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Integrate Dell PowerProtect Data Domain with Backblaze B2
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    Integrate Dell PowerProtect Data Domain with Backblaze B2

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      Article Summary

      The Dell Cloud Tier feature of Dell PowerProtect Data Domain supports additional qualified S3 cloud providers, such as Backblaze B2 Cloud Storage, under an S3 flexible provider configuration option.

      The S3 flexible provider option supports the standard and standard-infrequent-access storage classes.

      Enable Backblaze B2

      Before you begin: You must have a Backblaze B2 Cloud Storage account. You can sign up here. If you already have a Backblaze account and the left navigation menu contains a B2 Cloud Storage section, your account is already enabled for Backblaze B2.

      1. Sign in to your Backblaze account.
      2. In the left navigation menu under Account, click My Settings.
      3. Under Enabled Products, select the checkbox to enable B2 Cloud Storage.
      4. Review the Terms and Conditions, and click OK to accept them. 

      Create a Bucket

      Leave this bucket empty. You will use it in another step.

      1. Sign in to your Backblaze account.
      2. In the left navigation menu under B2 Cloud Storage, click Buckets.
      3. Click Create a Bucket.
      4. Enter a name for your bucket.
        Bucket names must be at least six characters and globally unique. A message is displayed if your bucket name is already in use.
      5. Select a privacy setting: Private or Public.
        Files that are in a private bucket require authentication to perform an action, for example, downloading. Public buckets do not require authentication so you can easily share files. You can change a bucket's privacy settings at any time.
      6. If applicable, enable a Backblaze B2 server-side encryption key.
      7. Enable Object Lock to restrict a file from being modified or deleted for a specified period of time.
      8. Click Create a Bucket, and copy the value that is in the Endpoint field; you may need this value for other processes.
      9. Click Lifecycle Settings to control how long to keep the files in your new bucket.

      Create an Application Key

      Application keys control access to your Backblaze B2 Cloud Storage account and the buckets that are contained in your account.

      1. Sign in to your Backblaze account.
      2. In the left navigation menu under Account, click Application Keys.
      3. Click Add a New Application Key, and enter an app key name.
            You cannot search an app key by this name; therefore, app key names are not required to be globally unique.
      4. Select All or a specific bucket in the Allow Access to Bucket(s) dropdown menu.
      5. Optionally, select your access type (Read and Write, Read Only, or Write Only).
      6. Optionally, select the Allow List All Bucket Names checkbox (required for the B2 Native API b2_list_buckets and the S3-Compatible API S3 List Buckets operations).
      7. Optionally, enter a file name prefix to restrict application key access only to files with that prefix. Depending on what you selected in step #4, this limits application key access to files with the specified prefix for all buckets or just the selected bucket.
      8. Optionally, enter a positive integer to limit the time, in seconds, before the application key expires. The value must be less than 1000 days (in seconds).
      9. Click Create New Key, and note the resulting keyID and applicationKey values.
      Note
      When you create a new app key, the response contains the actual key string, for example N2Zug0evLcHDlh_L0Z0AJhiGGdY. You can always find the keyID on this page, but for security, the applicationKey appears only once. Make sure you copy and securely save this value elsewhere.

      Configure Dell PowerProtect Data Domain

      The following procedures show you how to configure Dell PowerProtect Data Domain to integrate with Backblaze B2.

      Before you begin: The endpoints vary depending on the cloud provider, storage class, and region. Ensure that your DNS is able to resolve these hostnames before you configure cloud units. 

      Enable Dell Cloud Tier

      You can enable Cloud Tier using the Dell PowerProtect Data Domain UI, but you must disable the file system first.

      1. Sign in to the Dell Data Domain System Manager.
      2. Disable the file system.
        1. In the left navigation menu, select Data Management.
        2. Select File System, and select Summary.
        3. Click Disable.
      3. Select Hardware, and select Storage.
      4. Expand Cloud Tier.
      5. Click Configure.
      6. In the Configure Cloud Tier dialog, select the storage that you want to add to the tier and select Addable Storage.
      7. Click Add to Tier, and click Next.
      8. In the left navigation menu, select Data Management.
      9. Select File System, and select Enable Cloud Tier.

      Import the Certificate Authority

      1. Download the Backblaze CA certificate here.
      2. In the left navigation menu, select Data Management.
      3. Select File System, and select Cloud Units.
      4. Click Manage Certificates in the toolbar.
      5. Click Add.
      6. Click Choose File, and browse to and select the CA file.
      7. Click Add.

      Add a Cloud Unit

      1. In the left navigation menu, select Data Management.
      2. Select File System, and select Cloud Units.
      3. Click Add.
      4. Enter and select the appropriate details in the Add Cloud Unit dialog.
        1. Enter an alphanumeric name for this cloud unit.
        2. Select Flexible Cloud Tier Provider Framework for S3 from the Cloud provider menu.
        3. Select the empty bucket that you created in a previous step in the Bucket field.
        4. Enter your Backblaze keyID in the Access key field, and enter your applicationKey in the Secret key field.
        5. Select your storage region, for example, us-east-005.
        6. Enter the Backblaze endpoint in the format https://<ip/hostname>, for example, https://s3.us-east-005.backblazeb2.com.
        7. Select Standard in the Storage class field.
      5. Click Verify to perform the pre-check test.
      6. After the cloud unit is verified, click Add.

      Add Data Movement Policies to MTrees

      A file is moved from the Active Tier to the Cloud Tier based on the date that it was last modified. For data integrity, the entire file is moved at this time. The Data Movement Policy establishes the file age threshold, age range, and the destination.

      Note
      You cannot configure a data movement policy for the /backup MTree.
      1. In the left navigation menu, select Data Management.
      2. Click MTree, and in the top panel, select the Mtree to which you want to add a data movement policy.
      3. Select the Summary tab.
      4. Under Data Movement Policy, click Add. 
      5. In the File Age in Days field, set the file age threshold (Older than) and optionally, set the age range (Younger than).
        The minimum number of days for "Older than" is 14. For nonintegrated backup applications, files that are moved to the Cloud Tier cannot be directly accessed and need to be recalled to the Active Tier before you can access them. Therefore, set the age threshold value as appropriate to minimize or avoid the need to access a file that was moved to the Cloud Tier.
      6. In the Destination field, enter the destination cloud unit.
      7. Click Add.

      Manually Move Data

      You can manually start and stop data movement. MTrees that have a valid data movement policy have their files moved.

      1. In the left navigation menu, select Data Management.
      2. Select File System.
      3. At the bottom of the page, click Show Status of File System Services.
        These following status items are displayed:
        • File System
        • Physical Capacity Measurement
        • Data Movement
        • Active Tier Cleaning
      4. Click Start for data movement.

      Automatically Move Data

      1. In the left navigation menu, select Data Management.
      2. Select File System, and select Settings.
      3. Select the Data Movement tab.
      4. Set the Throttle.
      5. Set the Schedule.
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