Backups¶

pixstor provides the capability to backup data within a Space on a per-Site basis to specific Ngenea Targets.

Hub enables configuration to be set for the Ngenea Backup service running on pixstor sites.

Important

Best practice is to treat backup data separately from live data. Hub will only configure a backup to an Ngenea target set as a backup-only target type.

Configuring Backups¶

To perform a backup for a Space on a Site, the following actions must be undertaken:

An Ngenea Target is provisioned with Backup-Only enabled
The Site from which to backup is enabled to participate in backups
An appropriate backup schedule is set
The Space is enabled for backup, selecting the Site and the Ngenea Target

Backup Only Ngenea Targets¶

An Ngenea Target can be utilised for backups of a Space.

Where a Space exists across multiple Sites, optionally, each site can perform its own backup of the Space.

Important

Multiple Sites are not permitted to backup to the same Ngenea Target.

../_images/ngenea_target_backup_enable.png

To enable a target to be used for backup, enable the Backup-Only target slider in the Ngenea Target setting.

Enabling Site for Backup¶

pixstor provides the capability to backup data within a Space on a per-Site basis to specific Ngenea Targets.

Hub enables configuration to be set for the Ngenea Backup service running on pixstor sites.

If the Site is enabled to participate in backups, each Space requires additional configuration to enable the per-Space backup.

Determine the required frequency of the backup.

Choosing Mins or Hours will ensure that the schedule will run on the next interval set.

E.G: * 1 hour: The backup will run on the next hour (12.00, 13.00) * 15 mins: The backup will run on the next 15 minute interval past the hour (15, 30, 45, 00)

Space Wizard Backup Schedule Daily Weekly

Choosing Daily or Weekly allows the backup to be scheduled once per chosen day at a specific time of day.

Hint

The schedule time is in UTC+0. You may need to account for any timezone offset of the site when scheduling.

Optional tuning can be set for the backup operation in the Advanced Configuration.

Refer to the Ngenea Backup documention prior to applying any parameters.

Enabling Space Backup¶

Select the Sites which will perform backups for this space
Define any Global Exclusions

Global Exclusion Rules¶

Global exclusions apply to all Site backup configurations for the Space unless overridden on a per-Site basis.

Click the Pick folders to exclude button to raise the folder browser dialog

Use the folder browser to unselect items which will not be included (hence excluded) from backups.

Define file extensions which must be excluded from backups across all Sites. E.G. *.tmp

Hint

If multiple Sites are selected, backup configuration is presented per-Site. Optionally each site can specify its own settings.

For each Site participating in Space backup a configuration panel is displayed:

Review the backup settings for each site:

Setting	Description
Exclusion Rules	By default the Site inherits the Global exclusion rules. To override the rules, deselect the slider and define any exclusions using the same methods as described above.
Ngenea Target	Choose an available Ngenea Target. Only targets configured as Backup-Only target and not currently in use for other Sites are available for selection.
Number of versions	Defines the maximum number of all file versions within a remote storage location for the targeted Fileset before Ngenea Backup prunes excess versions. If the number of versions of a file has exceeds the defined threshold, the oldest version will be deleted.
Inactive threshold(days)	Defines the threshold of days for a defined CRITERIA (E.G.: modification) after which each file within the monitored Independent Fileset is validated when INACTIVE_THRESHOLD is enabled. Those files where their defined CRITERIA exceeds this value will be re-copied from the local PixStor filesystem to storage container into an in-active tier. All instances of the file in typical standard storage classes are transitioned to older file versions.
ACL save	If enabled, all of the related NSFv4 ACL entries for an ingested file will be included in the remote object’s metadata when a file is backed up. This allows Ngenea to apply those NSFv4 ACL entries when recalled or stubbed.
Shadow folder metdata save	If enabled, additional data objects will be created within the remote storage target as this data is stored as an object within the cloud provider. If enabled, all the directory modification, creation and deletion operations between subsequent backup runs will be stored in remote storage. This allows the restoration or ngrecall of directories with NFSv4 ACL and POSIX permission support. This data will also be version controlled similarly to files. This operation will occur if the permissions or ACL entries are edited on any directories meaning that each change to ACLs will be updated with regular runs of backup.