Regular filesystem

In this section, we'll show you how to set up a file system (it can be a local or remote file system, but this example assumes that you have a dedicated disk which you're going to use as a backup destination with a local XFS file system)

Note:

• Any remote FS like NFS, SMB, etc. - needs to be mounted by the user, and the vprotect user/group must own the directories within the backup destination. vProtect expects an already mounted file system and mount point in the backup destination.

• You should add this file system to your /etc/fstab file on the node, so that it gets mounted automatically if the OS is rebooted.

• Consider using the same file system for the staging and backup destination (this boosts storage tasks, as no data needs to be copied again) - in such a scenario, the only difference would be that the presented /backupdestinationmount point becomes a subdirectory of the staging space (usually /vprotect_data/backups) .

Preparation

1. Log in to vProtect Node and create the mount directory as in the example /backupdestination

   mkdir /backupdestination

2. List all existing disks and find your drive:

   [root@vProtect01 ~]# fdisk -l | grep dev
   Disk /dev/sda: 32.2 GB, 32212254720 bytes, 62914560 sectors
   /dev/sda1   *        2048     1026047      512000   83  Linux
   /dev/sda2         1026048    62914559    30944256   8e  Linux LVM
   Disk /dev/sdc: 500 GB, 17179869184 bytes, 33554432 sectors
   Disk /dev/sdb: 21.5 GB, 21474836480 bytes, 41943040 sectors
   Disk /dev/mapper/centos-root: 28.5 GB, 28462546944 bytes, 55590912 sectors
   Disk /dev/mapper/centos-swap: 3221 MB, 3221225472 bytes, 6291456 sectors

3. Prepare a filesystem on it:

   mkfs.xfs -K /dev/sdc

4. Add permission for the vprotect user to access the directory /backupdestination

   • we assume here that you use a separate file system than your staging space

   • as an alternative you also can point vProtect to use a subdirectory on the same file system as your staging space, i.e. /vprotect_data/backups (which you probably don't have to initialize at this point, as you may have already prepared it in the Staging space configuration, and you can just jump to the Web UI part in the next steps).

   chown vprotect:vprotect -R /backupdestination

5. Add this line to the /etc/fstab file to automatically mount new the filesystem after reboot:

   /dev/sdc    /backupdestination    xfs    defaults 0 0

   or if you want store backups on NFS share then it will look like this (where 10.50.1.28 is your host):

   10.50.1.28:/example_nfs_share /backupdestination nfs defaults  0 0

6. Check if the fstab entry is OK and mount the filesystem:

   mount /backupdestination

7. Log in to the vProtect web UI.

8. Go to Backup Destinations.

9. Click on Create Backup Destination, choose File system.

10. Type the name for the new backup destination, set the retention and select at least one node configuration.

11. Usually you have to decide if your backup destination is a separate entity than the staging space.

    • If the staging space is different than your backup storage destination:

      • In Storage paths type /backupdestination - this path will be used to mount the prepared file system (XFS) on top of the VDO volume.

    • If the staging space needs to be the same as your backup storage destination:

      • In Storage paths type /vprotect_data/backups, where you point to a subdirectory (i.e. backups on your staging space path, i.e. /vprotect_data).

12. Save the configuration.