File system requirements

Before you register Microsoft Windows file systems with IBM Spectrum® Protect Plus, ensure that your system environment meets the outlined requirements.

To help ensure that backup and restore operations can be run successfully, your system must meet the hardware and software requirements. Use the following requirements as a starting point. For the most current requirements, which might include updates, see technote 304861.

The IBM® file systems backup and restore requirements for IBM Spectrum Protect Plus are as follows.

Configuration

Application versions

Table 1. Coverage matrix for Microsoft Windows file systems supported by IBM Spectrum Protect Plus
IBM Spectrum Protect Plus Microsoft Windows Resilient® File System (ReFS) Microsoft New Technology File System (NTFS)
V10.1.6 Tick Tick
V10.1.7 Tick Tick

Restriction: Even if other Microsoft Windows file systems, such as that the allocation table (FAT), are detected during the inventory process, these file systems are not protected by IBM Spectrum Protect Plus and cannot be added to backup or restore jobs.

Operating systems

Table 2. Coverage matrix for supported Microsoft Windows 64-bit operating systems
IBM Spectrum Protect Plus Microsoft Windows Server 2012 R2* Standard and Datacenter editions Microsoft Windows Server 2016* Standard and Datacenter editions Microsoft Windows Server 2019* Standard and Datacenter editions
V10.1.6 Tick Tick Tick
V10.1.7 Tick Tick Tick
*The base release and later maintenance levels (64-bit kernel) are supported.

IBM Spectrum Protect Plus supports proxy host server running on physical (bare metal) servers, and in a virtualized environment.

Browser support

For supported browsers, see the Browser support section in System Requirements.

Restrictions

The following restrictions apply:

  • IBM Spectrum Protect Plus does not protect file system shares or Microsoft cluster volumes.
  • Microsoft FAT file systems are not supported.
  • Stub files are not supported.
  • Network shares are not valid alternative locations for restore jobs.
  • Only one application server or file server can be assigned per host. For example, if a host is registered as a Microsoft Windows file system, you cannot register the same host as a Microsoft SQL Server or a Microsoft Exchange Server.
  • Backup and restore operations are not supported for a file server instance that was created from a template or cloned from other virtual machines (VMs).
  • Alternate data streams are not protected.
  • Sparse files are protected like normal files.
  • Windows share definitions are not protected.

Connectivity

Ensure that your system environment meets the following connectivity requirements:

  • The network adapter used for the connection must be configured as a client for Microsoft Networks.
  • The Microsoft Windows Remote Management (WinRM) service must be running.
  • Firewalls must be configured to enable IBM Spectrum Protect Plus to connect to the server by using WinRM.
  • Firewalls must be configured to enable the IBM Spectrum Protect Plus File Systems File-Level Restore browser to connect to the restore service.
  • The IP address of the client host you register must be reachable from the IBM Spectrum Protect Plus server and from the vSnap server. Windows file systems agent must have a Windows Remote Management service that is listening on port 5985.
  • All servers, proxies, applications, and hypervisors that are added to the IBM Spectrum Protect Plus environment must be registered by using a Domain Name System (DNS) name or Internet Protocol (IP) address.
  • If DNS names are used, they must be resolvable over the network by the IBM Spectrum Protect Plus virtual appliance server and from the vSnap server. All IBM Spectrum Protect Plus components must also be resolvable by their DNS names.

Authentication and privileges

Authentication

To register a Windows file system, an IBM Spectrum Protect Plus administration user must register at the client host where the file systems to be protected are located.

Windows file servers can be registered with an Administrator user ID. However, you can register a file server by using a domain user ID, if that user is the domain administrator or a local user with administrator privileges.

Privileges

The user ID for registering Windows file servers can be set up with one of the following Windows configurations:

  • For the local system administrator:
    • Ensure that Admin Approval Mode is disabled by completing the following steps:
    1. Click the Windows System Control Panel > User Account Control Settings.
    2. Ensure that the Never notify option is enabled.
  • For members of the local Administrators group:
    • Disable the Admin Approval Mode security policy setting for a user who is a member of the local Ensure that the Administrators group by completing the following steps:
    1. Log in as a member of the local Administrators group and open the Windows System Local Security Policy window.
    2. From the Security Settings menu, click Local Policies > security options > User account Control: Run all administrators in Admin Approval Mode policy.
    3. Disable the User Account Control: Run all administrators option.
    4. Ensure that your Local Administrator Group includes policy Log on as Service policy setting.

See also User Account Control Group Policy and registry key settings.

Group Policy Object

For the Network security: LAN Manager authentication level policy setting, click Computer Configuration > Windows Settings > Security Settings > Local Policies > Security Options. Specify one of the following options:

  • Not Defined.
  • Send NTLMv2 response only.
  • Send NTLMv2 response only. Refuse LM.
  • Send NTLMv2 response only. Refuse LM & NTLM.
Important: If you are using vSnap as the backup destination, you must select Send NTLMv2 response only, Refuse LM or Send NTLMv2 response only, Refuse LM & NTLM. Other options are not compatible with the vSnap Common Internet File System (CIFS) and the Server Message Block (SMB) protocol versions, and can cause CIFS authentication problems.

Specify the Group Policy Object (GPO) setting by navigating to Computer Configuration > Windows Settings > Security Settings > Local Policies > Security Options > Network security: Restrict NTLM: Incoming NTLM traffic and Network security: Restrict NTLM: Outgoing NTLM traffic to remote servers.

  • Allow all
  • Allow all accounts

Prerequisites and operations

Prerequisites

The following prerequisites must be met before you start protecting your resources. For details, see Prerequisites for file systems.
  • Before you start backing up data that is stored on the registered file system, ensure that you have enough free disk space on the backup host and in the vSnap repository.
  • If you plan to restore data to an alternative location, allow for extra space. No files are overwritten during the restore process. When files with identical names are found, you can decide whether to retain both copies or to overwrite data.
  • If the IBM Spectrum Protect Plus file systems agent is running, a self-signed certificate and key are created. You can increase the secure access for protecting file system files with IBM Spectrum Protect Plus by creating a certificate and managing its placement.

Operations

Before you start a backup or restore operation, take the following actions:

Review the following information about creating backup and restore jobs:

  • During the initial backup, IBM Spectrum Protect Plus creates a new vSnap volume and Common Internet File System (CIFS) share. During incremental backups, the previously created volume is reused. The IBM Spectrum Protect Plus file system agent mounts the share on the server where the backup is to be completed, as described in Backing up file system data.
  • To restore file system data from the vSnap repository, define a job that restores data from either the newest backup or an earlier backup copy. You can restore data to the original location or to an alternative location, which can be on a different client host. You can also specify other recovery options, as described in Restoring file system data.

For an overview about protecting Windows file systems with IBM Spectrum Protect Plus, see Windows file systems.

Ports

The following ports are used by IBM Spectrum Protect Plus agents users.

Table 3. Communication ports when the target is an IBM Spectrum Protect Plus agent
Port Protocol Initiator Target Description
5985 Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) IBM Spectrum Protect Plus server Windows file systems Provides access to the Microsoft WinRM service for Windows-based servers
5986 TCP IBM Spectrum Protect Plus server Windows file systems Provides access to the Microsoft WinRM service for Windows-based servers
9085 TCP File Systems File-Level Restore browser Windows file systems The File System File-Level Restore browser used during restore operations to connect the UI and the file server
Table 4. Communication ports when the initiator is an IBM Spectrum Protect Plus agent user
Port Protocol Initiator Target Description
445 TCP Windows file systems vSnap server Used for SMB or CIFS data transfer to and from file systems mounted from vSnap servers during backup and restore operations

Hardware

Table 5. Minimum hardware requirements
System Disk space Memory
x86_64 based hardware that is compatible with one of the Windows operating system versions that is listed in the Software section A minimum of 500 MB of disk space is required for product installation.

The system also requires 1 GB per 1 million files of available disk space for temporary files at run time in the file system to be protected.

 2.5 GB RAM per 1 million files for backup operations