Zmanda Client for Solaris Manual

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Amanda Enterprise Edition Solaris Client is certified Amanda network backup software, tested and supported by Zmanda.  

Amanda Enterprise Edition Solaris client packages are available for the following platforms from theZmanda network 

  • Solaris 10/11 running on x86 and Sparc platform  
  • Open Solaris running on x86 platform  

This document discusses the Amanda Enterprise Edition Solaris client installation, configuration and verification procedures.  

Installation  

Amanda Enterprise Edition Solaris client packages are available from theZmanda networkdownloads page.  

These Solaris packages provide Amanda client software only. An Amanda Solaris 4.1 client will work with Amanda Enterprise server running 4.1  

The Amanda client packages require other packages to be installed. These packages are also available from theZmanda networkdownloads page. Some of the packages might already be installed on the Sun machine under a different package name. Please verify that the correct versions of required packages are installed.  

The Zmanda Network also contains optional Solaris packages such as GPG and Schily tar (star) that can be used with the Amanda Solaris client. These packages are required only if certain specific Amanda features are used in the Amanda configuration.  

Pre-installation checklist  

  • All Solaris packages from Zmanda Network are compressed using GNU zip (gzip). Thegzippackage is available from Zmanda Network.  
  • Perl software is required on the client. Please install CSWperl 5.8.8 or later. This package is not available in the dependency tar ball.  
  • Install GNU tar from theZmanda networkdownloads page. SolarisCSWgtarversion 1.15.1 or greater is required for Amanda client installation.  
  •  Install any optional packages fromZmanda networkdownloads pages. -CSWgnupg(if GPG data encryption is required on the Amanda client),CSWstar(if Schily tar will be used as backup program on the Amanda client).  
  • To use Amanda SSH
  • transport authentication, SUNWsshcuSUNWsshdrSUNWsshduSUNWsshr andSUNWsshu packages from the Solaris distribution are required for Solaris 10/11. SSH server package is not available in the dependency tar ball. This package is required to perform SSH restores.  
  • Following entry must be added to the$HOME/.ssh/environmentconfiguration file if you are using ssh authentication  

PATH="/opt/csw/bin:/opt/sfw/bin:/usr/csw/bin:/usr/sfw/bin:/usr/bin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/sbin"  

  

Client Installation  

  •  Amanda client installation must be performed as super user (in other words, the root user).  
  • Download the Amanda Enterprise Edition 4.1 Solaris client package from theZmanda networkdownloads page. There are two packages -ZMANae-clientandZMANae-client-ext. Both packages are required.  
  • Save or copy the Solaris package to the Amanda client machine, for example, to the/tmpdirectory.  
  •  The Amanda client package is compressed usinggzip. Uncompress the packages using the gunzip command.  

# gunzip ZMANae-client-4.0-i386-pc-solaris2.10.pkg.gz  

  • Install ZMANae-client package usingpkgadd 

# pkgadd -d ZMANae-client-4.0-i386-pc-solaris2.10.pkg  

  • Amanda client configuration files are created during Amanda client package installation. The list of files that are modified during installation can be seen in the above installation command output.  
  • The logs for Amanda client package installation can be found in /opt/zmanda/amanda/log/amanda/install.log. If there are installation errors, messages are logged to the/opt/zmanda/amanda/log/amanda/install.errfile.  
  • During the install, theamandabackupuser is created if it does not already exist. Please assign a password for theamandabackupuser.  
  • Install ZMANae-client-ext package usingpkgaddcommand.  

  

Upgrading Client  

Solaris client has to be upgraded by first uninstalling the client packages and installing new packages usingpkgaddcommand as shown in previous section.  

To uninstall the Amanda Enterprise Solaris Client, the two client packages will have to be removed usingpkgrm command.  

pkgrm ZMANae-client-ext  

  

# pkgrm ZMANae-client  

Post-installation checklist  

Note: These tasks must be performed as super user (the root user).  

  • Check installation log files  

The Amanda installation log can be found in/opt/zmanda/amanda/log/amanda/install.logand errors (if any) in/opt/zmanda/amanda/log/amanda/install.err

  • Make sure there are no errors in the log files.  
  •  Performthe post installation stepscommon to all Amanda clients. This step is required for backup and recovery operations.  
  •  If you are installing on a system that doesn't have anamandabackupuser, the installation will create the user with the correct rights (roles). If the user already exists, you may have to make these changes manually. Log in to the system as root, and type the following commands:  

/usr/sbin/usermod -P "Media Backup,ZFS File System Management,ZFS Storage Management" ${amandabackup} >>${TMPFILE} 2>&1 zfs allow -ldu amandabackup mount,create,rename,snapshot,destroy,send,receive FILESYSTEM  

  • On systemsthat do not supportzfs allow, you can give theamandabackupuserpermission to manipulate ZFS filesystems by using the following command:  

/usr/sbin/usermod -P "ZFS File System Management,ZFS Storage Management" amandabackup  

  • Checkxinetdconfiguration  
  • Make sure the following line is in the/etc/servicesfile on the Amanda client:  

amanda       10080/tcp  

  • Configure the Amandaxinetdservice:  

# inetadm |grep svc:/network/amanda/tcp |grep online  

  • Make sure the output from the above command is:  

enabled   online         svc:/network/amanda/tcp:default  

  • To restart the Amanda service when necessary, run the command:  

# svcadm restart network/amanda/tcp  

Adding Client file systems in ZMC  

You can add the Solaris file systems/folders to the backup set using Zmanda Management Console. Use theSourcespage in the Zmanda management console to add folders from the Solaris client. You will need to specify the client nameHost Nameand theDirectoryto back up.  

Amanda does not cross file system boundaries and thus each file system/partition should be entered as its own entry (separate DLEobject).  

 

 

 

 

You can select the BackupSet(s), exclude files, and specify encryption and compression to be used for the directory. Special files such as device files, named pipes, sockets, etc. can cause errors from the native backup and restore tools and they should be excluded from the backup.  

Solaris file systems can be backed up using different Amanda methods (Amanda Backup Client Application). The default method is usinggtar(GNUtar). Other methods that are available are shown below:  

 

 

 

 

SUN Tarallows thebackup of extended attributesbut only full backups can be performed. ZFSsendrecv and ZFSsnapshot applications are available only for ZFSfilesystems.  

Amanda applicationZFS snapshotcan backup ZFSfile systems by taking ZFSsnapshots and backing data from the ZFSsnapshots. After the backup operation is complete, the ZFSsnapshot is deleted. Using ZFS snapshots provides two advantages:  

  1. All files that are open or locked get backed up. No process other than Amanda backup process will be accessing the ZFS snapshot created for backup.  
  2. Backup is consistent to a point in time. Usually backup process captures files over the backup window and will not consistent to a point in time. ZFSsnapshot allows backup to be consistent to time when the snapshot is taken.  

Restoring Solaris files  

If you are restoring to Solaris machine which has Amanda Enterprise client installed, Use Zmanda Management Restore pages. You can select and explore files or use express restore in theRestore Whatpage. ForZFSsendrecvapplication, only Restore All method is available.  

Provide the Solaris machine where backups are being restored to in theDestination Hostfield inRestore Where page.  

Backing up ZFSattributes  

WhenSolarisis the file system type selectedin theBackup Whatpage, theAdvanced Optionsdisplayed after clicking the link include anExtended Attributescheckbox, which selects the archive program used for backing up the Solaris file system. If you are using ZFS file system, you most likely need to backup ZFS ACLs. Enable extended attributes option in this case.If you do not need to back up ZFS Access Control Lists (ACLs), this option should be disabled.  

When the option is disabled (the default), Amanda Enterprise uses (and requires)amgtaras the Amanda application  

When the option is enabledamsuntar(8)is used for backup. Theamsuntarapplication is designed to protect ZFS ACLs, as ZFS ACLs can only be backed up using the bundled Solaris native tar utility(/usr/sbin/tar). To ensure successful backup and and restore of ZFSACLs, follow the instructions below. Once the requirements for backup have been met, you can use the ZMC to back up the ZFS with no further steps. Restores through the ZMC will require you to extract an uncompressed tarball after the ZMC restore is complete as described below.  

Requirements for amsuntar Backup  

Ifamsuntaris used, check the following:  

Configuring the amandabackup user with the "Media backup" profile  

Theamandabackupuser should be set with theMedia backupprofile. The profile is set correctly, if the amandabackupuser is created by the installation program; if the user exists prior to installation its profile should be manually set with the following command:  

usermod -P "Media Backup" amandabackup  

Setting the Block Size, Extended Attribute, and Extended Header options  

Setamsuntarproperties as required by your site (the default values should work in most cases). Theamsuntarapplication supports the following properties, enabling ACLs (suntaroptionp) by default. To set properties (which is only required in rare circumstances), edit the the/etc/zmanda/zmc_aae/zmc_user_dumptypesfile to define the application toolapp_amsuntar_userwith the following lines:  

define application-tool "app_amsuntar_user" {  

                        property "BLOCK-SIZE" "block_size_integer" 
                        property "EXTENDED-ATTRIBUTES" "[YES | NO]" 
                        property "EXTENDED-HEADERS" "[YES | NO]"                                             }  

For example:  

define application-tool "app_amsuntar_user" {                        property "BLOCK-SIZE" "64" 
                        property "EXTENDED-ATTRIBUTES" "YES" 
                        property "EXTENDED-HEADERS" "YES"                                             }  

These settings are global to all backup sets processed by the server. When"EXTENDED-HEADERS"is set to"YES",amsuntaruses the-Eoption ofsuntar, which will allow archiving of files larger then 8GB in size, 
filenames that exceed PATH_MAX, and also process timestamps with microsecond granularity. 
 
When"EXTENDED-ATTRIBUTES"is set to"YES",amsuntaruses the@option to archive extended attributes such as atime, ctime, mtime, uname, uid, gname, gid, etc. This information is archived in a special file included with the archive that can be used during recovery to restore the extended attributes.  

Configuring File Exclusions  

amsuntarsupportssuntarinclude/exclude files that list relative pathnames of files or directories to be included/excluded from the archive. Refer to thesuntar man page for details on the syntax of include/exclude file, which can be specified in thezmc_suntar_userappsection of the/etc/zmanda/zmc_aee/zmc_user_dumptypes.  

For example, to exclude/etc/sysevent/sysevent_door(a Solaris special file that can't be backed up), you might create a file called/tmp/exclude.listthat contains one line:  

/etc/sysevent/sysevent_door  

You would then edit/etc/zmanda/zmc_aee/zmc_user_dumptypesso that thezmc_suntar_userapp  section to look like:  

define dumptype zmc_suntar_userapp {exclude list "/tmp/exclude.list"}  

Backup using ZFSsnapshots  

Amanda can backup ZFSfile systems by taking ZFSsnapshots and backing data from the ZFSsnapshots. After the backup operation is complete, the ZFSsnapshot is deleted. Using ZFS snapshots provides two advantages:  

  1. All files that are open or locked get backed up. For example: You can create crash consistent backups of Virtual machine images stored on ZFS, while corresponding VMs are running. No process other than Amanda backup process will be accessing the ZFS snapshot created for backup.  
  2. Backup is consistent to a point in time. Usually backup process captures files over the backup window and will not consistent to a point in time. ZFSsnapshot allows backup to be consistent to time when the snapshot is taken.