Registering a backup node

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With PowerVC version 2.0.2, the cinder-backup service is enhanced to run as a remote standalone service in a node called the backup node. This removes the dependency on Fibre Channel (FC) connectivity and allows images to be exported and imported as Open Virtual Appliance (OVA) packages.

You can register PowerVC local node or a remote node as backup node in PowerVC.

Multiple remote backup nodes can be registered on a single PowerVC instance, which provides scalability and allows performing concurrent backups.

Registering remote standalone backup nodes in PowerVC

Backup node can be a remote standalone virtual machine, which has FC connectivity to the storage provider for the image volume to be exported. SAN volume is attached to the backup node and copied to the mounted file system by using the OpenStack cinder backup POSIX driver. These files are then compressed to an OVA tar.gz file and exported to the backup node, which you can choose to upload to the IBM Cloud Object Storage bucket.

Backup nodes can either be remote backup nodes or a local backup node, with a PowerVC management (or controller) node. When the remote backup node is registered, PowerVC pushes the required packages to install and configure the cinder-backup service. For a local backup node, registration enables the cinder-backup service on the PowerVC management node.

Notes:
  • Starting version 2.0.2, PowerVC installation does not have the cinder backup service running, and needs a remote backup node or a local backup node to be registered for the cinder backup service.
  • When PowerVC has multiple controllers, only one of the controller nodes must be registered as a local backup node.
  • When local backup node is registered, any mount operation over /var/opt/ibm/powervc/ should not be performed. This can lead to unstable PowerVC. However, if mounting is necessary for any reason (for example, to increase space), only specific directories within /var/opt/ibm/powervc/ (for example, /var/opt/ibm/powervc/ova or /var/opt/ibm/powervc/image-ovas) should be mounted.
  • PowerVC only supports only RHEL and SLES backup nodes.
  • For Backup node on RHEL9.X version, ensure that the CRB repo is enabled to prevent registration failure.
Prerequisites
The backup node must have Fibre Channel connectivity with the storage.
Table 1. Requirements for space, memory, and supported operating systems
  Virtual processors Processing units Memory
Remote backup node 1 0.2 8 - 16 GiB
Local backup node 2 1 24 GiB
Operating system support For details, see hardware and software requirements.

Setting up environment for backup node

Perform these steps to set up environment for a backup node.
  • For remote backup node:
    1. Deploy an NPIV RHEL virtual machine with public IP address on PowerVC. Log in to the VM. Perform yum registration when you use a RHEL operating system for the virtual machine.
    2. From the PowerVC GUI, add backup node and provide the virtual machine IP address and credentials to register. You can also perform this step by using backup node registration API.
  • Registering PowerVC as a local backup node:
    1. Log in to PowerVC GUI.
    2. Add the backup node and provide PowerVC management IP address and credentials to register. You can also perform this step by using backup node registration API.
Notes:
  • Ensure that the registered backup node has Fibre Channel connectivity to the storages that are registered in PowerVC.
  • The OS versions and OS names of the backup node and PowerVC controller must match to ensure successful registration of the backup node.

Registering a backup node on PowerVC

Perform the following steps to register a backup node on PowerVC user interface.
  1. Click Backup nodes and then click Add nodes to fill in the virtual machine details that must be registered as backup node.
  2. After providing required details, click Add. After the backup node is successfully registered, the backup node health displays as OK state.

Edit backup node details

Click Edit Connection to edit the backup node credentials. Backup node name and COS default details can be edited on the backup node details page.

Backup node details can also be added or updated by using the backup node update API.

Deregister a backup node

To deregister a backup node, on the Backup nodes page, select the backup node and click Remove.

You can also choose to uninstall cinder-backup service from the cinder backup node.

If there are any existing exported backup images, then you must perform the force removal while deregistering a backup node.

Note: Deregistering a backup node does not delete the existing image OVA files in the OVA location. When the same backup node is reregistered, OVAs (if present in the OVA location) are discovered and added to PowerVC as image backups. You can also use the backup node discover API if you manually copied an OVA on the backup node at the OVA location.

If the OVA files of the discovered image are in compressed format, the operating system (OS) type details are listed as unknown. Once you imports the OVA files into PowerVC, it gets the OS details.

Backup nodes can also be deleted by using the backup node delete API.

For backup node configuration options, see CLI commands