In my blog post “Vembu BDR Suite 5.5 released” I gave an overview of the Vembu BDR Suite, the new features and enhancements in version 5.5, the Vembu BDR Suite Editions and the Licensing and Pricing of the Vembu BDR Suite.
In this blog post I will focus a little bit more on Vembu Backup for Linux. Vembu Backup for Linux is a part of Vembu Backup for Files & Applications and is one of the solutions of the Vembu BDR Suite.
Key Features of Vembu BDR Suite for Linux
- Single solution for all types of backups
- Backup selected or all files/folders from Linux Servers to the BDR backup server. During system failure or any disaster, the individual or all files can be restored to the same or different machines
- MySQL Database Backup
- Backup MySQL databases by using MySQL backup option with Vembu. It helps to backup all or selected MySQL database from Linux Servers
- File/Folder Filters
- You can apply your own filters while backing up the entire volume from the Linux Servers. So, you can exclude or include specific files from the backup job
- Incremental Backup
- After successful full backup, only the modified data will be backed up to the backup server. It will reduce the data transfer over LAN/WAN and improve the incremental backup performance
- Automatic Backup Schedules
- While setting up the backup job, the IT Admins can configure the incremental backup scheduling frequency. Based on the incremental backup configuration, the backup job will schedule automatically without any manual intervention
- Continuous Data Protection
- Vembu provides an option to run the incremental backup job continuously. All the modifications are immediately backed up to the storage targets
- Continue from Where It Left Off
- This feature will help to resume the interrupted backup job from where it left off. Only the remaining data will be transferred to the storage targets after any interruption without having to start over again.
- Web based GUI for easy management
- Most of the Linux Servers may not have GUI and it will be managed from the command line. Hence Vembu provides Web based GUI to manage the backup and restore activities of Linux Servers. You can access the Vembu console from any web browsers using the ip address of the Linux Server and you can create and manage the backup jobs from the web GUI
- Retention Policy
- Version and time based retention policies help to retain the modifications for a longer period. So, IT Admins can keep the multiple versions of the backed up files for longer duration based on their requirement
- On-premises Backup
- Vembu allows IT Admins to backup the data to their local storage targets. So, the backed up data will be available on the same data center. Optionally, it can be either replicated to Vembu Cloud (hosted in AWS) or their own offsite data center
- Offsite or Remote Backup
- With Vembu, the Linux Server data can be backed up directly to the offsite data center without keeping the local dump. IT Admins having Remote Office/Branch Office environments can backup the Linux Server data directly to their remote office from branch offices
- Cloud Backup
- IT Admins those who do not own a sophisticated data center to store the Linux Server data can use Vembu Cloud (hosted in AWS) for backup and restore purpose
System Requirements
- Vembu BDR Suite Backup Server
- Vembu BDR Suite Client for Files & Applications
Supported Platforms
- Debian Linux 10.0 & Above
- CentOS 7.0 & Above
- CloudLinux 7.0 & Above
- Fedora 34.0
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux v8.0
- SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 12 SP5 & Above
- Ubuntu 18.04 LTS & Above
General Configuration of Vembu BDR Suite for Linux
The process to start backing up your Linux machines consists of 3 parts
- Install BDR Suite Backup Server
- See my previous blogpost on Vembu BDDR Suite for Endpoints
- Setup a BDR Suite Backup Repository
- See my previous blogpost on Vembu BDDR Suite for Endpoints
- Adding Data Sources
- Open the Vembu BDR Suite Management console (http://<yourbackupserver>:6060 or https://<yourbackupserver>:6061) and login with the username/password you have set up during the installation of the Vembu BDR Suite Backup Server.
- Navigate to Data Sources tab and choose Add Linux
-
- Click on the Add Linux Machine buttonenter the required details
- Enter the required details
- IP address or DNS name in one of the following formats
- xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx
- Hostname
- Hostname@Domain
- Domain\Hostname
- Credentials
- When adding credentials you will be presented with the below details to fill out
- When adding credentials you will be presented with the below details to fill out
- Port number
- How you want to install the BDRSuite BackuP Agent (BBA) – Automatically of Manually
- After you click on the SAVE button the below message will appear
- Click “OK, Proceed”
- Click on the STATUS icon to view the BBA installation process
- Once the installation is completed and connected to the client, you will get the idle status as shown below. This means that the BBA agent has been successfully installed on the Linux endpoint.
- Click on the Add Linux Machine buttonenter the required details
Backup and Restore
Once the general configuration is done the process to Backup and restore Linux Files is very simple
Backup
- Open the management console of BDRSuite
- Go to VMware/Hyper-V/Windows/Linux in the top menu bar.
- Click “Backup” – Configure Backup”, “Linux”
- Provide a backup name, choose a Backup repository and optionally provide a Job Description and click “Next: Select Hosts to Backup”
- Select the host you want to backup
- Select the files/folders you want to backup
- Configure the Job-Level exclusions (if any)
- Choose between None, Standard or Advanced
- Choose between None, Standard or Advanced
- Configure the backup schedule
- Configure retention, encryption and advanced settings
- The last step shows you an overview of your choices and you can Save your backup job. You can select to “Run this backup immediately after saving”
- You will now be redirected to the “List of backup Jobs” where you can see the status of the backup
- Once the backup is finished you can see a detailed report in the Reports section
Restore
- Open the management console of BDRSuite
- Go to VMware/Hyper-V/Windows/Backup in the top menu bar.
- Click “Recover” – “Restore Backup Data”
- Here you will see all your defined backup jobs. Select “Restore” next to the backup job from where you want to restore items
- Select what you want to restore: host name
- Select “File Level Recovery”
- Select “Restore Version”
- Select the files/folder you want to restore, the restore location, compression and encryption options
- Select “Review and restore”
References
Vembu Backup for File Servers: https://www.bdrsuite.com/vembu-backup-for-file-servers/
Vembu BDR Suite for Linux: https://www.bdrsuite.com/guide/vembu-bdr-suite/5-5/en/bdrsuite-for-linux.html