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System Requirements

Ensure that you have the required system configuration and browser to deploy and run ECX.

Virtual Machine Installation

ECX is installed as a virtual appliance. Before deploying to the host, ensure you have the following:

The correct OVF template, which has an OVA extension, and is approximately 1.4 GB
vSphere 5.1, 5.5, or 6.0
Network information and VMware host information
Either an available static IP address to use or access to DHCP

For initial deployment, configure your virtual appliance to meet the following recommended minimum requirements:

64-bit dual core machine
32 GB memory

The appliance has three virtual disks that total 380 GB storage:

30 GB for operating system and application, which includes 16 GB for the swap partition, 256 MB for the boot partition, and the remainder for the root partition
100 GB for configuration data related to policies, jobs, events, and logs
250 GB for Catalog data

Users of DPX who are deploying ECX for the purpose of DPX Reporting should use the DPX Reporting (powered by ECX) OVF template. For DPX Reporting requirements, refer to the DPX Reporting Guide, which is available on the DPX product page of the Catalogic MySupport site along with the OVF template.

Browser Support

Run ECX from a computer that has access to the installed virtual appliance.

ECX 2.4 was tested and certified against the following web browsers. Note that newer versions may be supported.

Internet Explorer 11
Microsoft Edge 20.10240
Firefox 47.0
Chrome 51.0.27

If your resolution is below 1024 x 768, some items may not fit on the window.

Note: Pop-up windows must be enabled in your browser to access the Help system and some ECX operations.

Catalog Data Policy Requirements

Application Catalog Policy Requirements for Oracle

Oracle 11gR2 and Oracle 12c on a physical or virtual machine running the following operating systems:

Red Hat Enterprise Linux/CentOS 6.5 and later
Red Hat Enterprise Linux/CentOS 7.0 and later
Oracle Enterprise Linux 6.0 and above, 7.0 and later
SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 11.0 and later, 12.0 and later

Oracle standalone, RAC, and ASM configurations are supported. Oracle database data and the flash recovery area (FRA) must reside on supported storage systems. ECX can back up archived logs to a supported storage system if they are not already on one.

Note: Oracle support for virtual machines requires iSCSI LUNs connected directly to the guest system. Oracle configured with RDM LUNs or VMDKs in VM is not supported.

Note: ECX supports the Oracle Database 12c R1 Multitenant option for backup or clone of a container database (CDB). Recoveries of pluggable databases (PDB) are supported through RMAN.

Supported Storage Systems for Oracle

IBM storage systems running IBM Spectrum™ Virtualize Software version 7.3 and later, including IBM SAN Volume Controller, IBM Storwize, and IBM FlashSystem V9000 systems. IBM providers must be registered by an IBM user with administrator-level privileges.

For more information, see Oracle Requirements.

Application Catalog Policy Requirements for Microsoft

Note the following environmental requirements:

Windows Remote Shell (WinRM) must be enabled
The user identity must be specified in the username@FQDN format. The username must be able to authenticate using the ECX registered password to obtain a ticket-granting ticket (TGT) from the key distribution center (KDC) on the domain specified by the fully qualified domain name.
The clock skew between the Domain Controller and the ECX appliance should not be more than 5 minutes
The fully qualified domain name must be resolvable and route-able from the ECX appliance
The virtual machine node DNS name must be resolvable and route-able from the ECX appliance
The VMGuest version must be current

VMware Catalog Data Policy Requirements

vSphere 5.1 and later
vSphere 5.5 and later
vSphere 6.0 and later

EMC VNX Catalog Data Policy Requirements

EMC Unity 300, 400, 500, 600 (All-Flash and Hybrid Flash)
EMC UnityVSA
EMC VNXe 1600 running software version 3.1.3 and later
EMC VNXe 3200 running software version 3.1.1 and later

IBM Storage and IBM FCM Catalog Data Policy Requirements

IBM storage systems running IBM Spectrum™ Virtualize Software version 7.3 and later, including IBM SAN Volume Controller, IBM Storwize, and IBM FlashSystem V9000 systems
IBM FlashCopy Manager systems running IBM Tivoli® Storage FlashCopy® Manager version 4.1.3 and later

Note: IBM providers must be registered by an IBM user with administrator-level privileges.

NetApp Storage Catalog Data Policy Requirements

Any NetApp storage system model running specifically listed Data ONTAP versions operating in 7-Mode is supported. The following versions of Data ONTAP are supported:

Data ONTAP 8.1.0 and later operating in 7-Mode
Data ONTAP 8.2.0 and later operating in 7-Mode
Clustered Data ONTAP 8.1 and later
Clustered Data ONTAP 8.2 and later
Clustered Data ONTAP 8.3 and later

Note: Clustered Data ONTAP providers must be registered with a cluster administrator account.

Note: For ECX 2.2 and later, ensure that TLS protocol is enabled on the NetApp storage system by setting the tls.enable option to ON. For TLS to take effect on HTTPS, ensure that the httpd.admin.ssl.enable option is also set to ON. See Enabling or disabling TLS on NetApp's Support site.

NetApp File Catalog Data Policy Requirements

ECX uses SnapDiff in the NetApp file level policies to perform cataloging based on snapshot differences. SnapDiff cataloging is supported on storage system models running the following versions of Data ONTAP:

Data ONTAP 8.1.0 and later operating in 7-Mode
Data ONTAP 8.2.0 and later operating in 7-Mode
Clustered Data ONTAP 8.2p3 and later
Clustered Data ONTAP 8.3 and later

Note: Clustered Data ONTAP providers must be registered with a cluster administrator account.

The following options must be enabled on the volume of the NetApp storage system to catalog:

create_ucode and convert_ucode
These options are turned off by default. See Related Topics.
Inode to Pathname
The Inode to Pathname function creates relationships between file names and relative paths.
Note: If Inode to Pathname is disabled on a volume, you must enable it, then delete existing snapshots on the volume. When new snapshots are created with Inode to Pathname enabled, the volume can be cataloged.

Internationalization Requirements

The language code must be set and the UTF-8 variant must be specified on the NetApp storage system. For example, en_US.UTF-8. Only the English locale for vol0 for UTF-8 is supported. See Related Topics.
The ECX application and documentation are available in English only. However, cataloging, searching, and reporting functions support international metadata.

Copy Data and Use Data Policy Requirements

The following requirements apply to Copy Data and Use Data policies.

Application Copy and Use Policy Requirements for Oracle

Oracle 11gR2 and Oracle 12c on a physical or virtual machine running the following operating systems:

Red Hat Enterprise Linux/CentOS 6.5 and later
Red Hat Enterprise Linux/CentOS 7.0 and later
Oracle Enterprise Linux 6.0 and above, 7.0 and later
SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 11.0 and later, 12.0 and later

Note: Oracle support for virtual machines requires iSCSI LUNs connected directly to the guest system. Oracle configured with RDM LUNs or VMDKs in VM is not supported.

Note: ECX supports the Oracle Database 12c R1 Multitenant option for backup or clone of a container database (CDB). Recoveries of pluggable databases (PDB) are supported through RMAN.

Supported Storage Systems for Oracle

For more information, see Oracle Requirements.

VMware Copy Data and Use Data Policy Requirements

vSphere 5.1 and later
vSphere 5.5 and later
vSphere 6.0 and later

Ensure the latest version of VMware Tools is installed in your environment. ECX was tested against VMware Tools 9.10.0.

EMC VNX Copy and Use Data Policy Requirements

EMC Unity 300, 400, 500, 600 (All-Flash and Hybrid Flash)
EMC UnityVSA
EMC VNXe 1600 running software version 3.1.3 and later
EMC VNXe 3200 running software version 3.1.1 and later

IBM Storage Copy and Use Data Policy Requirements

IBM storage systems running IBM Spectrum™ Virtualize Software version 7.3 and later, including IBM SAN Volume Controller, IBM Storwize, and IBM FlashSystem V9000 systems

Note: IBM providers must be registered by an IBM user with administrator-level privileges.

NetApp Copy Data and Use Data Policy Requirements

Clustered Data ONTAP 8.1 and later operating in 7-Mode
Clustered Data ONTAP 8.2 and later
Clustered Data ONTAP 8.3 and later

Note: Clustered Data ONTAP providers must be registered with a cluster administrator account.

In NetApp environments running Clustered Data ONTAP, cluster peering must be enabled. Peer relationships enable communication between SVMs. See NetApp's Cluster and Vserver Peering Express Guide.

Third Party License Requirements

For NetApp storage systems, a FlexClone license is required to fully utilize Instant Access and Instant Virtualization features. SnapVault and SnapMirror licenses are also required on both source and destination resources if your workflow includes vault and mirror protection. Similarly, a SnapRestore license is required if your workflow includes individual file recovery. Note that individual file recovery is only supported at the primary site.

For IBM storage systems, Remote Mirroring and FlashCopy licenses are required.

For VMware, a Storage vMotion license is required. A Kroll license is required for individual mailbox recovery on a Microsoft Exchange VM protected by ECX.

iSCSI Requirements

Both Instant Access and Instant Virtualization Use Data policies require iSCSI for VMFS, VMware's cluster file system.

Virtual Machine Privileges

The following virtual machine privileges are required for Copy Data and Use Data policies if a virtual machine is configured as a provider in ECX with credentials lower than an administrator. If administrator credentials are used when adding the provider to ECX, these privileges are automatically enabled.

Operations
Folder.Create VirtualMachine.Inventory.Create Host.Config.Storage System.Read Datastore.Rename VirtualMachine.Inventory.Delete VirtualMachine.Inventory.Unregister	Resource.HotMigrate VirtualMachine.State.RemoveSnapshot VirtualMachine.State.RevertToSnapshot VirtualMachine.Interact.PowerOn VirtualMachine.Interact.PowerOff System.View

Reconfiguring the virtual machine may require the following privileges:

Virtual Machine Reconfigure
VirtualMachine.Interact.DeviceConnection if changing the runtime connection state of a device as embodied by the Connectable property. VirtualMachine.Interact.SetCDMedia if changing the backing of a CD-ROM device VirtualMachine.Interact.SetFloppyMedia if changing the backing of a floppy device VirtualMachine.Config.Rename if renaming the virtual machine VirtualMachine.Config.Annotation if setting an annotation value VirtualMachine.Config.AddExistingDisk if adding a virtual disk device that is backed by an existing virtual disk file VirtualMachine.Config.AddNewDisk if adding a virtual disk device for which the backing virtual disk file is to be created VirtualMachine.Config.RemoveDisk if removing a virtual disk device that refers to a virtual disk file VirtualMachine.Config.CPUCount if changing the number of CPUs VirtualMachine.Config.Memory if changing the amount of memory VirtualMachine.Config.RawDevice if adding, removing, or editing a raw device mapping (RDM) or SCSI passthrough device VirtualMachine.Config.AddRemoveDevice if adding or removing any device other than disk, raw, or USB device VirtualMachine.Config.EditDevice if changing the settings of any device VirtualMachine.Config.Settings if changing any basic settings such as those in ToolsConfigInfo, FlagInfo, or DefaultPowerOpInfo VirtualMachine.Config.Resource if changing resource allocations, affinities, or setting network traffic shaping or virtual disk shares VirtualMachine.Config.AdvancedConfig if changing values in extraConfig	VirtualMachine.Config.SwapPlacement if changing swapPlacement VirtualMachine.Config.HostUSBDevice if adding, removing, or editing a VirtualUSB device backed by the host USB device VirtualMachine.Config.DiskExtend if extending an existing VirtualDisk device VirtualMachine.Config.ChangeTracking if enabling or disabling changed block tracking for the virtual machine's disks VirtualMachine.Config.MksControl if toggling display connection limits or the guest auto-lock feature DVSwitch.CanUse if connecting a VirtualEthernetAdapter to a port in a DistributedVirtualSwitch. DVPortgroup.CanUse if connecting a VirtualEthernetAdapter to a DistributedVirtualPortgroup. Creating a virtual machine may require the following privileges: VirtualMachine.Config.RawDevice if adding a raw device VirtualMachine.Config.AddExistingDisk if adding a VirtualDisk and the fileOperation is unset VirtualMachine.Config.AddNewDisk if adding a VirtualDisk and the fileOperation is set VirtualMachine.Config.HostUSBDevice if adding a VirtualUSB device backed by the host USB device In addition, this operation may require the following privileges: Datastore.AllocateSpace on any datastore where virtual disks will be created or extended Network.Assign on any network the virtual machine will be connected to