NetVault 13.0.3 - Administration Guide for Managed Service Providers

Adding clients

This section includes the following topics:

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Adding a client to the NetVault Server

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Adding multiple clients

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About firewall settings

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Locating a client

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Checking communication through a firewall

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Removing a client from the list of available clients

Adding a client to the NetVault Server

To use a client in a backup or restore operation, you must first add the client to the NetVault Server. You can use the configuration wizard to add and configure a NetVault Client.


	NOTE: A NetVault Server can only support clients of the same version as itself or older. The NetVault Client software version cannot be higher than the NetVault Server software version.

To back up the client machine added by MSP administrator, first add them to default client group.

To add a client to the NetVault Server:

In the Navigation pane, click Manage Clients, and then click Add Client.


	NOTE: The client list is not displayed for tenant administrator. Tenant administrator must use the Find Machine option to locate and add such clients.

If the client is password-protected, type the NetVault password for the client. You can also provide the root or administrator password for the client.

If a NetVault password is not set for the client, provide the root or administrator password for the client.

Click Next.

This page is not displayed if security is disabled on the client. For more information, see Configuring security settings.

Type a descriptive text for the client, and click Next.

If the client resides on a network that is outside the firewall, select the Client is Outside Firewall check box, and configure the firewall settings. For more information, see About firewall settings.

Click Next.

After the client is successfully added to the server, a message is displayed.

The client machine is listed on the Manage Client page. You can view the following information about the machines:

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Status: Displays the status icons, which indicate whether the client is online of offline.

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Client: Displays the NetVault name assigned to the client.

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Version: Displays the NetVault version installed on the machine.

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Description: Displays the client description.

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Trace Status: Select or clear the check box to enable or disable tracing on the relevant NetVault client machine to capture diagnostic information. For more information, see Enabling tracing and Disabling tracing.

The following table provides a brief description of the client status icons.

Table 17. Client status icons
Icon	Description
	The client is online. You can add the client to the NetVault Server.
	The client is online, but it is password-protected. To add the client, you require its NetVault password.
	The client is offline. Try adding the client later when it is online.

Adding multiple clients

When adding clients to NetVault Server, only an MSP administrator can use the following procedure to add multiple MSP clients at the same time.


	NOTE: A NetVault Server can only support clients of the same version as itself or older. The NetVault Client software version cannot be higher than the NetVault Server software version.

To add multiple clients to NetVault Server:

In the Navigation pane, click Guided Configuration, and then on the NetVault Configuration Wizard page, select the Install Software/Add Clients option.

On the Machines to Be Added as Clients page, next to Machines, click the add (+) icon, and select a method for adding the deployment targets.

In the Add Machines window, on the Machine Details tab, enter the following details based on your method selection.

Method

Description

By FQDN or IP

To manually add the deployment targets, select this method.

On the Machine Details tab, specify the FQDN or IP address of the client.

Click Next.

From Active Directory

To select machines from an Active Directory Domain, select this method.

On the AD Details tab, provide the following details:

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AD Server Address: Type the host name or IP address of the Active Directory Server.

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User Name: Specify a Domain Account that is in the local Administrators group of all target machines.

The user name must be specified in the following format:

— or —

— or —

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Password: Specify the password for the user account.

Optionally, if you want NetVault to remember the password for this user name, select Save Credential.

NOTE: Saved credentials are visible only to the user who saved them. They are not available to any other users.

Click Connect.

In the list of Active Directory Objects, select the target machines, and click Next.

From a file

To import the target list from a file, select this method.

In the Add machines from file dialog box, click Select a file. After selecting the file in the browse window, click OK to upload the file.

For more information about the file format, see File format for specifying deployment targets.

Configure the applicable parameters.

Option

Description

Installation Settings

On the Installation Settings tab, provide the NetVault password.

If no NetVault password is set for the client, specify the administrator password for the machine.

Click Next.

Client Settings

On the Client Settings tab, provide the following details:

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Client Description: Type a descriptive text for the client.

Client description can help you determine the location of the client or the role of the machine.

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Client Group: To add the client to one or more client groups, select the corresponding check boxes.

The client groups that are configured to contain all clients are selected by default. You cannot change these selections.

Click Next.

Firewall Settings

If the client resides on a network that is outside the firewall, select the Client is Outside Firewall check box on the Firewall Settings tab, and provide the TCP/IP port specifications. For more information about these settings, see About firewall settings.

To save the client details, click OK.

Before submitting the task, do the following:

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Click Verify to check connectivity to the clients. If any errors are reported, click Edit, and modify the applicable installation parameters.

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If you want to assign a user-defined task name, type the name in the Task Name box.

To submit the task, click Add Clients.

You can monitor the progress and status of the task from the Deployment Task Status page. For more information, see Monitoring deployment tasks.

About firewall settings

Firewall settings are required to communicate with NetVault Clients that reside outside the firewall. MSP administrator and tenant administrator can use these settings to specify the TCP/IP ports for establishing data transfer channels, message channels, and broadcast channels through the firewall.

MSP administrator and tenant administrator can configure the firewall settings when deploying or adding a client, or update these settings from the Change Settings page. MSP administrator and tenant administrator can also use the NetVault WebUI to configure the firewall settings for new or existing clients.


	NOTE: NetVault does not support firewalls using NAT (Network Address Translation)/IP Masquerading. Common firewall ports must used by all the tenant administrators, where same settings must be made for all the client machines.

The following table provides a brief description of the firewall settings.

Table 18. Firewall settings
Option	Description
Listen ports for devices	Ports to listen on for device requests. Configure this option on the NetVault machines that have a locally attached device (for example, NetVault Server or NetVault Clients with SmartClient licenses). Requirement: Two ports per drive.
Connect ports for devices	Ports that plug-ins use to connect to remote storage devices. Configure this option on clients that connect to remote devices. Requirement: Two ports per drive.
Listen ports for NetVault message channels	Ports for receiving messages during data transfers. Configure this option on both the NetVault Server and the Client. NetVault requires a two-way connection between the Server and the Client for message channels. Requirement: Three ports per client. To run two or more plug-ins simultaneously on a client, configure two ports per plug-in and an extra port per client. For example, to run two plug-ins simultaneously, configure (2 * 2) + 1 = 5 ports for a client.
Connect ports for NetVault message channels	Ports for sending messages during data transfers. Configure this option on both the NetVault Server and the Client. NetVault requires a two-way connection between the Server and the Client for message channels. Requirement: Three ports per client. To run two or more plug-ins simultaneously on a client, configure two ports per plug-in and an extra port per client. For example, to run two plug-ins simultaneously, configure (2 * 2) + 1 = 5 ports for a client.
Connect ports for NDMP control channels	Ports for sending NDMP messages (NDMP control channels). Configure this option on the NetVault Server (on which the plug-in is installed) when a firewall separates an NDMP filer and the NetVault Server. By default, NetVault uses port number 10000. You can change it, if necessary.
Listen ports for NDMP data channels	Ports to listen on for NetVault devices operating as NDMP movers. Configure this option on the NetVault Server or Client to which the device is attached. These ports are used for data transfers between the NDMP filer and storage device when a firewall separates the two networks.
Connect ports for inter-machine setup	Ports for establishing initial contact (broadcast channels) while adding a NetVault Client, and later to ascertain its availability. Requirement: Two ports per client.