Nutanix Volume Groups Using API v4
Overview
Storware Backup & Recovery supports backup, restore, and snapshot management of Nutanix Volume Groups (VGs) using Nutanix API v4.1 or later.
The integration uses Nutanix APIs to manage resources and Recovery Points, and Nutanix-managed iSCSI connections to transfer disk data. It does not require attaching protected disks to the Storware Node VM.
Backup data is transferred to the Node’s staging space without intermediate staging on Nutanix hosts. Storware Backup & Recovery stores Volume Group metadata, disk data, and block maps required for recovery.
Protecting Nutanix VG
Requirements
Nutanix Versions
Prism Central 7.3 or later, with the required API v4.1 functionality.
A compatible AOS (Prism Element) version supported by the connected Prism Central instance.
Permissions
Use a Nutanix account with administrator-level permissions. Limited or custom roles may not provide all permissions required for backup, restore, and cleanup operations.
Network and Storage Access
The Storware Node must have:
Network access to Prism Central over TCP port 9440.
Connectivity to the managed Nutanix clusters and the iSCSI endpoints used for data transfer.
Access to the configured staging space and backup destinations.
A stable network connection with sufficient bandwidth is required for backup and restore operations.
Configure the Storage Provider
Go to Storage → Storage Providers and click Create.
Select the Nutanix Volume Groups provider using API v4.
In the General tab, enter the connection details:
Field
Description
URL
Prism Central API endpoint, for example https://<PRISM_CENTRAL_ADDRESS>:9440/api.
Username
Nutanix account used for the integration.
Password
Password for the specified account.
Save the configuration.
Run inventory synchronization.
Open the Instances tab and verify that the expected Volume Groups are listed.
Assign a backup policy to a selected Volume Group and run a test backup. Perform a test restore to verify the complete protection workflow.
Backup Operations
Full Backups
Full backups protect Volume Group metadata and disk data. During export, Storware Backup & Recovery identifies and skips empty disk regions to reduce the amount of data stored.
Incremental Backups
Incremental backups use Nutanix Recovery Points and changed-region information to identify disk blocks modified since the previous backup.
For policies using incremental backups, Storware Backup & Recovery retains the latest Recovery Point as the reference for subsequent backups.
Backup Workflow
During a backup, Storware Backup & Recovery:
Retrieves the Volume Group configuration, disk information, and metadata.
Creates the temporary Volume Group and Recovery Point resources required for the operation.
Prepares an iSCSI client on the Node.
Retrieves empty-region information and, for incremental backups, changed-region information.
Connects to the disks through Nutanix-managed iSCSI interfaces.
Transfers disk data to staging space.
Removes temporary resources and iSCSI client configuration, retaining the latest Recovery Point when required for incremental backups.
Disk data and metadata can be processed concurrently. Nutanix manages data-transfer load distribution across its Controller VMs (CVMs).
Restore Operations
During a restore, Storware Backup & Recovery:
Loads the backup metadata and initializes the restore operation.
Creates the target Volume Group.
Prepares the Node’s iSCSI client and connects to the target disks.
Restores disk data, with parallel processing across multiple disks.
Disconnects the iSCSI connections and removes temporary restore resources.
When restoring an incremental recovery point, Storware Backup & Recovery reconstructs the selected disk state from the full backup and all required incremental changes.
Snapshot Management
Snapshot policies automate the creation of Nutanix Recovery Points.
Snapshots are crash-consistent by default. Pre- and post-snapshot commands can be used to coordinate application quiescing and resumption where application consistency is required.
Supported Features and Limitations
Feature
Support
Full backups
Supported
Incremental backups
Supported
Synthetic backups
Supported
File-level restore
Supported
Snapshot management
Supported
Pre- and post-command execution
Supported
Access to backed-up Volume Group disks over iSCSI
Supported
Policy assignment by Volume Group name
Supported
Excluding individual Volume Group disks from backup
Not supported
Advanced Node Configuration
Optional export settings are configured in:
The following example shows the default values:
Property
Default
Description
nutanix.export.strategy
parallel
Export mode. Use parallel for concurrent disk and metadata processing, or single for sequential processing.
nutanix.export.parallel.disk-threads
3
Number of threads used for parallel disk data transfer.
nutanix.export.parallel.metadata-threads
3
Number of threads used for parallel metadata processing.
nutanix.export.parallel.timeout
P2D
Timeout for parallel export operations, expressed as an ISO 8601 duration. P2D means two days.
nutanix.writer.log.interval
60
Export progress logging interval, in seconds.
Adjust parallelism to the available Node resources, network capacity, and Nutanix infrastructure.
Error Handling
Storware Backup & Recovery automatically retries transient Nutanix API failures. By default, requests allow up to two retries, spaced one second apart, with a 30-second response timeout. Some operations use different settings to accommodate longer execution times.
API authentication sessions are refreshed automatically when they expire. Nutanix asynchronous tasks are monitored before dependent operations proceed.
If a backup or restore fails, Storware Backup & Recovery attempts to remove the temporary resources created during the operation. Review the task details and confirm cleanup before retrying.
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