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Modern Applications – Episod 1: Foundamentals

Introduction

This is the first of a group of articles about the technologies that can modernize the applications.

The scope is helping the reader to understand the potentiality of this new way to make business allowing the Companies to be more competitive.

These articles follow my personal approach and studies of Kubernetes.

I’m paying attention to how to make services available and protected by exploiting internal and external native technologies

Let’s start !!!

What is a container

It’s a way to package the applications with their pertinent dependencies and configurations in just one block.

There are at least two big advantages of this approach:

  • The container for his native architecture is portable. It means you can run it in any architecture wherever they are located. (please read the  article Digital Transformation and Cloud Mobility to get all detail)
  • Deploying services prove easier and more efficient than in the traditional world because there are already plenty of software images ready to be used.

Where can I download images to run to the containers?

There are public and private Repositories (please do not mess it with a VBR Repository).

The most famous container technology is Docker that has a public repository called docker hub.

What is a container exactly?

A container allows isolated images to run to an operating system.

Container vs Virtual Machine

The difference between the two architecture seems to be very tiny but actually, they represent two worlds.

The two technologies are virtualization tools but if Docker focuses on the applications layer (picture 1),  VM puts its attention to Kernel and application (picture 2)

Picture 1

Picture 2

Which are the main advantages of this new approach:

  • The container has a small footprint (few MB compare to GB).
  • The boot is faster.
  • Easier compatibility list.
  • It can run in all common operating systems, such as Windows, Mac-OS, Linux.

Container vs Image

It’s crucial to the next articles to have very clear the difference between a container and an image.

Let’s help ourselves through picture #3 that shows the application composition.

There are four main elements:

  1. Image: It’s the code written by developers. It is downloaded from Repositories.
  2. Configuration: It represents the setup created to allow the application to run.
  3. File System: It’s the place where the application and its data are stored.
  4. Network: It allows all components to talk to each other.

The container is where the application runs.

Picture 3

Note 1: Images are part of the container. Think of the container as a multitasking OS specialized to run applications simultaneously.

Note 2: To get info about Docker, please refer to the official website.                I.E.: to run an image just launch the following command:                                  docker run image-name

Note 3: There are more Container technologies; the most common are:

  • RTK (CoreOS)
  • LXC
  • LXD (Canonical)
  • Linux VServer
  • OpenVZ/Virtuozzo 7
  • runC

That’s all for now,  see you soon and take care.

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Veeam Backup Office 365 & Cloud Connect

In the last few days, I have been contacted by a Service Provider to design a solution to back up the Microsoft Office 365 environment.

Actually, four months ago, I wrote three articles to show how to set up the environment using a great job of Niels and Timothy, creators and deployers the Martini project.

All details are available clicking  Veeam Backup Office 365 & Cloud Connect,

VBO-365 Portal: A nice project just behind the corner – Part 1

Why the Service Provider needs a different way to implement this service?
I think that the two main reasons were:

1) SP has already a Cloud Connect architecture and it wants to use it in all possible scenarios.
2) SP needs always official support from Vendor before implementing any project and the Martini is not. To be clearer, the RestFul Api technology inside VBO is totally supported, the Martini portal isn’t because it is not a Veeam product.

Before continuing the read, there is one requirement to respect: VBR Cloud Connect and VBO-365 have to be installed on the same server (a Windows Server).

Let’s start!

Picture 1 shows the high-level architecture.

Enhanced Self Service Restore in Backup for Office 365 v2.0 - VIRTUALIZATION IS LIFE!Picture 1

The service provider architecture is shown on the right part of picture 1 and it is composed of VBO-365 and the Cloud Connect architectures, while the left part shows the tenant architecture where VBR Server has been installed.

Which are the actions that can be performed by the Tenant?

– Backup: the tenant can’t access the VBO-365 console. It means the Tenat can’t set up or launch any sort of backup. In other words, the backup tasks are a managed services.

– Restore: The tasks can be driven by the administrator of the Microsoft Office 365 organization through the use of Veeam Explores. The Cloud Connect technology creates the tunnel to connect the two entities.

Note 1: When VBR is installed by default all Veeam Explorers are installed.

I mean that not just the traditional Veeam Explorers (for Active Directory, SQL, Oracle, Exchange, Share-points) are installed but also the Explorer for One Drive and Teams. that are specific for Microsoft 365 technology.

Note 2: Does this scenario require  VBR license?

Yes, but you can use the free community edition.

The point to highlight during the setup is the authentication task that allows the explorer to communicate with VBO-365:

From the VBO-365 console selecting “General Options” (Picture 2) and from the  authentication tab enabling the tenant authentication  you can catch your goal (please for security reason use your own certificate) (Picture 3)

Picture 2

Picture 3

Let’s switch to my demo environment:

1. The Service Provider VBO-365 console, has three Microsoft 365 organizations with a backup job each  (Picture 4). Two of those use modern authentication, the third the basic one.

Picture 4

2. The Cloud-Connect architecture has been set up in order to create a tenant called  Demo-VBO (Picture 5).

Picture 5

  • The VBR Tenant Console shows how the connection towards the service provider has been set up (Picture 6).

Picture 6

The following video shows the tasks performed by the tenant to restore his data (Exchange/Sharepoint/One-Drive/Teams items) located at the Service Provider site.

Video 1

That’s all for now, take care and see you soon

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VDrO v.4 – Run a DR plan

This is the last article about how to integrate the Continuous Data Protection (CDP)  technology (available from VBR v.11) and VDrO v.4 (former VAO).

In this part, we are going to see what happens when an orchestration plan is launched.

Yes, I wrote the word “see” because I created a short video showing the tasks that are automatically completed when a Disaster Recovery is occurring.

If you need more details about how to set up the environment, please read the previous articles.

Let me know if videos and youtube platform are a good way to expose technological valuable topics.

Thx for reading and watching and take care

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VDrO v.4 – Create a DR plan

C. Create an Orchestration Plan

The DR plan is a sum of more Orchestration plans. This article is going to explain how to create them.

Just a small and important note before continuing: it’s mandatory to have already completed the steps described in the last article.

Let’s start!

From the main menu of the VAO server select the Manage button.

Now click on New as shown in picture 1.

Picture 1

The easy wizard is going to ask to choose a scope.

In our example, we use Linux-CDP as shown in picture 2.

Picture 2

Now fill up the plan info with the Plan Name, the description, the contact name of the plan (picture 3),

Picture 3

Select the type of Plans. In this article choose the CDP replica (picture 4)

Picture 4

In the next step please check if the correct “VM Group” appears.
If it doesn’t, it’s necessary to go back to the setup phase (please read the previous article) and fix the issue.

In our example, it appears correctly (Ubuntu-CDP) as shown in the next two pictures (5 and 6).

Picture 5

Picture 6

The next step shows the VM Recovery options (picture 7).

It gives the operator control of the plan. For example, stopping the plan if something goes wrong.

Picture 7

In “New VM Template” menu the VAO user can add additional steps to the orchestration process; for example, starting the CDP replica job first and shut down the source VM after (Picture 8)

Picture 8

Tips I: I created a customized script to change the IP Address of the VM.

Tips II: it’s possible to set up the access credential directly from this page by clicking the button on the bottom of the page. It is available for Windows VM only.

The next step defines the RTO & RPO.

The most important thing to remember here is that the RPO has to be equal or major than the RPO set in the CDP replica job (picture 9).

https://lnx.gable.it/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/vao-cdp-45.jpgPicture 9

The last steps define when the plan report shall be automatically generated (picture 10) and if the readiness check has to run at the end of every single wizard (recommended option) (picture 11).

Picture 10

Picture 11

The result is shown in picture 12

Picture 12

The next article is going to be a video to see VDrO in action.

Take care and see you soon

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VDrO v.4 – Setup a Plan from CDP Replica

In this article, I’m going to show you how to set up an orchestration plan using as a source a CDP replica Job.

This article will not cover how to create and run a CDP replica job from VBR console. If you need a guide please refer to the official guide.

There are four main parts:

  1. Create a Business Category
  2. Setup the Environment
  3. Create an Orchestration Plan
  4. Launch the Orchestration Plan

The first and the second topics will be described in this article. The third and the fourth ones in the next articles.

A. To create a business category for CDP replica, just open the Veeam ONE interface from the VAO server (picture 1).

In this example, the business category is called Ubuntu-CDP , the resource group is called CDP-Linux (Picture 2).

Picture 1

Picture 2

B. After opening the VAO web interface it’s necessary to follow the next four steps.

1. Add a Role and Scope (picture 3).

In my example, the scope is named Linux-CDP.

The plan Author/Operator is VBR.

Picture 3

2. Add or modify the Recovery Location (picture 4).

In my example, the recovery location is Verderio and has the Cluster-Verderio as Compute resource (Picture 5).

Pictures 6 and 7 show how to remap the Networking and how to set up the changing IP address rules.

Picture 4

Picture 5

Picture 6

Picture 7

Note1: The Re-IP feature is available just for Windows VMs (please have a look at the official documentation to get all detail (user guide). For Linux VMs it’s necessary creating a custom script.

3. Reporting

Pictures 8, 9, and 10 show how to assign the Linux-CDP scope to your custom reports.

Picture 8

Picture 9

Picture 10

4. Assign the plan Components

Picture 11

Picture 12 shows how to add the VM group called Ubuntu-CDP to the scope Linux-CDP.

Picture 12

Picture 13 shows how to add a recovery location, i.e. Verderio.

Picture 13

Picture 14 shows how to add the plan steps to the orchestration plan (In my example I included all the plan steps).

Picture 14

The next article shows how to create an Orchestration Plan and run it.

Suggestion: If you can’t wait and want to do it immediately, just read the previous articles 🙂

See you soon and take care.

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Veeam Disaster Recovery Orchestator v.4 – How to Upgrade

Also Veeam Availability Orchestrator, commonly called VAO, changed its name with this new release.

The new name is Veeam Disaster Recovery Orchestrator (VDrO).

The main news of this version is the support of the technology of continuous data protection (CDP) introduced in VBR v.11.

Which are the main benefits allowed by this new feature?

  • New readiness checks now including RPO and SLA.
  • Recovery Point Object close to real-time.
  • Detailed reports to track and audit the Disaster Recovery plan of your company.

The next article will explain how to implement a DR plan using CDP.

Before doing the upgrade procedure please:

  1.  Perform backup of all existing databases (VAO, VBR, ONE)
  2. Make sure there is enough space for the upgrade of the Microsoft SQL Server configuration database
  3. Make sure there are no orchestration plans being tested or executed
  4. Make sure there are no orchestration plans scheduled to run during the upgrade.
  5. Read carefully the user guide.

Before proceeding please check that the VAO current version on the server is 3.0 (picture 1).

Picture 1

After downloading the ISO file from the Veeam website and mounting it (picture 2)

Picture 2

just select the “Setup” voice; the wizard immediately begins the upgrade (picture 3).

Picture 3

Please check that the previous version of VAO has been discovered. If so the upgrade button is available (picture 4).

Picture 4

The setup checks if Visual C++ 2019 Redistributable package is already installed.  If not it will automatically be deployed. This procedure requires the server reboot (pictures 5 and 6).

Picture 5

Picture 6

After reboot is completed, relaunch the setup.  The wizard will show which components will be automatically upgraded (picture 7).

picture 7

Now the wizard will ask for a valid license (picture 8) and will install the missing components (Pictures 9 and 10).

Picture 8

picture 9

picture 10

The next steps are about the Veeam Databases.
The wizard will ask to connect to them and update the VBR one if necessary (pictures 11 and 12).

Picture 11

Picture 12

The main point of the upgrade procedure is the certification step.
As shown in picture 13, the wizard will ask the VAO administrator which certificate to use. It can be a self-signed and autogenerated or an own certificate created from an external authority.
My suggestion is to ask your security specialist to know which is the best choice for your company.

Picture 13

Picture 14

Clicking on the install button it will complete the upgrade wizard as shown in pictures 15 & 16.

Picture 15

Picture 16

After upgrading please check the versions of VAO (4.0.0.2088), VBR (11.0.0.837), ONE (11.0.0.1379) now installed.

Just a note before ending the article: has already said, VAO (Veeam Availability Orchestrator) has changed its name to VDrO  (Veeam Disaster Recovery Orchestrator).
The web pages of the product still show the old name. It will be updated in the next release.

That’s all for now guys. Take care