Feature Requirements

Some NAKIVO Backup & Replication features require certain conditions in order to function properly. To learn about the limitations of NAKIVO Backup & Replication, refer to the Feature Limitations section of the latest Release Notes. The requirements for product features are listed below.

Hot Add

In order for the Hot Add feature to work for VMware VM backup, replication, and recovery, the following requirements must be met:

  • The Transporter that will be reading or writing data from/to the VM disks should run on a VM.
  • The Transporter VM should:
    • Be available in the product Inventory,
    • Run on a host that has access to the datastore(s) with the VM disks, Run in the same datacenter as the VM that is to be processed.

A single SCSI controller on the VM hosting NAKIVO Backup & Replication can support up to 15 disks including the system disk of the VM with NAKIVO Backup & Replication and mounted disks of the Backup Repository. To process VMs with a total number of disks that is larger than that limit, it is necessary to install one or more additional SCSI controllers.

File Recovery

Recovered files can be downloaded or sent via email. They can also be recovered to a server. Below are the requirements which must be met for every recovery method.

Downloading Files to Browser or Sending Files via Email

  • The following file systems are supported:
    If the Transporter assigned to the backup repository is installed on Windows:
    • NTFS
    • FAT32
    • ReFS
    If the Transporter assigned to the backup repository is installed on Linux:
    • NTFS
    • FAT32
    • EXT3
    • EXT4
    • XFS
  • For the ReiserFS file system, it is necessary to install the linux-image-extra-virtual package:apt-get -y install linux-image-extra-virtualfor Ubuntu.
  • Linux VMs where Transporter is deployed should have the lvm2package installed to allow mounting LVM volumes.
  • Thentfs-3gpackage should be installed along with Transporter on Linux to allow recognizing NTFS partitions.

Recovering Files to Server

  • The following file systems are supported:
    If the Transporter assigned to the backup repository is installed on Windows:
    • NTFS
    • FAT32
    • ReFS
    If the Transporter assigned to the backup repository is installed on Linux:
    • NTFS
    • FAT32
    • EXT3
    • EXT4
    • XFS
    • For the ReiserFS file system, it is necessary to install the linux-image-extra-virtual package:apt-get -y install linux-image-extra-virtualfor Ubuntu.
    • Linux VMs where Transporter is deployed should have the lvm2package installed to allow mounting LVM volumes.
    • Thentfs-3gpackage should be installed along with Transporter on Linux to allow recognizing NTFS partitions.

    Recovering Files to Server

    To recover files to a server, make sure you meet the following requirements:

    Supported OS

    • Windows
      • Windows Server 2019 Standard (x64)
      • Windows Server 2016 Standard (x64)
      • Windows Server 2012 R2 Standard (x64)
      • Windows Server 2012 Standard (x64)
      • Windows Server 2008 R2 Standard (x64)
      • Windows Server 2008 R2 Standard 32-bit
      • Windows 10 Professional (x64)
      • Windows 8 Professional (x64)
      • Windows 8 Professional (x32)
      • Windows 7 Professional (x64)
      • Windows 7 Professional (x32)
    • Linux 
      • Ubuntu 20.04 Server (x64)
      • Ubuntu 18.04 Server (x64)
      • Ubuntu 16.04 Server (x64)
      • SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 15 SP2 (x64)
      • SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 15 SP1 (x64)
      • SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 12 SP5 (x64)
      • SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 12 SP4 (x64)
      • SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 12 SP3 (x64)
      • Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8.3 (x64)
      • Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8.2 (x64)
      • Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8.1 (x64)
      • Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8.0 (x64)
      • Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.9 (x64)
      • Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.8 (x64)
      • Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.7 (x64)
      • Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.6 (x64)
      • Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.5 (x64)
      • Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.4 (x64)
      • CentOS Linux 8.0 (x64)
      • CentOS Linux 7.9 (x64)
      • CentOS Linux 7.8 (x64)
      • CentOS Linux 7.7 (x64)
      • CentOS Linux 7.6 (x64)
      • CentOS Linux 7.5 (x64)
      • CentOS Linux 7.4 (x64)
      • CentOS Linux 7.3 (x64)
      • CentOS Linux 7.2 (x64)
      • CentOS Linux 7.1 (x64)
      • CentOS Linux 7.0 (x64)

    TCP Ports

    Connection to the following TCP ports should be allowed by the firewall of the target system:

    • 22 – Used by SSH for secure logins, file transfers (scp, sftp) and port forwarding.
    • 9445 – Used by NAKIVO Backup & Replication to communicate with the VM.
    • 10000 – Used by NAKIVO Backup & Replication for iSCSI communication.

    Note
    ICMP Ping traffic should be allowed by the firewall of the target system.

    Services and packages

    The following packages and services should be installed/running:

    Microsoft Windows

    • Net Security package should be installed
    • Microsoft iSCSI Initiator service should be installed and running
    • net.exe utility should be installed
    • SMB 2 / CIFS File Sharing Support feature should be turned on
    • PowerShell should have version 2.0 or above
    • PowerShell ISE should be available

    Ubuntu Linux

    • openssh-server package should be installed
    • sshd service should be running
    • partedutility should be installed
    • fdisk utility should be installed
    • open-iscsi package should be installed
    • iscsiadm utility should be installed
    • iscsid utility should be installed
    • iscsid service should be running (for v16.04 and v18.04)

    SUSE Linux Enterprise Server (SLES)

    • openssh-serverpackage should be installed
    • sshd service should be running
    • parted utility should be installed
    • fdisk utility should be installed
    • open-iscsi package should be installed
    • iscsiadm utility should be installed
    • iscsid utility should be installed
    • iscsid service should be running (for v12)

    Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL)

    • openssh-server package should be installed
    • sshd service should be running
    • parted utility should be installed
    • fdisk utility should be installed
    • iscsi-initiatorpackage should be installed
    • iscsiadm utility should be installed
    • iscsid utility should be installed
    • iscsid service should be running

    Permissions

    The following permissions for Microsoft Windows VMs should be granted:

    • Users should be members of a local Administrators group.
    • Users should have access to default administrative shares.
    • Users should have permissions to access the corresponding folder\file.
    • Users should have executive permissions for running some utilities, for example, net.exe utility.
    • User Account Control (UAC) remote restrictions should be disabled for some Microsoft Windows versions.
    • Users should have permissions to "Log on as a batch job".

    The following permissions and settings should be set up for Linux VMs:

    • Users should belong to the sudo group to complete recovering files to server successfully.
    • Users should have executive permissions for running some utilities, for example, /sbin/parted, /sbin/fdisk, /sbin /iscsiadm, /sbin/iscsid.
    • PasswordAuthentication should be set to "yes".
    • Provide special permissions to NAKIVO recovery service. For more details, refer to Required Permissions for Linux Recovery Server.

    Object Recovery and Log Truncation for Microsoft Exchange

    To successfully perform object recovery and log truncation for Microsoft Exchange, make sure you meet the following requirements:

    Supported Microsoft Exchange versions
    NAKIVO Backup & Replication supports the following versions of Microsoft Exchange for object recovery and log truncation:

    • Microsoft Exchange 2019
    • Microsoft Exchange 2016
    • Microsoft Exchange 2013

    Permissions

    The following requirements should be met for log truncation:

    • Selected users should have permissions to "Log on as a batch job".
    • The following user permissions should be provided:
      • If NAKIVO Backup & Replication uses the administrator user account, it should belong to the following groups:
        • Administrators
        • Domain Users
        • Organization Management
      • If NAKIVO Backup & Replication uses accounts other than the administrator user account:
        • The user should belong to the following groups:
          • Administrators
          • Domain Users
          • Organizational Management
        • The user should have the Full control permission granted for the folder in which the Exchange database is located.

    Services and Settings
    NAKIVO Backup & Replication requires PowerShell v2 or later to be available on the Microsoft Exchange machine.

    • VMware VM must be running on VMware ESXi 5.0 and later.
    • VMware Tools or Hyper-V Integration Services must be running on VMware or Hyper-V VMs correspondingly.

    Object Recovery and Log Truncation for Microsoft SQL Server

    To successfully perform object recovery and log truncation for a Microsoft SQL Server, you must meet general requirements as well as requirements for object recovery and log truncation.

    General Requirements

    To successfully perform object recovery and log truncation for a Microsoft SQL Server, make sure you meet the following general requirements:

    Supported Versions of Microsoft SQL Server
    NAKIVO Backup & Replication supports the following versions of Microsoft SQL Server for object recovery and log truncation:

    • Microsoft SQL Server 2019
    • Microsoft SQL Server 2017
    • Microsoft SQL Server 2016
    • Microsoft SQL Server 2014
    • Microsoft SQL Server 2012
    • Microsoft SQL Server 2008 R2
    • Microsoft SQL Server 2008

    Permissions

    • A user logging in to Microsoft SQL Server must have a sysadmin role.
    • The user running Microsoft SQL Service should have permissions to "Log on as a batch job".

    Services and Settings

    • NAKIVO Backup & Replication requires PowerShell v2 or later.
    • VMware Tools or Hyper-V Integration Services must be running on VMware or Hyper-V VMs correspondingly.
    • sqlcmd utility must be installed on the machine running Microsoft SQL server.
    • Ports 137-139 must be opened for cifs.
    • The SMB 2 protocol should be enabled.

    Requirements for Microsoft SQL Server Object Recovery

    • The user running Microsoft SQL service must have executive permissions to the Data folder and all other folders in which the databases are located.
    • If "Rename recovered item if such item exists" option is selected during the recovery, NAKIVO Backup & Replication skips keys, constraints, indexes, and statistical properties when recovering a table to an original location.
    • If "Overwrite the original item if such item exists" option is chosen, all the above properties are preserved. Tables that contain a foreign key cannot be recovered with this option.
    • Full administrative permissions are required.
    • Default administrative shares must be enabled.
    • The "File server" role must be enabled.
    • Ports 445 and 9445 must be opened on the instance.

    Requirements for Microsoft SQL Server Log Truncation

    • VMware VM must be running on VMware ESXi 5.0 and later.
    • System databases are skipped during the log truncation.
    • Databases with the "Simple" recovery model are skipped during the log truncation.
    • A database must be in the "online" state.
    • The SMB 2 protocol should be enabled.

    Object Recovery for Microsoft Active Directory

    Supported Versions

    NAKIVO Backup & Replication supports the following versions of Microsoft Active Directory for objects recovery:

    • Windows Server 2019
    • Windows Server 2016
    • Windows Server 2012 R2 Windows Server 2012
    • Windows Server 2008 R2

    Requirements for Object Recovery for Microsoft Active Directory

    • The ISCI Initiator service must be running on the recovery server.

    • The vc_redist.x86.exe (v.2015) file must be installed on the recovery server.

    • Active Directory Web Services must be running.

    • Port 5000 must not be blocked by other services and must be opened in the firewall of AD.

    Site Recovery

    To successfully perform a site recovery, make sure you meet the following requirements:

    Run Script Action
    The list of supported operating systems where the Run Script action may be run can be found in the Recovering Files to Server subsection above.

    TCP ports
    Connection to the following TCP ports should be allowed by the firewall of the target system:

    • 22 – Used by SSH for secure logins, file transfers (scp, sftp) and port forwarding.
    • 9445 – Used by NAKIVO Backup & Replication to communicate with the VM.

    Note
    ICMP ping traffic should be allowed by the firewall of the target system.

    Required permissions for Microsoft Windows VMs:

    • Users should be members of a local Administrators group.
    • Users should have access to default administrative shares.
    • Users should have permissions to access the corresponding folder/file.
    • User Account Control (UAC) remote restrictions should be disabled for some Microsoft Windows versions.
    • Users should have permissions to "Log on as a batch job".

    Services and Settings

    • For Windows source VMs, the SMB 2 / CIFS File Sharing Support feature should be turned on.
    • For Linux VMs, users should belong to the sudogroup.
    • VMware Tools or Hyper-V Integration Services must be running on VMware or Hyper-V VMs, respectively.

    Physical Machine Recovery

    To recover a physical machine to a VM, the following requirements must be met:

    • The physical machine must be accessible over the network.
    • Administrative credentials to the physical machine must be provided.

    Supported Operating Systems for Physical Machine Recovery

    • Microsoft Windows Server 2019 (x64)
    • Microsoft Windows Server 2016 (x64)
    • Microsoft Windows 10 Pro (x64)

    Supported Recovery Destinations

    • VMware vSphere version 6.7 or later

    Cross-Platform Recovery

    The following scenarios are supported if a VM is exported from backup and imported into a different hypervisor:

      Target Platforms
    Source Platforms VMware vSphere 6.7 Microsoft Hyper-V 2016/2019
    VMware vSphere 6.7
    • Windows Server 2016/2019
    • Ubuntu Server 18.04
    • RHEL 7
    • Windows Server 2016/2019
    • Ubuntu Server 18.04
    • RHEL 7*
    Microsoft Hyper-V 2016/2019
    • Windows Server 2016/2019
    • Ubuntu Server 18.04
    • RHEL 7
    • Windows Server 2016/2019
    • Ubuntu Server 18.04
    • RHEL 7
    Physical Machines
    • Windows Server 2016/2019
    • Ubuntu Server 18.04
    • RHEL 7
    • Windows Server 2016/2019
    • Ubuntu Server 18.04
    • RHEL 7

    * To run a VM with RHEL 7 on Microsoft Hyper-V 2016/2019, the following option must be configured in grub boot parameters:

    ata_piix.prefer_ms_hyperv=0

    As an alternative, the source machine can be pre-configured with the command below:

    mkinitrd -f -v --with=hid-hyperv --with=hv_utils --with=hv_vmbus --with=hv_storvsc --with=hv_netvsc /boot/initramfs-$(uname -r).img $(uname -r)

    App-aware Mode

    To enable application awareness for source objects, make sure the following requirements are met:

    VMware

    • VMware Tools should be installed, running, and up to date on all source VMs.

    Microsoft Hyper-V

    • Target system should be in the running state and custom OS quiescing is enabled for it.
    • Connection between the product and target system should be established.
    • Refer to the Knowledge Base article for more details.

    Nutanix AHV

    • Nutanix Guest Tools should be installed and running on all source VMs.
    • The necessary permissions should be granted. Refer to the Knowledge Base article for more details.

    Amazon EC2

    To enable application awareness for AWS EC2 instances running on Windows, make sure you meet the following requirements:

    Supported Operating Systems

    • Windows Server 2019 Standard (x64)
    • Windows Server 2016 Standard (x64)
    • Windows Server 2012 R2 Standard (x64)
    • Windows Server 2012 Standard (x64)
    • Windows Server 2008 R2 Standard (x64)

    Requirements for Windows-based Amazon EC2 Instances

    Default administrative shares in Windows-based AWS EC2 Instances should be enabled in order for application awareness to work.

    Requirements for Security Groups of Source EC2 Instances

    Ports 445, and 9445, and 9446 should be added to the security group of source AWS EC2 Instances to be backed up or replicated.

    Requirements for the Director Machine

    If the Director is installed on an Amazon EC2 Instance, the following requirements should be met:

    • OS firewall should allow access to the TCP port 9446 on the machine where the Director is installed.
    • The security group of the Instance where the Director is installed should allow access to TCP ports 445. 9445, and 9446.

    Physical Machines

    • Transporter should be available and configured on the source machine.
    • All source objects of the job should be running OS that is supported for OS quiescing.
    • Microsoft VSS should be available and configured on Windows-based source objects of the job.
    • Custom OS quiescing should be enabled on Linux-based source objects of the job.
    • The physical source machine should contain supported volumes.

    Encrypted Backup Repository

    To enable encryption, the following requirements should be met:

    • The Transporter assigned to the encrypted backup repository must be installed on Ubuntu, SLES or RHEL. Currently, Transporters installed on other Linux versions, Windows, and NAS do not support this feature.
    • For certain SLES and RHEL versions, only full device/partition encryption is available. Learn more.

    Direct Connect

    The following platform is supported:

    • VMware vSphere

     

    Note
    The free version of VMware vSphere is not supported.

     

    Direct connect feature supports the following Transporter operating systems:

    • Windows

    • Linux

    Additionally, the following requirements must be met:

    • Static external IP address is required at the remote environment.

    • A single TCP port must be exposed to the Internet at the remote environment.

    • Port forwarding must be configured at the remote environment to forward requests from this external port to the deployed Transporter.

    Native Tape Support

    NAKIVO Backup & Replication supports tape environments with the following configurations:

    • Robotic tape libraries and standalone devices of LTO3 and later generations.
    • AWS Storage Gateway service with a Tape Gateway that functions as a Virtual Tape Library (VTL).
    • Only VTLs connected to Linux are currently supported.
    •  The gateway VM deployed on-premises needs to have the following minimum resources:
      • Four virtual processors.
      • 16 GiB of reserved RAM.
      • 80 GiB of disk space for the installation of VM image and system data.
    • According to the requirements for Amazon EC2 instances, when deploying the gateway on Amazon EC2, the instance size should be at least 2xlarge for the compute-optimized instance family.
    • The instance type should be c4 or c5 instance types. The 2xlarge instance size or higher can be chosen to meet the required RAM requirements.
    • All physical tape cartridges must have barcodes.
    • Installation is supported on all Windows OS and Linux OS, as listed on the Supported Platforms page.
    • Installation on NAS OS is not supported.

    Backup Immutability

    To make backups immutable, the following condition must be met for Amazon S3:

    • Object Lock must be enabled for the Amazon S3 bucket where your Backup Repository is located.

    For Local Folder type of Backup Repository, the following conditions must be met:

    • Target file system must support extended attributes modified by chattr and setfattr commands.

    • Only Linux OS and NAS OS, except FreeNAS/TrueNAS, specified in system requirements are supported.

    • The Backup Repository type must be Local Folder.

    • The Backup Repository must have Store backups in separate files selected.