Planning for backing up data by using cloud storage in PowerHA SystemMirror

PowerHA® SystemMirror® Version 7.2.3, or later, supports IBM Cloud® and Amazon Web Services (AWS) cloud storage solutions. Before you configure PowerHA SystemMirror to use a cloud storage solution, you must understand the capabilities and requirements for the available cloud storage options.

Both IBM Cloud and AWS cloud storage solutions use an external internet connection from your cluster environment to access cloud services. Therefore, you must plan how your cluster environment network can access the external could services. For example, you can enabling your cluster environment to access the internet through a firewall.

You must configure a primary backup profile for your IBM® SAN Volume Controller (SVC) storage, then you can configure the cloud solution to function as a backup for the remote copy of the data on the local SVC storage device.

Starting with PowerHA SystemMirror Version 7.2.7, or later, you can take a backup of volume group data that is stored on IBM System Storage® DS8000® (DS8K) disks, upload it to cloud services, and restore on any type of storage disks.

Limitations

The following are the limitations apply while using PowerHA SystemMirror Version 7.2.3, or later, with cloud storage solutions:
  • Only resource groups are available to backup data. A volume group that you want to backup, must be part of a resource group.
  • Only IBM SAN Volume Controller (SVC) storage devices are support for the local data backup.
  • You must define the FlashCopy® mapping in the SVC storage device. The FlashCopy must be associated with the SVC consistency group.
  • Only server-side encryption is supported.
  • Concurrent resource groups are not supported.
  • The backup profile names must use the following names:
    IBM Cloud
    ibm_profile
    AWS
    aws_profile
  • You can restore data from a cloud backup file by using cloud backup restoration feature. For more information, see Restoring backup profiles.

Prerequisites

The following prerequisites apply while using PowerHA SystemMirror Version 7.2.3, or later with cloud storage solutions:
  • The Backup management function requires Python 2.7.x or Python 3.x.x with the Boto software development kit. You can install the required Python modules from the IBM COS SDK for Python website. For more information about configuring the Boto software development kit, see the Boto 3 Documentation website.
  • start of changeBy default, Python 3 is installed on IBM AIX® 7.3. You must use the Rational Portfolio Manager (RPM) filesets to install any Python 3.x.x with related Boto software development kit. It is necessary to use a soft link between the old and the new Python versions after installation. Here is an example of a soft link.
    ln -sf /opt/freeware/bin/python3 /usr/bin/python3
    end of change
  • You must install and use Secure Socket Shell (SSH) to create a secure connection to the SVC/DS8K storage devices. To run SSH commands on the PowerHA SystemMirror cluster, you must have root access. For more information about running SSH commands, see Setting up an SSH client the topic.
  • For DS8K, install the DS8000 data storage command line interface (DSCLI).
  • Before you use the cloud backup function, complete the following steps:
    1. Configure a primary backup profile for your storage. The data that is backed up on the local storage is uploaded to the cloud storage environment.
    2. Use SSH to verify that the nodes in the cluster can access the storage devices. For more information about configuring SSH, see the Setting up an SSH client topic.
    3. Create a storage system for the backup data by running the clmgr add storage_system command or by using the Cluster Applications and Resources > Cloud Backup Configuration > Stroage Configuration SMITH path.
    4. Only for SVC storage, create a flash copy mapping to SVC storage devices that correspond to the volume groups.
    5. Create a backup profile by running the clmgr add backup_profile command or by using the SMIT options that are described in the Configuring backup profiles topic.
    6. Verify and synchronize the cluster.