used to access the share:
     

     smbpasswd -a smbuser

  10. Edit the smb.conf file to add the following lines:
      

      [share02]
      path = /mnt/share02
      available = yes
      valid users = smbuser
      read only = no
      browsable = yes
      public = yes
      writable = yes

  11. Restart the smbd daemon:
      

      sudo service smbd restart

Now you are ready to add an Azure-located repository to NAKIVO Backup & Replication. Do one of the following:

• Create a Backup Repository on the shared disk:

  1. Go to Settings > Repositories and click Add Backup Repository. 

  2. Create a Backup Repository on the CIFS share. In the Path to the share box on the Name and Location page, enter the virtual machine name and the share name: \\40.117.129.90\share02. 

• Deploy a Transporter and add it to your NAKIVO Backup & Replication:

  • Install the Transporter on your Azure virtual machine. Refer to Installing NAKIVO Backup & Replication for details.

  • Add the installed Transporter to NAKIVO Backup & Replication. Refer to Adding Installed Transporters for details.

  • Using your Transporter, add a local repository to NAKIVO Backup & Replication. Refer to Creating Backup Repositories for details. If the repository is added successfully, it appears in the list of NAKIVO Backup & Replication repositories.

Using Azure Files

Azure Files are used to create file shares in the cloud to be accessible via the SMB protocol. Azure files are best suited for storing data to be accessed from many virtual machines. To create a NAKIVO Backup & Replication repository using Azure Files, follow the steps below:

1. Go to Storage accounts and click your storage account to open it.

2. In the storage account blade, click Files in the File Services menu.

3. The Files blade opens. Click File Share.

4. The New file share dialog box opens. Enter the name of your file share and the value of your quota (5120 GB is the limit). Click OK.

   

If your file share is added successfully, it appears in the list of file shares.

To mount your file share to the supported operating system, follow the steps below:

1. In Azure Portal, right-click the file share and then click Connect in the context menu.
   

   
   

2. The Connect page opens. Read the information provided on the page.
   

   
   

3. Log in to the host where the NAKIVO Backup & Replication Transporter is installed and follow the instructions provided on the Connect page to mount your Azure file share.

4. If your Azure file share is mounted successfully, it appears in the list of OS file shares.

5. Add a repository located on the Azure file share as follows:

   1. Log in to your instance of NAKIVO Backup & Replication and go to Settings > Repository. Click Add Backup Repository.

   2. Create a Backup Repository on a remote NFS share for connecting from Linux and on a remote CIFS share for connecting from Windows, On the Name and Location page of the wizard, enter the path to the Azure file share provided in the Azure Portal Connect page (see above) in the Path to the share box, 
      If your repository is created successfully, it appears in the list of NAKIVO Backup & Replication repositories.

Overcoming 4 TB Limit in Microsoft Azure

Follow the instructions below to configure a software RAID-5 volume and overcome the 4 TB limit in Microsoft Azure:

1. Make sure that a virtual machine with an operating system supported by NAKIVO Backup & Replication is created. Refer to System Requirements for the list of supported operating systems.

2. Log in to the virtual machine.

3. Add at least 7 data disks to the virtual machine as described in the Using Azure Files section above.

4. Create a software RAID-5 volume as follows:

   • In Linux:

     1. Make sure the mdadm utility is installed.

     2. Set the devices obtained from partitioning your data disks into a RAID-5 device:
        

        mdadm -C /dev/md0 --level=raid5 --raid-devices=7 /dev/sdc1 /dev/sdd1 /dev/sde1

     3. Check the RAID-5 device:
        

        sudo mdadm --detail /dev/md0

     4. Create a file system for the array:
        

        sudo mkfs -t ext4 /dev/md0

     5. Create the desired mount point for your new file system:
        

        sudo mkdir /share02

     6. Set permissions for the mount point:
        

        chmod 0777 /share02

     7. Determine the UUID for the new file system:
        

        sudo /sbin/blkid

     8. Open /etc/fstab in a text editor and add an entry for the new file system:
        

        UUID=3645b03e-60b9-4dba-93ca-db92cccb816b /share02  ext4  defaults  0  2

     9. Test that the /etc/fstab entry is correct:
        

        sudo mount -a

     10. If the command returns an error, check the syntax of the /etc/fstab file.

     11. Run the mount command and check whether /dev/md0 is mounted to /share02.

     12. Save your RAID-5 configuration to allow loading the RAID-5 device after a system reboot:
         

         sudo -i
         

         mdadm --detail --scan --verbose >> /etc/mdadm/mdadm.conf
         

         exit

   • On Windows:

     1. In Server Manager, right-click Disk Management, click All tasks, and then click New Raid 5 volume.
        

        
        

     2. In the New Raid-5 Volume dialog box, add the necessary data disks and click the Add button.
        

        
        

     3. Follow the wizard on initiating a file system of the disk: Assign a letter to the disk, perform a quick format in NTFS, and provide a disk name if needed.

     4. If your RAID-5 volume is created successfully, it appears in the list of volumes.

     5. Create an SMB share on the newly created RAID-5 volume and set the Full Control permission. Refer to the Using Azure Disks section above for details.
        

     Note
     If the Transporter is installed on the machine, creating an SMB share is not required.

When your RAID-5 volume is configured and shared successfully, you can use it for creating your NAKIVO Backup & Replication repository. Please refer to Creating Backup Repositories for details.