NetVault 14.0.1 - Administration Guide

Backup immutability

If you use QoreStor for backup storage, you can select to make RDA backups immutable. RDA immutability provides protection from overwrites and deletes on backup files. This technology is present by default for RDS containers, but not all backups are protected by default. When NetVault sends data using the RDA protocol to QoreStor, you can define whether the backup data should be immutable. After you set immutability on a backup set, you cannot modify or delete the backup data from the RDA container until the predetermined length of time expires.

NOTE: The backup immutability feature is available beginning with NetVault 13.0.3 and QoreStor 7.1. It is not compatible with previous versions of NetVault. For more information, see the NetVault Supported Storage Targets Guide and the QoreStor Interoperability Guide. Backup immutability is not accessible through the command line interface or REST API.

NOTE: Saveset immutable period may be extended if QoreStor is unavailable or down for maintenance.

Object storage immutability

Object storage immutability is crucial in preserving records and ensuring data integrity. The Object locking is a key feature integrated within NetVault, enforcing data immutability in cloud storage devices, allows to protect backed up data from being deleted or modified for a specified retention time. The feature is compatible with Direct-to-Object Storage devices such as AWS, Azure Blob, and S3-compatible devices. Object locking uses a write-once-read-many (WORM) model to store objects.

From NetVault version 14.0 the Object locking is supported for the following modes:

Prerequisites

Support matrix

The following is the support matrix for the lock type(s) supported by the NetVault on the various cloud providers.

IMPORTANT:   • If object locking is not activated on the bucket/container, and immutability is configured within the Advanced Backup settings, a warning will appear in the job logs stating: “Failed to mark backup as immutable.” • If a Direct-to-Object device is added with object locking enabled, the objects in the cloud bucket/container will remain unlocked unless immutability is specifically chosen. • The secondary datacopy from locked object storage devices (primary) to non-locked object storage devices (secondary) will only inherit the backup life if the ‘Life of original’ option is selected. Immutability is not inherited, as the secondary device does not support this feature. • The object locking (retention) mode is set during the device configuration, while the retention period is set during the backup job. • Please note that the object locking feature does not support NDMP Direct-to-cloud devices.

Implementing object locking

NOTE: The backup immutability with Direct-to-Object storage device is available beginning with NetVault 14.0 It is not compatible with previous versions of the NetVault. For more information, see the NetVault Supported Storage Targets Guide.

About NetVault Sets

NetVault Sets are used to create backup and restore jobs.

You can use sets to store data selections, backup and restore options, scheduling options, device and media options, and other advanced backup and restore options. Sets eliminate the need to manually select the data items or configure backup and restore options for each job, and allow you to quickly and easily apply the same data selections and options to multiple jobs.

For example, you can save the data selections in a Backup Selection Set, and use this set to create Full, Incremental, and Differential Backup jobs to ensure that the same data set is used for all jobs. Similarly, you can change the day, date, or time in a Schedule Set to automatically change the job schedule for multiple jobs, or specify a new device for backups by changing the Target Set.

The following table describes the set types that are available in NetVault.

Backup and recovery strategy

The primary objective of backing up data is to recover from the damages caused by a data loss event and resume normal operations quickly. This objective requires a good backup strategy, which maximizes data availability and minimizes data loss and downtime, while balancing your business requirements with costs, resources, and other factors.

To create a good backup plan, consider the possible failure modes, like hardware failure, data corruption, human error, or loss of a data center, and select the suitable backup methods and features to recover from these scenarios.

Typically, your backup plan should define what backup methods are used, when and at what intervals the backups are performed, how the backups are stored, how long the backups are retained, and how the backup media are re-used.

NetVault offers the following two options for backing up data:

A typical backup job protects your servers according to your set schedule by taking full, incremental, or differential backups every specified number of days. For more information, see Creating a backup job.

A continuous backup job supports continuous data protection of data by taking a incremental backup of your data every specified amount of time. Synthetic full backups include all of the changes that have been made since the previous backup.

Beginning with NetVault 14.0, you have the flexibility to schedule a Synthetic Full Backup on a specified day of the week. The option Run at captures the system time and Starting from captures the system date to starting the continuous backup job. The Incremental frequency enables you to select a specific number of hours after which the backup process will be repeated . With the enhanced scheduler, you can now choose a specific day of the week, a specific week of the month, or a combination (a specific day of a specific week) of both to execute your Synthetic Full backup (Calendar-based selection). If no selection is made, a Synthetic Full backup will be executed on each Sunday of the month with an incremental backup frequency of 4 hours as per the default Schedule set value ‘Synthetic Full each Sunday with interval 4 hours’.

NOTE: Continuous backup jobs are available for Plug-in for VMware 13.1 or later and Plug-in for Microsoft 365 13.1or later, and with QoreStor 7.1.2 or later. For more information, see the NetVault Plug-in for VMware User’s Guide or the NetVault Plug-in for Microsoft 365 User's Guide. NOTE: Continuous data protection (CDP) job creation is not available through guided configuration. NOTE: Please note that the old CDP schedule (before the release of NetVault 14.0) will continue to be executed unless edited. Once edited, the old CDP schedule will be executed with the newer Calendar-based template.

A scan job functionality helps scan the backed-up savesets of the virtual machine.

With the release of NetVault 14.0, the Plug-in for Malware Detection is introduced to scan the backup data to proactively identify potential viruses and malware to help avoid reinfection during recovery. To create and use the scan job functionality effectively, please refer to the Plug-in for Malware Detection User Guide.

NOTE: Creating a scan job is not available through guided configuration.