Automatic Access Node Selection for Virtualized Platforms

For hypervisors and VM groups, when you specify access nodes, you can select the Automatic option to have the Commvault software automatically select access nodes for data protection operations.

Benefits

• Access nodes are automatically selected.

• USE PROXY permissions are not needed to associate access nodes with a company.

• MediaAgents that are associated with your plan are used as access nodes.

Support

The following hypervisors support automatic access node selection:

• Amazon EC2

• Azure (without managed identities)

• Hyper-V

• Kubernetes: For information, see Automatic Access Node Selection for Kubernetes.

• Nutanix AHV

• VMware vCenter

• VMware vCloud Director

Requirements

• Your environment must include at least one access node that can connect to the hypervisor:

  • For cloud hypervisors, you must have at least one access node for the cloud vendor.

  • For on-premises hypervisors, you must have at least one on-premises access node.

• If you use IntelliSnap-enabled backups, verify that MediaAgents are zoned correctly because MediaAgents from the plan are used as access nodes.

How to Enable Automatic Access Node Selection

To enable automatic access node selection, create a hypervisor and select the Automatic option for the hypervisor's access nodes. Then, when you create VM groups for that hypervisor, access nodes are selected automatically for the VM groups and for the hypervisor as follows:

• When you create the first VM group, access nodes are automatically selected based on the plan that is selected for the tenant admin/MSP, and those access nodes are associated with the hypervisor. The VM group inherits the access nodes from the hypervisor. (The software displays Inherited from hypervisor for the VM group.)

• When you create another VM group for the hypervisor, access nodes are automatically selected based on the plan that is selected for the tenant admin/MSP, and those access nodes are associated with the VM group. If the access nodes that are associated with the VM group are the same as the access nodes that are associated with the hypervisor, then the software displays Inherited from hypervisor for the VM group.

How Automatic Access Node Selection Works

Configuration of the automatic access node selection process is based on:

• The plan that you select when you create a VM group.

• The resource pool associated with the plan. See Add a Resource Pool for Virtualization.

The automatic access node selection operates as follows:

• Based on selected server plan, the Commvault software retrieves the primary storage pool from the plan and gets a list of access nodes (MediaAgents) from the primary storage pool.

• A resource pool is created automatically for the storage pool if one does not already exist.

  • All MediaAgents are added (as the access nodes) to the resource pool.

  • If a MediaAgent does not have a Virtual Server package, then Virtual Server packages are added via a push install on one of the MediaAgents.

    Note

    Further distribution of the Virtual Server package to all selected MediaAgents happens during the backup operation.

  • A resource pool is created with the following naming convention: plan_name – Virtualization.

  • When the first VM group is created, access nodes are picked up from the resource pool and placed at the hypervisor level and the access nodes for the VM group are displayed as Inherited from Hypervisor.

  • If an additional VM group is created with the same plan having the same list of access nodes at the hypervisor level, the access nodes for the VM group are displayed as Inherited from Hypervisor.

  • If an additional VM group is created with a different plan, access nodes are picked up from the respective resource pool and placed at the VM group level.

  • You can control the access nodes by modifying the access node list at the resource pool level. This change updates the access nodes for hypervisors and VM groups that are associated with the resource pool. See Updating Access Nodes via the Resource Pool.

Modifications That Can Affect Automatic Access Node Selection

After you enable automatic access node selection, certain modifications to hypervisors, VM groups, and plans can affect automatic access node selection.

Updating Access Nodes for a Hypervisor

If you manually update access nodes for a hypervisor, then the automatic access node selection process is disabled for the hypervisor and its VM groups. With the automatic selection disabled for the hypervisor and VM groups, any association with the resource pool is removed. Thus, updates of access nodes at the resource pool level are not reflected at the hypervisor level or the VM group level.

Updating Access Nodes for a VM Group

If you manually update access nodes for a VM group, the automatic access node selection process is disabled for the VM group only. With automatic selection disabled for the VM group, any association with the resource pool is removed. Thus, updates of access nodes at the resource pool level are not reflected at the VM group level.

Enabling Auto-Scaling for a Hypervisor

If you enable the Auto scale setting for a hypervisor, the automatic access node selection process is disabled for the hypervisor and its VM groups. Thus, the hypervisor and its VM groups are not associated with the resource pool, and therefore, updates to access nodes at the resource pool level are not reflected at the hypervisor or VM group level. For more information, see Auto-Scaling for Amazon EC2 Access Nodes and Auto-Scaling for Azure Access Nodes.

Canceling VM Group Creation

If you do not configure a VM group after creating the hypervisor with the Automatic option selected, then access nodes are not configured for the hypervisor. You must select a server plan with the default VM group or create a new VM group with the plan to have the access nodes configured at the hypervisor level.

Changing the Plan for a VM Group

If you change the plan for a VM group, then access nodes are repopulated for the VM group based on the plan you selected.