Register a Storage Snapshot Provider

16 November 2023

Cohesity can leverage the snapshots from the following storage snapshot providers:

Cisco HyperFlex
Nimble Storage, HPE Alletra 5000, and/or HPE Alletra 6000
NetApp ONTAP
Pure Storage Array
Nutanix

You can leverage only VMware snapshots from the preceding storage snapshot providers.

To leverage the VMware snapshot, you must register the snapshot providers with the Cohesity cluster.

For information about registering Pure Storage Array, see Register or Edit a Pure Storage Array.

Things to remember

You can leverage only one storage snapshot provider for a Protection Group.
When mounting Nimble Storage, HPE Alletra 5000 and/or HPE Alletra 6000, and Pure Storage volumes as datastores on the ESXi host, you must select the datastore type as VMFS.
When mounting NFS NetApp volumes as datastores on the ESXi host, you must select the datastore type as NFS. Cohesity supports both NFS 3 and 4.1 versions.
Cohesity cannot leverage storage snapshots when VM has disks on volumes of different storage systems.
For NetApp storage array-based snapshot, Cohesity cluster fetches the NetApp volume information from the entity hierarchy of the NetApp source available on the Cohesity cluster and not during the protection run-time using NetApp API. Therefore, you must ensure the refresh to NetApp source on the Cohesity cluster every time you mount a new NetApp volume on the ESXi host.
On the Cohesity Dashboard, the entity hierarchy of the VMware vSphere cluster (deployed on the Nutanix cluster) displayed can be out of sync with the entity hierarchy of the Nutanix cluster. Therefore, you may need to manually refresh ( Data Protection > Sources > Nutanix source > Action menu > Refresh) the entity hierarchy of the Nutanix cluster source to leverage the Nutanix snapshots for VMware backup.
SAN transport mode is not supported if you are leveraging VMware snapshots from NetApp.

Register Cisco HyperFlex

To register Cisco HyperFlex as a storage snapshot provider for VMware, follow the steps described below.

Navigate to Data Protection > Sources.
Click Register > Storage Snapshot Provider.
From the Select Snapshot Storage Provider Type drop-down, select Storage Snapshot Provider: Hyperflex.

Enter the following information:

Field

Description

Hostname or IP Address

Specify the hostname or IP address of the Cisco HyperFlex system to protect. Cohesity recommends using the HyperFlex Management IP address (SCVM floating IP address).

You must also register the corresponding VMware vCenter with the Cohesity cluster.

Username

Specify a Cisco HyperFlex admin user to ensure adequate privileges.

Password

Enter the password for the specified user.

Click Register.

When registration finishes, a new entry appears in the Sources table.

After registering the snapshot provider, to leverage the VMware snapshots from Cisco HyperFlex, you must enable the Leverage Storage Snapshots for Data Protection field and select HyperFlex when creating the virtual Server Protection Group. For more information, see create a Protection Group for VMware.

Register Nimble Storage Array, HPE Alletra 5000, and/or HPE Alletra 6000

Registering HPE Alletra 5000 and/or HPE Alletra 6000 as a source is a Tech Preview feature. Contact your Cohesity account team to enable the feature.
You can register Nimble Storage, HPE Alletra 5000, and/or HPE Alletra 6000 for leveraging storage snapshots for VMDKs. Cohesity does not support the backup of Nimble or HPE Alletra 6000 storage volumes .

Registering Nimble Storage, HPE Alletra 5000, and/or HPE Alletra 6000 as a Storage array makes its LUN (both iSCSI and FC) content eligible to be protected on the Cohesity cluster.

After you complete the iSCSI configuration and have an iSCSI discovery set/enabled on the Nimble Storage, HPE Alletra 5000, and/or HPE Alletra 6000 storage array, verify the iSCSI connectivity between Cohesity cluster and the Nimble or HPE Alletra 6000 storage array. To verify the connectivity, you can manually log in to one of the configured iSCSI targets on the Nimble Storage, HPE Alletra 5000, and/or HPE Alletra 6000 storage array from any one of the Cohesity cluster nodes.

Run the following command to check the iSCSI connectivity:

iscsiadm -m discovery -t sendtargets -p ipaddress

For example:

iscsiadm -m discovery -t sendtargets -p 10.2.100.12

For additional iSCSI commands, see Additional iSCSI Commands.

Perform the following steps to register Nimble Storage, HPE Alletra 5000, and/or HPE Alletra 6000 Storage Array :

Navigate to Data Protection > Sources.
Click Register > SAN.
Select the source type as Nimble.

You can register HPE Alletra 5000 and/or HPE Alletra 6000 by selecting the source type as Nimble.

Enter the following information:

You must also register the corresponding VMware vCenter where Storage Array Datastore is mounted with the Cohesity cluster.

Field	Description
Management Host or IP Address	Specify the Management Host or IP Address of the Nimble Storage, HPE Alletra 5000, and/or HPE Alletra 6000 Storage to register.
Username	Specify the user name used for accessing the Nimble Storage, HPE Alletra 5000, and/or HPE Alletra 6000 Storage.
Password	Enter the password for the specified user.

Click Register.

When registration finishes, a new entry appears in the Sources table.

After registering the snapshot provider, to leverage the VMware snapshots from Nimble Storage, HPE Alletra 5000, and/or HPE Alletra 6000, you must enable the Leverage Storage Snapshots for Data Protection field and select Storage Array/NAS when creating the virtual Server Protection Group. For more information, see create a Protection Group for VMware.

To leverage SAN transport for VMware backup through iSCSI or FC, toggle on both Leverage Storage Snapshots for Data Protection and Leverage SAN Transport for Data Protection.

To leverage SAN transport for VMware backup only through FC without leveraging storage snapshots for data protection, contact Cohesity Support.

Additional iSCSI Commands

The table below lists the additional iSCSI commands:

Command	Description
iscsiadm -m node -T targetname -p ipaddress -l	Use this command to log in to a specific target.
iscsiadm -m node -T targetname -p ipaddress -u	Use this command to log out from a specific target.
iscsiadm -m node -T targetname -p ipaddress	Use this command to display the target information.
iscsiadm -m node -s -T targetname -p ipaddress	Use this command to display the statistics of a target.
iscsiadm -m session	Use this command to display all the current logged in sessions.
iscsiadm -m discovery -o show	Use this command to display the iSCSI database regarding discovery.
iscsiadm -m node -o show	Use this command to display the targets to log into.
iscsiadm -m session -o show	Use this command to display the sessions logged into.

Register NetApp ONTAP

To register NetApp ONTAP as a source as a storage snapshot provider for VMware, follow the steps described below.

Minimum Permissions

Before you register NetApp ONTAP cluster or SVM with Cohesity cluster as a storage snapshot provider for VMware, you must have the required permissions:

Permission for registering NetApp ONTAP cluster as a storage snapshot provider for VMware:

Access-level	Command	Description
All	vserver export-policy	Adds the Cohesity cluster subnet to the export-policy so that Cohesity can mount volumes.
	volume snapshot	Allows fetching, creating, and deleting snapshots for volumes.
	volume	Fetches information about volumes and deletes flex clone.
ReadOnly	cluster identity	Fetches information about the cluster.
	network interface	Fetches information about network interfaces to which Cohesity connects for mounting volumes.
	vserver	Fetches information about Vservers.

Permission for registering NetApp ONTAP SVM as a storage snapshot provider for VMware:

Access-level	Command	Description
All	vserver export-policy	Adds the Cohesity subnet to the export-policy so that Cohesity cluster can mount volumes.
	volume snapshot	Allows fetching, creating, and deleting snapshots for volumes.
	volume	Fetches information about volumes and deletes flex clone.
ReadOnly	network interface	Fetches information about network interfaces to which Cohesity cluster connects for mounting volumes.
ReadOnly	vserver	Fetches information about Vservers.

To register NetApp ONTAP:

Select Data Protection > Sources.
Click Register > NAS.

The Register NAS page appears.
From the NAS Source drop-down list, select NetApp.

Enter the following information.

Field Name	Description
NetApp Source Type	The NetApp ONTAP cluster or Vserver to register.
Host or IP Address	The Host or IP address of the NetApp ONTAP cluster or Vserver to register.
Username	Username used to access the NetApp ONTAP cluster or Vserver. The username used to register the NetApp ONTAP cluster and Vserver is case sensitive.
Password	Enter the password for the specified user.
Back Up SMB Volumes	Not applicable. This field is not applicable for registering NetApp ONTAP as a storage snapshot provider
Filter IPs	Not applicable. This field is not applicable for registering NetApp ONTAP as a storage snapshot provider.

Click Register.

When registration finishes, a new entry appears in the Sources table.

After registering the snapshot provider, to leverage the VMware snapshots from NetApp ONTAP, you must enable the Leverage Storage Snapshots for Data Protection field and select Storage Array/NAS when creating the virtual Server Protection Group. For more information, see create a Protection Group for VMware.

Register Nutanix

To leverage the Nutanix Prism element as the storage snapshot of VMware VMs, you must first register the Nutanix Prism element as a source with the Cohesity cluster. To register Nutanix as a storage snapshot provider for VMware, follow the steps described below:

Navigate to Data Protection > Sources.
Click Register > Virtual Machines.

The Register Virtual Machines page appears.
From the Source Type drop-down list, select Acropolis: Other Hypervisors.

Enter the following information:

Field Name	Description
Hostname or IP Address	Specify the hostname or IP address of Nutanix Prism.
Username	Specify a Prism username that has adequate privileges to perform actions on the source. For more information, see Nutanix Acropolis.
Password	Enter the password for the specified user.

Click Register.

When registration finishes, a new entry appears on the Sources page.

After registering the snapshot provider, to leverage the VMware snapshots from Nutanix, you must enable the Leverage Storage Snapshots for Data Protection field and select Nutanix when creating the virtual Server Protection Group. For more information, see create a Protection Group for VMware.

Considerations

Review the following considerations of Nutanix Storage Snapshot:

Cohesity does not support application-consistent backups of VMware VMs that leverage Nutanix as the storage snapshot provider.
Cohesity does not support differential restore of VMware VMs backed by leveraging the storage snapshots.
If the protection run of VMware VMs is switched from VADP-based backup to storage snapshot-based backup, then the Cohesity cluster will initiate a full backup.
While performing storage snapshot-based backup, if a VMware VM snapshot is present on the ESXi host, then Cohesity will perform VADP backup.
Cohesity does not support leveraging storage snapshots for backing up VM templates.

Related Topic

Ensure Adequate Privileges for Cohesity on the Source

Add or Edit a Protection Group for Virtual Servers

Register or Edit a Pure Storage Array.

Dataprotect Documentation