Backup and Restore fields reference

Reference of fields that are UI controls in the Backup Service dialogs. The fields appear in both Backup and Restore dialogs.

Backup and Restore fields descriptions

Reference of fields that are UI controls in the Backup Service. The fields can appear in both Backup and Restore dialogs. The fields that appear in a given dialog depend on the type of task you are performing with the Backup Service, and other factors such as cluster topology (datacenters, for instance).

Backup fields

Create (or Edit) Scheduled Backup dialog Create (or Edit) Backup Run Now dialog

Create Backup: Scheduled dialog

Create Backup: Run Now dialog

Table 1. Create Backup fields
Field Description
Type Type of backup job to create: Run now or Scheduled.
Schedule Schedule backup settings by date and time. Only appears when Schedule is selected as the Type. Available settings:
  • Date: Day, Month, and Year.
  • Time and Timezone: GMT is the default timezone. To change the timezone, click GMT, select the country and timezone, and click Save.
  • Repeat or Don't Repeat settings: Use to schedule a backup job on a regular periodic basis, or run a scheduled backup during off hours.
Keyspaces Required. Allows selecting one or more or all keyspaces for a backup.

When backing up a DSE Graph database, select your graph keyspace. When a keyspace is created in DSE Graph, it is actually comprised of three keyspaces that OpsCenter bundles together because all three keyspaces are required for a DSE Graph backup.

Tip: Click the plus (+) icon to select one or more options. To keep the list open when making multiple selections, press and hold the Cmd key (Mac) or Ctrl key (Windows/Linux).
Datacenters Required. The Datacenters field only appears if there are multiple datacenters configured for a cluster. Allows selecting one or more or all datacenters for a backup. Running a backup by a specific datacenter improves backup performance under most circumstances, because the process eliminates backing up data redundantly since the data is replicated to other datacenters anyway.
Warning: When limiting a backup by datacenter, if the SimpleStrategy replication strategy is used, or the NetworkTopologyStrategy is used with a replication factor of 0 for a datacenter, the snapshot might not contain all the data for the cluster.
Tip: Click the plus (+) icon to select one or more options. To keep the list open when making multiple selections, press and hold the Cmd key (Mac) or Ctrl key (Windows/Linux).
Alert on Failure Activates an alert upon backup failure that sends an alert to the event log. Default: False.
Tip: Enabling Alert on Failure is particularly useful for monitoring scheduled overnight backups. Configure alerts for events and route the alerts through email, or post URLs to a chat room such as HipChat or Slack.
Current Data Size Current data size is a best estimate of how large the snapshot will be based on the currently selected keyspace or keyspaces. The information is based on table metrics collected by OpsCenter. Current Data Size is a dynamic read-only field that displays Unknown when size information is not available for the selected keyspaces. An Unknown Data Size typically displays when either a system keyspace is selected or keyspace size information has not been collected yet.
Location Snapshots are saved to the node's snapshot directory for the table being saved. For example, /var/lib/cassandra/data/OpsCenter/settings/snapshots. Add more locations to back up to and restore from, including Local file system and Amazon S3 locations, by clicking Add Location. Set a retention policy for the backup data in each location of a backup job. See Adding a backup location.
Staging Directory The location of the Backup Service staging directory for backups. The default location is /var/lib/datastax-agent/tmp. To change the default location of the directory, indicate the path using the tmp_dir configuration option in address.yaml.
Advanced Options Expands the Pre-Backup Script and Post-Backup Script fields for running scripts before or after (or both) snapshots are taken. The script must be located in the appropriate install directory on each node.
Custom backup scripts must be located in:
  • Package installs: /usr/share/datastax-agent/bin/backup-scripts
  • Tarball installs: install location/agent/bin/backup-scripts

For details, see Configuring custom scripts to run before and after backups.

Create Backup Creates a scheduled or runs an ad hoc backup job immediately depending on the selected backup Type (Scheduled or Run Now).

Sync Snapshot to Location dialog

The Sync Snapshot to Location dialog is accessible by clicking Sync to Location from the Backup Report dialog.

Sync Snapshot to Location dialog

Table 2. Sync Snapshot to Location fields
Field Description
Location Displays the locations configured by clicking the +Add Location link.
Activates an alert if the sync snapshot operation fails.
Sync Snapshot Syncs a snapshot to the designated location.

Add Location fields

The Add Location dialog is accessible by clicking Add Location from Create Backup, Commit log backup, Restore backup, or Sync Snapshot to Location dialogs.
Add (or Edit) Location Amazon S3 dialog Add (or Edit) Location Local FS dialog

Add Location dialog S3 location with Retention Policy for scheduled backups

Add Local FS Backup Location dialog

Table 3. Add Location dialog fields
Field Description
Location Specifies the location to backup data to and restore data from. Available options:
  • Amazon S3
  • Local FS
Required.
Path Only applicable to the Local FS location. The path to a local file system location such as an NFS mount. The path must be unique and can include subdirectories. Required.
S3 bucket Only applicable to an Amazon S3 location. The Amazon S3 bucket name. The bucket name must be unique.
Note: The bucket name must be at least 4 characters long. Bucket names should only contain lowercase letters, numbers, and hyphens. See the S3 guidelines for more details about bucket naming restrictions.
Tip: To indicate a bucket subfolder location, delineate the bucket name from the folder name with a forward slash (/) character. Example: mybucket/myfolder/mysubfolder. Remember that slashes are not allowed within bucket or folder names themselves.
Required.
AWS Key Only applicable to an Amazon S3 location. Your AWS Key to access your resources on AWS. Required.
AWS Secret Only applicable to an Amazon S3 location. Your AWS Secret to access your resources on AWS. Required.
Throttle S3 transfer rate Only applicable to an Amazon S3 location. Sets a maximum upload rate at the specified MB/s to avoid saturating your network. Optional.
Note: When the AWS CLI labs feature is enabled, the S3 throttle is ignored at this time. A tooltip also mentions this current limitation. See Tuning throttling when using AWS CLI.
Throttle transfer rate Only applicable to a Local FS location. Sets a maximum upload rate at the specified MB/s to avoid saturating your network. Optional.
Enable compression Decompresses a backup that was created with compression enabled. Compression reduces the amount of data going through the network and reduces the disk and data usage but increases the CPU load for the server. Optional.
Enable S3 server-side encryption Only applicable to an Amazon S3 location. Enables server-side S3 encryption (SSE-S3). Server-side encryption encrypts each file in the backup set with a unique key, as well as the key itself, using a 256-bit AES cypher. The key is encrypted with a master key that is regularly rotated. Enabling server-side encryption increases the security of your backup files, but increases the time it takes to complete a backup. For more information on S3 server-side encryption, see https://docs.aws.amazon.com/AmazonS3/latest/dev/UsingServerSideEncryption.html. Optional.
Retention Policy Retention Policy is only available for scheduled backups. Available options:
  • Retain all: Retains all backups. Default for S3 or Local FS.
  • Retain for: Retains backups for the specified period of time and then deletes the backups. Available options:
    • Minutes
    • Hours
    • Days (On Server default 30 days)
    • Weeks
Optional.
Save Location Saves the location for backup and restores.

Configure commit log backup dialog for point in time restore

Table 4. Configure commit log backup dialog fields
Field Description
On Toggles commit log backups On or Off. Configure commit log backups to facilitate point in time restores.
Commit log locations Configured locations for commit log backups. Clicking +Add Location opens the Add Location dialog to configure additional locations beyond On Server, such as Amazon S3 or Local FS.
Backup Directory The path to the location where commit logs are stored on each node. The directory must be writable both by the user running DataStax Enterprise and the agent user, which are by default the same user.
Note: The Backup Directory and the tmp_dir must located on the same filesystem so that a hard link can be established between them.

Restore from backup dialogs fields

The Restore process steps through two or more dialogs depending on the selections and type of restore or clone. Depending on the selected backup location, the dialog title is Step 2 or 3 of 3. Selecting Other Location is a 3-step process. Follow the task procedures for step-by-step instructions.

Table 5. Restore fields
Field Description
Backups tab

Backup Time List of available backups by date, time, and location to select for a restore.
PIT Restore tab

Point in Time Sets the date and time to restore data.
Commit logs Location Selects the location of the commit logs; either On Server, Local FS, or another location on Amazon S3. The location of commit logs is configured when enabling commit log backups.
Backup Location Selects the location of the snapshot. Available locations: On Server, Local FS path, Amazon S3 bucket. The +Add location link is available to add more locations.
Other Location tab

The Other Location tab allows specifying the same fields as available in the Add Location dialogs.

Configure and Restore dialogs

Depending on the selected backup location, the dialog title is Step 2 or 3 of 3. Selecting Other Location is a 3-step process.




Step 3 of 3 restore backup dialog other location tab

Keyspaces Required. Allows selecting one or more or all keyspaces for a restore.

When restoring a DSE Graph database, select your graph keyspace. When a keyspace is created in DSE Graph, it is actually comprised of three keyspaces that OpsCenter bundles together because all three keyspaces are required for a DSE Graph backup.

Tip: Click the plus (+) icon to select one or more options. To keep the list open when making multiple selections, press and hold the Cmd key (Mac) or Ctrl key (Windows/Linux).
(Cluster) Location The location of the cluster to which to restore or clone data. Only clusters managed by a singular OpsCenter instance appear in this list.
Truncate/delete existing data before restore Removes the existing keyspace data before the data is restored or cloned.
Throttle stream throughput Sets a maximum transfer rate at the specified MB per second for the restore. Throttling prevents overloading the network. Recommended. When a throttle value is not set, the following warning displays in the Confirm Restore dialog for versions of DSE from 4.8.7 and later:

An outgoing stream throttle value was not specified for this restore. If cassandra.yaml does not have values set for stream_throughput_outbound_megabits_per_sec and inter_dc_stream_throughput_outbound_megabits_per_sec, the restore will not be throttled. Previous versions of Apache Cassandra would limit these streams to no more than 200 MB/sec. Unthrottled restores may consume large amounts of network resources. Plan accordingly.

Throttle options display in the Restore Report.

Throttle option transfer rate displays in the Restore Report

Staging Directory The location of the Backup Service staging directory for backups and restores. The default location is /var/lib/datastax-agent/tmp. To change the default location of the directory, indicate the path using the tmp_dir configuration option in address.yaml.
Restore Backup Begins a restore backup job immediately.
Start Restore Confirms the restore operation from the Confirm Restore dialog.