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NetApp Backup and Recovery prerequisites

Contributors netapp-mwallis

Get started with NetApp Backup and Recovery by verifying the readiness of your operational environment, NetApp Console agent, and NetApp Console account. To use NetApp Backup and Recovery, you'll need these prerequisites.

Prerequisite 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 NetApp 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 NetApp 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 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 KVM workloads

You need specific requirements to discover and protect KVM virtual machines.

  • A modern Linux distribution running kernel version 5.14.0-503.22.1.el9_5.x86_64 (longterm) or later

  • Ensure that inbound traffic to port 22 is allowed from the Console agent to the KVM host

  • QEMU Guest Agent version 9.0.0 or later

  • libvirt version 10.5.0 or later

Requirements for protecting Oracle workloads

Ensure your environment meets specific requirements to discover and protect Oracle resources.

  • Oracle Database:

    • Oracle 19C and 21C are supported in a standalone deployment.

    • Oracle Database must be deployed in primary or secondary NetApp ONTAP storage.

  • Object storage support:

    • Azure Object Storage

    • Amazon AWS

    • NetApp StorageGRID

    • ONTAP S3

Requirements for protecting Kubernetes applications

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

For NetApp Console requirements, refer to In NetApp Console.

  • 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

    • Suse Rancher

  • 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.

Requirements for protecting Hyper-V workloads

Ensure your Hyper-V instance meets specific requirements to discover and protect virtual machines.

  • Software requirements for the Hyper-V host:

    • Microsoft Hyper-V 2019, 2022 & 2025 editions

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

    • PowerShell 7.4.2

  • Hardware requirements for the Hyper-V host:

    • Standalone and FCI-clustered hosts are supported

    • 1GB RAM minimum for the NetApp Hyper-V plug-in on the Hyper-V host

    • 5GB minimum installation and log space for the plug-in on the Hyper-V Host

      Note Ensure that you allocate enough disk space on the Hyper-V host for the logs folder and regularly monitor its usage. The required space depends on how often backups and data protection operations occur. If there isn't enough space, logs will not be generated.
  • NetApp ONTAP configuration requirements:

    • A primary ONTAP system (ONTAP 9.15.1 or later)

    • For Hyper-V deployments using CIFS shares to store virtual machine data, ensure that the continuous availability share property is enabled on the ONTAP system. Refer to the ONTAP documentation for instructions.

In NetApp Console

Ensure NetApp Console meets the following requirements.

  • A Console 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 NetApp Backup and Recovery role of Super admin. See NetApp Backup and Recovery role-based access to features for details about the roles and permissions required to perform operations in NetApp Backup and Recovery.

  • A Console organization with at least one active Console agent that connects to on-premises ONTAP clusters or Cloud Volumes ONTAP.

  • At least one Console system with a NetApp on-premises ONTAP or Cloud Volumes ONTAP cluster.

  • A Console agent

    • The preview version requires the Ubuntu 22.04 LTS operating system for the Console agent.

Set up NetApp Console

The next step is to set up the Console and NetApp Backup and Recovery.

Create a Console agent

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

To create a Console agent in the NetApp Console before using the service, refer to the Console documentation that describes how to create a Console agent.

Where to install the Console agent

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

  • For Amazon S3, the Console agent can be deployed on your premises.

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

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

  • For ONTAP S3, the Console agent 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.