Frequently asked questions
The following are answers to frequently asked questions related to IBM® Storage Defender Copy Data Management functionality. The questions and answers are organized by deployment, resources, connectivity, cataloging, operation, and control topics.
Deployment
- How is IBM Storage Defender Copy Data Management distributed?
- In most cases, IBM Storage Defender Copy Data Management is distributed as a virtual appliance through an OVF template.
- How do I configure IBM Storage Defender Copy Data Management out-of-box?
- See the topics Deployment checklist, and Installing IBM Storage Defender Copy Data Management on VMware.
- What are the requirements of the datastores used for the hard disks? What types of VMware datastores are supported?
- The type of datastore on which IBM Storage Defender Copy Data Management is deployed is transparent to IBM Storage Defender Copy Data Management.
- Can the virtual appliance hard disks be thin provisioned?
- Yes. This is a function of the virtual appliance, and can be set during IBM Storage Defender Copy Data Management installation. Better performance can be achieved with thick provisioning of the appliance.
- Why is there a delay from when the machine boots to login?
- When you boot the machine, several processes occur including:
- Operating system and network connections initiate.
- Dependencies are scanned and resolved.
The more heavily loaded the ESX server is, the longer the boot process might take.
- What are the default IBM Storage Defender Copy Data Management user names and passwords?
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When logging on to IBM Storage Defender Copy Data Management for the first time, the default user name is admin and the default password is password. You will be prompted to reset the default password.
When logging on to the management console of the virtual machine, the default user name is administrator and the default password is ecxadLG235.
- How is the root password secured?
- You are prompted to change the root password on the first root login.
Resources
- Can the disks be increased dynamically?
- IBM Storage Defender Copy Data Management data volumes can be expanded if necessary with the approval of Technical Support.
- What resource can I add to improve IBM Storage Defender Copy Data Management performance?
- Increasing memory should help improve performance.
- How much of the virtual machine default configuration can be modified?
- Parameters such as network, CPU, and memory can be configured at the virtual machine level, but adjusting to below the default levels may impact performance. For default requirements, see the topics System requirements, and Installing IBM Storage Defender Copy Data Management on VMware.
- Is it possible to install proprietary software, such as antivirus software, on the virtual appliance?
- It is not recommended to install third party applications on the virtual appliance without approval from Technical Support.
- Can I access the IBM Storage Defender Copy Data Management user interface remotely?
- Yes. The IBM Storage Defender Copy Data Management user interface is browser based. Supported browsers and the URL are described in the topics System requirements, and Starting IBM Storage Defender Copy Data Management.
- What ports are needed to access the IBM Storage Defender Copy Data Management user interface?
- To access IBM Storage Defender Copy Data Management, appropriate ports need to be opened through the firewall. For details, see the topic Starting IBM Storage Defender Copy Data Management, and User administration and security management.
- What operating system is IBM Storage Defender Copy Data Management built on?
- CentOS is the operating system on the IBM Storage Defender Copy Data Management virtual appliance.
- Is Java™ used as part of the IBM Storage Defender Copy Data Management appliance?
- Yes. However, OpenJDK is used as opposed to JRE.
- Is JavaScript™ required for accessing IBM Storage Defender Copy Data Management?
- A browser that supports JavaScript is required. Supported browsers and the URL are described in the topics System requirements.
- Do the IBM Storage Defender Copy Data Management cataloging and reporting functions impact the performance of the registered storage systems?
- The cataloging function is built on technology that is designed to run as low priority on the storage system and automatically adjust itself to give top priority to primary workload operations. The reporting functions do not impact registered storage systems as they run on the IBM Storage Defender Copy Data Management virtual appliance.
Connectivity
- How does IBM Storage Defender Copy Data Management connect to NetApp ONTAP storage systems?
- IBM Storage Defender Copy Data Management connects to NetApp ONTAP storage systems through HTTPS or HTTP.
- Is the network traffic secure?
- Network traffic between the IBM Storage Defender Copy Data Management virtual appliance and the the IBM Storage Defender Copy Data Management user interface is secured using HTTPS protocol. Network traffic between the IBM Storage Defender Copy Data Management virtual appliance and an external resource, such as a NetApp storage system, a vCenter, or an LDAP server, uses either HTTPS or HTTP protocol, which is decided by the System Administrator when registering the resource.
- Does IBM Storage Defender Copy Data Management work with storage vendors other than IBM, and NetApp?
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IBM Storage Defender Copy Data Management software works with IBM, and NetApp storage and VMware infrastructure.
IBM Storage Defender Copy Data Management provides Backup and Restore support for customers with VMware leveraging heterogeneous storage, extending Backup use cases to VMware on mixed storage.
For the search and reporting features of IBM Storage Defender Copy Data Management, the VMware environment can use any storage; it does not have to be IBM, or NetApp. Therefore, IBM Storage Defender Copy Data Management provides visibility and insight into VM information across any storage device.
- Does IBM Storage Defender Copy Data Management work with volumes that have non-Windows™ file systems?
- Yes. IBM Storage Defender Copy Data Management catalogs NFS and CIFS files residing on NetApp ONTAP volume snapshots. Linux®/Unix files are stored using NFS and Windows files are stored using CIFS protocol.
- Does IBM Storage Defender Copy Data Management work with SnapManager data?
- IBM Storage Defender Copy Data Management catalogs the meta-data on LUNs created by SnapManager for SQL Server and Exchange. File level granularity of content hosted inside these LUNs is not available.
- Is IBM Storage Defender Copy Data Management software SNMP compliant?
- Not at this time.
Cataloging
- If you add a vCenter into an inventory job definition, does that automatically discover all the ESX servers within that vCenter?
- Yes. Once cataloged, view available VMware resources through the Inventory browse function on the Search tab.
- How many storage systems can be cataloged?
- IBM Storage Defender Copy Data Management can catalog any number of storage systems and is only limited by the data disk in its delivered configuration.
- When a catalog job runs, is it a full catalog job each time?
- Yes. A full catalog job, not an incremental, is run each time.
- Why is it that sometimes many jobs and tasks are marked with Waiting indicators on the Jobs tab?
- The number of operations in progress on the Jobs tab varies depending on the number of jobs currently running. IBM Storage Defender Copy Data Management controls the number of jobs allowed to run. When the number of jobs exceeds the value defined by IBM Storage Defender Copy Data Management, jobs marked with Waiting indicators display on the Jobs tab. IBM Storage Defender Copy Data Management also controls the number of job tasks to run simultaneously for a given job when multiple jobs are running.
- When does the cataloged data get cleaned up?
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After a certain number of runs for a given job, older objects for that job are purged from the Catalog. This retention parameter is set when the job is defined.
The Maintenance job removes resources and associated objects created by IBM Storage Defender Copy Data Management when a job in a pending state is deleted. The cleanup procedure reclaims space on your storage devices, cleans up your IBM Storage Defender Copy Data Management catalog, and removes related snapshots.
See the topic Maintenance job.
Operation
- How do I protect and recover the IBM Storage Defender Copy Data Management appliance itself?
- Backing up the IBM Storage Defender Copy Data Management appliance regularly is a critical operation. For more information, contact Technical Support.
- Can I restore an individual file by using the Search window?
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Yes. To restore a file on a Windows machine, search for the file in IBM Storage Defender Copy Data Management and discover its location through the file's properties pane. See the topic Finding and restoring a file.
The recommended Best Practice for protection/recovery is to use Backup and restore jobs in IBM Storage Defender Copy Data Management.
- Why is it that when I select Hide Duplicates when performing an advanced search, some duplicate objects still display in the search results pane?
- In some cases, the name of a returned object on the search results pane may be the same as another object, however the resources where the objects reside is different. Review the file properties of the objects by selecting their names on the search results pane to view the differences between the returned entries.
- Can I generate customized reports?
- IBM Storage Defender Copy Data Management provides a set of predefined reports that can be customized through the use of parameter selection.
- How are IBM Storage Defender Copy Data Management logs collected for troubleshooting?
- There are two approaches for downloading logs. Download logs from the Support menu or access the IBM Storage Defender Copy Data Management appliance through a command prompt. The first approach is simpler and generally sufficient. The second approach produces a more comprehensive set of logs. See the topic Collecting logs for troubleshooting.
- Is audit tracking provided?
- An audit log displaying IBM Storage Defender Copy Data Management activity is available through the Support menu. Click the arrow next to the Support icon, then click View Audit Log.
Backup/Restore Jobs
- For a backup job, how do I update the retention after a job has run?
- Open the existing job definition, click Snapshot in the workflow pane, and update the Keep Snapshots parameter. The retention policy changes to the supplied value when the job is next run.
- To what extent do the IBM Storage Defender Copy Data Management Backup and Restore functions impact the performance of NetApp storage systems?
- The Backup and Restore functions employ technologies such as Snapshot and FlexClone that are designed to be low-impact on the NetApp storage systems. Generally, users should observe little unexpected performance impact on the storage systems.
- For a backup job, can I exclude swap partitions?
- No. The lowest granularity of protection is a virtual machine.