New NetBackup 10.5 Plug-In Gives DNAS Protection to Azure Files
A new plug-in allows NetBackup 10.5 to protect Azure Files as if it was a NAS filer. It does this through the new NetBackup Snapshot Manager (NBSM) NAS plug-in for Azure Files. NBSM uses Azure’s Software Developer Kit (SDK) storage API to connect with and move data to/from Azure Files. You can select this plug-in like all the other NetBackup plug-ins as shown below. The new plug-in can use Network File System (NFS) and Server Message Block (SMB) protocols to access Azure Files data. This lets you select the protocol(s) that meet your organization’s transport and security requirements. As of SMB version 4.X, NFS has a slight performance advantage over older SMB versions. See the NetBackup™ Snapshot Manager Install and Upgrade Guide version 10.5 for detailed plug-in installation and configuration instructions. NetBackup Snapshot Manager (NBSM) establishes a connection with Azure Files Storage using the REST client. It then discovers whatever resource groups, storage accounts, file shares, and file share snapshots are available. This discovery gives NetBackup 10.5+ the following Azure File snapshot operations: Creating file share snapshots Exporting snapshots Restoring snapshots Deporting snapshots Deleting snapshots A NetBackup Storage Lifecycle Policy (SLP) is required to run the snapshot and call a NAS-Data-Protection policy to coordinate the backup. The new Azure Files plug-in also offers the same great DNAS features available in previous versions. See these links for more information on these features: My DNAS backup tech paper: NetBackup Dynamic Network Attached Storage (DNAS) Filer Protection Version 10.4 Update: NetBackup 10.4+ DNAS Multi-Mount Capability Greatly Improves Snapshot Backup Performance
