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Manually deploy the Nutanix AHV backup proxy using Prism Console
Manually deploy the Nutanix AHV backup proxy using Prism Console
Updated over a month ago

💡 Tip

This deployment process is recommended for Linux operating system.

Nutanix Prism has two components - Prism Central and Prism Element. While Prism Central helps you manage a multi-cluster environment, a Prism Element helps you manage a single cluster. Druva enables you to protect VMs managed by Prism Central and Prism Element.

To register your Prism setup with Druva, deploy a Backup proxy in the Prism and activate it. The Backup proxy performs the backup and restore operations.

Step 1: Prerequisites for Backup proxy installation

Ensure that you meet the prerequisites for installing the Backup proxy. For more information, see Prerequisites to install the backup proxy.

Step 2: Download the Backup proxy

  1. Log in to the Management Console.

  2. Select your Organization if Organizations are enabled.

  3. On the menu bar, click Protect > Nutanix AHV.

  4. On the Prism page click Register Prism.

    Register Prism - First configuration.png


    You will see the image above if this is the first time you're configuring Druva to protect Nutanix AHV. If you have already registered a Prism setup earlier and are registering another one, you will see the image below.

    Register Prism - Already registered Prisms.png

  5. To deploy backup proxy manually, you will need to download backup proxy image. In the Register Prism dialog box, under Deploy Backup Proxy, click the link. You can download the backup proxy image from the Downloads page. This downloads the Backup proxy image locally. The downloaded file is in .ova format.
    ​

    clipboard_e40a97709fc61f57ab5ff2a0d5ed30176.png

  6. Extract the .ova file using any extraction program, such as 7zip (Windows), or using the following command:
    ​tar -xvf Nutanix_BackupProxy_1.ova
    The extracted files are in the format Nutanix_BackupProxy_1.vmdk. These are the disk images that we will use to deploy the Backup proxy.

Step 3: Deploy the backup proxy and register Prism

Upload the disk images in Prism Element

  1. Login to the Prism Element.

  2. Click the gear icon Settings icom prism in the top right corner.

  3. In the Create VM dialog box, under Boot Configuration, ensure that Legacy BIOS is selected. Set a boot priority. Select either Default Boot Order (CDROM, Disk, Network) or Disk (scsi.0).

    Create a VM - Boot and NIC - Prism Element.png

  4. In the navigation pane on the left, under General settings, click Image Configuration.

  5. In the Image Configuration screen on the right, click Upload Image to upload the disk images that we downloaded in the previous step, Nutanix_BackupProxy-Disk1.vmdk and Nutanix_BackupProxy-Disk2.vmdk. We will create virtual disks using these disk images.
    ​
    ​

    Upload image- Prism Element.png

  6. On the Create Image screen, enter the following information:

    1. Name: Enter a name for the disk image(DISK 1).

    2. Annotation: Enter an optional description for the image.

    3. Image Type: Select the required DISK from the drop-down list.

    4. Storage Container: Select a storage container from the drop-down list.

    5. Image Source: Select Upload a file, and then browse to the location of the extracted Nutanix_BackupProxy-Disk1.vmdk file.


      Repeat this step and upload the second .vmdk file (Nutanix_BackupProxy-Disk2.vmdk).

  7. Click Save. This deploys the disk image as a template.

  8. Once the upload is complete, the status of the disk image changes to ACTIVE. You can now create a VM using this disk image.

Create backup proxy VM

  1. In the menu bar at the top left click Settings > VM.
    ​

    VM page in Prism Element.png

    ​

  2. In the top right corner, click Create VM. Enter the following information:

    1. General Configuration
      ​

      Create a VM - General Configuration - Prism Element.png

      1. Name: Name for the Backup proxy VM.

      2. Description: Enter an optional description for the Backup proxy VM.

      3. Timezone: The time zone that the Backup proxy VM should use.

      4. Use this VM as an agent VM: Use this option if the Backup proxy VM must be powered on before the others.

    2. Compute Details: The following compute values are the minimum recommendations.
      ​

      Create a VM - Compute Details - Prism Element.png

      1. vCPUs: 8

      2. Number of Cores Per vCPU: 1

      3. Memory: 6 GiB

    3. Disks

      1. Add New Disk: Click to add the imported images as disks.
        ​

        clipboard_ebba529233f73c226e35d4f8b0bef460a.png

      2. Type: Select DISK.

      3. Operation: Select Clone from Image Service from the drop-down list.

      4. Bus Type: Select SCSI.

      5. Image: Select the name of the image files that were uploaded.

      6. Size (GiB): This field is disabled and is auto-populated once the image is selected.
        ​

        clipboard_e20efea00e13d7fa23e97e9168749f7c9.png
        clipboard_ec9e01fa386625d0a84fa0a09e57c8ad1.png

        📝 Note
        ​ Be mindful of the order in which the disk images are uploaded.


        ​

      7. Click Add.

    4. In the Create VM dialog box, in the Network Adapters (NIC) section, click Add New NIC.

      📝 Note​
      The Nutanix backup proxy VM is always assigned a dynamic IP address during the VM creation. Once the deployment is complete, you can use the ProxyConf command to assign a static IP address to the proxy VM.

    5. On the Create NIC screen, perform the following tasks:
      ​

      Create a VM - Create NIC - Prism Element.png

      1. Select the Network Name from the dropdown.

      2. In the Network Connection State field, select Connected.

      3. Click Add.

  3. On the Create VM screen, click Save.

📝 Note
​The proxy is by default in the powered off state. Change this to the On state.

Upload the disk image in Prism Central

  1. Login to the Prism Central.

  2. Depending upon the version of Prism Central, click Add Image (under Compute and Storage or Virtual Infrastructure ) to upload the backup proxy image downloaded in the previous step.

  3. On the Add Images screen, select Image File, and then click + Add File to upload the Nutanix_BackupProxy_1.qcow2 disk image that we downloaded and extracted in the previous step. Browse to the location of the image file, and then click Open.

  4. Enter the following information:

    1. Name: Enter a name for the disk image. Ensure that the name is unique across all images in Prism Central.

    2. Type: Select DISK from the drop-down list.

    3. Description: Enter a description for the image.

    4. Checksum: Select a hashing algorithm.

  5. After adding the image file, click Next.

  6. In the Select Location page, select a placement method and then select the clusters where the image should be added.

  7. Click Save. This deploys the disk image as a template.

  8. Depending upon the version of Prism Central, click VMs.

Create a Backup proxy VM

  1. Click Create VM. Enter the following information:

    1. General Configuration
      ​

      Create a VM - General - Prism Central.png

      1. Name: Name for the Backup proxy VM.

      2. Description(Optional): Enter an optional description for the Backup proxy VM.

      3. Cluster: Select the target Nutanix cluster from the drop-down list on which you intend to create the Backup proxy VM.

      4. Number of VMs: Enter the number of Backup proxy VMs to be created.

    2. VM Properties: The following compute values are the minimum recommendations.

      1. CPU: 2

      2. Cores per CPU: 4

      3. Memory: 6 GiB

    3. Resources

      1. Disks
        ​

        clipboard_eb9694987c0e1aefc0c164efe44f68a38.png


        ​

        Click Attach Disk. In the Attach Disk screen, perform the following tasks:

        1. In Type, select Disk.

        2. In Operation, select Clone from Image.

        3. In Image select the image that was uploaded as a template in Step 7.

        4. In the Capacity field, enter 60 Gib.

        5. In the Bus Type, select SCSi.

        6. Click Save.
          ​

      2. Networks
        ​

        Attach to subnet - Prism Central.png

        Click Attach to Subnet.In the Attach to Subnet screen, perform the following tasks:

        1. In Subnet, select the subnet. The VLAN ID is auto-populated.

        2. In the Network Connection State, select Connected.

        3. Click Save.

          📝 Note
          ​ The Nutanix backup proxy VM is always assigned a dynamic IP address during the VM creation. Once the deployment is complete, you can use the ProxyConf command to assign a static IP address to the proxy VM.


          ​

      3. Boot Configuration
        ​

        Create a VM - Boot Configuration - Prism Element.png

        1. Ensure that Legacy BIOS Mode is selected. Select the Boot Priority from Default Boot Order, or Disk (SCSI).

        2. Click Next.
          ​

    4. Management

      1. Categories: Search for the category to be assigned to the Backup proxy VM. The policies associated with the category value are assigned to the VM.

      2. Timezone: Select the time zone to use for the Backup proxy VM from the drop-down list.

      3. Use this VM as an Agent VM: Use this option if the Backup proxy VM must be powered on before the others.

      4. Guest Customization

        1. Script Type:No Customization, Sysprep(Windows), Cloudinit (Linux).

        2. Configuration Method:Upload or paste the startup script if the script type is anything other than No Customization.

        3. Click Next.

      5. Review: Review the settings, and then click Create VM.

        📝 Note​
        Make a note of the IP address of the created VM. It is required to connect to the proxy to set configurations.

Activate the backup proxy VMs

  1. From the Register Prism dialog box in the Management Console, under the Activate Backup Proxy section, click Copy Token to copy the activation token.
    ​

    Copy_token_1.png

    You can also generate a new token by clicking Generate New Token. In the Generate Token dialog box, enter the following details, and then click Generate.

    1. Token Label: A short description of the activation token.

    2. This token can activate: The number of backup proxies that the activation token can activate. The default value is 25 backup proxies.

    3. This token expires in: The number of days after which the activation token expires. The default value is 7 days.
      ​

  2. In the Generate Token dialog box, click Copy Token and then click Done.
    ​

    Generate_token.png

  3. Power on the Backup proxy VMs that we created in Prism Element or Prism Central. The deployed Backup proxy is a Ubuntu VM.

  4. Once the VM has powered on, log in to it using the following credentials:

    • Username: root

    • Password: druvaphoenix

  5. At the prompt type ProxyConf and press enter.
    ​

    clipboard_ed179c90688bcf561d0e0dc3ef87c2e82.png

    1. In the ProxyConf command, press 1 to select the cloud, Public cloud or GovCloud.

    2. Now press 1 for Public Cloud and 2 for GovCloud
      ​

    3. In the ProxyConf command, press 2 to set up Prism.
      ​

      clipboard_e1d42f372d93215f64eb23f5b6cbf6ca8.png


      Enter the following details:

      1. Enter Prism address: Enter the IP address or FQDN for the Prism Element or Prism Central.

        📝 Note
        ​If you register a Prism Element, you will not be able to register its Prism Central. To register the Prism Central, you will have to delete the existing Prism Element(s). You can't have both, Prism Element and Prism Central, registered simultaneously for the same entity.
        ​Recommendation: When you deploy the first proxy with Druva, it's advisable for you to register a Prism Central. This will allow automatic discovery of all VMs within the Prism Central, eliminating the need to individually register any Prism Element(s) in the future.

      2. Enter Prism Port: Enter the port for the Prism Element or Prism Central.

        📝 Note
        ​The default port for Nutanix prism is 9440.

      3. Enter Prism username: Enter the username

        📝 Note
        ​ You can enter local administrator or AD account credentials. AD account usernames must follow the username@domain format.

      4. Enter Prism Password: Enter the password.

      5. Is Prism Central (y/n): Type y if the entered details are for a Prism Central. If this isn’t a Prism Central, type n and press Enter.
        You can also test the authorization.
        ​

    4. In the ProxyConf command, press 3 to set up the Web proxy. You can learn more about configuring a web proxy here.
      ​

      Set_webproxy.png

    5. In the ProxyConf command, press 4 to set the time zone to which you want to configure your proxy.
      ​

      clipboard_e039833e9e5775a455ec07f996ca1ec37.png

    6. In the ProxyConf command, press 5 to configure your network, static/dynamic. It is DHCP by default. You can use this option to change it.
      ​

      clipboard_eb34bfb61d1112337053f6fec4efb2a2d.png

    7. In the ProxyConf command, press 6 to set your host name. It is ahv by default.

      clipboard_e60dd5bdf08ec95ff1303203d8c1496b0.png

    8. In the ProxyConf command, press 7 to activate the Backup proxy. On the CLI, paste the copied activation token and then press Enter. The activation token was copied from the Register Prism dialog box in the Hybrid Workloads Management console.

You can register additional backup proxies and associate them with the same Prism Element or Prism Central. Druva creates a single Backup proxy pool called the Default Pool. All the deployed backup proxies are a part of this pool.

Once the Prism Element or Prism Central is registered, Phoenix discovers the virtual machines hosted on it.

Configure Web proxy

❗ Important

The option is available only when using the Prism console deployment method.

If your network infrastructure uses a Web proxy, using the following steps configure the Phoenix agent to use a Web proxy to establish a connection with the Druva Cloud:

  1. Once VM is powered up, sign in to it using the following credentials:

    1. Username: root

    2. Password: druvaphoenix

  2. At the prompt, type ProxyConf and press enter.

  3. In the ProxyConf utility, press 3 to configure the Web proxy. Enter the following:

    Set_webproxy.png

    1. PROXY-TYPE:Enter one of the supported proxy types values like http.

    2. URL:Enter Web proxy URL of the proxy server.

    3. PROXY-USER:Enter a valid proxy username.

    4. PROXY-PASSWORD:Enter a valid proxy password.

      📝 Note
      ​If you are using an unauthorized Web proxy, leave the PROXY-USER and PROXY-PASSWORD fields empty.

The Web proxy is configured successfully.

Next steps

Related Articles
About data protection for Nutanix AHV
Nutanix AHV backup workflow
Nutanix AHV restore workflow
Quick start guide to Nutanix AHV backup proxy deployment
Deploy the first Nutanix AHV backup proxy and register Prism
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