Cloud Backup：Back up files from an on-premises NAS file system

Limits

In on-premises NAS backup and restoration, the maximum length of a file name is 248 bytes. If the length of a file name exceeds 248 bytes, the file fails to be backed up or restored and the backup or restore job is partially completed.

Create a backup plan to periodically back up on-premises NAS files

The first time you create a backup plan, we recommend that you use NAS Backup Wizard to perform a complete backup. The following types of NAS file systems are supported: Isilon (PowerScale) and Others. In this example, a backup plan for an Isilon NAS file system is created.

1. Log on to the Cloud Backup console.

2. In the left-side navigation pane, choose Backup > NAS Backup.

3. On the NAS Backup page, click Local NAS.

4. Click NAS Backup Wizard.

5. In the Create Backup Plan panel, perform the following steps:

   1. Configure the backup source and click Next.

      Parameter	Description
      Backup NAS Instance	You can add a NAS file system or select an existing NAS file system.
      NAS Type	The type of the NAS file system. Valid values: Isilon (PowerScale): Isilon NAS file systems Others: other NAS file systems
      NAS Instance Name	The name of the NAS file system that you want to back up.
      NAS Management Username	The username of the account that is used to manage the NAS file system. The username must have the permissions to manage the NAS file system. If the username is not authorized to access the NAS file system, the following error message is displayed: Failed to read the source path.
      NAS Management Password	The password of the account.
      NAS Network Address	The IP address or domain name of the NAS file system. Obtain the network address from the administrator of the NAS file system. Example: 47.100.XX.XX or nas.company.com.
      NAS Management Port	The port number of the NAS file system. The default port number is 8080. If the port number is changed, obtain the port number from the administrator of the NAS file system.
      NAS Share Path	A path relative to the root directory /. For example, you can enter /myshare to share the /myshare directory for subsequent data backup. For more information about how to query the NAS shared directory, see How do I query the shared directories of a NAS file system? The path can contain letters, digits, and the following special characters: , - _ = / . : \. Note The root directory of a File Storage NAS file system after the file system is mounted differs depending on the protocol type. In most cases, the root directory of a Network File System (NFS) file system is / after the file system is mounted, whereas the root directory of a Server Message Block (SMB) file system is /myshare after the file system is mounted. Note that the mounted directory may be different in actual scenarios. Therefore, perform operations based on your actual mounting situation.
      Protocol Type	The protocol type of the file system. Valid values: NFS and SMB. In this example, the Protocol Type parameter is set to NFS.

      Optional. Click Advanced Settings and then click Set Mount Parameters.

      You can add multiple mount parameters when you mount a file system. The following table describes the mount parameters.

      Parameter	Description
      vers	The protocol version of the file system. vers=3: uses NFSv3 to mount the file system. vers=4: uses NFSv4 to mount the file system.
      nolock	Specifies whether to enable file locking.
      proto	The protocol that you want to use to mount the file system.
      rsize	The size of each data block that a client can read from the file system. Recommended value: 1048576. Unit: bytes.
      wsize	The size of each data block that a client can write to the file system. Recommended value: 1048576. Unit: bytes.
      hard	Specifies that applications no longer access the file system when the file system is unavailable and access the file system again when the file system becomes available. We recommend that you enable this parameter.
      timeo	The period of time for which the NFS client waits before the client retries to send a request. Unit: deciseconds (tenths of a second). Recommended value: 600 (60 seconds).
      retrans	The number of retries after the NFS client fails to send a request. Recommended value: 2.

   2. Configure a client group and click Next.

      Select the hosts on which you have installed the Cloud Backup client.

      If you want multiple Cloud Backup clients to concurrently run a backup job, you can add the clients to a client group. Set Backup Client Group to Create Backup Client Group. Specify Client Group Name and select the clients that you want to add to the client group.

      Note

      If you want to save costs during backup without using the Internet, you can change Data Network from Internet to VPC in Client Settings.

      For information about how to install a Cloud Backup client, see Download and activate a Cloud Backup client for Linux.

   3. Configure the backup plan and click Next.

      Important

      • If the region that you select supports backup policies, you can set a backup plan only by associating it with a backup policy. Cloud Backup periodically backs up on-premises NAS files based on the backup policy.

      • To view the regions that support backup policies, click Policy Center in the left-side navigation pane of the Cloud Backup console. For more information about how to create a backup policy, see Create a backup policy.

      1. Configure the basic parameters described in the following table.

         Parameter	Description
         Source Paths	Enter the path to the files that you want to back up. You can specify only one path. The path cannot contain wildcards (*).
         Backup Rule	You can specify the following three backup rules: Include All Files: All files in the source path are backed up. Include Files or Exclude Files: You must enter the names of the files that you want to include or exclude in the Enter Paths field. Cloud Backup backs up files based on the specified rule. The file names that you enter in the Enter Paths field are subpaths relative to the source path. Cloud Backup matches the file names based on the following rules: If a file name that is specified in the Enter Paths field starts with a forward slash (/), Cloud Backup combines the relative path and the source path into a complete path. The backup rule is then applied to all the files and directories stored within the path. Example 1: If the source path is /ifs/dataset and you enter /subdir/data in the Enter Paths field, the backup rule is applied to all files and directories in /ifs/dataset/subdir/data. Example 2: If the source path is /ifs/dataset and you enter /abc* in the Enter Paths field, the backup rule is applied to all files and directories whose names are prefixed with abc in /ifs/dataset/abc. If a file name that is specified in the Enter Paths field does not start with a forward slash (/), Cloud Backup uses the name as a condition to match files. The backup rule is applied to all files and directories that match the condition in the source path. Example 1: If the source path is /ifs/dataset and you enter abc* in the Enter Paths field, the backup rule is applied to all files and directories whose names are prefixed with abc in /ifs/dataset. Example 2: If the source path is /ifs/dataset and you enter abc in the Enter Paths field, the backup rule is applied to all files and directories whose names are abc in /ifs/dataset.
         Backup Policy	Select a proper backup policy from the drop-down list. Cloud Backup automatically backs up data sources based on the backup policy that you configure. Backup policies help you flexibly manage data sources. A backup policy includes the following settings: backup vault encryption method, backup interval, retention period, cross-region replication policy, automatic archiving of backup data, and virus detection for backup points. If the default backup policy does not meet your requirements, you can click Manage Policy to go to the Policy Center page to create or modify a backup policy. For more information about the parameters in a backup policy, see Manage backup policies.

      2. Optional. Click Advanced Settings and configure the parameters. The following table describes the parameters.

         Parameter	Description
         Switch to full backup when incremental backup fails	If you turn on the switch, an incremental backup is automatically converted to a full backup when the incremental backup fails. An incremental backup may fail because of the following reasons: The backup rule that specifies files of the backup plan is modified. Data that was last backed up to the backup vault expires. The snapshot that was last created for the Isilon (PowerScale) instance is deleted.
         Backup Sub-task Slice Size	You can add multiple Cloud Backup clients to a client group. Then, the clients can concurrently run a backup job. If you set this parameter, the number of files that are backed up by a client is greater than or equal to the value of this parameter.

      If you want to create more backup plans for the NAS file system, click Create Backup Plan in the Actions column on the NAS Instance tab.

   After the backup plan is created, the switch in the Plan Status column of the backup plan is turned on. Cloud Backup runs NAS backup jobs based on the specified start time, end time, and backup interval.

Backup is successful

When the backup execution time is reached, Cloud Backup runs a backup job. If the Status of the backup job is Completed, the backup job is completed on the current day.

You can view each backup record in the Backup History section. Later, you can restore files based on these historical backups. For more information, see Restore files to an on-premises NAS file system.

Browse and download backup files

• Browse backup files

  You can use the Browse feature to view files that have been backed up. If virus detection has been performed on a backup point, Cloud Backup marks the files that are infected with viruses.

  1. On the Backup Plans tab, find the NAS file system and click Backup History in the Actions column.

  2. In the Backup History section, find the backup point that you want to view and click Browse.

  

• Download backup files

  You cannot directly download backup files. However, you can restore files to a specified temporary directory in your NAS file system and then download files from the NAS file system. You are not charged for data restoration.

Virus detection

To prevent virus-infected files from being restored to the production environment, Cloud Backup provides the Backup Point Virus Detection feature. The feature allows you to select a clean and safe backup point for future data restoration. You can click Virus Detection to check for viruses. For more information, see Backup point virus detection.

Cross-region backup

To prevent regional disasters from affecting business continuity, Cloud Backup allows you to create a remote mirror vault for a backup vault. Data in the backup vault is automatically replicated to the mirror vault across regions for geo-redundancy. You can create a mirror vault for a general-purpose backup vault that you create by using the following features: ECS file backup, SAP HANA backup, OSS backup, File Storage NAS backup, on-premises NAS backup, and on-premises file backup. For more information, see Back up data across regions.

In addition, Cloud Backup provides the following enterprise-class features: cross-account backup, automatic archiving, KMS-based encryption, and immutable backup.

Troubleshooting

If the Status of the backup plan or backup job is abnormal, you can resolve the issue based on the following instructions.

• Modify and confirm the configurations as prompted.

• Status of the backup job: Failed (The file system failed to be mounted. Make sure that the mount configuration of the data source is correct and the mount target exists. Make sure that the mount program exists on the Cloud Backup client.)

  1. Make sure that the NAS shared directory is correctly configured.

  2. If the configuration of the Cloud Backup client is incorrect or the required tool is not installed, reconfigure the Cloud Backup client. For more information, see Install a Cloud Backup client.

  3. If no exception occurs on the network path to which the SMB file system is mounted, obtain the error code from the log file. Then, find and handle the error code by referring to the Microsoft Documentation Center.

     Note

     The new Cloud Backup client is installed in one of the following paths by default. The following paths are for reference only. The actual installation path may be different.

     • On Windows, you can view the logs in the C:\Program Files\Aliyun Hybrid Backup Service Client\logs path.

     • On Linux, you can view the logs in the /opt/alibabacloud/hbrclient/logs path.

• Status of the backup plan: Suspended

  The backup plan has been suspended. After the backup plan is suspended, Cloud Backup does not back up files from the on-premises NAS file system. We recommend that you resume the backup plan at your earliest opportunity.

References

• Back up files from a File Storage NAS file system

• Back up an Extreme NAS file system

• Cloud Backup provides resource plans for various backup scenarios so that you can enjoy higher discounts and minimize your costs. For more information, see Purchase resource plans.

• Cloud Backup provides the data synchronization feature to help you synchronize a large number of NAS files from the source to the destination. For more information, see Overview of the data synchronization feature.

• What is Cloud Backup?