Blog for Recovery Points

examples/data_protection/Readme.md

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+# Recovery Points under Data Protection Namespace
+
+Recovery points are critical in ensuring data protection and disaster recovery for virtual machines (VMs) and volume groups (VGs). They allow for capturing the state of VMs and VGs at a specific point in time, enabling various operations such as restoration, replication, and reversion.
+
+This blog provides an overview of recovery points, operations like Create, Update, Read, and Delete, and other functionalities such as restoring, replicating, and reverting recovery points. A flow diagram will be included to illustrate these concepts (to be added).
+
+![Recovery Points workflow](Recovery_Points.png)
+---
+
+## Operations on Recovery Points
+
+### 1. Create, Update, and Delete Recovery Points
+The `ntnx_recovery_points_v2` module is used to manage recovery points. It supports creating, updating, and deleting recovery points for:
+- A single VM
+- A single VG
+- Multiple VMs or VGs
+- A combination of VMs and VGs
+
+#### Example Code
+`Create Recovery Point for Multiple VMs and VGs`
+```
+- name: Create recovery point with multiple VMs and VGs
+  ntnx_recovery_points_v2:
+    nutanix_host: "{{ ip }}"
+    nutanix_username: "{{ username }}"
+    nutanix_password: "{{ password }}"
+    validate_certs: "{{ validate_certs }}"
+    name: "{{ recovery_point_name }}_5"
+    expiration_time: "{{ expiration_time }}"
+    recovery_point_type: "CRASH_CONSISTENT"
+    vm_recovery_points:
+      - vm_ext_id: "3f50a1b2-4c3d-4e6a-9b8e-1a2b3c4d5e6f"
+      - vm_ext_id: "7e8f9a0b-1c2d-3e4f-5a6b-7c8d9e0f1a2b"
+    volume_group_recovery_points:
+      - volume_group_ext_id: "9b8a7c6d-5e4f-3a2b-1c0d-9e8f7a6b5c4d"
+      - volume_group_ext_id: "2d3e4f5a-6b7c-8d9e-0f1a-2b3c4d5e6f7g"
+  register: result
+  ignore_errors: true
+```
+`Update Expiration Time of Recovery Points`
+```
+- name: Update recovery point expiration time with check mode enabled
+  ntnx_recovery_points_v2:
+    nutanix_host: "{{ ip }}"
+    nutanix_username: "{{ username }}"
+    nutanix_password: "{{ password }}"
+    validate_certs: "{{ validate_certs }}"
+    ext_id: 6j24g6z1-4f3w-0f3q-5j2j-4n1y9d2e7j3r
+    expiration_time: "2024-09-30T14:15:22+00:00"
+  check_mode: true
+  register: result
+  ignore_errors: true
+```
+`Delete a Recovery Point`
+```
+- name: Delete a recovery point
+  ntnx_recovery_points_v2:
+    nutanix_host: "{{ ip }}"
+    nutanix_username: "{{ username }}"
+    nutanix_password: "{{ password }}"
+    validate_certs: "{{ validate_certs }}"
+    state: absent
+    ext_id: 6j24g6z1-4f3w-0f3q-5j2j-4n1y9d2e7j3r
+  register: result
+  ignore_errors: true
+```
+---
+
+### 2. Retrieve Recovery Point Information
+The `ntnx_recovery_points_info_v2` module fetches details of recovery points. This is essential for monitoring and managing existing recovery points effectively.
+
+#### Example Code
+`List all recovery points with filter`
+```
+- name: List all recovery points with filter
+  ntnx_recovery_points_info_v2:
+    nutanix_host: "{{ ip }}"
+    nutanix_username: "{{ username }}"
+    nutanix_password: "{{ password }}"
+    validate_certs: "{{ validate_certs }}"
+    filter: "name eq 'recovery_point_name'"
+  register: result
+  ignore_errors: true
+```
+`Get details of a Recovery Point`
+```
+- name: Get recovery point details
+  ntnx_recovery_points_info_v2:
+    nutanix_host: "{{ ip }}"
+    nutanix_username: "{{ username }}"
+    nutanix_password: "{{ password }}"
+    validate_certs: "{{ validate_certs }}"
+    ext_id: "6j24g6z1-4f3w-0f3q-5j2j-4n1y9d2e7j3r"
+  register: result
+  ignore_errors: true
+```
+---
+
+## Additional Operations
+
+### 3. Restore Recovery Points
+The `ntnx_recovery_point_restore_v2` module is used to restore a recovery point. This operation creates a clone of the VMs or VGs specified in the recovery point spec. If no specific entity is provided, clones for all entities under the top-level recovery point are created.
+
+#### Example Code
+```
+- name: Restore recovery point for multiple VMs and VGs
+  ntnx_recovery_point_restore_v2:
+    nutanix_host: "{{ ip }}"
+    nutanix_username: "{{ username }}"
+    nutanix_password: "{{ password }}"
+    validate_certs: "{{ validate_certs }}"
+    ext_id: "6j24g6z1-4f3w-0f3q-5j2j-4n1y9d2e7j3r"
+    cluster_ext_id: "{{ cluster.uuid }}"
+    vm_recovery_point_restore_overrides:
+      - vm_recovery_point_ext_id: "1a2b3c4d-5e6f-7g8h-9i0j-1k2l3m4n5o6p"
+      - vm_recovery_point_ext_id: "4d5e6f7g-8h9i-0j1k-2l3m-4n5o6p7q8r9s"
+    volume_group_recovery_point_restore_overrides:
+      - volume_group_recovery_point_ext_id: "7g8h9i0j-1k2l-3m4n-5o6p-7q8r9s0t1u2v"
+      - volume_group_recovery_point_ext_id: "0j1k2l3m-4n5o-6p7q-8r9s-0t1u2v3w4x5y"
+  register: result
+  ignore_errors: true
+```
+---
+
+### 4. VM Revert
+The `ntnx_vm_revert_v2` module reverts a VM back to the state at which the recovery point was created. This is particularly useful for undoing changes or recovering from system failures.
+
+#### Example Code
+```
+- name: Revert a VM recovery point
+  ntnx_vm_revert_v2:
+    nutanix_host: "{{ ip }}"
+    nutanix_username: "{{ username }}"
+    nutanix_password: "{{ password }}"
+    validate_certs: "{{ validate_certs }}"
+    ext_id: "3f50a1b2-4c3d-4e6a-9b8e-1a2b3c4d5e6f"
+    vm_recovery_point_ext_id: "1a2b3c4d-5e6f-7g8h-9i0j-1k2l3m4n5o6p"
+  register: result
+  ignore_errors: true
+```
+
+---
+
+### 5. Replicate Recovery Points
+Replication creates a replica of a recovery point on another cluster. The `ntnx_recovery_point_replicate_v2` module requires the following setup:
+1. Create an availability zone from your Prism Central to the target PC.
+2. Obtain the external ID of the target PC and its cluster external ID.
+
+#### Example Code
+```
+- name: Replicate Recovery point
+  ntnx_recovery_point_replicate_v2:
+    nutanix_host: "{{ ip }}"
+    nutanix_username: "{{ username }}"
+    nutanix_password: "{{ password }}"
+    validate_certs: "{{ validate_certs }}"
+    ext_id: "6j24g6z1-4f3w-0f3q-5j2j-4n1y9d2e7j3r"
+    pc_ext_id: "{{ pc_uuid_of_target_pc }}"
+    cluster_ext_id: "{{ cluster_uuid_of_target_pc }}"
+  register: result
+  ignore_errors: true
+```
+
+---
+
+### 6. Retrieve VM Recovery Point Information
+The `ntnx_vm_recovery_point_info_v2` module fetches detailed information about VM recovery points. This helps in auditing and verifying recovery point states.
+
+#### Example Code
+```
+- name: Get a VM recovery point details
+  ntnx_vm_recovery_point_info_v2:
+    nutanix_host: "{{ ip }}"
+    nutanix_username: "{{ username }}"
+    nutanix_password: "{{ password }}"
+    validate_certs: "{{ validate_certs }}"
+    recovery_point_ext_id: "6j24g6z1-4f3w-0f3q-5j2j-4n1y9d2e7j3r"
+    vm_recovery_point_ext_id: "4d5e6f7g-8h9i-0j1k-2l3m-4n5o6p7q8r9s"
+  register: result
+  ignore_errors: true
+```
+
+---
+
+Recovery points are an integral part of data protection strategies. The operations and modules discussed above provide a robust framework for managing and leveraging recovery points efficiently.