Backing Up VMware Telco Cloud Automation Control Plane

You use the appliance management interface to create a backup file.

This operation backs up the following information:

• Inventory data
• Configuration files
• Certificates
• System UUID

The backup file is saved in the tar.gz format.

Procedure

1. Log in to the appliance management interface: <https://tca-cp-ip-or-fqdn:9443>.
2. Navigate to Administration > Troubleshooting > Backup & Restore.
3. (Optional) Set up an SFTP or FTP server for uploading the backup file:
   Note: Although the FTP server is provided as an option to upload the backup file, it is highly recommended that you use SFTP.
   1. Click the FTP server setting tab.
   2. Click Add.
      Note:

      The best practice to use a Linux-based OpenSSH host for file transfer operations.

      If you use Use SSH keys for SFTP server, check the key format before applying it.

      1. If the format is ssh-rsa xxxxxxxxxxx , then you can apply it to SFTP server by following the UI instructions.

      2. If the format is as shown in the following example, change the format before applying it:

      ----------BEGIN PUBLIC KEY-----
      ... ...
      xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
      
      ----------END PUBLIC KEY---------

      To change the key format:

      1. Download the SSH key file id_rsa_backup_restore.pub or copy clipboard to a file.

      2. Change the format using the command ssh-keygen -i -m PKCS8 -f id_rsa_backup_restore.pub as shown in the following example:

         $ ssh-keygen -i -m PKCS8 -f id_rsa_backup_restore.pub
         ssh-rsa 
         AAAAB3NzaC1yc2EXXXXXXXXC+OGwzV/f2PqRXbIGxRFwpHWfv2emVaOBAAH4K9GHxEjbaZUX48yNclBIhEZJAv3+UKFwD5dNXvlMpHWopdn6xtsZkT2FJqJ/2yTuG2yyjNa2OOxg1Mc+5dLfoXtW65W7OYspmihKS+rTILM/+Fr0sJc/cz3pSjJVRbilRnKLsS4CvXN2PQvm/IpX6ShSvGBaIdTz5NAf4bBgVpKa0Mh7NmtEEVSPNAlV+6W5jw9LgGTQO02fj0HHH8qhKFfAdVC7n9QOzqcZ5gbQ8nIprBnoDpls9w4FTzRAL9/vtJS9VZAf78EGwqiZF9oF9ztQotD5eH/vRV6J1lGPSKM8zYjsj

   3. Enter the FTP server information and click Save.
   Note: Ensure that the backup directory path you provide is unique for every VMware Telco Cloud Automation appliance instance.
4. (Optional) Configure a backup schedule:
   Note:

   The best practice is to schedule Daily backups. Restoring from backup files that are more than two days old is not supported due to potential inventory changes from the backup time to present.

   1. Click the Scheduling tab.
   2. Click Add.
      The scheduling window appears.
   3. Select the Backup Frequency.
   4. Enter the hour and minute of the backup.
   5. (Optional) check Encrypt Backup for encrypted backups and provide encryption password as well.
   6. Click Save.
5. Click the Backup and Restore tab.
6. Select the following backup options and click Generate.

   • Upload to server (optional) - upload backup bundle to ftp server

   • Encrypt Backup (optional) - generate encrypted backup bundle

   If a backup schedule is configured, the system creates the backup file at the scheduled time.

7. For manual backups, save the backup file:
   Note:

   If you have scheduled backups, the system automatically generates the backup file at the scheduled time and saves the file to the FTP server.

   • To save the generated file to an FTP server, select the box Upload to server .
   • To download the generated file to the client browsing system, click Download.