Seeding a Cloud Storage Library

Seeding the cloud ( also called cloud library seeding) enables you to efficiently transfer the initial baseline backup to a cloud storage location without using a network or the Internet connection.

You can seed the cloud library by:

• Backing up the data to a local disk and then transferring the disk to a cloud storage vendor.

• Running Auxiliary Copy operation to create additional standby copy of data to a local disk and then transferring the disk to a cloud storage vendor.

The vendor then seeds the data on the cloud storage location. After the initial baseline is established, you can run subsequent incremental backups or Auxiliary copy operations to periodically back up changed or new data.

Support

• Amazon S3 using Snow Family devices - AWS Snowcone, AWS Snowball and AWS Snowmobile

  Follow the procedure described in this page to seed data to a local disk or to a migration device provided by the cloud storage service provider.

  To migrate data to Amazon S3 using the Amazon Snowball, see Migrating Data to Amazon S3 Using Snowball.

• Google Transfer Appliance

  To seed a baseline on the Google Transfer Appliance, see Seeding an Initial Baseline to Google Transfer Appliance

• Microsoft Azure using Azure Data Box

  Follow the procedure described in this page to ship encrypted disk drives containing data to an Azure datacenter. Verify and ensure that the disk drives follow the guidelines provided in https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/storage/common/storage-import-export-data-to-blobs.

  To migrate data to Microsoft Azure using the Azure Data Box, see Migrating Data to Microsoft Azure Using Azure Data Box.

• Oracle Cloud Storage using ZFS appliance

• Oracle Archive Cloud Storage using ZFS appliance

• Generic drive shipping

Procedure

1. Configure the cloud storage library to back up the data to the simulated cloud location. The steps might vary depending on the selected cloud storage library.

   Examples:

   Amazon S3

   1. From the CommCell Browser, expand Storage Resources.

   2. Right-click Libraries, point to Add, click Cloud Storage Library, and then click Cloud Storage.

      The Add Cloud Storage dialog box appears.

   3. In the Name box, type the name of the cloud storage library.

   4. In the Type list, select Amazon S3.

   5. In the MediaAgent list, select the appropriate MediaAgent.

      Note

      The list displays MediaAgents classified as Active (MediaAgents having license) and Inactive (MediaAgents having MediaAgent package installed, but license not consumed). The license is auto consumed if you select an inactive MediaAgent.

   6. In the Authentication list, select the authentication type.

   7. In the Service Host box, type the drive letter (or mount point) in which the local disk is attached or mounted. For example: H:\, or /xxx, or /mnt/disk1.

      Note

      To access an NFS share, you must mount the share in the selected MediaAgent, using third -party or other tools, before configuring the cloud library.

   8. In the Credential list, select a pre-defined credential, or click the Add New button from the list.

      Note

      To add H:\ or /xxx, any credential will work as it will be ignored. For \\unc path, the credentials should be the domain\user and password.

   9. In the Bucket box, type an appropriate bucket name.

   10. Click OK.

       For additional information on the options, see Add / Edit Cloud Storage - Amazon S3.

   Google Cloud Storage

   1. From the CommCell Browser, expand Storage Resources.

   2. Right-click Libraries, point to Add, click Cloud Storage Library, and then click Cloud Storage.

      The Add Cloud Storage dialog box appears.

   3. In the Name box, type the name of the cloud storage library.

   4. In the Type list, select Google Cloud Storage.

   5. In the MediaAgent list, select the appropriate MediaAgent.

      Note

      The list displays MediaAgents classified as Active (MediaAgents having license) and Inactive (MediaAgents having MediaAgent package installed, but license not consumed). The license is auto consumed if you select an inactive MediaAgent.

   6. Under Access Information, add the following information:

      • In the Service Host box, type the drive letter (or mount point) in which the local disk is attached or mounted. For example: H:\, or /xxx, or /mnt/disk1.

        Note

        To access an NFS share, you must mount the share in the selected MediaAgent, using third -party or other tools, before configuring the cloud library.

      • In the Authentication list, select the authentication type.

      • In the Credential list, select a pre-defined credential, or click the Create New button from the list.

        Note

        To add H:\ or /xxx, any credential will work as it will be ignored. For \\unc path, the credentials should be the domain\user and password.

   7. Under Storage Class Settings for Creating New Bucket, add the following information:

      • In the Storage Class list, select an appropriate storage class.

      • In the Location list, select an appropriate region.

   8. Click OK.

      For additional information on the options, see Add / Edit Cloud Storage - Google Cloud Storage.

   Microsoft Azure Storage

   1. From the CommCell Browser, expand Storage Resources.

   2. Right-click Libraries, point to Add, click Cloud Storage Library, and then click Cloud Storage.

      The Add Cloud Storage dialog box appears.

   3. In the Name box, type the name of the cloud storage library.

   4. In the Type list, select Microsoft Azure Storage.

   5. In the MediaAgent list, select the appropriate MediaAgent.

      Note

      The list displays MediaAgents classified as Active (MediaAgents having license) and Inactive (MediaAgents having MediaAgent package installed, but license not consumed). The license is auto consumed if you select an inactive MediaAgent.

   6. In the Authentication list, select the authentication type.

   7. In the Service Host box, type the drive letter (or mount point) in which the local disk is attached or mounted. For example: H:\, or /xxx, or /mnt/disk1.

      Note

      To access an NFS share, you must mount the share in the selected MediaAgent, using third -party or other tools, before configuring the cloud library.

   8. In the Credential list, select a pre-defined credential, or click the Add New button from the list.

      Note

      To add H:\ or /xxx, any credential will work as it will be ignored. For \\unc path, the credentials should be the domain\user and password.

   9. In the Container box, type an appropriate container name.

   10. In the Storage Class list, select the appropriate storage class.

   11. Click OK.

       For additional information on the options, see Add / Edit Cloud Storage - Microsoft Azure Storage.

2. Run a full backup or run an Auxiliary Copy operation.

   • If the data is not backed up, run a full backup to the cloud storage library simulated on the local disk.

     For more information on how to run full backups, see the documentation for the specific agent.

   • If the primary copy of backed up data already exists, you can run Auxiliary Copy operation to the local disk.

     For more information on how to set up Auxiliary Copy operations, see Auxiliary Copy - Getting Started.

3. Disable the library to prevent additional writes during physical storage migration. The library has to be disabled so that no other backups are written to the library and no data is aged off from the library during the data seeding time frame.

   For more information on how to disable the library, see Enabling or Disabling a Cloud Library.

4. Physically transport the disk to a cloud storage vendor after the backup completes.

   Optionally: You can use a third-party data import and export utility to transfer the backed up data to the bucket location of the cloud.

   For example:

   • For Amazon S3 cloud server storage, you can use the Amazon Web Services (AWS) Import/Export tool.

   • For Amazon S3 with Snowball, see https://docs.aws.amazon.com/snowball/latest/ug/transfer-data.html.

     Note

     You must copy the contents available in the bucket on the local disk to the corresponding bucket at the cloud storage location.

     For example, you have created Bucket1 on your local disk, and after the backup or the auxiliary copy operation the following is created:

     C:\temp\Bucket1\Folder1

     You must copy Folder1 to the corresponding Bucket1 location on the cloud storage.

   • To ship encrypted disk drives to Azure datacenter, use the WAImportExport tool as described https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/storage/common/storage-import-export-data-to-blobs.

     Note

     Make sure to provide the complete path to the base folder (till the container) as the parameter for the srcdir parameter needed to run the WAImportExport tool.

     For example, if the base directory (L8PN5Z_08.30.2018_16.57) is in the following location:A:\My_Container_Name\L8PN5Z_08.30.2018_16.57

     Then provide the following as the srcdir parameter:srcdir:A:\My_Container_Name

5. Once the physical storage migration is completed, edit the cloud storage library credentials to connect to the cloud server.

   For more information, see Modify the Access Information.

6. Enable the cloud library. For more information, see Enabling or Disabling a Cloud Library.

7. Run incremental backups to back up the data that has changed since seeding.

   For more information on how to run incremental backups, see the documentation for the specific agent.