In this blog post, we will see how to configure backup for the NSX Lastline Onprem Manager node. If you are administering an On-Premises installation of the VMware NSX Network Detection and Response, you can configure periodic backups. A VMware NSX Network Detection and Response backup consists of the user data stored on the server, including network events and traffic captures, analyzed files, and analysis results.
Configure Backup:
To configure backup, log in to the NSX lastline on-prem manager node and go to the Admin tab > Backup
Configure Storage:
To configure Storage go to the Configure storage tab and click on NEW STORAGE
In the Add a Storage window, give a Name for the backup storage and also choose the Type. In the below screenshot, you can see I have given backup-storage as the name and type SSH. Now the SSH Configuration panel opens up. Fill up the section with the backend storage server details. Make sure you have the Server Base created in the storage server and the folder has the required write permissions.
As marked in the above screenshot, click on the + icon to create a new SSH Key. Give a name for the SSH Key and select the Key size. Once done, click on GENERATE KEY as in the below screenshot.
You will now get a message Successfully added SSH key “ssh-1”. Now you can close the SSH key window and select the newly created SSH key in the add storage configuration. Now, you will need to export the new SSH public key to your remote backup storage server, so Manager can send data to it without using a password.
To copy the SSH public key, click on the magnifying glass icon. Now a new window comes with the Public key for ssh-1 key that we created above. Copy the content of the same and add it to the authorized_keys file in your remote server. In my case, I have added this to the /home/ubuntu/.ssh/authorized_keys of my storage server 192.168.110.100.
Once the SSH key is copied to the storage server, you can click the ADD button in the Add a Storage window. Once the storage configuration is successfully created, you will see the below response.
Configure Backup:
To configure backup, go to Admin > Backup > Configure backups tab and click on NEW CONFIGURATION
Now you can see the Add Backup Configuration window opens up as in the below screenshot.
Give a name for the backup configuration and select the storage that we have created in the previous section. I have enabled the Essential files only so that it does not take up a lot of my storage space. You can schedule automated backup as per the requirement. In this test case, I have chosen the manual backup option for the Full Backup Configuration that I have created. Once the configuration is done, click on ADD CONFIG.
Once the backup configuration is created, you will see a response as in the below screenshot.
Test the Backup Configuration:
You can test the backup configuration by clicking on the heart icon as in the below screenshot.
From the screenshot, it’s clear that the backup configuration we have created is working as expected.
Trigger a Backup:
To create a backup, click on the BACKUP NOW button.
In the next window, choose the type of backup you would like to take. Please note, Incremental backups can only be taken after an initial full backup.
You can now see that the backup is initiated and you get a response as below.
The backup configuration Status has now changed to running as in the below screenshot.
I can now see the backup has started and it has created a folder in the backup location I have given during the configuration.
Once the backup is completed, you can see the status has changed to success and it took around 8mins to complete the backup.
I hope this blog post helps someone who is trying to configure backups for the lastline manager for the first time. If it does, feel free to share it with others. Happy learning! 🙂
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