Preparing Storage for Staging and Backups

Overview

Storware Backup & Recovery uses storage for two purposes:

• Staging space is a temporary working area used by the Node during backup and restore operations. Depending on the backup strategy, it holds exported data, retrieved backups, or disk images being prepared for restore.

• Backup destination stores completed backups for the period defined by the retention policy. Its contents must remain available for restore operations.

Staging and backup storage can use separate disks or separate directories on one filesystem. This chapter describes both configurations using local disks formatted with XFS.

Configuration	Staging path	Backup destination path
Separate disks	/vprotect_data/staging — first disk	/vprotect_data/backup — second disk
One shared disk	/vprotect_data/staging — directory on the shared disk	/vprotect_data/backup — directory on the shared disk

In both examples, configure Storware Backup & Recovery to use these paths after preparing the storage. Creating directories and mounts does not automatically update the application configuration.

Preparation

Storage Requirements

Size staging space according to concurrent backup and restore operations. As an initial estimate, use:

Staging capacity ≈ maximum simultaneous backup threads × size of the largest protected VM

Size the backup destination according to protected data volume, backup frequency, retention, and expected growth.

When both locations share one disk, provide sufficient capacity for retained backups and concurrent staging operations together. Separate directories do not reserve capacity or isolate storage performance.

The vprotect account must be able to create, read, modify, and delete files in both locations. Filesystems must be mounted before the Node starts processing tasks.

Important: Storing staging data and backups on the same filesystem does not automatically eliminate the data transfer performed during the Store phase. This depends on the backup destination configuration and supported workflow.

Before You Begin

Run the commands as root on the Storware Backup & Recovery Node. Ensure that XFS utilities are installed.

Identify the disks:

lsblk -o NAME,SIZE,TYPE,FSTYPE,MOUNTPOINTS

The examples use /dev/sdb and, where required, /dev/sdc. Replace them with the correct devices.

Warning: Formatting destroys existing data. Use the formatting commands only on disks confirmed to be empty or no longer needed. Skip formatting when reusing a suitable existing filesystem.

For an existing deployment, stop backup and restore activity before changing storage. Ensure that the mount-point directories do not contain data that would become hidden by the new mounts.

Complete one of the following examples.

Example 1: Separate Disks

This configuration uses:

Device	Purpose	Mount point
/dev/sdb	Staging space	/vprotect_data/staging
/dev/sdc	Backup destination	/vprotect_data/backup

Separate disks provide independent filesystem capacity for staging and retained backups.

1. Create the Filesystems

mkfs.xfs -K /dev/sdb
mkfs.xfs -K /dev/sdc

2. Create the Mount Points

mkdir -p /vprotect_data/staging
mkdir -p /vprotect_data/backup

3. Configure Persistent Mounting

Retrieve the UUIDs:

blkid /dev/sdb /dev/sdc

Add the following entries to /etc/fstab, replacing the placeholders with the corresponding filesystem UUIDs:

UUID=<STAGING_UUID> /vprotect_data/staging xfs defaults 0 0
UUID=<BACKUP_UUID>  /vprotect_data/backup  xfs defaults 0 0

4. Mount and Verify

mount /vprotect_data/staging
mount /vprotect_data/backup

Verify that each path is mounted from its intended filesystem:

findmnt --mountpoint /vprotect_data/staging
findmnt --mountpoint /vprotect_data/backup
df -h /vprotect_data/staging /vprotect_data/backup

Continue with Configure Permissions and Verify Access.

Example 2: One Disk with Separate Directories

This configuration mounts /dev/sdb at /vprotect_data. Staging and backups use separate directories within that filesystem.

Device	Mount point	Directories
/dev/sdb	/vprotect_data	staging and backup

Both directories share the disk’s capacity and performance. If the filesystem becomes full or unavailable, both staging and backup storage are affected.

1. Create the Filesystem

mkfs.xfs -K /dev/sdb

2. Create the Mount Point

mkdir -p /vprotect_data

3. Configure Persistent Mounting

Retrieve the UUID:

blkid /dev/sdb

Add the following entry to /etc/fstab:

UUID=<FILESYSTEM_UUID> /vprotect_data xfs defaults 0 0

Replace <FILESYSTEM_UUID> with the returned UUID.

4. Mount the Filesystem

mount /vprotect_data
findmnt --mountpoint /vprotect_data

Confirm that the expected filesystem is mounted before creating the subdirectories.

5. Create the Staging and Backup Directories

mkdir -p /vprotect_data/staging
mkdir -p /vprotect_data/backup

Verify the filesystem backing each directory:

findmnt --target /vprotect_data/staging
findmnt --target /vprotect_data/backup
df -h /vprotect_data/staging /vprotect_data/backup

Both paths should resolve to the filesystem mounted at /vprotect_data.

Configure Permissions and Verify Access

Complete these steps for either configuration, after verifying the mounts.

Set ownership and permissions:

chown vprotect:vprotect \
  /vprotect_data/staging \
  /vprotect_data/backup

chmod 750 \
  /vprotect_data/staging \
  /vprotect_data/backup

Ensure that the vprotect account can also traverse /vprotect_data.

Test write access to staging:

sudo -u vprotect sh -c \
  'testfile=$(mktemp /vprotect_data/staging/.write-test.XXXXXX) && rm "$testfile"'

Test write access to the backup directory:

sudo -u vprotect sh -c \
  'testfile=$(mktemp /vprotect_data/backup/.write-test.XXXXXX) && rm "$testfile"'

Both commands should complete without errors.

Important: If a filesystem is not mounted, its mount-point directory may still exist. Writing to that directory can fill the underlying system filesystem. Verify the mounts after reboot and before processing tasks.

Additional Backup Destinations

For information about other supported backup destination types and their configuration, refer to the Backup Destinations chapter.