Getting Started With Zmanda

Welcome! Whether you are a current customer or a prospecting trial user, this site will help you get a head start when deploying Zmanda Enterprise Backup and Recovery

The purpose of this article is to give you a sequential view of how to set up Zmanda and direct you toward documentation that will help you along the way. Each heading below represents one of the key steps to set up Zmanda, and beneath each heading are helpful links to specific documentation pages.

Network.Zmanda

Once you register for a free trial you will be given instructions to log in to the Network.Zmanda customer portal.

This portal is where you can:

• Download License Files

• Download Server and Agent Binaries

• Download Appliances

• Create Support Tickets

• Request New Quotes

Registering for a free trial and logging in on Network.Zmanda is the first step to protecting your data with Zmanda.

Backup Server Installation

The next step after gaining access to Network.Zmanda is to deploy a Zmanda Backup Server. There are several methods to do this, including:

• A VMware appliance - the easiest and recommended way to deploy Zmanda. (A Hyper-V appliance will be coming soon)

• AWS or Azure Marketplace Installation

• Binary Installation on a Linux System

If you choose to install using Binaries, please verify that your system meets the system requirements and has all of the necessary dependencies described here.

Storage Configuration

With a backup server up and running, you may now add your choice of storage. You may choose any or all of the following as a storage target for your backups:

• Zmanda Cloud Storage (ZCS)

• Simple Disk - storing data directly to the backup server

• NAS/SAN

• Tape

• A Variety of Cloud options

Initialize a Backup Set

Backup Sets bring your storage, schedules, and sources together. This guide will take you through the simple process of creating a Backup Set.

Add Sources to a Backup Set

Sources are where your data lives. The following guides will help you set up your sources with Zmanda.

• Windows Desktops and Servers

• Linux Systems

• VMware and Hyper-V Hypervisors

• File Systems (NFS, iSCSI, Lustre, CIFS, and NDPM)

• Databases

  • Oracle on Linux and Windows

  • PostgreSQL on Linux

  • Microsoft SQL

• Applications

  • MS Exchange

  • MS Sharepoint

• Mac OS

• Solaris

Create a Schedule

After adding schedules, you may optionally add a Schedule plan. Schedules help you bring your backup strategies to life. Although this step is optional we're sure that you will want to take advantage of Zmanda's powerful intelligent scheduling capability.

Here is the guide to do so.

You may add schedules and assign them to backup sets at any point in time.

Run a Backup

With your backup set fully assembled, you may now run a backup!

Please see this guide for the 6 simple steps on how to run your first, second, or hundredth backup.

Run a Restore

Although restores are not performed as frequently as backups (hopefully), they are equally as important.

Similar to backups, restores are as simple as answering the questions What, Where, and How.

Next Steps

At this point, we've covered the most important stuff, but you will likely want to use some of the other features that Zmanda offers to address your specific needs and make your IT administration easier.

Here are a few things you may want to explore and configure:

• Add and manage users to view or manage jobs. This can be accomplished through Zmanda's built-in user creation tool, LDAP, or SAML-based SSO.

• Perform Immutable Backups using AWS S3 or Wasabi

• Add Global Exclusion policies to help you gain granular control over what data needs protecting, and what data doesn't.

• Make your life easier by deploying Zmanda Linux Agents in bulk, or by using our Bulk Automation capabilities

• Backup your backups using Vaulting

• View reports and generate custom reports

• Increase performance by deploying multiple Backup Servers, and managing them all through one ZMC