Backup to Object Storage

Zadara VPSA provides built in backup and restore capabilities to Zadara Object Storage, AWS S3, Google Cloud Storage, Azure Blob Storage or any other S3 compatible object storage. The backup process involves transporting VPSA Snapshots to the remote Object Storage for safe keeping.

Backup to Object Storage (B2OS) allows you to store a backup of the VPSA volume on Object Storage and later restore it to its original VPSA or to any other VPSA in a different location with access to the same object storage bucket.

Creating New Backups

In order to create a Backup for a given Volume, you must first have the Remote Object Storage connected as explained in Connecting to Remote Object Storage.

To create a Backup:

  • Open the VPSA GUI > Backup to Object Storage and click the Create button.

  • Give the new Backup Job a name

    Hint

    Backup job name, similarly to other VPSA entities is limited to:

    • 128 characters in length

    • ASCII characters only (between 32 and 126) with the exception of the following special characters: ",%,;,{,},[,],<,>,\,',&

    • Cannot have a starting or trailing whitespace

  • Select the Volume to be backed up

  • Select the Remote Object Storage to be used

  • Select a Snapshot Policy. Snapshots created by the selected Policy are stored in the Object Storage bucket

Note

Snapshot Policies used for backup purposes are the same Snapshots used locally within the VPSA.

  • (AWS S3 Only) Select the SSE (Server-Side Encryption) - AES256, KMS(Default KMS Key), KMS Key ID(User defined KMS Access ID) (AWS S3 Only)

  • (AWS S3 Only) Select Storage Class for backup data placement. Besides S3 standard storage class Backups can be also sent to S3 Intelligent Tiering or S3 Infrequent Access storage class.

    Note

    1. S3 Storage classes can optimize overall S3 costs for specific data types and retention policies. Please consult AWS documentation and consider your backup retention policy before selecting a storage class.

    2. In case the object storage backup is planned to be used as a seed for remote mirroring via Import Seed mode (i.e. initiate remote mirroring based on two VPSAs using the same volume) ensure volume encryption is disabled on the volume. In case the volume is encrypted, Import Seed mode will be disabled for the B2OS data upon recovery

  • Check the Compress Data box if you want to compress the data in flight. This may save on the traffic fees

  • Press Submit

Monitoring Backups

Remote Object Storage Backups can be managed and monitored from the VPSA GUI.

Go to the Backup to Object Storage page. It lists all of the jobs that have been configured. From this page you can perform the following actions on each Backup Job, regardless of the parameters given when the Backup Job was created:

  • Top menu buttons:

    • Delete the Backup Job

    • Pause / Resume

    • Enable / Disable compression

    • Rate Limit - Limit the Backup Job’s bandwidth (MB/s)

    • Change the Snapshot Policy of the Backup Job

  • In a Backup Job’s Properties tab:

    • Add a Comment to a Backup Job

    • Change a Backup Job’s target S3 Storage Class (AWS S3 Only)

      Note

      If the target S3 Storage Class setting is modified for a specific Backup Job, the new Storage Class will be applied to backups taken after this change was performed. Previously created backups copies will not be modified.

The Backup Job details are shown in the following South Panel tabs:

Properties

Each job includes the following properties:

Property

Description

ID

An internally assigned unique ID.

Name

Name that was given at creation time

Comment

User free text comment. Can be used for labels, reminders etc…

Status

Current job status: Idle / Running

SSE

(AWS S3 Only) Server side encryption type

Storage Class

(AWS S3 Only) S3 target storage class for backup copies

KMS Key ID

(AWS S3 Only) AWS KMS key ID (for SSC with KMS Key ID)

Snapshot Policy

The Snapshot Policy used by this job.

RPO

Time stamp of the most recent successfully backed up Snapshot.

Compression

Compression enabled: Yes / No

Created

Creation time stamp.

Modified

Last modify time stamp.

Source Volume

Name of the protected Volume.

Destination Type

Type of the Remote Object Storage.

Account

Account on the Remote Object Storage.

End Point

Location of the Remote Object Storage.

Bucket

Bucket in the Remote Object Storage where the backups are kept.

Local Snapshots

The Local Snapshots tab lists the point-in-time Snapshots of this Volume that were created for backup purposes by the selected job.

The following Properties are provided per Local Snapshot:

Attribute

Description

ID

Snapshot ID

Name

Display Name.

TimeStamp

Snapshot creation time stamp

Status

Normal/Pending Deletion/Deletion

Object Storage Snapshots

The Object Storage Snapshots tab lists the point-in-time Snapshots of this Volume as stored in the Remote Object Storage. These snapshots were created by the selected job.

The following Properties are provided per Object Storage Snapshot:

Attribute

Description

ID

Snapshot ID

Name

Display Name.

TimeStamp

Snapshot creation time stamp.

Status

Normal\Pending Deletion\Deleting

Metering - The Metering Charts provide live metering and statistics of the IO workload associated with the selected Backup Job.

The following charts are displayed:

Chart

Description

Bandwidth (MB/s)

Total throughput (in MB) of backup data transferred to the Remote Object Storage.

IO Time (ms)

Average response time IO commands issued by the Backup Job during the selected interval.

Logs – The Logs tab displays a list of event log messages related to that Backup Job.