4 4 3:Citrix XenServer Requirements and Configuration

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Welcome to the latest SEP sesam documentation version 4.4.3/4.4.3 Beefalo V2. For previous documentation version(s), check Citrix XenServer archive.

Overview

Additional resources

If you have a problem with your Citrix XenServer, check Citrix XenServer troubleshooting.

If you are using an older SEP sesam version, refer to Citrix XenServer archive.

This article describes requirements and configuration steps for SEP sesam integration with Citrix XenServer. Note that the procedures introduced in this article are the required configuration steps to set up Citrix XenServer SEP sesam integration. For details on Citrix XenServer integration key features and backup configuration, see Citrix XenServer Backup.

Requirements

Check the SEP sesam OS and Database Support Matrix for the list of supported Citrix XenServer versions.
SEP sesam Server v. 4.4.3 or higher. Citrix XenServer backup client is already included in all SEP sesam packages.
Check Hardware requirements for SEP sesam Client, SEP sesam Server or RDS.
Each XenServer must have a dedicated management interface.
In a cluster configuration where more XenServers are organized in a pool, the pool master XenServer must be configured as a SEP sesam Client.

	Note
	The backup traffic always goes over the management interface of the XenServer. Make sure you get good network performance, for example 2x 10 Gbit network interfaces as a bond on the XenServer as well as on the backup server.

SEP sesam data mover for Citrix XenServer (SDM-CX)

Template:Data mover Citrix XenServer/en

Configuring XenServer as a SEP sesam Client

To protect your virtual machines, you must configure your XenServer as a SEP sesam Client. Make sure that the prerequisites are met before starting with configuration. The options for configuring XenServer may differ slightly depending on your SEP sesam version.

From Main Selection -> Components -> Topology, select the relevant location and click the New Client button. The New Client window opens.
In the New Client window, enter the management interface DNS name of the pool master. If you fail to enter the correct DNS name of the pool master, browsing XenServer environment will not work.
Under Platform drop-down list, select the UNIX.
Under Operating system drop-down list, select the Citrix XenServer.
As of SEP sesam v. 4.4.3, the only supported access mode is PROXY, which is set by default when the Citrix XenServer operating system is selected.

	Note
	If you are using SEP sesam version ≥ 4.4.3, make sure that the PROXY access mode is selected. If the access mode CTRL is used, an error occurs when SEP sesam Server checks the connection to the SEP sesam XenServer client.

Click the tab Citrix XenServer and enter root/admin credentials for XenServer.
Select a Data mover. The data mover must be the host name of the SEP sesam Server or RDS. For details on requirements, see the above section SEP sesam data mover for Citrix XenServer (SDM-CX).

Click OK to add the new client.

Selecting https instead of http connection

SEP sesam uses the http protocol as a default connection to ensure better performance when transferring data from XenServer to SEP sesam Server. Backups over https can cause up to 98% CPU load on XenServer.

However, you can change the protocol to the secure https (secure with SSL) connection by specifying the https protocol under Backup task -> Properties -> Options tab -> Backup options as follows:

 -a http=https

Configure NBD on network interfaces for CBT

Starting from Version 4.4.3.84SP3, SEP sesam will no longer automatically enable NBD on all available network interfaces. NBD is required for the transport of CBT backups.

To activate NBD on all network interfaces, connect to the Poolmaster via SSH and execute the following command

for uuid in $(xe network-list | grep uuid | cut -d":" -f 2); do xe network-param-add uuid=$uuid param-name=purpose param-key=nbd ; done

This configuration may cause problems, when there are networks the SEP sesam Datamover cannot reach. Examples for such constellations are storage networks or a DMZ.

In that case further confuration is needed.

The following commands can be used to accomplish this:

to get a list of available interfaces

xe network-list

to get the properties of a network

xe network-param-list uuid=<network-uuid>

to enable NBD for a specific interface

xe network-param-add uuid=<network-uuid> param-name=purpose param-key=nbd

to disable NBD for a specific interface

xe network-param-remove uuid=<network-uuid> param-name=purpose param-key=nbd

to deactivate NBD for all interfaces

for uuid in $(xe network-list | grep uuid | cut -d":" -f 2); do xe network-param-remove uuid=$uuid param-name=purpose param-key=nbd ; done

For further information consult the Citrix Hypervisor Documentation

Known issues

If you have problems with Citrix XenServer, check the Troubleshooting Guide.