Prepare Backup Volumes

  1. Find the size of the data catalog on each source node:
    df -h /vertica/data/
    Look for the number in the Used column.
  2. Find the largest data catalog of all the nodes in your source cluster, and add a 20–50% safety margin.
  3. Create and mount a new EBS volume to each source node. This volume should equal your largest data catalog with its safety margin.
  4. Verify that your newly mounted volumes appear on each source node:
    ls /dev
  5. Format all volumes, using an Vertica supported file system:
    sudo mkfs.ext4 /dev/xvdf
  6. Create the backup folder. Specify the location where you mount the new backup volume:
    sudo mkdir /vertica/backup
  7. Mount the volume to /vertica/backup, and make it persistent:
    sudo mount /vertica/backup
    sudo bash -c "echo '/dev/xvdf /vertica/backup ext4 defaults 0 0' > /etc/fstab"
  8. Set dbadmin as the owner for all /vertica/backup:
    sudo chown dbadmin:verticadba /vertica/backup
  9. Verify the success of the mount operation by entering:
    df -h
  10. Repeat the formatting and mounting steps on all nodes.
  11. Create a Backup configuration file by running vbr with the --setupconfig option:/opt/vertica/bin/vbr --setupconfig

    For more information about creating a backup configuration file, refer to Creating vbr Configuration Files.

  12. Once all of your backup locations exist, initialize those locations using the vbr init task:

    vbr -t init -c config_file_name