Hardware Specifications for Access Nodes for CIFS Shares and NFS Exports

An access node is a machine with Commvault Cloud software installed to manage communication to and from the protected system. Backup Gateways can be used as access nodes, or access nodes can be separate machines. The access nodes must have permissions to mount and access shares from the NAS file server.

You can add an access node while adding the NAS file server.

Considerations

• Access nodes are used with the network share file system agents under the file server.

  • For CIFS/SMB shares, install the Windows Backup Gateway package on the access node you want to use. For information, see System Requirements for Windows.

  • For NFS exports, install the Linux Backup Gateway package on the access node you want to use. For information, see System Requirements for Linux File Systems.

  You can install the required packages on the access node while adding the NAS file server.

• Ensure that the Backup Gateway has connectivity to the NAS file server.

• Commvault Cloud recommends having a minimum of two access nodes for both redundancy and performance reasons.

• Load balancing across nodes is better when using CIFS shares. For example, if backing up 400 TB data, Commvault Cloud recommends using four medium-sized access nodes with fewer streams each than one Extra large-sized access node with maximum streams.

• Perform IntelliSnap backup to reduce file locking issues and to back up a frozen copy of the data.

• For IntelliSnap backup of CIFS Shares and NFS Exports, ensure that the Backup Gateway package is installed, enabled, and online on the Backup Gateway.

• Leverage block-based replication for copies of data on the client and then backup the snapshots needed for longer term retention.

• Recommended indexing limit of up to two billion files on each subclient.

• For UNIX systems, if there is a firewall between the Backup Gateway and the file server (client), then verify that your environment meets the following requirements:

  • The Commvault Communications Service (CVD) port and the tunnel port must be open bidirectionally. The tunnel port is the CVD port plus 3. For example, if the CVD port is 8400, then the tunnel port is 8403. If the CVD port is not open, then client creation or protocol addition fail.

  • If there are traffic-pattern rules in third-party firewalls, you must turn these rules off. If you don't turn those rules off, the connectivity check between the file server and the storage Backup Gateway fails.

• Streaming/regular backups and backup copy operations use the Backup Gateways associated with primary copy of the storage policy. Snapshot backups use the Backup Gateway associated with the snapshot copy of the storage policy.

CPU/RAM, OS or Software Disk, and Index Cache Disk