Protecting clustered-data ONTAP NetApp file server volumes

You can create a snapshot differential incremental backup of a volume on a NetApp file server that is part of a clustered-data ONTAP configuration (c-mode file server).

Before you begin

Complete the procedure in Configuring NetApp and IBM Spectrum Protect for snapshot difference incremental backups.
Ensure that the clustered-data ONTAP environment is correctly set up by the NetApp storage virtual machine administrator.

Restriction: IBM Spectrum Protect support for snapshot differential incremental backups of clustered-data ONTAP volumes is supported only on NetApp ONTAP 8.2.1 and later versions.

About this task

In a clustered-data ONTAP environment, storage virtual machines (also referred to as data vServers) contain data volumes that can be protected by the backup-archive client.

A storage virtual machine consists of a single infinite volume or one or more flex volumes. Volumes are accessed remotely using file sharing (CIFS on Windows operating systems, NFS on Linux operating systems).

The storage virtual machines are managed by the cluster management filer, which is the physical filer (the c-mode filer) on which the storage virtual machines reside. The backup client is installed on the remote machine that accesses the volumes.

The backup-archive client must be configured with credentials for the NetApp c-mode filers that are being accessed for backup operations.

Requirements:

The following information is required for this procedure:
- The host name or IP address of the cluster management filer.
- The host name or IP address of the storage virtual machine.
- The storage virtual machine name.
- The cluster management filer credentials (user name and password).
The cluster management filer user that is configured by the client must be assigned the ontapapi capability with the role of admin.
The ontapapi capability does not allow interactive access to the filer with methods such as telnet, ssh, or http/https. No other user capabilities are required to run snapshot differential incremental backups.

Procedure

Complete the following steps on the remote machine where the backup-archive client is installed:

Configure the backup-archive client with the cluster management filer credentials. Use the dsmc set password command to store the credentials of the management filer that is associated with the storage virtual machine.
For example, enter the following command:
```
dsmc set password –type=filer management_filer_hostname 
   management_filer_username management_filer_password
```
Where:

management_filer_hostname

The host name or IP address of the cluster management filer.

management_filer_username

The user name of the cluster management filer.

management_filer_password

The password for user of the management filer.
Tip: The cluster management filer password is encrypted when it is stored by the backup-archive client.
Associate each storage virtual machine with the management filer with the dsmc set netappsvm command.
For example, enter the following command:
```
dsmc set netappsvm storage_virtual_machine_hostname
management_filer_hostname storage_virtual_machine_name
```
Where:

storage_virtual_machine_hostname

The host name or IP address of the storage virtual machine that is used to mount volumes to back up.

management_filer_hostname

The host name or IP address of the cluster management filer.

storage_virtual_machine_name

The name of the storage virtual machine.
Note: The host name or IP address of the storage virtual machine that is used to mount volumes must be consistent with what is specified in the dsmc set commands. For example, if the volumes are mounted with a storage virtual machine IP address, the IP address (not the host name) must be used in the dsmc set commands. Otherwise, client authentication with the cluster management filer fails.
You need only to specify the dsmc set netappsvm command once for each storage virtual machine. If the storage virtual machine is moved to a different cluster management filer, you must use the command to update the associated cluster management filer host name.
Map the volumes to drive letters.
For example, enter the following command for each storage virtual machine:
```
net use y: \\storage_virtual_machine_hostname domain_name\CIFS_share_name
```
Where:

y:

The drive to map the volume to.

storage_virtual_machine_hostname

The host name or IP address of the storage virtual machine.

domain_name\CIFS_share_name

The CIFS share that is defined on the filer on the volume being backed up.
Mount the remote storage virtual machine to a local file system.
For example, enter the following command for each storage virtual machine:
```
mount storage_virtual_machine_hostname /tmp/fs1
```
Where:

storage_virtual_machine_hostname

The host name or IP address of the storage virtual machine.

/tmp/fs1

An example of a file system to mount the storage virtual machine volume to.
Start a full progressive incremental backup of a flex or infinite volume.

By default, HTTP access to the NetApp file server is not enabled. If you did not configure your file server to allow access by using HTTP, use the backup-archive client snapdiffhttps option to enable access to the cluster management server with the HTTPS protocol.
For example, on Windows clients, enter the following command:
```
dsmc incr y: -snapdiff -snapdiffhttps
```
For example, on Linux clients, enter the following command:
```
dsmc incr /tmp/fs1 -snapdiff -snapdiffhttps
```
Tip: You need only to run the full progressive incremental backup once. After this backup is successfully completed, run differential backups in future backup operations.
Start a snapshot differential backup of the flex or infinite volume.
For example, on Windows clients, enter the following command:
```
dsmc incr y: -snapdiff -snapdiffhttps
```
For example, on Linux clients, enter the following command:
```
dsmc incr /tmp/fs1 -snapdiff -snapdiffhttps
```

Example

A backup-archive client user wants to complete a snapshot differential incremental backup of the volumes on a c-mode file server. The user is using a Windows backup-archive client to complete the backup and the volumes are mounted as CIFS shares. The c-mode filer configuration is as follows:

ONTAP 8.31 management filer

Hostname: netapp1mgmt.example.com
User: netapp1mgmt_user  
Password: pass4netapp1mgmt
CIFS Domain Controller: WINDC
Domain User: domainuser

Flex volume storage virtual machine

Hostname: netapp1-v1.example.com
Storage virtual machine name: netapp1-client1
CIFS share: demovol
Volume name: demovol

Infinite volume storage virtual machine

Hostname: netapp1-v4.example.com
Storage virtual machine name: netapp1-infiniteVolume1
CIFS Share: InfiniteVol

The user completes the following steps on the backup-archive client:

Configure the client with the management filer credentials by issuing the following command:
dsmc set password –type=filer netapp1mgmt.example.com netapp1mgmt_user pass4netapp1mgmt
Define storage virtual machine associations for each storage virtual machine with the following commands:
dsmc set netappsvm netapp1-v1.example.com netapp1mgmt.example.com netapp1-client1

dsmc set netappsvm netapp1-v4.example.com netapp1mgmt.example.com netapp1-infiniteVolume1

Map remote volumes to drive letters for each storage virtual machine:

net use y: \\netapp1-v1.example.com\demovol WINDC\domainuser

net use z: \\netapp1-v4.example.com\InfiniteVol WINDC\domainuser

Run a full progressive incremental backup of the flex volume and infinite volume:
```
dsmc incr y: -snapdiff -snapdiffhttps
```
```
dsmc incr z: -snapdiff -snapdiffhttps
```
You need only to run the full progressive incremental backup once. After this backup is successfully completed, run differential backups in future backup operations.

Run a snapshot differential backup of the flex volume and infinite volume:

dsmc incr y: -snapdiff -snapdiffhttps

dsmc incr z: -snapdiff -snapdiffhttps