[VHRISO] - Setting up VHR

[nunciate]

I am about to build out a test physical server using the VHR ISO.
I have gone through the video demos and done some reading but have some question about the retention policy.
I see when creating the VHR backup repository there is a setting for Make recent backups immutable for X days.
My current VM backup jobs have a 30 day retention on them.

What is the best way to set the repository setting? Should I also set that to 30 days (assuming I want to always be able to go back 30 days even if we are hit with ransomware)?
If I set both the jobs and the repository to 30 days will that increase space utilization?

As for the VHR. What is the max disk size I can use with the fast closing option?
Currently, I use Windows Server and I keep my disk around 50Tb each so that dedupe will work. The server has about 300Tb of usable storage and I have it partitioned out.
Can I just set that raid controller to a single large disk and let it all be one single repository?

[Mildur]

Hello Alan

What is the best way to set the repository setting? Should I also set that to 30 days (assuming I want to always be able to go back 30 days even if we are hit with ransomware)?

Yes, for that requirement you have to set the immutability period to 30 days. However, keep in mind that GFS backups are immutable for their entire retention period. For example, if you set immutability to 30 days and the retention to keep 12 monthly backups, each monthly backup file will be immutable for the full 12 months. Not 30 days.

If I set both the jobs and the repository to 30 days will that increase space utilization?

For Hardened Repository, configuring your backups for 30 days of immutability should not impact the overall space usage when compared to a 30-day retention without immutability. The number of restore points remains the same, and immutability ensures that these backups cannot be modified or deleted within the specified retention period.
Please use our calculator to make a space estimation.

What is the max disk size I can use with the fast closing option?

The maximum capacity is determined by the file system supported by the operating system.
For our Hardened Repository, we use Rocky Linux. A 300 TB data volume must work fine for our Hardened Repository setup.

Can I just set that raid controller to a single large disk and let it all be one single repository?

For the data disk yes, but you still need a separate volume for the operating system.
Our Hardened repository ISO volume requirements:
- operating system: minimum 100GB
- at least one additional volume for data: minimum 100GB

Best,
Fabian

[nunciate]

Thanks for that info. I will hopefully get my test server setup soon and if it all works well plan to do my production servers at some point.

[nunciate]

OK, Another question here. Is there anyone out there who has installed the VHR ISO onto an HPE Apollo server? Specifically, the blade server in there is a ProLiant XL450 Gen10 inside a HPE Apollo 4510

[Mildur]

Hi Alan

We have a unofficial list of confirmed hardware in our main topic.
Both your mentioned systems are listed:

HPE ProLiant XL450 Gen10 < PE Smart Array P408i-p SR Gen 10 (for HDD); HPE NS204i-p GEN10+ Boot Controller (for RAID1 NVME boot device)
HPE Apollo 4510 Gen10 < PE Smart Array P408i-p SR Gen 10 (for HDD); HPE NS204i-p GEN10+ Boot Controller (for RAID1 NVME boot device)

If you have a questions regarding specific hardware, i suggest to open a new topic.

Best,
Fabian