S3 Backup Feeds to RStor

Backup only

Objects in the S3 backup bucket are wholly dedicated to disaster recovery for Swarm and are not for general use by owners of the account where the bucket resides. Consider this feature a restricted form of S3, with constraints on the bucket's namespace that support Swarm's ability to backup and restore. For this reason, do not expect the namespace to be end-user friendly.

Swarm S3 backups to RStor targets have been verified. To implement an S3 backup feed, you first need to complete a one-time set up of the destination: you will set up an account with RStor and then create an S3 bucket that will be dedicated to backing up this cluster only.

Setting up the S3 Bucket

Note

Swarm has only the RStor access that you grant it as part of this configuration. Nether the S3 Backup feed or S3 Backup Restore Tool will administer your S3 credentials or create any S3 buckets in RStor. See RStor Support for assistance.

These instructions are for RStor cloud storage, but any Internet-based S3 service will have similar functionality:

Service — If needed, sign up for RStor: rstor.io
Bucket — Create a bucket that will be dedicated to backing up your Swarm cluster.
1. Sign in to the RStor console: rstorcloud.io.
2. Choose Add new bucket.
3. For Bucket name, enter a DNS-compliant name for your new bucket. You will not be able to change it later, so choose well:
  - The name must be unique across all existing bucket names in RStor S3.
  - The name must be a valid DNS name, containing only lowercase letters and numbers (and internal periods, hyphens, underscores), between 3 and 64 characters.
    (See S3 documentation: Rules for Bucket Naming.)
    Tip: For easier identification, incorporate the name of the Swarm cluster that this bucket will be dedicated to backing up.
4. For Region, choose the one that is appropriate for your business needs.
5. Best practice: Do not enable versioning or any other optional features unless it is required for your organization.
6. Record these values for configuring your S3 Backup feed in Swarm:
  - Bucket Name
  - Region
7. Click Submit.
S3 Key Pair — Create an S3 key pair that will be dedicated to Swarm access.
1. Under your email address, click My account.
2. Down below click Generate Key.
3. An S3 key pair will be automatically created. Download and secure the access key:
4. Record these values for configuring your S3 Backup feed in Swarm:
  - Access Key ID
  - Secret Access Key
RProtect — Complete any subnet whitelisting needed.
1. In the global menu bar, click on RProtect.
2. Verify that the IP address of the Swarm cluster that will be contacting the RStor S3 cloud service is allowed.
3. If that was not the case, request a new rule.

Configuring the S3 Backup Feed

On the Swarm side, create a new S3 backup feed with RStor as its target.

In the Swarm UI, open the Cluster > Feeds page.
Click + Add at the top right.
Choose the feed type S3 Backup.
Provide the following values. For details on these fields, see S3 Backup Feeds.
- Name - For description only, such as "Replication to RStor"
- Endpoint - Include the complete endpoint, without the bucket: s3.rstorcloud.io
- Region - This example uses the us-west-1 storage region. For any other region, check with RStor Support.
- Bucket - Enter your newly created bucket, which will be dedicated to backing up your Swarm cluster.
- Credentials - Paste in both the Access key name and Secret Key
- Use SSL - Yes
  See S3 Backup Feeds for details on all of the field options.
On the Cluster > Feeds dashboard, confirm that your new S3 backup appears in your list of Swarm feeds.

See Managing Feeds for more details on feed administration in Swarm.