Converting a Linux MediaAgent to a Linux Access Node

A Linux MediaAgent can be installed as a guest agent on a virtual or physical machine to provide backup services for Linux virtual machines. To enable extended file system support, a Linux MediaAgent running on a supported Linux guest operating system can be transformed into a Linux access node. This enables the Linux MediaAgent to mount virtual machine backup data for Live Browse and Live Recovery operations, without requiring that granular recovery metadata be collected during backups.

A Linux access node can be used with any of the hypervisors supported by the Virtual Server Agent.

For hypervisors that support Linux access nodes, the Virtual Server Agent role can also be enabled on the MediaAgent.

Note

UNIX virtual or physical machines running one of the operating system and kernels listed in System Requirements for Block-Level Backup for UNIX can be automatically configured as a Linux accss node, without the need to perform a manual conversion.
If the virtual machine where an access node is installed is based on the same VM template or image as the guest virtual machines or instances that the access node is browsing, then live browse of files and folders on the guest VMs might fail as a result of UUID conflicts with physical volumes (PVs) on the access node. For more information, see the Troubleshooting information in Automatic Configuration of a MediaAgent as a Linux Access Node.

Before You Begin

The machine must have both MediaAgent and Virtual Server Agent packages installed.
To deploy this solution on a new Linux machine, install the Linux MediaAgent and Virtual Server Agent in restore only mode as described in Installing Restore Only Agents.
RPC services (for example, rpcbind) must be running.
Do not deploy a Linux access node on a virtual machine that was created from the same VM template as VMs being backed up, or that was cloned from the same VM.
The Logical Volume Management (LVM) package must be installed on the access node MediaAgent to enable browsing files and folders on UNIX VMs.
For OpenStack, the following packages must be installed on MediaAgents that are converted to access nodes. These packages are included with the template that is used to deploy a new access node for OpenStack.
- QEMU disk image utility (qemu-img)
- libguestfs
- libguestfs-tools
- Logical Volume Management (lvm)

Operating System Support

This solution is supported for a Linux MediaAgent on a virtual or physical machine running any of the following operating systems:
- Oracle Linux 8.x or 9.x
- Oracle Linux 7.x with kernel 3.8.13.x (Intel Pentium or compatible minimum required)
- Oracle Linux 7.x with kernel 3.8.13.x (x64)
- Oracle Linux 6 Update 6 with kernel 3.8.13-68.1.3.el6uek.x86_64 (Intel Pentium or compatible minimum required)
- Oracle Linux 6 Update 6 with kernel 3.8.13-68.1.3.el6uek.x86_64 (x64)
- Oracle Linux 6 Update 4 with kernel 2.6.39-400 (Intel Pentium or compatible minimum required)
- Oracle Linux 6 Update 4 with kernel 2.6.39-400 (x64)
- Oracle Linux 6 Update 4 (OEL6U4) Red Hat Compatible Kernel
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) 7.4, 7.5, 7.6, 7.7, 7.8, 7.9, 8.x, or 9.x
  
  To use a RHEL 8.x or 9.x or Oracle Linux machine that is configured to use the UEFI Secure Boot method as a Linux access node, you must enroll Commvault keys with the UEFI MOK (Machine Owned Key) list on the VM. For more information, see Use Commvault Driver Modules on a Linux Computer with UEFI Secure Boot Option Enabled.
- Rocky Linux 8.x or 9.x

File System Support

Linux access nodes support live browse and file recovery for the following file systems:

ext2
ext3
ext4
XFS
JFS
HFS
HFS Plus
Btrfs

Notes

Live browse and file recovery operations are not supported for XFS realtime subvolumes.
Live browse and recovery is supported for subvolumes of Btrfs file systems.

Procedure

Download and install XFS file system packages on the machine where the Linux MediaAgent is installed.
Add a disk or volume with the XFS file system and create the following mount point for cache data:
- For FBR cache: 40 GB minimum
Stop Commvault services.
Add the following required registry keys to configure FBR mount paths:
- For /etc/CommVaultRegistry/Galaxy/Instance001/Session/.properties:
  - nFBRDELAYEDINIT: 1
  - nFBRSkipFsck: 1
  - dFBRDIR: Path for the FBR cache mount point
  - sLNFBR: /opt/commvault/Base/libCvBlkFBR.so (if not already present)
  Note
  
  Do not set the path for the FBR cache mount point to the root directory or to the Commvault ransomware protection-enabled directory.
Start Commvault services.
Run the following script to validate the configuration and settings:
```
/opt/commvault/Base/cvfbr_validate.sh
```
When prompted, provide administrator management user login credentials for the CommCell Console.

Results

After validating the configurations, the script marks the Linux MediaAgent as a Linux access node, and the MediaAgent can be used for Live Browse and Live Recovery operations.

What to Do Next

For Linux MediaAgents with the Arm architecture, ntfs-3g might not be present in the system by default. In this case, live browse of Windows VMs using Linux access nodes might not work. So you must manually download the rpm package for ntfs-3g (and dependent packages) and install them on the Linux access nodes using the following command:

rpm -i package_name