Add a Veritas Flex Appliance policy
Before adding the policy: A Data Collector must exist in the Portal, to which you will add Data Collector Policies.
For specific prerequisites and supported configurations for a specific vendor, see the NetBackup IT Analytics Certified Configurations Guide.
After adding the policy: For some policies, collections can be run on-demand using the Run button on the Collector Administration page action bar. The Run button is only displayed if the policy vendor is supported.
On-demand collection allows you to select which probes and devices to run collection against. This action collects data the same as a scheduled run, plus logging information for troubleshooting purposes. For probe descriptions, refer to the policy.
The data collection form the appliances depends on the availability of the components that expose the appliance stats to the policy probes. The data collection supported for each Flex Appliance version is as indicated below. You need to create an RTD report to view the data. Collection is performed via REST APIs exposed by the Flex Appliance.
Table: Data collection based on appliance version
Policy probe | Collection type | Supported NetBackup Flex Appliance version |
|---|---|---|
Appliance Details | Hardware details of appliance and its nodes | 2.0, 2.1, 3.0 , 3.2, 4.0 |
Performance Statistics | Node and container details | 2.0, 2.1, 3.0, 3.2, 4.0 |
Storage Statistics | Storage consumption details | 2.0.1, 2.1, 3.0, 3.2, 4.0 |
Note:
The Data Collector installed with the on-premise installation of NetBackup supports data collection from NetBackup Flex Appliance. You can configure the Veritas Flex Appliance policy.
To add the policy
- Select Admin > Data Collection > Collector Administration. Currently configured Portal Data Collectors are displayed.
- Search for a collector if required or select a Data Collector from the list.
- Click Add Policy, and then select Veritas Flex Appliance entry in the menu.
- Enter or select the parameters. Mandatory parameters are denoted by an asterisk (*):
Field
Description
Collector Domain
The domain of the collector to which the collector backup policy is being added. This is a read-only field. By default, the domain for a new policy will be the same as the domain for the collector. This field is set when you add a collector.
Policy Domain
The domain of the policy that is being configured for the Data Collector. The Policy Domain must be set to the same value as the Collector Domain. The domain identifies the top level of your host group hierarchy. All newly discovered hosts are added to the root host group associated with the Policy Domain.
Typically, only one Policy Domain will be available in the drop-down list. If you are a Managed Services Provider, each of your customers will have a unique domain with its own host group hierarchy.
To find your Domain name, click your login name and select My Profile from the menu. Your Domain name is displayed in your profile settings.
Add
Click to add a Flex Appliance to the policy. Provide valid Appliance Address, User ID, and Password for a successful connection.
Appliance Address*
Fully qualified domain name (FQDN) of the Flex Appliance. This FQDN enables the policy to collect from all the appliance nodes that are up-and-running. The data persisted is distinguished by the node ID as registered on the appliance.
Note:
Flex Appliance connector supports only FQDN in Appliance Address.
Username*
Username required to access the Flex Appliance.
Provide the user credentials of the admin user of the Flex Appliance. This user is the default user for the Flex Appliance Console. Use this user to sign in to the console for the first time and for operations that require elevated privileges.
Password*
Password required to access the Flex Appliance.
Secret Key (If MFA is enabled)
Secret key associated with the credentials entered in the Username and Password fields. Secret key is required only of the target Flex Appliance is MFA-enabled and it is crucial for the policy to get an authorized access to the appliance.
Note:
In a MFA-enabled Cohesity Flex Appliance, a new secret key is generated every time its user profile is edited. Ensure the NetBackup IT Analytics Veritas Flex Appliance policy is configured with the latest secret key associated with the user configured in the policy.
Appliance Details
Collects hardware and software details of Flex Appliance added in the policy. The collected details include:
For appliance: appliance name, UUID, appliance type, and more.
For node: Node name, serial number, firmware version, Flex version and so on.
The probe is selected by default and has a default schedule and its data collection is independent of other probes, irrespective of the data and the execution order.
Performance Statistics
Collects resource utilization and performance statistics from each appliance node and the containers running on the Flex Appliance. The data is collected for each container and is segregated on the basis of appliance and host node on which the container is running. You must create custom reports to view the collection from the nodes and containers.
Note:
Flex v3.0 supports per user active session limited to 10 sessions. Veritas recommends to create a dedicated user for ITA Flex Appliances policy and utilize those credentials for data collection.
Note:
In Flex v3.0, container metrics are restricted due to vulnerabilities in cAdvisor exporter. For this reason, Performance Probe will only collect node metrics from flex appliance with flex version 3.0. No data will be available for container metrics
Storage statistics
Collects storage utilization specific to the entire Flex Appliance, irrespective of its nodes. Collection is performed via REST APIs exposed by the Flex Appliance.
Schedules
By default, collection for Performance Statistics is run performed every 5 minutes and for Storage Statistics, collection is performed daily at 03:33 hours.
Click the clock icon to create a schedule.
Every Minute, Hourly, Daily, Weekly, and Monthly schedules may be created. Advanced use of native CRON strings is also available.
Examples of CRON expressions:
*/30 * * * * means every 30 minutes
*/20 9-18 * * * means every 20 minutes between the hours of 9am and 6pm
*/10 * * * 1-5 means every 10 minutes Mon - Fri.
Note:
Explicit schedules set for a Collector policy are relative to the time on the Collector server. Schedules with frequencies are relative to the time that the Data Collector was restarted.
Notes
Enter or edit notes for your data collector policy. The maximum number of characters is 1024. Policy notes are retained along with the policy information for the specific vendor and displayed on the Collector Administration page as a column making them searchable as well.
Test Connection
Test Connection initiates a Data Collector process that attempts to connect to all the appliances added to the policy using the FQDN and credentials supplied in the policy. Agent Services must be running for the Test Connection to succeed.
Several factors affect the response time of the validation request, causing some requests to take longer than others. For example, there could be a delay when connecting to the subsystem. Likewise, there could be a delay when getting the response, due to other processing threads running on the Data Collector.
You can also test the collection of data using the Run functionality available in Admin > Data Collection > Collector Administration. This On-Demand data collection run initiates a high-level check of the installation at the individual policy level, including a check for the domain, host group, URL, Data Collector policy and database connectivity. You can also select individual probes to test the collection run.
- Click OK to save the policy configuration.
Note:
Do not delete the swap directory (
<APTARE_HOME>\mbs\swap\veritas\flexappliance) from the data collector server as it is used by the Veritas Flex Appliance policy.
The data collected from Flex Appliances is visible in the Host CPU Utilization, Host Memory Utilization, and Host Network Packets Sent/Received reports. See NetBackup IT Analytics Report Reference Guide for more information on the reports.