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Multi-vaulting

Multi-vaulting

Multi-vaulting is the ability for a client to connect a server to more than one vault location. It provides redundancy and peace of mind because backups are available even if one site fails.

Key concepts

  1. Multiple vaults can be managed through the same Cloud Backup Portal and they are handled the same way. The only difference is that you have different vault choices.
  2. The new vault needs to be manually added to the Cloud Backup Portal after each purchase.

IBM Cloud Backup for Classic Vault Director locations

Multi-vaulting is available across all data centers without any geographical limitations in selecting a remote vault. When vaults are configured correctly, all the configured vaults appear in vault settings.

Backing up to remote data center locations can take longer than backups to the same data center where your server is located.

Adding a Remote Vault to an Account

You must add the new remote vault to the account before a new backup location can be added in the Cloud Backup Portal.

  1. Log in to the IBM Cloud console. From the menu Menu icon, select Infrastructure VPC icon > Classic Infrastructure.
  2. Click Devices.
  3. Locate and click the link for the server in question.
  4. Under Device Details, click Storage.
  5. When the Storage section opens up, scroll down to IBM Cloud Backup for Classic, and click Add.
  6. In the Order IBM Cloud Backup for Classic window, select the remote vault location.
  7. Select the size of the storage, then click Continue.
  8. Click the checkbox to show that you agree with the terms and conditions, and click Place Order.

The newly ordered vault is automatically added to the account. If not, contact Sales for help.

When the ordering process is complete, go to the Storage > Backup page to see the new vault.

Adding an Extra Vault in Cloud Backup Portal

  1. Log in to the IBM Cloud console. From the menu Menu icon, select Infrastructure VPC icon > Classic Infrastructure.

  2. Click Storage > Cloud Backup to display the backup services.

  3. Select the instance name of the IBM Cloud Account.

  4. Click View backup portal to start the portal in your browser.

    Cloud Backup Portal is only accessible through IBM Cloud® VPN.

  5. On the navigation, click Computers. The computers page shows the registered computers and environments. Expand the computer that you want to back up to a second vault.

  6. Click Vault Settings.

  7. In the Vault Settings window, click Add Vault.

  8. In the New Vault window,

    1. In the Vault Profile menu, choose Enter Vault Settings to create an entry. Don't update the existing entry, it doesn't work.

    2. The vault name can't be the same as the other vault name. Try adding a -2 tag to the end of it.

      The vault name field has a 15 character limit.

    3. In the IP address field, add the address of the second IBM Cloud Backup for Classic vault location.

      You can look up the fully qualified domain name of the IBM Cloud Backup for Classic vault in the IBM Cloud console. You can either use the FQDN or the IP address of the server to connect to the vault. To get the IP address, ping the FQDN from the server that's going to be backed up. For example, if you want to connect to the vault in a data center located in Dallas, you can use ev-vaultdal1201.service.softlayer.com or its IP address 10.200.134.250.

    4. In the credentials field, enter the account ID, the IBM Cloud Backup for Classic username for the selected vault, and the password for the selected vault. For more information about viewing the username or changing the backup password, see Managing the username and password for the Cloud Backup service.

    5. Click Save.

In a few seconds, the new vault is usable. If you get a connection failure, check your settings, and try again. Keep in mind that adding an extra vault presents you with an extra destination to choose for a job. It doesn't automatically run jobs against both vaults. You need to set up jobs to use the extra vault. For more information, see the Getting Started Tutorial.