StarWind Virtual Backup Appliance: Configuration Guide for VMware vSphere [ESXi], Virtual Backup Appliance Deployed as a Controller VM using Web UI

Annotation

Relevant products

StarWind Virtual Backup Appliance (VBA), StarWind Virtual Backup Appliance Free (VBA Free)

Purpose

StarWind Virtual Backup Appliance (VBA) is a software solution that runs as a Virtual Machine on top of the Proxmox host and turns it into a modern and robust backup repository.

This document outlines how to configure the StarWind Virtual Backup Appliance (VBA) on VMware vSphere host. It covers the steps on how to create a Hardened Repository in StarWind VBA and connect it to Veeam Backup & Replication for achieving backups immutability. It also describes how to configure an iSCSI backup repository as well as NFS and SMB repositories for use with Veeam Backup & Replication or other backup software.

Audience

This technical guide is intended for storage and virtualization architects, system and backup administrators, and partners designing virtualized environments StarWind Virtual Backup Appliance (VBA).

Expected result

The end result of following this guide will be a fully configured StarWind Virtual Backup Appliance (VBA) on a VMware vSphere host with different backup repository types created.

Prerequisites

StarWind VBA system requirements

Prior to installing StarWind VBA, please make sure that the system meets the requirements, which are available via the following link:
https://www.starwindsoftware.com/system-requirements#vba

StarWind Software System Requirements

Check out the system requirements for StarWind solutions to ensure the promised performance and stability

Recommended RAID settings for HDD and SSD disks:
https://knowledgebase.starwindsoftware.com/guidance/recommended-raid-settings-for-hdd-and-ssd-disks/

Solution diagram

The diagrams below illustrate the network and storage configuration of the solution:

Preconfiguring VMware vSphere host

1. Using the VMware ESXi web console, create a standard vSwitch for Data (backup) traffic.

2. Add a Virtual Machine Port Group on the vSwitch for Data (backup) traffic.

Deploying StarWind Virtual Backup Appliance

1. Download StarWind Virtual Backup Appliance zip archive: https://www.starwindsoftware.com/backup-appliance#download 

2. Extract the virtual machine files.

3. Deploy the controller virtual machine to the VMware vSphere. Right-click on the Host and select the “Create/Register VM” option from a drop-down menu.

4. In the first step of the wizard, Select “Deploy a virtual machine from OF or OVA file” and click Next.

5. Specify the VM name and select the extracted VM files. Click Next.

6. Select the storage type and Datastore for the VBA system drive and click Next.

7. Select the destination network for each network adapter assigned to the VM. Specify corresponding network connections according to your virtual network naming. Click Next.

NOTE: Replication Network is not required for VBA. You can select the same Data (backup) traffic network for it and remove after the installation.

8. Specify the static IPv4 address, gateway, DNS, and additional network settings for Management network interface. Check the “Enable SSH” checkbox. Click Next.

NOTE: if a DHCP server is available on the given network, you can skip setting the additional parameters for that interface.

9. Review the deployment summary information and click Finish to start the VM creation.

Initial Configuration Wizard

1. Start StarWind Virtual Backup Appliance CVM.

2. Launch VM console to see the VM boot process and get the IPv4 address of the Management network interface.

NOTE: in case VM has no IPv4 address obtained from a DHCP server, use the Text-based User Interface (TUI) to set up a Management network.
Default credentials for TUI: user/rds123RDS

3. Using the web browser, open a new tab and enter the VM IPv4 address to open StarWind VBA Web Interface. Click “Advanced” and then “Continue to…”

4. StarWind VBA web UI welcomes you, and the “Initial Configuration” wizard will guide you through the deployment process.

5. In the following step, upload the license file.

6. Read and accept the End User License Agreement to proceed.

7. Review or edit the Network settings and click Next.
NOTE: Static network settings are recommended for the configuration.

8. Specify the hostname for the virtual machine and click Next.

9. Create an administrator account. Click Next.

10. Review your settings selection before setting up StarWind VBA.

11. Please standby until the Initial Configuration Wizard configures StarWind VBA for you.

12. The appliance is set and ready. Click Finish to proceed to the Login page.

Configure networking

1. In ESXi WEB Console, select the recently created StarWind VBA VM, right-click it and Select “Edit settings”.

2. Remove the second Data network adapter and click Save.

3. Log in to the CVM WEB UI using the username and password specified during the initial configuration.

4. Navigate to the Network tab, select the network adapter that will be used for Data (Backup) traffic, and click the Edit icon.

5. If the network adapter status is “Down”, uncheck the “Disable network adapter” checkbox. Make sure that the “Connect automatically on boot” checkbox is enabled and MTU is set to 9000 Assign the Data role to the network adapter, and specify the IPv4 address and network mask. Click Save.

6. You should see the newly assigned “Data” role and IP address to the network adapter.

Add physical disks

Attach physical storage to StarWind VBA Controller VM:

• Ensure that all physical drives are connected through an HBA or RAID controller.
• Add HBA, RAID controllers, or NVMe SSD drives to StarWind CVM via a passthrough device or add a virtual disk.

Learn more about storage provisioning guidelines in the KB article.

NOTE. In this guide, NVMe drives are passed through to StarWind VBA CVM as an example.

Create Storage Pool

1. Navigate to the Storage tab, select Physical disks and click Rescan.

NOTE: StarWind x Veeam Hardened Backup Repository can use storage from a hardware RAID or create a Linux Software RAID or ZFS storage pools from the drives connected to an HBA controller. This guide uses Linux Software RAID as an example.

2. In the Storage tab, navigate to the Storage pools and click the “+” sign.

3. Verify the prerequisites and click Next.

4. Select the drives to create a Linux Software RAID and click Next.

5. Select one of the preconfigured storage profiles or create a redundancy layout for the new storage pool manually according to your redundancy, capacity, and performance requirements. Software RAID-6 is highly recommended. To configure it, select Manual and click Next.

6. Select Software RAID and then select Software RAID\RAID-6 from the Available storage pool layouts. Click Next.

7. Review “Summary” and click the “Create” button to create the storage pool.

8. Wait until the Linux Software RAID synchronization process is fully complete and its state changes to Online.

Adding Hardened Repository to Veeam Backup & Replication

1. Open the Veeam Backup and Replication console, navigate to “Backup Infrastructure”, and select “Backup Repositories”.

2. Click “Add Repository” and select “Direct attached storage”.

3. Select “Linux (Hardened Repository)”.

4. In the “New Backup Repository” wizard, specify the name and description for the new repository and click “Next”.

5. Click “Add New…”.

6. In the “New Linux Server” wizard, specify the IP address of the backup traffic network interface (Data) on StarWind VBA CVM and click “Next”.

NOTE: You can add a backup repository using the management IP address of StarWind VBA CVM or DNS name. It is recommended to add the backup traffic network (Data) to Veeam preferred Networks after the addition of backup repository in case a separate dedicated backup (Data) network is present: https://helpcenter.veeam.com/docs/backup/vsphere/select_backup_network.html?ver=120

7. Click “Add…” to add the VHR user account created previously that will be used for single-use credentials.

8. Specify the VHR user account credentials and click “OK”. Specify Advanced settings if required and then click “Next”.

9. Review the components that will be installed and click “Apply”.

10. Wait until the installation is complete and click “Next”.

11. Review the summary and click “Finish”.

12. In the “New Backup Repository” wizard, select the newly added StarWind VBA server and click “Populate”. Select the Backup repository volume created in StarWind VBA and click “Next”

13. Make sure that the “Use fast cloning on XFS volumes” setting is enabled and specify the required retention period for immutability as well as other settings if required. Click “Next”.

14. Select the Mount server and instant-recovery write cache folder. Specify additional Ports settings if required.

15. Review the settings and components that will be installed and click “Apply”.

16. Wait until the backup repository is created and click “Next”.

17. Review the summary and click “Finish”.

18. Veeam prompts whether you want to change the configuration backup location to the newly added repository. Select the preferred option according to your requirements.

19. Hardened Repository has been successfully added to Veeam Backup & Replication.

20. Navigate back to the “Volumes” tab in StarWind VBA CVM WEB UI, select the Backup repository volume and click “Manage VHR user”.

21. Change SSH access to “Disabled” to secure the StarWind Appliance from potential local threats such as credentials theft. Click “Save”.

Conclusion

Following this guide, Veeam Hardened Linux Repository has been configured in StarWind VBA installed on a vSphere host and added to Veeam Backup & Replication. This guide also showed the steps on how to configure an iSCSI backup repository as well as NFS and SMB repositories for use with Veeam Backup & replication or other backup software.