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Deploy a Barracuda Backup Virtual Appliance

Deploy a Barracuda Backup Virtual Appliance

To create a successful data protection and disaster recovery plan, Barracuda Networks strongly recommends following the 3-2-1 backup rule:

  • 3 – You must have at least 3 copies of your data; the original production data and 2 backup copies.

  • 2 – You must use at least 2 different types of media to store the copies of your data, for example, your production storage and the local Barracuda Backup virtual appliance data storage.

  • 1 – You must keep at least 1 backup offsite, for example, in the cloud or in a remote site.

For deployment of the Barracuda Backup virtual appliance (Vx), Barracuda Networks recommends a completely separate virtual infrastructure from that of the data in which the Vx will be protecting. This means running in a separate virtual cluster, dedicated virtual host, and/or separate storage from the production environment. This will help avoid situations where the production virtual infrastructure or storage fails or is impacted by ransomware and impacts both the production virtual machines and the Barracuda Backup virtual appliance.

 

The following sections walk you through the process of deploying a Barracuda Backup Virtual (Vx) appliance.

System Platform Requirements

Barracuda Networks provides the following types of virtual images for the Barracuda Backup Vx deployment.

Table 1. System Platform Requirements

Image Type

Platform

Version

Image Type

Platform

Version

OVF

VMware

See Virtual Infrastructure for supported versions.

VHD

Microsoft Hyper-V

See Virtual Infrastructure for supported versions.

System Resource Requirements

The most common mistake when designing an environment for Barracuda Backup Vx is to size only for capacity as opposed to sizing for capacity and performance. Tasks such as backup, offsite replication, data restoration, and purging can use a significant amount of system resources. When considering a Barracuda Backup virtual deployment, it is best to consider the use cases of the Backup Vx in addition to needed storage.

Table 2. vCPU Recommendations

Backup Volume

Minimum Recommended vCPUs

High Performance Recommended vCPUs

Backup Volume

Minimum Recommended vCPUs

High Performance Recommended vCPUs

1-2 TB

2 vCPUs

4 vCPUs

2-6 TB

4 vCPUs

6 vCPUs

6-12 TB

6 vCPUs

8 vCPUs

12-24 TB

12 vCPUs

16+ vCPUs


Table 3. RAM Recommendations

Backup Volume

Minimum Recommended RAM

High Performance Recommended RAM

Backup Volume

Minimum Recommended RAM

High Performance Recommended RAM

1-2 TB

4 GB

8 GB

1-4 TB

8 GB

12 GB

4-12 TB

12 GB

16 GB

12-16 TB

16 GB

32 GB

16-24 TB

32 GB

64 GB

Storage Recommendations

  • Any storage infrastructure consisting of Local/Direct-Attached, SAN, and NAS

  • Storage with inadequate throughput, read, and write speeds will suffer

  • Servers with software RAID, slow NAS, and low-RPM drives will yield poor performance

Notes and Considerations

  • Barracuda Backup utilizes memory (RAM) for database queries during backup, restore, and offsite replication. Barracuda Networks highly recommends following the recommended minimum resources for memory in the RAM Recommendations table above.

  • Barracuda uses CPU resources for hashing blocks during deduplication, compression for offsite replication, and rehydration of data during restoration. Barracuda Networks highly recommends following the recommended minimum resources for vCPUs in the vCPU Recommendations table above.

  • At a minimum, memory resources should be dedicated (reserved). It is also recommended that the CPU be dedicated to Barracuda Backup Vx and not shared with other virtual machines on the host. This aligns with VMware and Microsoft’s recommendations for virtualized Microsoft Exchange Server and SQL Server implementations.

  • A separate data store is recommended for use with the virtual appliance due to disk I/O constraints or an entirely separate storage server/environment altogether from the production environment.

  • Other system components such as network and storage need to be sized accordingly to prevent them from becoming a bottleneck.

  • It is important that snapshots are not used on the Barracuda Backup Vx appliance. Even if data is not being replicated to the Barracuda Cloud, configuration data is still sent to Barracuda so that the unit can be managed. Reverting to a previous state using snapshots can potentially cause loss of data and unit corruption. Independent disks are the default selection and highly recommended to avoid snapshots.

  • Use only a single attached virtual volume when deploying the Barracuda Backup Vx appliance. When expanding Barracuda Backup Vx capacity, expand only the current volume. Adding and expanding a new volume can potentially cause loss of data and unit corruption.

  • All Backup Vx disk, vCPUs, and RAM can be adjusted later by shutting down the system properly and making the necessary changes through the hypervisor.

VMware vSphere Deployment

To deploy Barracuda Backup Vx in VMware vSphere:

  1. Go to https://barracuda.com, and select Backup from the Products drop-down menu.

  2. Click Models/Editions, and select Virtual from the Deployment options drop-down menu.

  3. Click Free Eval Unit or Purchase, fill out the form, and submit your request.

  4. An email is sent to the specified email address.

  5. Follow the instructions in the email to download and extract the Barracuda Backup Vx .zip archive to a location accessible from a machine running vSphere.

  6. Launch vSphere Client, and from the File menu, click Deploy OVF Template:

  7.  The vSphere Client launches the Deploy OVF Template wizard.

  8. Click Browse, navigate to the extracted folder, and locate the Barracuda Backup Vx .ovf file (for example, BarracudaBackupService-vm4.2.4-fw6.2.00.10159-20150807-5x.ovf):

     

  9. Click Next. In the wizard, complete the following:

    • Review appliance information and the ESX version.

    • Name the appliance and define a location where the virtual machine is to be created.

    • Select the datastore where the VMDK file is to be stored; a dedicated disk store is recommended.

    • Select the disk format as Thick Provisioned Lazy Zeroed.

       

  10. Review your settings, and click Finish to deploy the appliance.

  11. After deployment is complete, locate the appliance within the appropriate data center, host, or resource pool.

Allocate Additional Resources

  1. With the Barracuda virtual appliance powered off, right-click the appliance, and click Edit Settings.

  2. Edit the CPU, Memory, and Hard disk 1 Provisioned Size settings based on the recommendations in Tables 1 and 2 above.

  3. Click OK. Once the hardware settings are defined, power on the virtual appliance. The appliance is prepared for use; this may take several minutes.

  4. Using your keyboard arrows, select Yes to format and partition the additional disk space provisioned above in Step 2:

    extraSpace.png

     

  5. The Barracuda Backup Vx expands and formats its partition space. Once formatting is complete, the appliance reboots:

Microsoft Hyper-V Deployment

To deploy a Barracuda Backup Vx in VMware vSphere:

  1. Go to https://barracuda.com, and select Backup from the Products drop-down menu.

  2. Click Models/Editions, and select Virtual from the Deployment options drop-down menu.

  3. Click Free Eval Unit or Purchase, fill out the form, and submit your request.

  4. An email is sent to the specified email address.

  5. Follow the instructions in the email to download and expand the Barracuda Backup Vx .zip archive to a location accessible from a machine running Hyper-V.

  6. Navigate to and expand the Barracuda Backup Vx .zip folder.

  7. Launch the WinServerSetup.bat file located in the extracted folder. This batch file corrects a compatibility issue and takes less than a minute to run.

  8. In Hyper-V Manager, right-click the VM host, select Import Virtual Machine, and click Next.

  9. Navigate to and select the HyperV folder from the extracted .zip archive, click Select Folder:

  10. Click Next. On the Select Virtual Machine page, click on the virtual machine to import:

  11. Click Next. Select Copy the virtual machine (created a new unique ID):

     

  12. Click Next. Select whether to use the default location for configuration files, storage, and network settings for the VHD, or define custom settings. Click Next.

  13. On the Summary page, verify that all the settings are correct:

  14. Click Finish.

  15. Right-click the Barracuda Backup Vx, and click Settings. Define the Memory and Processor settings based on the recommendations in Tables 1 and 2 above:

    1. Click Hard Drive under Virtual hard disk, and click Edit:

    2. Click Next. Select the Expand action:

    3. Click Next. Specify the virtual hard disk size:

    4. Click Next, and click Finish.

    5. In the VM Settings window, click Apply:

       

  16. Click OK to finish editing the VM.

  17. Power on the virtual appliance. The appliance is prepared for use; this may take several minutes.

  18. Using your keyboard arrows, select Yes to format and partition the additional disk space provisioned above in Step 9:

    extraSpace1.png

     

  19. The Barracuda Backup Vx expands and formats its partition space. Once formatting is complete, the appliance reboots:

To take advantage of Microsoft's VHDX support on Hyper-V 2012, 2012 R2, and 10, follow the instructions in How to Convert and Replace a Barracuda Networks Virtual Appliance VHD File with a VHDX Format File.

Configure and Provision the Barracuda Backup Vx

You must configure a valid external DNS to resolve to certain Barracuda infrastructure components requiring DNS entries.

If you did not recieve your Barracuda Vx license token via email or from the website when you downloaded the Barracuda Backup Vx package, request an evaluation on the Barracuda website at https://www.barracuda.com/purchase/evaluation or purchase one from https://www.barracuda.com/purchase/index. The license token looks similar to the following: 01234-56789-ACEFG.

In your hypervisor client, start the virtual appliance and allow it to boot up, then complete the following steps:

  1. From the console, log in as admin. Your password is based on the preboot version of your virtual machine image. To find the preboot version number, look at the downloaded virtual image file. The number between -vm and -fw is the preboot version number.
    For help finding the serial number of your Vx appliance, see Serial Number for Hardware and Virtual Appliances. 

  2. Use your keyboard arrows to select TCP/IP Configuration, enter your network settings, and then select Save:
     

  3. Use your keyboard arrows to select Licensing, enter your Barracuda license token, and then select Save:

  4. Type YES, and press Enter to apply the license and provision the virtual machine (VM):

     

  5. Allow the provisioning to complete; this may take several minutes.

  6. Once the license is installed, press Enter to reboot the VM.

  7. After the VM reboots, log in with username admin and password, which is either:

    • The numeric part of the serial number if your Vx preboot version is 4.6.1 or higher. To find the preboot version, check the  name of downloaded Vx image (zip file) which is something like  BarracudaEmailSecurityGateway-p2-vm4.6.1-fw8.1.0.003-20200113-esx-vbox.zip . The text between "vm" and "-fw" in the filename is the preboot version. In this example, it is 4.6.1. The serial number of your Vx is in your invoice and in your VM Setup email. 

    • The word "admin" if your Vx preboot version is below 4.6.1.
      For help finding the serial number of your virtual appliance, see Serial Number for Hardware and Virtual Appliances.

  8. Verify both Local and Internet values are Up; Cloud changes to Up once the appliance is linked in the next step:

Activate the Barracuda Backup Vx

If you are a Barracuda MSP customer, see MSP App before proceeding.

To activate your virtual appliance,

  1. Log into https://login.barracudanetworks.com. If you do not have an account, click Create a User, follow the account creation instructions, and log in.

  2. Click Backup in the left pane. If this is your first time activating a Barracuda Backup appliance, click Start Backup Setup; otherwise, go to Admin > Activate Barracuda Backup.

  3. Enter the Serial number and the Linking code from the sticker on the back of the Quick Start Guide, and click Next.

  4. The wizard launches. In the Your Info page, enter your contact information, and click Continue.

  5. In the Device Info page, enter a Device Name to represent the device in the UI. If you previously defined display groups, select the Display Group to which to add the device to from the drop-down menu.

  6. Select the Time Zone from the drop-down menu.

  7. In the Enter device location section, enter the geographical location.

  8. Select whether to Automatically update device firmware after activation, and click Continue.

  9. The Terms of Service page displays. Read the Terms and Conditions, and click I have read and agree to complete the linking process. Click Done.

  10. Once your device is linked, click Go to Dashboard.

How to Expand Barracuda Backup Vx Capacity

This section describes how to scale capacity.

  • Do not use snapshots on the Barracuda Backup Vx appliance. Even if data is not being replicated to the Barracuda Cloud, configuration data is still sent to Barracuda so that the unit can be managed. Reverting to a previous state using snapshots can potentially cause loss of data and unit corruption. Independent disks are the default selection and highly recommended to avoid snapshots.

  • When expanding Barracuda Backup Vx capacity, expand only the current volume. Adding and expanding a new volume can potentially cause loss of data and unit corruption.

Local Control is not supported for Barracuda Backup Vx.

Expand Barracuda Backup Vx Capacity for VMware

  1. With the Barracuda virtual appliance powered off, right-click the appliance, and click Edit Settings.

  2. In the Hardware tab, click Hard disk 1.

  3. Change the Provisioned Size to the desired capacity:

    bbs_image1.png

  4. Increase the amount of Memory or the number of CPUs to match the new disk capacity; refer to the tables in the System Resource Requirements section of this article for minimum recommendations.

  5. Click OK to configure the VM.

  6. Power on the VM. The additional disk space is detected; select Yes to format and use it:

    extraSpace2.png

     

  7. The additional disk space is formatted and the disk resized; this may take several minutes.

  8. Once formatting and resizing is complete, the appliance reboots:

    applianceReboot.png

Expand Barracuda Backup Vx Capacity for Hyper-V

  1. With the Barracuda virtual appliance powered off, right-click the appliance, and click Settings.

  2. In the Hardware section, click Hard Drive.

  3. Under Virtual hard disk, click Edit:

    bbs_image2.png

  4. Click Next. Choose Expand as the action:

  5. Click Next. Specify the new disk size:

    bbs_image3.png

     

  6. Click Next, and click Finish.

  7. Increase the amount of Memory or the number of CPUs to match the new disk capacity; refer to the tables in the System Resource Requirements section of this article for minimum recommendations.

  8. Click OK to reconfigure the VM.

  9. Power on the VM. The additional disk space is detected; select Yes to format and use it.

  10. The additional disk space is formatted and the disk resized; this may take several minutes.

  11. Once formatting and resizing is complete, the appliance reboots:

     

How to Set Up a Barracuda Receiver Vx

Barracuda Backup Vx includes one-way basic software replication to a Barracuda Receiver Vx. A single Barracuda Receiver Vx license is included with each Barracuda Backup Vx subscription for one-way replication.

You can use the Barracuda Receiver Vx as a replication target and for restores. With a Receiver Vx subscription, you can pair a physical appliance and a Barracuda Receiver Vx, one-to-one. Additionally, it can be used for site-to-site replication or in conjunction with Barracuda Cloud Storage for multiple offsite copies.

To generate a license, link to your account, and provision the Barracuda Receiver Vx:

  1. Log in to Barracuda Backup, go to the Backup > Replication page, and click Add Target.

     

  2. In the Site-to-Site Replication section, click Activate:

    bbs_image4.png



  3. The confirmation dialog box displays:

    bbs_image5.png

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