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  1. Home
  3. Veritas NetBackup™ Deduplication Guide
  5. Configuring deduplication to the cloud with NetBackup Cloud Catalyst
  7. About the Cloud Catalyst esfs.json configuration file
Veritas NetBackup™ Deduplication Guide

About the Cloud Catalyst esfs.json configuration file

NetBackup Cloud Catalyst uses the configuration options that are included in the esfs.json file for many operations. They include the options that determine when the files that have been uploaded to cloud storage are removed (evicted) from the local cache. Some of the options are configurable by the NetBackup administrator. The location of the esfs.json file depends on the location of the local cache directory.

As part of the Cloud Storage Server Configuration Wizard, the administrator configures a local cache directory. The local cache directory ( local_cache_dir in the following topic) determines the location of other directories which are installed automatically and are critical to Cloud Catalyst operations:

  • A mount path (/storage): local_cache_dir/storage

    The Veritas NetBackup Extendable Storage File System process (vxesfsd) runs on the mount path.

  • A cache path (/cache): local_cache_dir/cache/etc/esfs.json

    This directory is the location of the esfs.json file.

Configuring the options in the esfs.json file

The NetBackup Cloud Catalyst configuration options are listed in Table: Configuration items in the esfs.json file.

To change the configuration items in the esfs.json configuration

  1. Change one or more of the configuration items in the esfs.json file. The file is found in the following location:

    local_cache_dir/cache/etc/esfs.json

  2. Save and close the file.
  3. If vxesfsd is running, run the esfs_reconfig command (enter the mount path) as follows:

    /usr/openv/esfs/bin/esfs_reconfig local_cache_dir/storage

    If esfs.json is changed while vxesfsd is stopped, the changes take effect the next time vxesfsd starts.

  4. Some items require that you restart vxesfsd before the new configuration can take effect.

    These items are indicated in Table: Configuration items in the esfs.json file.

    • Before vxesfsd is stopped, verify that no processes currently use vxesfsd, including the current working directory of any user.

      The NetBackup Deduplication Manager (spad) and the NetBackup Deduplication Engine (spoold) use vxesfsd, so they need to be stopped if either is running.

    • Before vxesfsd is started, make sure that no data exists in the mount point. If data exists in the mount point, vxesfsd fails to start.

      See Restarting the vxesfsd process.

Table: Configuration items in the esfs.json file

Configuration item

Default setting

Description

vxesfsd restart required?

Log

Path

/usr/openv/

netbackup/logs

This setting indicates the directory where logs for the vxesfsd process are created.

The logs include the following:

  • esfs_database

  • esfs_filesystem

  • esfs_monitor

  • esfs_storage

  • esfs_storagemanager

Yes

Size

10485760

This value (in bytes) controls the maximum size that a single log file is allowed to grow. Once the file reaches that approximate size, the log file is closed and another log file is opened.

No

Level

1

This value determines the logging level and what information is included in the logs:

  • 1: Errors only

  • 2: Warnings and errors

  • 3: All log entries

Note:

The Global logging level in the Host Properties has no effect on this setting.

No. Changes may not take effect until the next restart.

Monitor

HighWatermark

90

This value controls how full the Cloud Catalyst cache partition can become. The value represents the percentage of used space on the cache partition. If the HighWatermark is hit, Cloud Catalyst suspends writes to the cache. Cloud Catalyst operations (for example backup and duplication operations to the Cloud Catalyst server) are paused until space is made available through cache eviction. Together with the LowWatermark, this value also determines when cache eviction starts

Cache eviction starts when the used space reaches the midpoint between HighWatermark and LowWatermark (high+low)/2 and continues until LowWatermark is reached.

If the LowWatermark value is set very low, the cache is nearly cleared. That is, nearly all of the eligible files are evicted.

Note:

The file system on which the cache resides must not contain data from any other applications.

No

LowWatermark

50

This value determines at what point vxesfsd stops evicting container files after the HighWatermark triggers eviction. The value represents the percentage of used space on the cache partition.

No

BackupDBTime

12

This value determines how frequently (in hours) the database is backed up.

This value is unrelated to the drcontrol policy, if one exists. Veritas recommends that a drcontrol policy is created and used to protect your cloud storage server. Veritas recommends that this value is not changed.

Note:

This database is a special database for the cloud storage server, not the NetBackup or MSDP catalog.

No

StorageManager

AsyncMaxConcurrentConnections

40

This value determines the maximum number of concurrent connections to the cloud provider for asynchronous (upload and delete) operations.

Yes

SyncMaxConcurrentConnections

40

This value determines the maximum number of concurrent connections to the cloud provider for synchronous (download) operations.

Yes

BackupDBCopies

14

This value determines the maximum number of saved copies of the database that are created for backup.

Veritas recommends that this value is not changed.

This value is unrelated to the drcontrol policy, if one exists. Veritas recommends that a drcontrol policy is created and used to protect your cloud storage server.

Note:

This database is a special database for the cloud storage server, not the NetBackup or MSDP catalog.

No

FileSystem

MaxOpenFile

192114

This value determines the maximum number of files that can be open at one time.

Veritas recommends that this value is not changed.

Yes

ReadOnly

0

This value indicates whether the files currently stored in the cloud can be modified:

  • 0: The files can be modified. (Default.)

  • 1: The files are read only.

This setting is used for disaster recovery and should not be changed under normal usage.

Yes

ImageSharingEnabled

1

This value is used for disaster recovery in the Cloud. This option is enabled by default.

Yes

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