VCF Backup Storage Insight: Introduction
VCF Backup Storage Insight is a VMware Aria Operations (VCF Operations) Management Pack that monitors the storage layer of a backup environment: the appliances and repositories that actually hold the backup copies. It is built as one multi-vendor product with a single adapter kind and one shared object model, in which the producer is distinguished only by the vendor property.
Monitored vendors:
| Vendor | Product families | Role in the backup chain |
|---|---|---|
| Quantum | DXi series backup appliances | Deduplicating disk repository, replication source and target |
| Commvault | Storage Targets reported by a CommServe | Logical backup repository defined in the backup software |
VCF Backup Insight monitors the backup software — servers, media agents, jobs, licences and protected workloads. VCF Backup Storage Insight complements it from the other side: it measures the appliance that receives the data, so an administrator can answer whether the copy that the backup software reports as successful actually has room to land, whether deduplication is still effective, and whether the replica site is inside its recovery point objective.
How does it work?
The adapter connects to the management interface of each backup storage appliance over HTTPS, reads the system status, the capacity of every pool, the deduplication and compression statistics and the replication state, maps them onto the shared object model and rebuilds the relationship tree on every collection cycle. The objects appear in VCF Operations next to the backup software objects and the rest of the environment, so the capacity of a repository is visible in the same place as the jobs that fill it.
Features
- Inventory and health of every backup storage appliance and every pool inside it
- Capacity, used space and free space per appliance and per pool, with a fill prediction expressed in days
- Deduplication and compression ratio with the trend over time
- Write and read throughput of the appliance
- Replication state per partner, with the replication lag measured against the RPO
- Relationships to the backup software, to the virtual machines protected by it and to the IP addresses of the appliance
- Dashboards, custom groups, alerts, symptoms and reports
Supported vendors and models
| Vendor | Series | Verified with |
|---|---|---|
| Quantum | DXi series backup appliances | to be confirmed in the deployment card |
| Commvault | Storage Targets of CommServe 11.x and later | CommServe 11.x |
The exact firmware coverage is defined in the deployment card of each vendor support and confirmed against the API of the verified release before the adapter is offered for that release.
Benefits
- Proactive capacity management — the fill prediction turns a percentage into a date an administrator can plan against
- Protection against silent failures — a paused or lagging replication is surfaced before the recovery point objective is breached
- Honest deduplication picture — a falling deduplication ratio is visible before the repository runs out of space
- One console — backup software and backup storage measured side by side, with the relationships that connect them