Component

Compatibility

Operating System

Microsoft Windows Server 2016 (standard/legacy features only)

Note: Features, such as Windows Server Containers, Storage Spaces Direct and Docker, will be supported in a future release.

• Microsoft Windows Server 2012

• Microsoft Windows Server 2012 R2

• Microsoft Windows Server 2008 R2

• Microsoft Windows 10

• Microsoft Windows 7

• VMware ESXi 5.1, 5.5 and 6.0. Supported operating systems running as Guests.

• Microsoft Hyper-V. Supported operating systems above running as Guest operating systems.

Clustered Agents

2-node clusters only, on the following operating systems:

• Windows Server 2012 R2

• Windows Server 2012

• Windows Server 2008 R2

• Windows 7

• Windows 10

Note: Disaster recovery of cluster nodes is not supported.

File System

• NTFS on Windows 2008 R2 and later.

• Resilient File System (ReFS) on Windows 2012 and later.

• NTFS volumes optimized for data deduplication on Windows 2012 and later.

For more information on ReFS and data deduplication, refer to your Windows documentation.

Available
Disk Space for Snapshot Cache

15% to 20% free space to allow proper Volume Shadow Copy Service (VSS) function and prevent excessive fragmentation.

Cloud Direct recommends that VSS be configured to use a maximum size limit rather than be allowed to use unlimited shadow copy storage on the volume(s). By default, the maximum size use limit is 10% of the drive(s) where the snapshots are stored. Adjust the settings accordingly.

For more information on configuring VSS snapshot limits, refer to your Windows documentation.

Data Directory Disk Space

Cloud Direct recommends you to select a location other than your root drive for the backup database files during installation of the agent software.

The backup database files can grow to consume a lot of space, depending on the number of backup policies you create and the amount of data you are backing up. Optimally, the volume for the data directory should have at least 5 GB free disk space.

For more information on installing the agent software, see one of the following articles:

• KB0010686, Installing the LiveVault agent on Windows
• KB0011228, Installing the LiveVault agent on a Linux system

Data Protection Guidelines

The guidelines below should provide acceptable performance and incident-free service in most environments. You should not exceed these maximums without a review of the circumstances and expectations. If you experience problems in your environment, conforming to these guidelines is likely to be required.

Note: Various factors can impact the actual backup performance, including the following:

• Disk throughput

• Number of files on the computer

These and other factors, and your own tolerance for backup times should determine how much data you protect on a single server with the Cloud Direct Server Vaulting Service service software.

Privilege Level

Root access or enough privileges to elevate terminal sessions to root.

Available
Disk Space

5% free disk space

Data Protection Guidelines

1 TB recommended maximum policy size.

The guidelines above should provide acceptable performance and incident-free service in most environments, assuming capable hardware and fewer than 1 million files on the system. However, various factors can impact the actual backup performance, including the following:

• Disk throughput
• Number of files on the computer
• Number of files open during the file system scan
• Size of the files open during the file system scan

These and other factors, and your own tolerance for backup times should determine how much data you protect on a single server with the Cloud Direct Server Vaulting Service software.

Application

Compatibility

Microsoft SQL awareness

• Microsoft SQL Server 2017 Standalone on all Windows operating systems supported by Microsoft.
• Microsoft SQL Server 2017 Enterprise AlwaysOn Availability Groups on all Windows operating systems supported by Microsoft. Primary and secondary replicas.

A CIFS Collector Agent computer must meet all of the following requirements to protect NAS devices and CIFS share data:

• Windows Server 2008 R2, 2012 R2 or 2016 operating system.

• 4 GB RAM or higher.

• Dedicated, single use, server. No other applications should be installed on the CIFS collector agent computer. The file system and system state of a CIFS collector agent cannot be protected by Cloud Direct Server Vaulting Service as it is acting as a collector for NAS device and CIFS share data.

• Standalone server. Clustered servers are not supported as CIFS collector agents.

Note: The CIFS Collector Agent can be a virtual machine as long the virtual hardware and storage meet all of the system requirements above.

• Data Directory Disk Space. The CIFS backup database files can grow to consume a lot of space, depending on the number of CIFS backup policies you create and the amount of data you are backing up. Optimally, the volume for the data directory should have the larger of 1 percent of the CIFS data under protection or 10 GB free disk space.

For example:

• 1 TB or less protected data requires 10 GB of free space on the volume containing the data directory.
• 2 TB protected data requires 20 GB of free space on the volume containing the data directory

• Domain member of the same domain as the NAS devices to be protected.

The user account used during CIFS Collector Agent configuration must meet the following criteria:

• Administrator role on the Collector Agent computer.

• Administrative privileges to access the volumes on the CIFS shares.

Note: Administrative privileges are required in order to back up ACLs on the CIFS shares and to restore files to the CIFS shares properly. If the user does not have administrative privileges to the CIFS shares, files may be backed up without the ACLs, and restores to the CIFS shares will fail.

Virtual Machine Collector

A Virtual Machine Collector computer must meet all of the following requirements to protect virtual machines:

• Windows Server 2008 R2, Windows Server 2012 or 2012 R2 operating system.

• 4 GB RAM or higher.

• Dedicated server. No other applications should be installed on the Virtual Machine Collector computer. The file system and system state of a Virtual Machine Collector cannot be protected by Cloud Direct Server Vaulting Service as it is acting as a collector for virtual machine data.

• Note: The Virtual Machine Collector can be a virtual machine as long the virtual hardware, storage and network meet all of the system requirements.

• Data Directory Disk Space. The backup database files can grow to consume a lot of space, depending on the number of virtual machine backup policies you create and the amount of data you are backing up. Optimally, the volume for the data directory should have the larger of 1 percent of the virtual machine data under protection or 10 GB free disk space.

For example:

• 1 TB or less protected data requires 10 GB of free space on the volume containing the data directory.
• 2 TB protected data requires 20 GB of free space on the volume containing the data directory

VMware Versions supported by Virtual Machine Collector Agent

vCenter 5.5 and 6.0, 6.5. For more detailed information on vCenter support, see your VMware VDDK documentation.

vSphere Administrative User Account

You must ensure that the user account under which the LiveVault service runs has the necessary permissions at vCenter Server level.

Add a user that has an administrative role and has sufficient privileges to create, manage and administer the following in vSphere:

• Datastore
  • Allocate space, Low level file operations, Remove file, Browse datastore, Remove datastore, Rename datastore.
• Folder
  • Delete folder, Rename folder.
• Global
  • Disable methods, Enable methods, Licenses.
• Host
  • Configuration > Maintenance, Inventory > Add host to cluster, Inventory > Add standalone host, Local operations > Reconfigure virtual machine, Network > Assign network.
• Resource
  • Apply recommendation, Assign vApp to resource pool, Assign virtual machine to resource pool, Create resource pool, Migrate powered off virtual machine, Migrate powered on virtual machine, Modify resource pool, Move resource pool, Query vMotion, Remove resource pool, Rename resource pool.
• Sessions
  • Impersonate user, Validate session, View and stop sessions.
• Tasks
  • Create tasks, Update tasks.
• vApp
  • Add virtual machine, Assign resource pool, Assign vApp, Create, Delete, Move, Rename, Unregister.
• Virtual machine
  • Answer question, Configuration, Create new, Create snapshot, Power off, Power on, Register, Remove, Revert to snapshot, Provisioning, Remove snapshot, Unregister.

Note: These settings are subject to change. For more information on current privileges for vSphere, see your VMware documentation.

Verify the User Account Permissions at the vCenter Server level

To check the user account permissions using WebClient or vSphere Client

1. Click the vCenter entity and then click the Permissions tab.
2. If the user account has permissions, the name is displayed.
3. If the user account does not have the necessary permissions, add the following permissions to the account at the vCenter Server level:
   1. Select vCenter entity, click the Permissions tab.
   2. Right-click in the permissions tab and click Add permissions.
   3. Click Add User and assign these privileges:
      • Navigate to Global > DisableMethods and EnableMethods.
      • Navigate to Global > License.
      • Assign the remaining privileges listed above.

For more information, see your vSphere documentation.

Changed Block Tracking (CBT) requirements

For VMware's Changed Block Tracking (CBT) to identify disk sectors in use with the special "*" change ID, the following items are required:

• The virtual disk must be located on a VMFS volume, backed by SAN, iSCSI, or local disk. RDM is not VMFS.

• The virtual machine must have zero (0) snapshots when CBT is enabled, for a clean start.

For more information, refer to your VMware documentation.

Snapshot Quiescence

For snapshot quiescence, the following item is required:

• VMware Tools installed on the virtual machines to be protected. For more information on installing VMware Tools, refer to your VMware vSphere documentation.

TurboRestore Appliance

A TurboRestore Appliance is mandatory for use with Virtual Machine Collectors. The appliance should be provisioned to the Cloud Direct Server Vaulting Service service prior to adding any Virtual Machine Collectors.