Configure Networker
To configure networker, do the following steps:
- Design your backup system with two sites
- For each site make a list of the hypervisor names (in Abiquo), e.g. esxi1.example.com, esxi2.example.com
- Create one policy with two workflows – one workflow for each site using backup (with or without replication/clone action)
- The Abiquo integration supports Complete backups only and it does not manage Networker policies.
Configure Networker properties
To configure the Networker backup integration properties:
- Log in to the Abiquo Remote Services server.
- Go to the /opt/abiquo/config folder and create a networker.properties file. This is the default location, but you can configure your own file as required.
- Enter the properties as described here. Default values are set and optional properties are commented out with a hash mark "#".
# Host name of the vCenter used with the Networker backup tool abiquo.networker.vcenter.hostname= # Optional port of the vCenter used with the Networker backup tool # Reloadable property #abiquo.networker.vcenter.port=443 # List of hosts to define site A (which is the group of VMs on these hypervisors to back up), separated by commas. # Enter hypervisor machine names, for example, "esxi1,example.com,esxi2.example.com". # Reloadable property abiquo.networker.siteA.hosts= # List of hosts to define site B (which is the group of VMs on these hypervisors to back up), separated by commas. # Enter hypervisor machine names, for example, "esxi3,example.com,esxi4.example.com". # Reloadable property abiquo.networker.siteB.hosts= # Policy Name for on-demand backups without replication. # Reloadable property abiquo.networker.backup.ondemand.policy= # Policy Name for on-demand backups with replication. # Reloadable property abiquo.networker.backup.ondemand.policy.replication= # Workflow within a policy to back up to for replication of site A. # Reloadable property abiquo.networker.backup.workflow.replicationA= # Workflow within a policy to back up to for replication of site B. # Reloadable property abiquo.networker.backup.workflow.replicationB= # Track on-demand backup and restore operations at this interval # in the configured time unit #abiquo.networker.client.tracker.interval=1 # Fail on-demand backup and restore operations after no response # in the configured time unit #abiquo.networker.client.tracker.timeout=30 # Time unit for tracking on-demand backup and restore operations #abiquo.networker.client.tracker.timeunit=minutes # Duration to store cache of Networker data #abiquo.networker.cache.expire.duration=90 # Time unit for duration to store cache of Networker data #abiquo.networker.cache.expire.duration=minutes # Period for reloading the properties that are reloadable to avoid tomcat restarts #abiquo.networker.config.reload.period=60 # Time unit for period for reloading properties that are reloadable to avoid # tomcat restarts #abiquo.networker.config.reload.timeunit=minutes # If true, log debug information for Networker client #abiquo.networker.client.debuglog=false # If true, verify SSL for Networker client #abiquo.netwoker.client.verifyssl=false # Optional results safety range time value # Reloadable property #abiquo.networker.results.safetyrange.amount=15 # Optional results safety range time unit # Reloadable property #abiquo.networker.results.safetyrange.chronounit=minutes # Optional character to split users for backup system and vCenter (to restore undeployed VMs) # Reloadable property #abiquo.networker.credentials.splitter.user=# # Optional character to split passwords for backup system and vCenter (to restore undeployed VMs) # Reloadable property #abiquo.networker.credentials.splitter.pass=#
Configure Abiquo Properties
To activate the Networker plugin and define the location of the configuration file:
Log in to the Abiquo Remote Services server
- Edit the abiquo.properties file.
- Set the path to the plugin properties file using the following property.
abiquo.backup.networker.config.path=/opt/abiquo/config/networker.properties
Table of plugin properties
| Name | Required | Type | Default value | Reloadable |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| abiquo.networker.backup.ondemand.policy | true | String | true | |
| abiquo.networker.backup.ondemand.policy.replication | true | String | true | |
| abiquo.networker.backup.workflow.replicationA | true | String | true | |
| abiquo.networker.backup.workflow.replicationB | true | String | true | |
| abiquo.networker.cache.expire.duration | false | Long | 90 | false |
| abiquo.networker.cache.expire.timeunit | false | TimeUnit | minutes | false |
| abiquo.networker.client.debuglog | false | Boolean | false | false |
| abiquo.networker.client.tracker.interval | false | Long | 1 | false |
| abiquo.networker.client.tracker.timeout | false | Long | 30 | false |
| abiquo.networker.client.tracker.timeunit | false | TimeUnit | minutes | false |
| abiquo.networker.client.verifyssl | false | Boolean | false | false |
| abiquo.networker.config.reload.period | false | Long | 60 | false |
| abiquo.networker.config.reload.timeunit | false | TimeUnit | minutes | false |
| abiquo.networker.credentials.splitter.pass | false | String | # | true |
| abiquo.networker.credentials.splitter.user | false | String | # | true |
| abiquo.networker.results.safetyrange.amount | false | Long | 15 | true |
| abiquo.networker.results.safetyrange.chronounit | false | ChronoUnit | minutes | true |
| abiquo.networker.siteA (beta) | true | String | true | |
| abiquo.networker.siteA.hosts | true | List | true | |
| abiquo.networker.siteB (beta) | true | String | true | |
| abiquo.networker.siteB.hosts | true | List | true | |
| abiquo.networker.vcenter.hostname | true | String | false | |
| abiquo.networker.vcenter.port | false | integer | 443 | true |
Description of plugin properties
For on-demand backups, to indicate which policy to execute depending on the user request, set the following properties:
- abiquo.networker.backup.ondemand.policy=policyName
- abiquo.networker.backup.ondemand.policy.replication=policyName
To indicate the name of the workflow inside a policy used to backup to one site or the other, set:
- abiquo.networker.backup.workflow.replicationA=workflow
- abiquo.networker.backup.workflow.replicationB=workflow
To identify the sites of the VMs, define a list of the hypervisor machine names at each site with the following properties:
- abiquo.networker.siteA.hosts=esxi1.example.com,esxi2.example.com
- abiquo.networker.siteB.hosts=esxi3.example.com,esxi4.example.com
The configuration properties could require changes every time a new host is added to infrastructure or a policy name is changed in NetWorker, so the plugin integration reloads them in order to avoid a tomcat restart. Only the properties defined as reloadable will be reloaded. To configure when the properties will be reloaded, set:
- abiquo.networker.config.reload.period=60
- abiquo.networker.config.reload.timeunit=minutes
On demand backup and restore operations are tracked by a job. To configure the tracking and set a timeout to fail a job if it appears it will not finish, set the properties starting with:
- abiquo.networker.client.tracker.