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BlueXP backup and recovery prerequisites

Contributors amgrissino netapp-mwallis
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Get started with BlueXP backup and recovery by verifying the readiness of your operational environment, BlueXP Connector, and BlueXP account. To use BlueXP backup and recovery, you'll need these prerequisites.

For ONTAP 9.8 and later

An ONTAP One license must be enabled on the on-premises ONTAP instance.

Prerequisites for backups to object storage

To use object storage as backup targets, you need an account with AWS S3, Microsoft Azure Blob, StorageGRID, or ONTAP and the appropriate access permissions configured.

Requirements for protecting Microsoft SQL Server workloads

To use BlueXP backup and recovery for Microsoft SQL Server workloads, you need the following host system, space, and sizing prerequisites.

Item Requirements

Operating systems

Microsoft Windows
For the latest information about supported versions, see the NetApp Interoperability Matrix Tool.

Microsoft SQL Server versions

Version 2012 and later are supported for VMware Virtual Machine File System (VMFS) and VMware Virtual Machine Disk (VMDK) NFS.

SnapCenter Server version

SnapCenter Server version 5.0 or greater is required if you are going to import your existing data from SnapCenter into BlueXP backup and recovery.

Note If you already have SnapCenter, first check to be sure you've met the prerequisites before importing from SnapCenter. See Prerequisites for importing resources from SnapCenter.

Minimum RAM for the plug-in on the SQL Server host

1 GB

Minimum install and log space for the plug-in on the SQL Server host

5 GB

Allocate sufficient disk space and monitor the storage consumption by the logs folder. The log space required varies depending on the number of backups performed and the frequency of data protection operations. If there is not sufficient space, the logs will not be created for the operations.

Required software packages

  • ASP.NET Core Runtime 8.0.12 Hosting Bundle (and all subsequent 8.0.x patches)

  • PowerShell Core 7.4.2

For the latest information about supported versions, see the NetApp Interoperability Matrix Tool.

Requirements for protecting VMware workloads

You need specific requirements to discover and protect your VMware workloads.

Software support

  • NFS and VMFS datastores are supported. vVols are not supported.

  • NFS versions supported: NFS 3 and NFS 4.1

  • VMware ESXi Server versions supported: 7.0U1 and above

  • VMware vCenter vSphere versions supported: 7.0U1 and above

  • IP addresses: IPv4 and IPv6

  • VMware TLS: 1.2, 1.3

Connection and port requirements for protecting VMware workloads

Type of port Pre-configured port

VMware ESXi Server port

443 (HTTPS), bidirectional. The Guest File Restore feature uses this port.

VMware vSphere vCenter Server port

If you are protecting vVol VMs, you must use port 443.

Storage cluster or storage VM port

443 (HTTPS), bidirectional.
80 (HTTP), bidirectional. This port is used for communication between the virtual appliance and the storage VM or the cluster containing the storage VM.

Role-based access control (RBAC) requirements for protecting VMware workloads

The vCenter administrator account must have the required vCenter privileges.

For a list of vCenter privileges needed, see SnapCenter Plug-in for VMware vSphere vCenter privileges needed.

Requirements for protecting Kubernetes applications

You need specific requirements to discover Kubernetes resources and protect your Kubernetes applications.

For BlueXP requirements, refer to In BlueXP.

  • A primary ONTAP system (ONTAP 9.16.1 or later)

  • A Kubernetes cluster - Supported Kubernetes distributions and versions include:

    • Anthos On-Prem (VMware) and Anthos on bare metal 1.16

    • Kubernetes 1.27 - 1.33

    • OpenShift 4.10 - 4.18

    • Rancher Kubernetes Engine 2 (RKE2) v1.26.7+rke2r1, v1.28.5+rke2r1

  • NetApp Trident 24.10 or later

  • NetApp Trident protect 25.07 or later (installed during Kubernetes workload discovery)

  • NetApp Trident protect Connector 25.07 or later (installed during Kubernetes workload discovery)

    • Make sure that TCP port 443 is unfiltered in the outbound direction between the Kubernetes cluster, the Trident protect Connector, and the Trident protect proxy.

In BlueXP

  • A BlueXP user should have the required role and privileges to perform operations on Microsoft SQL Server and Kubernetes workloads. To discover the resources, you must have the BlueXP backup and recovery role of Super admin. See BlueXP backup and recovery role-based access to features for details about the roles and permissions required to perform operations in BlueXP backup and recovery.

  • A BlueXP organization with at least one active BlueXP Connector that connects to on-premises ONTAP clusters or Cloud Volumes ONTAP. Refer to the Initial Preview setup process below.

  • At least one BlueXP working environment with a NetApp on-premises ONTAP or Cloud Volumes ONTAP cluster.

  • A BlueXP Connector

    Refer to Learn how to configure a BlueXP Connector and standard BlueXP requirements.

    • The Preview version requires the Ubuntu 22.04 LTS operating system for the Connector.

Set up BlueXP

The next step is to set up BlueXP and the BlueXP backup and recovery service.

Review standard BlueXP requirements.

Create a BlueXP Connector

You should reach out to your NetApp Product Team to try out this service. Then, when you use the BlueXP Connector, it will include the appropriate capabilities for the service.

To create a Connector in BlueXP before using the service, refer to the BlueXP documentation that describes how to create a BlueXP Connector.

Where to install the BlueXP Connector

To complete a restore operation, the Connector can be installed in the following locations:

  • For Azure Blob, the Connector can be deployed on your premises.

  • For StorageGRID, the Connector must be deployed in your premises; with or without internet access.

  • For ONTAP S3, the Connector can be deployed in your premises (with or without internet access) or in a cloud provider environment

Note References to "on-premises ONTAP systems" includes FAS and AFF systems.