Can we configure Cisco Iron Port M series appliances in HA?

[Raj Kumar]

Can we configure Cisco Iron Port M series appliances in HA?

[Robert Sherwin]

No.  The SMA operates independently.  You can schedule the dataset to be backed up and transferred from primary to secondary:

How do I schedule a backup of an active dataset from one Cisco Security Management Appliance (SMA) to another SMA?

The SMA allows an administrator to copy the active datasets (tracking, reporting and ISQ database) from the "source" SMA to a "target" SMA via the backupconfig command on the CLI.

Periodic Backup

- Login to SMA CLI.
- Run backupconfig
- Choose Schedule
- Insert the IP address of the "target" SMA.
* The "source" SMA will verifies the existence of the "target" SMA and make sure the target machine has enough space to accept the data.
- Choose 1 (Setup Repeating Backup Schedule)
- Choose the preferred time frame, either 1 (daily), 2 (weekly) or 3 (monthly)
- Type the name of the backup process, Weekly_data_backup
- You can type view (To verify that the backup was successfully scheduled)
- You can also choose Status (To view the backup process on Phase 1 and Phase 2)

Instant Backup

- Login to SMA CLI.
- Run backupconfig
- Choose Schedule
- Insert the IP address of the "target" SMA.
* The "source" SMA will verifies the existence of "target" SMA and make sure target machine has enough space to accept the data.
- Choose 3 (Start a Single Backup Now)
- You can type view or status (To verify that the backup was successfully scheduled)

Additionally, if you try to schedule a report and forget that a backup is in progress, you can check the system status by choosing Management Appliance > Centralized Services at the GUI (via HTTP/HTTPS). From this window you can see the warning that a system backup is in progress.

-Robert

[Robert Sherwin]

The SMA allows an administrator to copy the active datasets (tracking, reporting and ISQ database) from the "source" SMA to a "target" SMA via the backupconfig command on the CLI.

Periodic Backup

- Login to SMA CLI.
- Run backupconfig
- Choose Schedule
- Insert the IP address of the "target" SMA.
* The "source" SMA will verifies the existence of the "target" SMA and make sure the target machine has enough space to accept the data.
- Choose 1 (Setup Repeating Backup Schedule)
- Choose the preferred time frame, either 1 (daily), 2 (weekly) or 3 (monthly)
- Type the name of the backup process, Weekly_data_backup
- You can type view (To verify that the backup was successfully scheduled)
- You can also choose Status (To view the backup process on Phase 1 and Phase 2)

Instant Backup

- Login to SMA CLI.
- Run backupconfig
- Choose Schedule
- Insert the IP address of the "target" SMA.
* The "source" SMA will verifies the existence of "target" SMA and make sure target machine has enough space to accept the data.
- Choose 3 (Start a Single Backup Now)
- You can type view or status (To verify that the backup was successfully scheduled)

Additionally, if you try to schedule a report and forget that a backup is in progress, you can check the system status by choosing Management Appliance > Centralized Services at the GUI (via HTTP/HTTPS). From this window you can see the warning that a system backup is in progress.

-Robert

[Raj Kumar]

Thank you Robert,

Does this backup include spam quarantine database?

I have 6 C680 appliances sending all quarantine to the M680 which I want to do HA for quarantined messages. is it possible?

[Robert Sherwin]

Yes - this will.  

Q: Can I backup tracking, reporting and quarantined dataset from Security Management Appliance (SMA)?
  
The Cisco Security Management Appliance (SMA) allows an administrator to copy the active datasets (tracking, reporting and ISQ database) from the "source" SMA to a "target" SMA via the backupconfig command on the CLI.

The backup process is executed in 2 phases:

Phase 1
The backup process starts with the data transfer between the source and target appliances. During data transfer, services on the source appliance remain running, therefore data collection can still continue. Services though are shut down on the target appliance. Once the data transfer is complete from the source to target appliance, Phase 2 begins.

Phase 2
When Phase 2 begins, services on the source appliance are shut down. Any differences that have collected during the data transfer between the source and target appliance since the initial shutdown are copied to the target appliance and the service is brought back up for both the source and the target. This allows for maximum uptime on the source appliance and no data loss for either appliance.

There are two type of scheduled backups that you can perform on the SMA:

Periodic Backups: Periodic backups consist of continual backups that can be scheduled for a predetermined time, or for a single backup that occurs at a predetermined time.

Instant Backups: Instant backups occur immediately when the user initiates the backupconfig command on the CLI.

Additionally, you can view or cancel scheduled and ongoing backups, check the status of a backup, or verify if a backup can be scheduled onto a remote machine.

Please see the following article, which may be of further assistance:

http://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/support/docs/security/content-security-management-appliance/117840-problemsolution-sma-00.html