Before you select the features you'll use, here's a quick explanation of what each features does, and what type of protection it provides.

Snapshots are the basis of all the backup methods, and they are required to use the backup and recovery service. A Snapshot copy is a read-only, point-in-time image of a volume. The image consumes minimal storage space and incurs negligible performance overhead because it records only changes to files since the last Snapshot copy was made. The Snapshot copy that is created on your volume is used to keep the replicated volume and backup file synchronized with changes made to the source volume - as shown in the figure.

You can choose to create both replicated volumes on another ONTAP storage system and backup files in the cloud. Or you can choose just to create replicated volumes or backup files - it's your choice.

To summarize, these are the valid protection flows you can create for volumes in your ONTAP working environment:

Comparison of the different backup methods

The following table shows a generalized comparison of the three backup methods. While object storage space is typically less expensive than your on-premises disk storage, if you think you might restore data from the cloud frequently, then the egress fees from cloud providers can reduce some of your savings. You'll need to identify how often you need to restore data from the backup files in the cloud.

In addition to this criteria, cloud storage offers additional security options if you use the DataLock and Ransomware Protection feature, and additional cost savings by selecting archival storage classes for older backup files. Learn more about DataLock and Ransomware protection and archival storage settings.

When creating both replicated volumes and backup files, you can choose a fan-out or cascade architecture to back up your volumes.

A fan-out architecture transfers the Snapshot copy independently to both the destination storage system and the backup object in the cloud.

A cascade architecture transfers the Snapshot copy to the destination storage system first, and then that system transfers the copy to the backup object in the cloud.

Comparison of the different architecture choices

This table provides a comparison of the fan-out and cascade architectures.

You can use the default policies provided by NetApp to create your backups, or you can create custom policies. When you use the activation wizard to enable the backup and recovery service for your volumes, you can select from the default policies and any other policies that already exist in the working environment (Cloud Volumes ONTAP or on-premises ONTAP system). If you want to use a policy different than those existing policies, you can create the policy before starting or while using the activation wizard.

If you create custom policies for replication or backup, the policy labels (for example, "daily" or "weekly") must match the labels that exist in your Snapshot policies or replicated volumes and backup files won't be created.

You can create Snapshot, replication, and backup to object storage policies in the BlueXP backup and recovery UI. See the section for adding a new backup policy for details.

In addition to using using BlueXP backup recovery to create custom policies, you can use System Manager or the ONTAP Command Line Interface (CLI).

Create a Snapshot policy using System Manager
Create a Snapshot policy using the ONTAP CLI
Create a replication policy using System Manager
Create a replication policy using the ONTAP CLI
Create a backup policy using System Manager
Create a backup policy using the ONTAP CLI

Note: When using System Manager, select Asynchronous as the policy type for replication policies, and select Asynchronous and Back up to cloud for backup to object policies.

Here are a few sample ONTAP CLI commands that may be helpful if you are creating custom policies. Note that you must use the admin vserver (storage VM) as the <vserver_name> in these commands.

Backup policies reside in different locations depending on the backup architecture you plan to use: Fan-out or Cascading. Replication policies and Backup policies are not designed the same way because replications pair two ONTAP storage systems and backup to object uses a storage provider as the destination.

These differences are shown in the table.

So if you're planning to create custom policies when using the cascading architecture, you'll need to create the replication and backup to object policies on the secondary system where the replicated volumes will be created. If you're planning to create custom policies when using the fan-out architecture, you'll need to create the replication policies on the secondary system where the replicated volumes will be created and backup to object policies on the primary system.

If you're using the default policies that exist on all ONTAP systems, then you're all set.

When you create backup files in object storage for a working environment, by default, the backup and recovery service creates the container (bucket or storage account) for the backup files in the object storage account that you have configured. The AWS or GCP bucket is named "netapp-backup-<uuid>" by default. The Azure Blob storage account is named "netappbackup<uuid>".

You can create the container yourself in the object provider account if you want to use a certain prefix or assign special properties. If you want to create your own container, you must create it before starting the activation wizard. BlueXP backup and recovery can use any bucket and share buckets. The backup activation wizard will automatically discover your provisioned containers for the selected Account and credentials so that you can select the one you want to use.

You can create the bucket from BlueXP, or from your cloud provider.

Note: At this time you cannot use your own S3 buckets when creating backups in StorageGRID systems or to ONTAP S3.

If you plan to use a different bucket prefix than "netapp-backup-xxxxxx", then you'll need to modify the S3 permissions for the Connector IAM Role. For details, refer to how to create backups to AWS S3.

Advanced bucket settings

If you plan to move older backup files to archival storage, or if you plan to enable DataLock and Ransomware protection to lock your backup files and scan them for possible ransomware, you'll need to create the container with certain configuration settings:

If you're already using BlueXP to manage your storage, then a BlueXP Connector has already been installed. If you plan to use the same Connector with BlueXP backup and recovery, then you're all set. If you need to use a different Connector, you'll need to install it before starting your backup and recovery implementation.

BlueXP offers multiple deployment modes that enable you to use BlueXP in a way that meets your business and security requirements. Standard mode leverages the BlueXP SaaS layer to provide full functionality, while restricted mode and private mode are available for organizations that have connectivity restrictions.

Learn more about BlueXP deployment modes.