Nutanix Data Protection – Secure your data

While doing customer, partner and event presentations the last couple of weeks i have been asked quite a lot of questions and one question that seems to pup up every time is about Nutanix Data Protection. This blog post (first in a series of blog posts) will outline how to configure Nutanix Data Protection within one Nutanix Cluster.

This blog post describes how you can restore your data.

My use case. 12 hour application testing and tuning period where i needed at least a good backup,restore point/snapshot every hour. The application was delivered by four VMware vSphere 5.5 virtual machines (VMs) where:

• VMs demo031, demo032 and demo033 runs the application software
• mssql02 runs the database (Microsoft SQL Server 2012)

When creating the Data Protection schema i used Nutanix Prism but the configuration can also be created using the Nutanix Prism REST API or Nutanix CLI.

The below steps were taken to create a Nutanix Protection Domain with backups/restore points/snapshots running every 60 minutes including 4 VMs with application consistent backups for the Database VM.

1. Select Data Protection form the Prism menu
   
2. Click Protection Domain
   
3. Type a name. In my case “app-test-01” -> click Create
   
4. By default, each VM added to a Protection Domain will be added to its own Consistency Group. I want the three demo VMs to be added to the same consistency group and the mssql02 VM to be added to its own consistency group.
   1. Find the mssql02 VM,  click “Create new CG”, Type a CG name (in my case “DBs”), click “Use application consistent snapshot” -> click “Protect Selected VMs”select .
      
   2. Find the demo VMs,  click “Create new CG”, Type a CG name (in my case “front”) -> click “Protect Selected VMs”select .
      
   3. The Virtual Machines overview section in the Protection Domain configuration got the following configuration.
      
      The dark spot next to the DBs CG indicates application consistent snapshot is enabled- > Click Next
   4. Click New Schedule
      
   5. Schedule Configuration
      1. Repeat every 60 minutes
      2. Start Date 29 September 2014 at 2:00 PM
      3. Retention Policy to keep 12 Snapshots
         
      4. Click Create Schedule
   6. Click Close

Review you configuration via the Nutanix Prism Data Protection -> Table -> Protection Domain overview:

• VMs tab
  
• Schedule tab
  

Next thing we need to do is to make sure the snapshots runs as scheduled.

Select the Local Snapshots tab via the Nutanix Prism Data Protection -> Table -> Protection Domain overview. Verify:

• VM Count
• Snapshot Time
• Create Time
• Changed Bytes

Last thing is to verify the backup/restore point/snapshot from within the VMs.

The log file form the MSSQL server indicates Microsoft Volume Shadow Copy (aka VSS) has been used during the backups for all the databases including my App01 database:

Date,Source,Severity,Message
09/29/2014 14:00:38,Backup,Unknown,Database backed up. Database: msdb<c/> creation date(time): 2012/02/10(21:02:17)<c/> pages dumped: XYZ<c/> first LSN: 187:488:134<c/> last LSN: 187:545:1<c/> number of dump devices: 1<c/> device information: (FILE=1<c/> TYPE=VIRTUAL_DEVICE: {‘{8F3C8595-C70D-4953-85A4-B8D4E6775B17}2’}). This is an informational message only. No user action is required.

09/29/2014 14:00:38,Backup,Unknown,Database backed up. Database: App01<c/> creation date(time): 2014/09/24(10:41:18)<c/> pages dumped: XYZ<c/> first LSN: 1274:1475:222<c/> last LSN: 1274:1569:1<c/> number of dump devices: 1<c/> device information: (FILE=1<c/> TYPE=VIRTUAL_DEVICE: {‘{8F3C8595-C70D-4953-85A4-B8D4E6775B17}3’}). This is an informational message only. No user action is required.

09/29/2014 14:00:38,Backup,Unknown,Database backed up. Database: model<c/> creation date(time): 2003/04/08(09:13:36)<c/> pages dumped: XYZ<c/> first LSN: 31:407:1<c/> last LSN: 31:410:1<c/> number of dump devices: 1<c/> device information: (FILE=1<c/> TYPE=VIRTUAL_DEVICE: {‘{8F3C8595-C70D-4953-85A4-B8D4E6775B17}1’}). This is an informational message only. No user action is required.

09/29/2014 14:00:38,Backup,Unknown,Database backed up. Database: master<c/> creation date(time): 2014/09/24(10:39:51)<c/> pages dumped: XYZ<c/> first LSN: 209:453:1<c/> last LSN: 209:456:1<c/> number of dump devices: 1<c/> device information: (FILE=1<c/> TYPE=VIRTUAL_DEVICE: {‘{8F3C8595-C70D-4953-85A4-B8D4E6775B17}4’}). This is an informational message only. No user action is required.

09/29/2014 14:00:27,spid61,Unknown,I/O was resumed on database APP01. No user action is required.

09/29/2014 14:00:27,spid63,Unknown,I/O was resumed on database master. No user action is required.

09/29/2014 14:00:27,spid62,Unknown,I/O was resumed on database msdb. No user action is required.

09/29/2014 14:00:27,spid64,Unknown,I/O was resumed on database model. No user action is required.

09/29/2014 14:00:23,spid63,Unknown,I/O is frozen on database master. No user action is required. However<c/> if I/O is not resumed promptly<c/> you could cancel the backup.

09/29/2014 14:00:23,spid61,Unknown,I/O is frozen on database App01. No user action is required. However<c/> if I/O is not resumed promptly<c/> you could cancel the backup.

09/29/2014 14:00:23,spid62,Unknown,I/O is frozen on database msdb. No user action is required. However<c/> if I/O is not resumed promptly<c/> you could cancel the backup.

09/29/2014 14:00:23,spid64,Unknown,I/O is frozen on database model. No user action is required. However<c/> if I/O is not resumed promptly<c/> you could cancel the backup.