# Storware Integration with PCD

Storware Backup and Recovery is a software-defined data protection solution that provides agentless backup, snapshot management, and disaster recovery for virtual machines running in <code class="expression">space.vars.product\_name</code> (<code class="expression">space.vars.product\_acronym</code>).

This guide explains how to deploy Storware, connect it to your <code class="expression">space.vars.product\_acronym</code> environment so it can discover and protect your VMs, run backup and restore operations, and enable tag-based policy assignment.

### Prerequisites

Before you begin, ensure you meet the following criteria.

#### Storware Backup and Recovery

* Storware Backup and Recovery **7.5** or later, with the Storware Server and at least one Storware Node installed and running.
* Administrative privileges in the Storware web console.

#### <code class="expression">space.vars.product\_acronym</code> environment

* <code class="expression">space.vars.product\_acronym</code> version **2025.10** or later.
* Administrator access to create users and assign roles.
* Access to run `pcdctl` commands.

#### Network requirements

* The Storware Node can reach the <code class="expression">space.vars.product\_acronym</code> Identity, Compute, Block Storage, Image library, and Networking service API endpoints over HTTPS (port 443).

#### Constraints

The following limitations apply to Storware 7.5 with <code class="expression">space.vars.product\_acronym</code>:

* Instant restore is not supported.
* Restoring VMs to non-DHCP networks is not supported.
* The **Download image from Glance** option in the Storware OpenStack settings does not apply to <code class="expression">space.vars.product\_acronym</code>. The setting can be left at its default value because it does not affect functionality.

#### Supported backup methods

Storware supports three backup strategies for OpenStack environments. <code class="expression">space.vars.product\_acronym</code> supports only one of them.

<table><thead><tr><th>Backup strategy</th><th width="196.8125">Supported with PCD</th><th>Notes</th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td>Disk attachment with generic incremental</td><td>Yes (recommended)</td><td>Storware snapshots each Storage volume, clones it to a temporary volume, and hot-attaches the temporary volume to a proxy VM. Incremental backups work on any storage backend by using block-level checksum comparison.</td></tr><tr><td>Disk attachment</td><td>No</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>Libvirt strategy (SSH transfer)</td><td>No</td><td></td></tr></tbody></table>

For more information about each strategy, see the [Storware OpenStack documentation](https://docs.storware.eu/protecting-virtual-machines/virtual-machines/openstack).

### Deploy Storware Backup and Recovery

Before you integrate Storware with <code class="expression">space.vars.product\_acronym</code>, install and start the Storware Server and Storware Node by following the [Storware deployment documentation](https://docs.storware.eu/deployment).

Storware installs under `/opt/vprotect` and uses `/vprotect_data` as a staging space by default. Do not change these paths.

{% hint style="info" %}
**NOTE**

To enable tag-based SLA policy auto-assignment after the integration is complete, additional configuration is required. See [Enable tag-based policy assignment](#enable-tag-based-policy-assignment).
{% endhint %}

### Configure <code class="expression">space.vars.product\_acronym</code> user for Storware

Storware requires a dedicated <code class="expression">space.vars.product\_acronym</code> user with system-scoped admin privileges. System-scoped privileges enable Storware to discover and manage VMs across all tenants and domains, without being restricted to a single project.

#### Create the Storware user

1. Create a dedicated user for Storware in <code class="expression">space.vars.product\_acronym</code>:<br>

   ```bash
   # Example user: storware-system-user@acme.com
   # Replace with your actual domain
   ```
2. Assign system-scoped admin privileges to the user:<br>

   ```bash
   pcdctl role add --user 'storware-system-user@acme.com' --user-domain default --system all admin
   ```
3. Verify the role assignment:<br>

   ```bash
   pcdctl role assignment list --user 'storware-system-user@acme.com'
   ```

Confirm the output includes:

* The user exists in the list.
* An assignment row where the **System** column shows `all`.

#### Test the connection

Before configuring Storware, verify that the user can authenticate with the system scope:

1. Set environment variables for the Storware user:<br>

   ```bash
   export OS_USERNAME=storware-system-user@acme.com
   export OS_PASSWORD=<your-password>
   export OS_AUTH_URL=https://<DU-FQDN>/keystone/v3
   export OS_IDENTITY_API_VERSION=3
   export OS_USER_DOMAIN_NAME=Default
   export OS_SYSTEM_SCOPE=system
   ```
2. Test authentication:<br>

   ```bash
   pcdctl token issue
   ```

If successful, you will see token details. If this fails, verify the user credentials and role assignment before proceeding.

### Connect Storware to <code class="expression">space.vars.product\_acronym</code>

After configuring the <code class="expression">space.vars.product\_acronym</code> user, add your <code class="expression">space.vars.product\_acronym</code> environment as a virtualization provider in Storware so that Storware can discover and protect your VMs.

#### Add <code class="expression">space.vars.product\_acronym</code> as a virtualization provider

1. In the Storware web UI, navigate to **Virtual Environments** > **Virtualization Providers**.
2. Select **Create**, then select **OpenStack** at the top of the form.

   <img src="/files/hHv5LzPjlS5iM8NlpX7U" alt="" height="359" width="624">
3. On the **General** tab, enter the following:
   1. A name for the provider.
   2. The node configuration that points to your Storware Node VM.
   3. The URL of your <code class="expression">space.vars.product\_acronym</code> Auth endpoint, formed by appending `/keystone/v3` to your <code class="expression">space.vars.product\_acronym</code> FQDN. For example: `https://<DU-FQDN>/keystone/v3`.
   4. **Import/Export Mode**: select **Disk attachment with generic incremental**.
4. On the **OpenStack Settings** tab, set **Endpoint Interface Type** to **Public**.

   <img src="/files/dnQ3wOyN6lESMKVyqZIk" alt="" height="488" width="624">
5. On the **Authentication Domain** tab, enter the following:
   * **Domain name**: `Default`.
   * **Username** and **Password**: the credentials of the Storware user you created in [Configure PCD user for Storware](#configure-user-for-storware).
6. Select **Save**.

#### Run the first inventory sync

After Storware saves the provider, it discovers hypervisors and begins initial VM discovery.

1. In the **Virtualization Providers** list, locate your <code class="expression">space.vars.product\_acronym</code> provider.
2. Select **Inventory Synchronization**.

   The **Workflow Executions Console** at the bottom of the page shows the synchronization progress.

   <img src="/files/5ZqpNs9G7dwO2rtXY83F" alt="" height="116" width="624">

#### Verify inventory discovery

After the sync completes, confirm that Storware can see your <code class="expression">space.vars.product\_acronym</code> workloads.

1. Navigate to **Virtual Environments** > **Virtual Machines**.
2. Confirm that all expected <code class="expression">space.vars.product\_acronym</code> instances appear in the list.

If VMs do not appear, verify the following:

* Network connectivity from the Storware Node to the <code class="expression">space.vars.product\_acronym</code> Identity, Compute, Block Storage, Image library, and Networking service endpoints.
* The Storware user credentials and system-scoped admin role assignment.

### Backup and restore VMs

After inventory discovery completes, you can configure backup policies and run restore operations from the Storware web console.

* To configure backup schedules, retention, and on-demand backups, see  [Storware documentation on creating and scheduling backups](https://docs.storware.eu/protecting-virtual-machines/backup-and-restore).
* To run full restore, file-level recovery, or cross-environment restore, see  [Storware documentation on restoring virtual machines](https://docs.storware.eu/protecting-virtual-machines/backup-and-restore).

### Enable tag-based policy assignment

By default, Storware does not read OpenStack VM tags, so it cannot auto-assign SLA policies based on tags. To enable tag-based policy assignment, explicitly set the Compute API microversion on each Storware Node. Tag scanning requires Compute API version 2.26 or later.

Complete the following steps on every Storware Node.

1. Open the node properties file:<br>

   ```bash
   vi /opt/vprotect/node/node.properties
   ```
2. Find and uncomment the following line:<br>

   ```ini
   openstack.nova.api.version=2.26
   ```
3. Restart the Storware Node service:<br>

   ```bash
   systemctl restart vprotect-node
   ```

After the service restarts, Storware reads OpenStack VM tags and assigns matching VMs to the corresponding SLA policies.

### Instant restore

Instant restore is a Storware feature that boots a VM directly from backup storage while data restores in the background. Instant restore is not supported with <code class="expression">space.vars.product\_acronym</code> as of Storware 7.5.


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