Configuring Prism Central point-in-time backup to OVHcloud S3™-compatible Object Storage

This documentation describes how to protect, back up, and restore a Prism Central instance using the Point-in-Time Backup feature to OVHcloud S3™-compatible Object Storage.

The solution relies on:

• A secure OVHcloud S3™* bucket (Object Lock, versioning, lifecycle).
• An automated periodic backup of the Prism Central configuration.
• A full restoration is possible in case of a major incident.

Overview & benefits

Main features

• Point-in-Time backup of Prism Central to an OVHcloud S3™ bucket.
• Automatic creation of periodic restore points (RPO).
• Full restoration from Prism Element.
• Centralized management from Prism Central.

Benefits

• Strong protection of critical Nutanix management data.
• Backup externalization outside the cluster.
• Data compliance and immutability.
• Simplicity of operation and administration.

Requirements

• Access to the OVHcloud Control Panel
• Prism Central version pc.7.5 or later
• Prism Element must be operational

Instructions

Preparing the environment

Creating the Object Storage container (bucket)

To create the container, you must first create a Public Cloud project. Refer to our guide: Creating your first OVHcloud Public Cloud project.

Navigate to the Public Cloud universe, choose your project, select Object Storage, and then Create an object container.

On the following page:

1. Name: i.e., prism-central-backup
2. Type: S3-compatible API
3. Location: Choose the 1-AZ region that is the same as that of your cluster.

4. Version management: Enable
5. Object lock: Enable

6. User: Add an existing user or create a user, e.g., admin-mst

   If you create a new user, note the Access key and Secret key in the pop-up that will appear.

   

7. Encrypt your data: No encryption

Once the container is created, select the General information tab, and then click Configure retention → in the Object Lock panel.

Choose the following configurations:

1. Default retention: Enabled
2. Retention mode: Compliance
3. Retention period: 31 days

Configuring the "bucket lifecycle"

• Expire current objects version after: 31 days.
• Expire previous/noncurrent objects version after: 1 day.
• Delete expired delete markers: 1 day.
• Delete expired failed/incomplete multipart uploads: 1 day.

Install and configure the AWS CLI client. Refer to our guide: Getting Started with Object Storage.

Run this command by customizing the variables BUCKET_NAME, ENDPOINT_URL, and PROFILE:

BUCKET_NAME='prism-central-backup'
ENDPOINT_URL='https://s3.us-east-va.io.cloud.ovh.us/'
PROFILE='us-east-va'

aws s3api put-bucket-lifecycle-configuration \
  --bucket ${BUCKET_NAME} \
  --lifecycle-configuration '{
    "Rules": [
      {
        "ID": "ExpireCurrentVersions",
        "Status": "Enabled",
        "Expiration": {
          "Days": 31
        },
        "Filter": {}
      },
      {
        "ID": "ExpireNoncurrentVersions",
        "Status": "Enabled",
        "NoncurrentVersionExpiration": {
          "NoncurrentDays": 1
        },
        "Filter": {}
      },
      {
        "ID": "DeleteExpiredDeleteMarkers",
        "Status": "Enabled",
        "Expiration": {
          "ExpiredObjectDeleteMarker": true
        },
        "Filter": {}
      },
      {
        "ID": "AbortIncompleteMultipartUpload",
        "Status": "Enabled",
        "AbortIncompleteMultipartUpload": {
          "DaysAfterInitiation": 1
        },
        "Filter": {}
      }
    ]
  }' \
  --endpoint-url ${ENDPOINT_URL} \
  --profile ${PROFILE}

Procedure – Configuring Prism Central point-in-time backup

Accessing the configuration

From the Prism Central web console, navigate to Infrastructure > ⚙️ Prism Central Settings > Prism Central Backups.

Select the Point-in-Time Backup tab and click Protect Now.

Configuring the backup target

The Protect Prism Central window appears and indicates:

• The services whose data is backed up.
• The services not backed up.

For the detailed list, refer to:

• Supported Services for PCBR.
• Unsupported Services for PCBR – Implementation Considerations and Limitations.

Click on Continue, then fill in the following parameters:

• Endpoint Type: Other S3 Compliant Object Store.
• Region: Enter the region of your Object Storage bucket.
• IP Address or Host Name (HTTPS Only): s3.<region>.io.cloud.ovh.us
• Bucket Name: Name of the bucket.

Scroll down and fill in the remaining fields:

• Access Key: Access key.
• Secret Access Key: Secret key.
• Restore Point Objects (RPO): Frequency of creation of restore points (in hours).
  • The first restore point is created immediately.
  • Supported values are: 1, 2, 4, 6, 8, 12, or 24 hours.
  • Up to 30 days of restore points are retained for Prism Central restoration.

Click on Proceed.

Synchronization and backup status

The system synchronizes Prism Central configuration data to the S3™ bucket.

• During synchronization: The displayed status is Sync in progress in the Prism Central Backups dashboard.
• After synchronization: The status changes to Synced, and the date and time of the last synchronization are displayed.

• After the first backup: Synchronizations continue automatically, and restore points are created according to the configured RPO cycle.

Go further

Nutanix official documentation

For more information and tutorials, please see our other Nutanix or Hosted Private Cloud guides. You can also explore the guides for other OVHcloud products and services.

If you need training or technical assistance to implement our solutions, contact your sales representative or click on this link to get a quote and ask our Professional Services experts for a custom analysis of your project.

*S3 is a trademark filed by Amazon Technologies, Inc. OVHcloud's service is not sponsored by, endorsed by, or otherwise affiliated with Amazon Technologies, Inc.