Managing protected assets

1.  Select Configure > Protected Assets.

2.  Use these options to customize your view:

The Unitrends agent must be installed for file-level or Windows image-level protection. For most Windows assets, the appliance can push-install the agent when you add the asset. For other physical assets, you must install the Unitrends agent manually before you add the asset. For procedures, see Installing the Unitrends agent.

1.  Select Configure > Protected Assets.

2.   Click Add > Asset.

3.  Enter the asset's hostname.

4.  Enter the asset's IP address. This is optional in some cases, as described here:

5.  Do one of the following:

6.  Click Save.

7.  (Optional) Exchange and SQL servers – To protect hosted applications with application aware image-level backups, use this procedure to enable the application aware setting: To edit an agent-based asset.

For large file servers, file-level backups may take a long time to run. To reduce overall runtime, you can create aliases for a single asset and run separate, radically different backup schedules for each.

NOTE  For Windows assets, you can opt to run image-level backups instead of creating aliases. This is a simpler approach. Because image-level backups are taken at the disk and volume level, they run much faster than file-level backups of servers that house many small files.

For example:

●   Using aliases, you can break apart large data stores. Because backups are smaller, they run more quickly. Because less data is copied in the job, network traffic is reduced.

●   You can have multiple fulls running at different times. Because a full cannot be purged until a new one is created, separating a large full into smaller ones can increase the space available on the appliance by enabling separate purging.

●   When scheduling backup jobs for aliased assets, you must include the system state on the asset whose backups contain the boot and critical OS volumes (this is typically the C: volume) and exclude the system state on the other aliased assets.

●   You can exclude the system state from an asset's backups when creating or editing the backup schedule. For details, see To create a file-level backup job.

NOTE  Because each asset can have only one retention policy, you cannot edit an asset's retention settings if the asset has been added to an SLA policy. For more on SLA policies, see Creating SLA policies.

1.  Select Configure > Protected Assets.

2.  Select the asset and click Edit.

3.  Modify settings and click Save.

CAUTION!  When an asset is removed, all associated backups of that asset are also deleted. Please use caution when removing an asset.

Preparing to remove an asset

Before removing an asset, you must remove the asset from all job schedules.

To remove an agent-based asset

1.  Select Configure > Protected Assets.

2.  Select the asset you want to remove.

3.  Click Remove.

4.  Check the I understand... box and click Remove Asset and Delete Backups.

5.  Click OK to close the Information message. The asset is removed.

1.  Select Configure > Protected Assets.

2.   Click Add > NAS.

3.  Enter the NAS Name. The name cannot contain spaces.

4.  Select the Appliance that will protect this asset.

5.  Enter the NAS IP address or resolvable hostname.

6.  Select the CIFS or NFS protocol.

7.  The Port field contains the default for the protocol selected. If the protocol uses a custom port, enter that port number.

8.  Enter the full directory pathname of the NAS share in the Share Name field. Do not use leading or ending slashes.

9.  If credentials are required to access the NAS share, enter the Username and Password.

10.  Click Save.

The NAS asset is added. To start protecting the NAS, see To create a NAS CIFS or NFS backup job.

1.  Select Configure > Protected Assets.

2.   Click Add > NAS.

3.  Enter the NAS Name. The name cannot contain spaces.

4.  Select the Appliance that will protect this asset.

5.  Enter the NAS IP address or resolvable hostname.

6.  Select the NDMP protocol.

7.  The Port field contains the default for the protocol selected. If the protocol uses a custom port, enter that port number.

8.  Enter NDMP credentials:

9.  Click Save.

The NAS asset is added. To start protecting the NAS, see To create a NAS NDMP backup job.

1.  Select Configure > Protected Assets.

2.  Select the NAS and click Edit.

3.  Modify settings and click Save. (For more on retention, see Managing retention with long-term data management.)

CAUTION!  When an asset is removed, all associated backups of that asset are also deleted. Please use caution when removing an asset.

Preparing to remove an asset

Before removing an asset, you must remove the asset from all job schedules.

To remove a NAS asset

1.  Select Configure > Protected Assets.

2.   Select the NAS asset you want to remove.

3.  Click Remove.

4.  Check the I understand... box and click Remove Asset and Delete Backups.

5.  Click OK to close the Information message. The asset is removed.

To protect an application, you do not add the application itself. Instead, add its host server to the Unitrends appliance using the applicable procedure in the table below. Once you've added the host asset, run backups as described in Creating backup jobs. Before adding and protecting an application, be sure to review the applicable requirements and considerations, described in these topics:

●   Exchange backup requirements and considerations

●   SQL backup requirements and considerations

●   SharePoint backup requirements and considerations

●   Oracle backup requirements and considerations

●   Cisco UCS service profile backup requirements and considerations

Application	Add host procedure
Exchange	Add the Exchange server using the To add an agent-based asset procedure. All hosted databases or storage groups display under the asset you have added.
SQL non-clustered instance	Add the SQL server using the To add an agent-based asset procedure. All hosted, non-clustered instances and databases display under the asset you have added.
SQL failover clusters and availability groups	Because clustered instances and availability groups can move between nodes in the cluster, you must add each server node, clustered instance, and availability group to the backup appliance as a separate asset, as described in Protecting SQL clusters and availability groups.
SharePoint	Configure and add the SharePoint server using the instructions in SharePoint backup requirements and considerations. The SharePoint application displays under the asset you have added.
Oracle	Add the Oracle server using the To add an agent-based asset procedure. All hosted Oracle instances display under the asset you have added.
Cisco UCS service profiles	Add the UCS manager using the To add a UCS manager asset procedure. The hosted service profile application displays under the asset you have added.

1.  Select Configure > Protected Assets.

2.   Click Add > Cisco UCS Manager.

3.  Select an Appliance.

4.  Enter the asset's hostname as follows:

5.  Enter the asset's IP address, if required. (You do not need to enter an IP address if DNS is setup in your environment.)

6.  Click Manage Credentials > Add, supply required credential information, and click Save.

7.  Click Save to add the asset.

1.  Select Configure > Protected Assets.

2.  Select the UCS manager asset (do not select the service profile application below).

3.  Select the desired application and click Edit.

4.  Modify settings as desired, and click Save.

CAUTION!  When an asset is removed, all associated backups are also deleted. Please use caution when removing an asset.

1.  Select Configure > Protected Assets.

2.  Select the UCS manager asset.

3.  Click Remove > Confirm.

Use this procedure to edit the encryption and retention settings of hosted applications. To edit other settings, such as credentials and IP address, edit the host server instead (for details, see To edit an agent-based asset).

1.  Select Configure > Protected Assets.

2.   Click to expand the application's host.

3.  Click to expand the application instance.

4.  Select the hosted databases to which settings will be applied:

5.  Click Edit.

6.  Modify settings as needed:

7.   Settings are applied to the databases you selected and display on the Protected Assets tab.

When a host asset is added, its applications are discovered and display in the UI. You cannot remove individual applications.

Review the applicable considerations in the following table, then add each host as described in To add a virtual host asset. Once a virtual host is added, all VMs on that host are automatically discovered and can be selected for protection.

Virtual environment	Considerations
VMware	To protect hosted virtual machines, use the To add a virtual host asset procedure to add the following VMware servers to the Unitrends appliance: ●   vCenter and managed ESXi servers – If ESXi servers belong to a vCenter and both are accessible on the network, Unitrends recommends that you add the vCenter and its ESXi servers to the appliance. This enables the appliance to contact the vCenter for management operations (including vMotion support) and to directly contact the ESXi servers for backup and recovery, potentially improving performance by reducing network traffic around the vCenter server. ●   vCenter only – If the ESXi servers are accessible through a vCenter, adding the vCenter to the Unitrends appliance automatically detects all of the associated ESXi servers and their hosted virtual machines. This also enables the Unitrends appliance to be compatible with vMotion, a process through which VMs can migrate among the vCenter’s ESXi servers. In this case, the appliance detects when VMs move between ESXi servers in a cluster and contacts the appropriate server to perform backups. ●   ESXi server only – If ESXi servers are not accessible through a vCenter, or if only a subset of the VMs hosted on the vCenter’s ESXi servers are to be protected, you can add individual ESXi servers. In this case, the appliance contacts the ESXi servers directly for backup and recovery. NOTES    ●   Servers running free ESXi versions cannot be added as virtual hosts. To protect VMs hosted on free ESX, you must install the Unitrends agent on each VM and protect them with file-level backups. ●   To protect templates or clustered VMs, you must add a vCenter server. ●   For additional requirements, see Best practices and requirements for VMware protection.
Hyper-V	Before adding the virtual host to the appliance, you must install the Unitrends Windows agent on the Hyper-V server. (See Installing the Windows agent for details.) Once the agent has been installed, use the To add a virtual host asset procedure to add the Hyper-V host to the appliance. For additional requirements, see Best practices and requirements for Hyper-V protection.
Nutanix AHV	To protect VMs hosted in a Nutanix Acropolis Hypervisor (AHV) environment, you must add the AHV host cluster to the Unitrends appliance as a virtual host asset. Use the To add a virtual host asset procedure to add the AHV host. In the Add Virtual Host dialog, you must enter the following: ●   Hostname – Enter a unique name to identify the AHV cluster. This is the display name used by the appliance UI and does not need to match the actual hostname of the AHV cluster. ●   IP address – Enter the Nutanix cluster virtual IP address. This is a highly-available IP address used to reach the management services running on the Nutanix AHV cluster. ●   Username and Password: ●   For Nutanix AHV clusters that are NOT configured to use directory services authentication and are running a pre-5.5 AOS release, enter the credentials of the Nutanix cluster admin user account. You must use the cluster admin account. Other users with administrative privileges are not supported. ●   For Nutanix AHV clusters that are NOT configured to use directory services authentication and are running AOS release 5.5, enter the credentials of any local Nutanix cluster account that has been assigned the cluster admin or user admin role. ●   For Nutanix AHV clusters that are configured to use directory services authentication, enter the credentials of an LDAP user that has the cluster admin role. You must specify a domain in addition to the username. For AOS 5.1, the username and domain are case sensitive and you must match the case that was entered in the self service portal (SSP). In the Username field, enter the username and domain in this format: user@domain. For example, jalvarez@unitrends.com. (For configuration requirements, see Requirements for directory services authentication in AOS 5.1 or Requirements for directory services authentication in AOS 5.5.)
XenServer	Host-level protection of XenServer VMs is supported on Unitrends Backup on Citrix XenServer appliances only. You can add only one XenServer host to the appliance. The host must be one of the following: ●   A XenServer pool master host meeting both of these criteria: ●   The Unitrends Backup VM resides either on the pool master host itself or on one of the pool master's slave hosts. ●   The Unitrends Backup VM has been granted access to the shared storage used by the pool master host. ●   A stand-alone XenServer host where the Unitrends Backup VM resides. Use the To add a virtual host asset procedure to add the XenServer host. For additional requirements, see Best practices and requirements for XenServer protection.

NOTE  Because each asset can have only one retention policy, you cannot edit an asset's retention settings if the asset has been added to an SLA policy. For more on SLA policies, see About creating backup and backup copy jobs.

1.  Select Configure > Protected Assets.

2.  Select the virtual host asset.

3.  Click Edit.

4.  Modify settings and click Save.

The global quiesce setting applies to all VMware, AHV, and XenServer VMs on the selected appliance. (Quiesce is not used for Hyper-V.) The setting controls how newly discovered VMs are quiesced in preparation for backup. There is also an option to overwrite the quiesce setting of existing VMs.

1.  Select Configure > Protected Assets.

2.  Click Manage Global VM Settings.

3.  Select an Appliance.

4.  Select Crash Consistent or Application Consistent.

5.  (Optional) Select Apply to all current VMs if you want to overwrite the quiesce setting of existing VMs. Do not select this option if you want to apply the Quiesce Setting to newly discovered VMs only.

6.  Click Save.

A virtual host's quiesce setting controls how newly discovered VMs are quiesced in preparation for backup. There is also an option to overwrite the quiesce setting of the host's existing VMs. This setting applies to VMware, AHV, and XenServer virtual hosts. (Quiesce is not used for Hyper-V.)

Use this procedure to apply the selected quiesce setting to all hosted VMs.

1.  Select Configure > Protected Assets.

2.  Select the virtual host and click Edit.

3.  In the Quiesce area, select one of the following:

4.  Click Save.

Unitrends recommends upgrading virtual hosts to the latest supported version. Refer to the appropriate vendor documentation for instructions on upgrading. Note the following when upgrading:

●   Your Unitrends appliance continues to protect the host with existing schedules as long as the hostname and IP address remain unchanged.

●   If you change the hostname or IP address during the upgrade, update these settings in the appliance UI as described in To edit a virtual host asset. Existing schedules can then continue to protect the host's VMs.

●   If VMs are added or removed on the host during the upgrade, refresh the VMs on the appliance to reflect the changes by selecting the Options icon in the top-right and clicking Inventory Sync.

CAUTION!  When a virtual host is removed, all backups of its VMs are also deleted. Please use caution when removing a virtual host asset.

Use this procedure to remove a vCenter, an ESXi host, a Hyper-V host, a XenServer host, or a Nutanix AHV cluster from the Unitrends appliance. When you remove a virtual host, all backups of its VMs are also deleted. However, if you have added a vCenter server and the ESXi hosts it's managing, the VM backups are not deleted from the appliance if you remove only the vCenter server. The backups are not deleted unless you also remove the ESXi host servers.

To remove a virtual host asset

1.  Select Configure > Protected Assets.

2.  Select the virtual host you want to remove.

3.  Click Remove.

4.  Check the I understand... box and click Remove Asset and Delete Backups.

For host-level protection of a VM, you do not add the VM itself. Instead, add its virtual host as described in To add a virtual host asset. All hosted VMs display under the host you have added.

NOTE  Because each asset can have only one retention policy, you cannot edit an asset's retention settings if the asset has been added to an SLA policy. For more on SLA policies, see Creating SLA policies

1.  Select Configure > Protected Assets.

2.   Click to expand the VM's virtual host to display its VMs.

3.  Select the VM and click Edit.

4.  Modify settings and click Save.

1.  Click Configure > Protected Assets > Manage Credentials.

2.   Click Add.

3.  Enter credential information and click Save.

4.  Click Done to exit.

This credential can now be applied to your assets. (For details, see To apply a credential to an asset.)

1.  Click Configure > Protected Assets > Manage Credentials.

2.  Click Done to exit.

1.  Click Configure > Protected Assets > Manage Credentials.

2.   Select a credential and click Edit.

3.  Modify information and click Save.

4.  Click Done to exit.

1.  Click Configure > Protected Assets > Manage Credentials.

2.   Select the credential, click Delete, then Confirm.

3.  Click Done to exit.

1.  Select Configure > Protected Assets.

2.  Select the asset and click Edit.

3.  (If needed) Do these steps to create the credential (if using an existing credential, skip this step):

4.  Select the credential from list and click Save.

Appliances are configured with a default, pre-loaded backup retention policy of 30 days. The 30-day default retention policy is applied to each protected asset to ensure that 7 daily backups and 4 weekly backups are retained.

The default retention policy is shown below. To use different retention settings, you can do any of the following:

●   Modify the settings of the default Pre-loaded retention policy as shown below.

●   Create a new custom policy and designate it as the default policy, as described in To add a long-term retention policy to an appliance.

●   Add multiple custom policies to apply different settings to groups of assets. Once a custom policy is applied to an asset, it overrides the default policy.

To view or edit the default retention policy, go to Configure > Protected Assets, click Manage Retention, select Pre-loaded retention policy, and click Edit, as shown here:

To start managing retention with custom policies:

Step 1:   Review the Long-term retention policy settings

Step 2:   Add a policy as described in To add a long-term retention policy to an appliance

Step 3:   Apply the policy to assets as described in To apply a long-term retention policy to a protected asset

Long-term retention policies are configured with the following settings:

Retention setting	Description
Policy Name	Enter a name for the policy.
Set as default policy	Check the Set as default policy box on the Add Retention Policy or Edit Retention Policy dialog to designate the policy as the default policy of the appliance. Any new assets and new copied assets that are added to the appliance receive the default policy. NOTES    ●   An appliance cannot have more than one default policy at a time. If needed, edit the existing default policy to clear the Set as default policy box before designating a new default policy. ●    Applying a non-default policy to an asset overrides the default policy. ●   If you have designated a new default policy, you can apply it to existing assets as described in To apply a long-term retention policy to a protected asset. ●   For copied assets, you can use the Set as global policy option to override the default policy. Use this method to have different default policies for local assets versus copied assets.
Set as global policy	The Configure > Copied Assets tab displays only for appliances that are receiving backup copies from another Unitrends appliance. The tab lists all assets whose backup copies are stored on this appliance. If your appliance is receiving backup copies from another appliance, you can create or edit the policies used for copied assets by going to Configure > Copied Assets and clicking Manage Retention. When adding or editing a policy for copied assets, you can check the Set as global policy box to designate the policy as the global policy for copied assets. Any newly added backup copy source appliance receives this policy, which determines how long its hot copies are retained. As copied assets are added for the new source appliance, this global policy is automatically applied. NOTES    ●   A target appliance cannot have more than one global policy at a time. ●   Global policies are applicable to any new copied assets that are added to the appliance. (Global policies do not apply to local assets.) ●   The appliance's default policy applies to any copied assets unless you use the Set as global policy box to override the default policy for copied assets.
Policy description	Enter a brief description of the policy. This can be a note regarding the policy's intended use case or a brief summary of its retention settings.
Days	All backups from the last N number of days are retained. Days end at midnight, appliance time. Or check the Forever box to retain all backups. Check the Delete Final Backup box to automatically delete data when it reaches the end of its retention policy, even if it's the last available recovery point. Leave this box unchecked to retain the last available recovery point.
Weeks	The most recent successful backup from each of the last N number of weeks is retained. Weeks end on Sunday of the calendar week. Or check the Forever box to keep weekly backups forever.
Months	The most recent successful backup from each of the last N number of months is retained. Months end on the final day of the calendar month. Or check the Forever box to keep monthly backups forever.
Years	The most recent successful backup from each of the last N number of years is retained. Years end on the final day of the calendar year. Or check the Forever box to keep yearly backups forever.

 

1.  Log in to the backup appliance and select Configure > Protected Assets.

2.  Click Manage Retention.

3.  Click Add.

4.  Enter the retention policy settings. For details, see Long-term retention policy settings.

5.  Click Add. The long-term retention policy is created.

1.  Log in to the backup appliance and select Configure > Protected Assets.

2.  Select the desired asset.

3.  Click Edit.

4.   Select a policy from the Retention Policy dropdown.

5.  Click Save. The long-term retention policy is applied.

1.  Log in to the backup appliance and select Configure > Protected Assets.

2.  Click Manage Retention.

3.  Select the policy you wish to edit.

4.  Click Edit.

5.  Modify the retention policy settings. For details, see Long-term retention policy settings.

6.  Select the Note checkbox.

7.  Click Save. Changes to the policy are committed.

Migrating from legacy asset-level retention to long-term retention impacts a number of Unitrends features, which are detailed in the table below. Carefully review the considerations in the table before switching to long-term retention.

WARNING!  Once the switch to long-term retention is performed, it cannot be reversed from the web UI.

Feature	Details
Legacy asset-level retention settings	The switch to long-term retention nominally voids all legacy asset-level retention settings; however, any backups held in accordance with these settings remain preserved in a legal hold state. When applying a long-term retention policy to an asset that previously used legacy asset-level retention settings, the keep all backups value of this new policy must be equal to or greater than the keep backups for value specified in the original retention settings.
SLA policies	Following the switch to long-term retention, all SLA policy retention settings are voided and the SLA policy feature loses its retention functionality. An asset can be assigned both a long-term retention policy and an SLA policy.
GFS	If GFS is enabled on your appliance, the switch to long-term retention directly translates your GFS retention settings into a default long-term retention policy titled Migrated policy. If you are using legacy asset-level retention policies in addition to GFS retention settings, ensure that these policies specify backup hold periods shorter than or equal to the daily GFS setting. Switching to long-term retention is not permitted unless this condition is satisfied. NOTES    ●   On target appliances, the migrated policy is both global and default. ●   The weeks setting of the migrated policy is set to 4 by default.
Backup-level holds	Holds applied to individual backups in the Backup Catalog are not impacted by the switch to long-term retention.
Cold backup copy retention	Job-level cold backup copy retention settings are not impacted by the switch to long-term retention.

Appliances upgraded from a pre-10.3 release do not have access to long-term data management functionality until the switch to long-term retention is manually performed. Long-term retention is enabled by default on all appliances that were originally imaged with version 10.3 or later.

CAUTION!  Before proceeding, ensure that you have reviewed the Considerations for switching to long-term retention and understand how your assets may be impacted.

1.  Log in to the backup appliance and select Configure > Protected Assets.

2.  Select Manage Retention.

3.  Select Switch to Long Term Retention.

4.  Click Save.

5.  If you are sure you want to switch to long-term retention, click Confirm.

Retention setting	Description
Minimum Retention	Minimum retention settings.
Keep backups for N days	Number of days backups must be retained. Backups that are younger than N days are not purged for any reason, including at the expense of new, incoming backups. The age of a backup is determined by the last backup in the group, e.g., the last incremental before a new full.
Warn when less than N days of backups remain	Use this option to receive an email notification if this asset has less than N days of backups stored on the appliance.
Maximum Retention	Maximum retention setting.
Delete backups after N Days	Number of days after which the appliance will delete backups. Backups are eligible to be deleted once the full has exceeded this limit. At this point, the full and all associated incrementals and differentials in the group are deleted.

Use this procedure to apply retention settings to one asset.

NOTE  Because each asset can have only one retention policy, you cannot edit an asset's retention settings if the asset has been added to an SLA policy. For more on SLA policies, see Creating SLA policies

1.  Select Configure > Protected Assets.

2.  Select the desired asset.

3.  Click Edit.

4.  Click Manage Retention.

5.  Define settings as desired and click Save.