Managing backup storage

All IBM Spectrum® Protect Plus environments must include a primary backup storage location for workload snapshots.

If your primary storage is a vSnap server, you can copy snapshots from the primary backup storage to secondary storage for longer-term data protection.

The following table shows the backup storage types that are available for IBM Spectrum Protect Plus. Depending on the workloads that you are backing up, a storage type can be available for primary backup storage only, for secondary backup storage only, or for both primary and secondary backup storage.

Table 1.
Backup storage type	Available as primary or secondary storage?	Description
vSnap server	Primary storage for all workloads other than container workloads. Optional primary storage for container workloads.	The vSnap server is a stand-alone appliance that is deployed virtually or installed physically on a system that meets the minimum requirements. Each vSnap server in the environment must be registered in IBM Spectrum Protect Plus. To install and manage vSnap servers, follow the instructions in Installing and managing vSnap servers.
Amazon Web Services (AWS) Elastic Block Store (EBS)	Primary storage for Amazon EC2 workloads.	EC2 data is stored in AWS EBS snapshots. IBM Spectrum Protect Plus manages these snapshots for backup and restore operations.
Cloud storage systems	Optional primary storage for container workloads. Secondary storage for data that is backed up to a vSnap server.	A cloud storage system is hosted by one of the following cloud providers: Amazon S3 IBM Cloud® Object Storage Microsoft Azure S3 compatible object storage providers Limitations: For IBM Cloud Object Storage, support for retention-enabled vaults is not available. For S3 compatible storage, generic S3 support is based on external certification processes. For the list of supported S3 compatible providers, see technote 1087149. To add and manage cloud providers, see the instructions in Managing cloud storage.
Repository server	Secondary storage for data that is backed up to a vSnap server.	The repository server must be IBM Spectrum Protect server 8.1.7 or later to copy data to standard object storage. To copy data to tape, IBM Spectrum Protect server 8.1.8 or later is required. To add and manage repository servers, see the instructions in Managing repository server storage.

Adding keys and certificates for cloud and repository server backup storage providers

Before you can access a cloud or repository server storage provider, you must add the provider to IBM Spectrum Protect Plus. During the process of adding the provider, you must supply an access key to help establish a secure connection. A certificate might also be required.

You can add keys and certificates when you add the storage provider to IBM Spectrum Protect Plus or you can add them in advance.

To add keys and certificates in advance, complete the steps in the following topics:

If you add keys and certificates in advance, select Use existing key or Use existing certificate and select the key or certificate when you add a backup storage provider.