Preventive Service Planning
Abstract
This document details the Microsoft® Windows file systems backup and restore requirements for IBM Spectrum Protect Plus Version 10.1.7.
Content
This document is divided into linked sections for ease of navigation. Use the following links to navigate to the section of the document that you require:
- General
- Configuration
- Software
- Connectivity
- Authentication and privileges
- Prerequisites and operations
- Ports
- Hardware
General
Beginning with IBM Spectrum Protect Plus V10.1.6, support was added for backing up and restoring Microsoft Windows file systems data.
Before you register a client host where the Microsoft Windows file system is located with IBM Spectrum Protect Plus, ensure that the system environment meets the following requirements.
Configuration
Application versions
| IBM Spectrum Protect Plus | Microsoft Windows Resilient File System (ReFS) |
Microsoft New Technology File System (NTFS) |
| V10.1.6 |  |
|
| V10.1.7 | |
|
Restriction: Even if other Microsoft Windows file systems, such as File 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
| 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 | |
|
|
| V10.1.7 | |
|
|
*The base release and later maintenance levels (64-bit kernel) are supported.
Browser support
For supported browsers, see the Browser support section in System requirements: IBM Spectrum Protect Plus V10.1.7
Restrictions
- 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.
Software
- A supported version of a Microsoft Windows 64-bit operating system, including the most recent patches and updates, must be installed in your system environment.
Connectivity
Ensure that your system environment meets the following connectivity requirements:
- The network adapter that is 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 any client host that you register must be reachable from the IBM Spectrum Protect Plus server and from the vSnap server. The Windows file systems agent must have a WinRM 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 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 administrative user must register with the client host where the file systems to be protected are located.
Windows file servers can be registered with an administrative 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:- Click the Windows System Control Panel > User Account Control Settings.
- 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:- Log in as a member of the local Administrators group and open the Windows System Local Security Policy window.
- From the Security Settings menu, click Local Policies > Security options > User Account Control: Run all administrators in Admin Approval Mode.
- Disable the User Account Control: Run all administrators option.
- Ensure that your local Administrator group includes the Log on as a Service policy setting.
See also User Account Control Group Policy and registry key settings
Group Policy Object
To specify 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.
The Send NTLM response only option is not compatible with the vSnap Common Internet File System (CIFS) and the Server Message Block (SMB) protocol versions, and can cause CIFS authentication problems.
You can specify the Group Policy Object (GPO) setting by navigating to Computer Configuration > Policies > Windows Settings > Security Settings > Local Policies > Security Options > Network security: Restrict NTLM: Incoming NTLM traffic
Alternatively, click Computer Configuration > Policies > Windows Settings > Security Settings > Local Policies > Security Options > Network security: Restrict NTLM: Outgoing NTLM traffic
For the NTLM traffic, specify one of the following options:
Allow allAllow all accounts
Prerequisites and operations
Prerequisites
Ensure that the Software, Connectivity, and Authentication and privileges requirements are met.
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 enhance the security of a protected file system by creating a certificate and managing its placement.
Operations
Before you start a backup or restore operation, take the following actions:
- Add the file system servers that you want to back up.
- Configure a service level agreement (SLA) policy.
- Assign appropriate roles and resource groups to users who will be running backup and restore operations. Grant users access to resources and roles by using the Accounts pane.
Review the following information about creating backup and restore jobs:
- During the initial backup job, IBM Spectrum Protect Plus creates a vSnap volume and CIFS share. During incremental backups jobs, the previously created volume is reused. The IBM Spectrum Protect Plus file system agent mounts the share on the server where the backup job 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. 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 Protecting Windows file systems
Ports
The following ports are used by IBM Spectrum Protect Plus agent users.
| 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 Systems File-Level Restore browser used during restore operations to connect the user interface and the file server |
| 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
| 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 |
Related Information
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Document Information
Modified date:
22 June 2021
UID
ibm16325263