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Back up Cloud Volumes ONTAP data to Google Cloud Storage

Contributors amgrissino netapp-tonacki
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Complete a few steps to get started backing up volume data from your Cloud Volumes ONTAP systems to Google Cloud Storage.

Quick start

Get started quickly by following these steps or scroll down to the remaining sections for full details.

One Verify support for your configuration

  • You're running Cloud Volumes ONTAP 9.8 or later in GCP (ONTAP 9.8P13 and later is recommended).

  • You have a valid GCP subscription for the storage space where your backups will be located.

  • You have a service account in your Google Cloud Project that has a custom role with a reduced set of permissions.

    Note The Storage Admin role is no longer required for the service account that enables BlueXP backup and recovery to access Google Cloud Storage buckets.

  • You have subscribed to the BlueXP Marketplace Backup offering, or you have purchased and activated a BlueXP backup and recovery BYOL license from NetApp.

Two Prepare your BlueXP Connector

If you already have a Connector deployed in a GCP region, then you're all set. If not, then you'll need to install a BlueXP Connector in GCP to back up Cloud Volumes ONTAP data to Google Cloud Storage. The Connector can be installed in a site with full internet access ("standard mode") or with limited internet connectivity ("restricted mode").

Three Verify license requirements

You'll need to check license requirements for both Google Cloud and BlueXP.

Four Verify ONTAP networking requirements for replicating volumes

Ensure that the source and destination systems meet ONTAP version and networking requirements.

Five Enable BlueXP backup and recovery

Select the working environment and click Enable > Backup Volumes next to the Backup and recovery service in the right-panel.

Six Prepare Google Cloud as your backup target

Set up permissions for the Connector to create and manage the Google Cloud bucket.

Optionally, you can set up your own custom-managed keys for data encryption instead of using the default Google Cloud encryption keys. Learn how to get your Google Cloud environment ready to receive ONTAP backups.

Seven Activate backups on your ONTAP volumes

Follow the setup wizard to select the replication and backup policies that you'll use and the volumes you want to back up.

Verify support for your configuration

Read the following requirements to make sure that you have a supported configuration before you start backing up volumes to Google Cloud Storage.

The following image shows each component and the connections that you need to prepare between them.

Optionally, you can connect to a secondary ONTAP system for replicated volumes using the public or private connection as well.

A diagram showing how BlueXP backup and recovery communicates with the volumes on the source system and the destination storage where the backup files are located.

Supported ONTAP versions

Minimum of ONTAP 9.8; ONTAP 9.8P13 and later is recommended.

Supported GCP regions

BlueXP backup and recovery is supported in all GCP regions where Cloud Volumes ONTAP is supported.

GCP Service Account

You need to have a service account in your Google Cloud Project that has the custom role. Learn how to create a service account.

Note The Storage Admin role is no longer required for the service account that enables BlueXP backup and recovery to access Google Cloud Storage buckets.

Verify license requirements

For BlueXP backup and recovery PAYGO licensing, a BlueXP subscription is available in the Google Marketplace that enables deployments of Cloud Volumes ONTAP and BlueXP backup and recovery. You need to subscribe to this BlueXP subscription before you enable BlueXP backup and recovery. Billing for BlueXP backup and recovery is done through this subscription. You can subscribe from the Details & Credentials page of the working environment wizard.

For BlueXP backup and recovery BYOL licensing, you need the serial number from NetApp that enables you to use the service for the duration and capacity of the license. Learn how to manage your BYOL licenses.

And you need to have a Google subscription for the storage space where your backups will be located.

Prepare your BlueXP Connector

The Connector must be installed in a Google region with internet access.

Verify or add permissions to the Connector

To use the BlueXP backup and recovery "Search & Restore" functionality, you need to have specific permissions in the role for the Connector so that it can access the Google Cloud BigQuery service. See the permissions below, and follow the steps if you need to modify the policy.

Steps

  1. In the Google Cloud Console, go to the Roles page.

  2. Using the drop-down list at the top of the page, select the project or organization that contains the role that you want to edit.

  3. Select a custom role.

  4. Select Edit Role to update the role's permissions.

  5. Select Add Permissions to add the following new permissions to the role.

    bigquery.jobs.get
bigquery.jobs.list
bigquery.jobs.listAll
bigquery.datasets.create
bigquery.datasets.get
bigquery.jobs.create
bigquery.tables.get
bigquery.tables.getData
bigquery.tables.list
bigquery.tables.create

  6. Select Update to save the edited role.

Required information for using customer-managed encryption keys (CMEK)

You can use your own customer-managed keys for data encryption instead of using the default Google-managed encryption keys. Both cross-region and cross-project keys are supported, so you can choose a project for a bucket that is different than the project of the CMEK key. If you're planning to use your own customer-managed keys:

  • You'll need to have the Key Ring and the Key Name so you can add this information in the activation wizard. Learn more about customer-managed encryption keys.

  • You'll need to verify that these required permissions are included in the role for the Connector:

cloudkms.cryptoKeys.get
cloudkms.cryptoKeys.getIamPolicy
cloudkms.cryptoKeys.list
cloudkms.cryptoKeys.setIamPolicy
cloudkms.keyRings.get
cloudkms.keyRings.getIamPolicy
cloudkms.keyRings.list
cloudkms.keyRings.setIamPolicy

CMEK considerations:

  • Both HSM (hardware-backed) and software-generated keys are supported.

  • Both newly created or imported Cloud KMS keys are supported.

  • Only regional keys are supported; global keys are not supported.

  • Currently, only the "Symmetric encrypt/decrypt" purpose is supported.

  • The service agent associated with the Storage Account is assigned the "CryptoKey Encrypter/Decrypter (roles/cloudkms.cryptoKeyEncrypterDecrypter)" IAM role by BlueXP backup and recovery.

Create your own buckets

By default, the service creates buckets for you. If you want to use your own buckets, you can create them before you start the backup activation wizard and then select those buckets in the wizard.

Learn more about creating your own buckets.

Verify ONTAP networking requirements for replicating volumes

If you plan to create replicated volumes on a secondary ONTAP system using BlueXP backup and recovery, ensure that the source and destination systems meet following networking requirements.

On-premises ONTAP networking requirements

  • If the cluster is in your premises, you should have a connection from your corporate network to your virtual network in the cloud provider. This is typically a VPN connection.

  • ONTAP clusters must meet additional subnet, port, firewall, and cluster requirements.

    Because you can replicate to Cloud Volumes ONTAP or an on-premises systems, review peering requirements for on-premises ONTAP systems. View prerequisites for cluster peering in the ONTAP documentation.

Cloud Volumes ONTAP networking requirements

  • The instance's security group must include the required inbound and outbound rules: specifically, rules for ICMP and ports 11104 and 11105. These rules are included in the predefined security group.

  • To replicate data between two Cloud Volumes ONTAP systems in different subnets, the subnets must be routed together (this is the default setting).

Enable BlueXP backup and recovery on Cloud Volumes ONTAP

Enabling BlueXP backup and recovery is easy. The steps differ slightly depending on whether you have an existing Cloud Volumes ONTAP system or a new one.

Enable BlueXP backup and recovery on a new system

BlueXP backup and recovery can be enabled when you complete the working environment wizard to create a new Cloud Volumes ONTAP system.

You must have a Service Account already configured. If you don't select a service account when you create the Cloud Volumes ONTAP system, then you'll need to turn off the system and add the service account to Cloud Volumes ONTAP from the GCP console.

See Launching Cloud Volumes ONTAP in GCP for requirements and details for creating your Cloud Volumes ONTAP system.

Steps

  1. From the BlueXP Canvas, select Add Working Environment, choose the cloud provider, and select Add New. Select Create Cloud Volumes ONTAP.

  2. Choose a Location: Select Google Cloud Platform.

  3. Choose Type: Select Cloud Volumes ONTAP (either single-node or high-availability).

  4. Details & Credentials: Enter the following information:

    1. Click Edit Project and select a new project if the one you want to use is different than the default Project (where the Connector resides).

    2. Specify the cluster name.

    3. Enable the Service Account switch and select the Service Account that has the predefined Storage Admin role. This is required to enable backups and tiering.

    4. Specify the credentials.

      Make sure that a GCP Marketplace subscription is in place.

      Screenshot that shows how to enable a Service Account in the working environment wizard.

  5. Services: Leave the BlueXP backup and recovery service enabled and click Continue.

    Shows the BlueXP backup and recovery option in the working environment wizard.

  6. Complete the pages in the wizard to deploy the system as described in Launching Cloud Volumes ONTAP in GCP.

Tip To modify backup settings or add replication, refer to Manage ONTAP backups.
Result

BlueXP backup and recovery is enabled on the system. After you've created volumes on these Cloud Volumes ONTAP systems, launch BlueXP backup and recovery and activate backup on each volume that you want to protect.

Enable BlueXP backup and recovery on an existing system

You can enable BlueXP backup and recovery at any time directly from the working environment.

Steps

  1. From the BlueXP Canvas, select the working environment and select Enable next to the Backup and recovery service in the right-panel.

    If the Google Cloud Storage destination for your backups exists as a working environment on the Canvas, you can drag the cluster onto the Google Cloud Storage working environment to initiate the setup wizard.

    A screenshot that shows the BlueXP backup and recovery Settings button which is available after you select a working environment.

Tip To modify backup settings or add replication, refer to Manage ONTAP backups.

Prepare Google Cloud Storage as your backup target

Preparing Google Cloud Storage as your backup target involves the following steps:

  • Set up permissions.

  • (Optional) Create your own buckets. (The service will create buckets for you if you want.)

  • (Optional) Set up customer-managed keys for data encryption

Set up permissions

You need to provide storage access keys for a service account that has specific permissions using a custom role. A service account enables BlueXP backup and recovery to authenticate and access Cloud Storage buckets used to store backups. The keys are required so that Google Cloud Storage knows who is making the request.

Steps

  1. In the Google Cloud Console, go to the Roles page.

  2. Create a new role with the following permissions:

    storage.buckets.create
storage.buckets.delete
storage.buckets.get
storage.buckets.list
storage.buckets.update
storage.buckets.getIamPolicy
storage.multipartUploads.create
storage.objects.create
storage.objects.delete
storage.objects.get
storage.objects.list
storage.objects.update

  3. In the Google Cloud console, go to the Service accounts page.

  4. Select your Cloud project.

  5. Select Create service account and provide the required information:

    1. Service account details: Enter a name and description.

    2. Grant this service account access to project: Select the custom role that you just created.

    3. Select Done.

  6. Go to GCP Storage Settings and create access keys for the service account:

    1. Select a project, and select Interoperability. If you haven't already done so, select Enable interoperability access.

    2. Under Access keys for service accounts, select Create a key for a service account, select the service account that you just created, and click Create Key.

      You'll need to enter the keys in BlueXP backup and recovery later when you configure the backup service.

Create your own buckets

By default, the service creates buckets for you. Or, if you want to use your own buckets, you can create them before you start the backup activation wizard and then select those buckets in the wizard.

Learn more about creating your own buckets.

Set up customer-managed encryption keys (CMEK) for data encryption

You can use your own customer-managed keys for data encryption instead of using the default Google-managed encryption keys. Both cross-region and cross-project keys are supported, so you can choose a project for a bucket that is different than the project of the CMEK key.

If you're planning to use your own customer-managed keys:

  • You'll need to have the Key Ring and the Key Name so you can add this information in the activation wizard. Learn more about customer-managed encryption keys.

  • You'll need to verify that these required permissions are included in the role for the Connector:

    cloudkms.cryptoKeys.get
cloudkms.cryptoKeys.getIamPolicy
cloudkms.cryptoKeys.list
cloudkms.cryptoKeys.setIamPolicy
cloudkms.keyRings.get
cloudkms.keyRings.getIamPolicy
cloudkms.keyRings.list
cloudkms.keyRings.setIamPolicy

  • You'll need to verify that the Google "Cloud Key Management Service (KMS)" API is enabled in your project. See the Google Cloud documentation: Enabling APIs for details.

CMEK considerations:

  • Both HSM (Hardware-backed) and Software-generated keys are supported.

  • Both newly created or imported Cloud KMS keys are supported.

  • Only regional keys are supported, global keys are not supported.

  • Currently, only the "Symmetric encrypt/decrypt" purpose is supported.

  • The service agent associated with the Storage Account is assigned the "CryptoKey Encrypter/Decrypter (roles/cloudkms.cryptoKeyEncrypterDecrypter)" IAM role by BlueXP backup and recovery.

Activate backups on your ONTAP volumes

Activate backups at any time directly from your on-premises working environment.

A wizard takes you through the following major steps:

You can also Show the API commands at the review step, so you can copy the code to automate backup activation for future working environments.

Start the wizard

Steps

  1. Access the Activate backup and recovery wizard using one of the following ways:

    • From the BlueXP canvas, select the working environment and select Enable > Backup Volumes next to the Backup and recovery service in the right-panel.

      A screenshot that shows the Backup and recovery Enable button that is available after you select a working environment.

      If the GCP destination for your backups exists as a working environment on the Canvas, you can drag the ONTAP cluster onto the GCP object storage.

    • Select Volumes in the Backup and recovery bar. From the Volumes tab, select the Actions Actions icon icon and select Activate Backup for a single volume (that does not already have replication or backup to object storage already enabled).

    The Introduction page of the wizard shows the protection options including local Snapshots, replication, and backups. If you did the second option in this step, the Define Backup Strategy page appears with one volume selected.

  2. Continue with the following options:

    • If you already have a BlueXP Connector, you're all set. Just select Next.

    • If you don't already have a BlueXP Connector, the Add a Connector option appears. Refer to Prepare your BlueXP Connector.

Select the volumes that you want to back up

Choose the volumes you want to protect. A protected volume is one that has one or more of the following: Snapshot policy, replication policy, backup to object policy.

You can choose to protect FlexVol or FlexGroup volumes; however, you cannot select a mix of these volumes when activating backup for a working environment. See how to activate backup for additional volumes in the working environment (FlexVol or FlexGroup) after you have configured backup for the initial volumes.

Note

  • You can activate a backup only on a single FlexGroup volume at a time.

  • The volumes you select must have the same SnapLock setting. All volumes must have SnapLock Enterprise enabled or have SnapLock disabled.
Steps

Note that if the volumes you choose already have Snapshot or replication policies applied, then the policies you select later will overwrite these existing policies.

  1. In the Select Volumes page, select the volume or volumes you want to protect.

    • Optionally, filter the rows to show only volumes with certain volume types, styles, and more to make the selection easier.

    • After you select the first volume, then you can select all FlexVol volumes (FlexGroup volumes can be selected one at a time only). To back up all existing FlexVol volumes, check one volume first and then check the box in the title row. (button backup all volumes).

    • To back up individual volumes, check the box for each volume (button backup 1 volume).

  2. Select Next.

Define the backup strategy

Defining the backup strategy involves setting the following options:

  • Whether you want one or all of the backup options: local Snapshots, replication, and backup to object storage

  • Architecture

  • Local Snapshot policy

  • Replication target and policy

    Note If the volumes you choose have different Snapshot and replication policies than the policies you select in this step, the existing policies will be overwritten.

  • Backup to object storage information (provider, encryption, networking, backup policy, and export options).

Steps

  1. In the Define backup strategy page, choose one or all of the following. All three are selected by default:

    • Local Snapshots: If you are performing replication or back up to object storage, local Snapshots must be created.

    • Replication: Creates replicated volumes on another ONTAP storage system.

    • Backup: Backs up volumes to object storage.

  2. Architecture: If you chose replication and backup, choose one of the following flows of information:

    • Cascading: Information flows from the primary storage system to the secondary, and from secondary to object storage.

    • Fan out: Information flows from the primary storage system to the secondary and from the primary to object storage.

      For details about these architectures, refer to Plan your protection journey.

  3. Local Snapshot: Choose an existing Snapshot policy or create one.

    Tip To create a custom policy before activating the backup, refer to Create a policy.

    To create a policy, select Create new policy and do the following:

    • Enter the name of the policy.

    • Select up to 5 schedules, typically of different frequencies.

    • Select Create.

  4. Replication: Set the following options:

    • Replication target: Select the destination working environment and SVM. Optionally, select the destination aggregate or aggregates and prefix or suffix that will be added to the replicated volume name.

    • Replication policy: Choose an existing replication policy or create one.

      Tip To create a custom policy before activating the replication, refer to Create a policy.

      To create a policy, select Create new policy and do the following:

      • Enter the name of the policy.

      • Select up to 5 schedules, typically of different frequencies.

      • Select Create.

  5. Back up to Object: If you selected Backup, set the following options:

    • Provider: Select Google Cloud.

    • Provider settings: Enter the provider details and region where the backups will be stored.

      Either create a new bucket or select an existing one.

    • Encryption key: If you created a new Google bucket, enter encryption key information given to you from the provider. Choose whether you'll use the default Google Cloud encryption keys, or choose your own customer-managed keys from your Google account, to manage encryption of your data.

      If you choose to use your own customer-managed keys, enter the key vault and key information.

    Note If you chose an existing Google Cloud bucket, encryption information is already available, so you don't need to enter it now.

    • Backup policy: Select an existing backup-to-object storage policy or create one.

      Tip To create a custom policy before activating the backup, refer to Create a policy.

      To create a policy, select Create new policy and do the following:

      • Enter the name of the policy.

      • Select up to 5 schedules, typically of different frequencies.

      • Select Create.

    • Export existing Snapshot copies to object storage as backup copies: If there are any local Snapshot copies for volumes in this working environment that match the backup schedule label you just selected for this working environment (for example, daily, weekly, etc.), this additional prompt is displayed. Check this box to have all historic Snapshots copied to object storage as backup files to ensure the most complete protection for your volumes.

  6. Select Next.

Review your selections

This is the chance to review your selections and make adjustments, if necessary.

Steps

  1. In the Review page, review your selections.

  2. Optionally check the box to Automatically synchronize the Snapshot policy labels with the replication and backup policy labels. This creates Snapshots with a label that matches the labels in the replication and backup policies.

  3. Select Activate Backup.

Result

BlueXP backup and recovery starts taking the initial backups of your volumes. The baseline transfer of the replicated volume and the backup file includes a full copy of the primary storage system data. Subsequent transfers contain differential copies of the primary storage system data contained in Snapshot copies.

A replicated volume is created in the destination cluster that will be synchronized with the primary storage system volume.

A Google Cloud Storage bucket is created in the service account indicated by the Google access key and secret key you entered, and the backup files are stored there.

Backups are associated with the Standard storage class by default. You can use the lower cost Nearline, Coldline, or Archive storage classes. However, you configure the storage class through Google, not through the BlueXP backup and recovery UI. See the Google topic Changing the default storage class of a bucket for details.

The Volume Backup Dashboard is displayed so you can monitor the state of the backups.

You can also monitor the status of backup and restore jobs using the Job Monitoring panel.

Show the API commands

You might want to display and optionally copy the API commands used in the Activate backup and recovery wizard. You might want to do this to automate backup activation in future working environments.

Steps

  1. From the Activate backup and recovery wizard, select View API request.

  2. To copy the commands to the clipboard, select the Copy icon.

What's next?