Components

Reference

How SHA, SCA, SNA, Sendense Controllers, snagent, EBA, and EBA Smart Transport fit together.

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Overview

Sendense separates orchestration, backup data movement, recovery-point storage, provider management, host-assisted efficiency, and DR target preparation into distinct components. That separation lets a deployment scale the parts that do work without turning every appliance into a single overloaded role.

The SHA is the operational hub for a deployment. SNAs perform backup proxy work. EBA stores recovery points. EBA Smart Transport runs with the SNA data path. snagent improves CloudStack KVM reads when the configured storage backend supports host-assisted changed-block tracking. Sendense Controllers prepare and promote DR targets for controller-backed replication. SCA sits above SHAs for MSP and CSP operating models.

Component Summary

SHA

Sendense Hub Appliance. The primary orchestration system for the SHA GUI and API, protection patterns, replication patterns, recovery operations, EBA repositories, indexing, RBAC, health, reports, appliance lifecycle, diagnostics, and licensing or entitlement workflows.

SCA

Sendense Central Appliance. The provider-side appliance for MSP telemetry and controlled remote operations, and for CSP multi-tenant billing, API, provisioning, and license management.

SNA

Sendense Node Appliance. A supported Sendense virtual appliance that runs as a VM on a hypervisor or in a tenant environment. It acts as a backup proxy, reads protected workload data, and sends it to SHA over a secure tunnel.

Sendense Controllers

Target-side per-VM destination appliances used by controller-backed replication patterns and failover workflows.

snagent

The CloudStack KVM hypervisor host agent used for efficient host-assisted changed-block tracking on supported configured storage backends. It is installed on the hypervisor host, not inside the protected VM.

EBA

Enterprise Block Archive. The Sendense backup storage and recovery-point system for protected workload data.

EBA-ST

EBA Smart Transport. The SNA-side smart transport role used for backup proxy data movement. It can consume extent maps from snagent when they are available, and still deduplicates data that EBA already has.

Platform Map

Most day-to-day operations start in the SHA GUI. SHA decides what needs to happen, then coordinates the component that owns the work. The diagram shows the common relationships, not every network path.

Core component relationships

Provider management

SCA

Sits above customer or tenant SHAs for MSP and CSP operating models.

Orchestration hub

SHA

Owns GUI/API workflows, policy, recovery, lifecycle, health, RBAC, and reporting.

Backup proxy data path

SNA + EBA-ST

Reads protected workload data and sends backup streams to SHA through the smart transport role.

CloudStack KVM host assist

snagent

Runs on supported hypervisor hosts and supplies extent-map information where the backend supports it.

Backup proxy data path

SNA + EBA-ST

Reads protected workload data and sends backup streams to SHA through the smart transport role.

Backup proxy data path

SNA + EBA-ST

Reads protected workload data and sends backup streams to SHA through the smart transport role.

Orchestration hub

SHA

Owns GUI/API workflows, policy, recovery, lifecycle, health, RBAC, and reporting.

Recovery-point storage

EBA

Stores deduplicated backup data and recovery points in governed repositories.

Orchestration hub

SHA

Owns GUI/API workflows, policy, recovery, lifecycle, health, RBAC, and reporting.

DR target appliances

Sendense Controllers

Prepare per-VM destination targets for controller-backed replication and failover.

Important distinction

SNA and snagent are different components. SNA is the virtual backup proxy. snagent is installed on supported CloudStack KVM hypervisor hosts and assists the SNA data path when that host-assisted path is available.

Responsibility Lanes

A Sendense deployment is easier to plan when the components are viewed as responsibility lanes. Several components may participate in the same workflow, but each component still has a clear job.

Management and orchestration

SHA owns the main operational surface. It coordinates protection, replication, recovery, repository governance, health, reports, RBAC, appliance lifecycle, diagnostics, and support evidence.

Provider control

SCA is used when an MSP or CSP needs central visibility and provider-led control across SHAs. It does not replace SHA as the hub for the protected environment.

Backup proxy work

SNA performs the read and transport work for protected workloads. Customers commonly deploy multiple SNAs for load balancing and fault tolerance.

Smart transport

EBA-ST runs as part of the SNA-side backup path. When snagent supplies an extent map, EBA-ST can send only the changed extents. When it does not have an extent map, Sendense still uses smart transport and deduplication.

Backup storage and recovery points

EBA is the backup storage and recovery-point system. SHA provisions and manages EBA repositories, including self-hosted repositories and repositories backed by external S3-compatible providers.

DR target preparation

Sendense Controllers are created on demand at the destination for controller-backed replication. Each protected VM gets its own controller target so destination-side preparation and failover work can scale horizontally.

Backup Flow

For a normal backup, SHA applies the protection pattern and coordinates an SNA to perform the backup proxy work. The SNA reads the protected workload and uses EBA Smart Transport to move the backup stream to SHA. EBA stores the resulting recovery point.

On supported CloudStack KVM hosts, snagent can make reads more efficient by supplying host-side extent or allocation information. EBA Smart Transport still participates in the backup path and still deduplicates blocks already present in EBA.

Backup data movement

Source workload

Protected VM

The VM selected by a protection pattern.

Backup proxy

SNA + EBA-ST

Reads the VM data and performs smart transport.

Coordinator

SHA

Controls the job and records backup, recovery-point, and health state.

Repository layer

EBA

Stores deduplicated backup data and recovery-point metadata.

Optional host assist

snagent

Supplies extent-map information when CloudStack KVM storage support is available.

Backup proxy

SNA + EBA-ST

Reads the VM data and performs smart transport.

CloudStack KVM CBT

For CloudStack KVM, the snagent path is used by default when the site or VM storage backend is configured for a supported host-assisted backend and the agent path is available. Supported host-assisted backends include QCOW NFS, ZFS, and LINSTOR DRBD.

RAW Block does not use snagent; ordinary protection uses the full-source-read EBA path with repository deduplication. Eligible RAW Block protection patterns on version-aware EBA repositories can use Sendense CBT while still performing the full source read. First and explicitly forced fulls remain genuine fulls; suitable later recovery points can be represented as synthetic incrementals when eligibility and integrity checks pass. QCOW NFS, ZFS, and LINSTOR DRBD host-assisted modes require a healthy snagent to prepare the source and supply extent information.

Where snagent runs

snagent is installed on CloudStack KVM hypervisor hosts. It is not installed inside the protected VM, and it is not the SNA backup proxy.

Deployment Placement

SHA is deployed as a supported Sendense virtual appliance or image in the customer or provider environment.
SNA runs as a virtual appliance on a hypervisor or in a tenant environment. An SNA can enroll with SHA over the internet where routing, security, and performance allow it.
Customers commonly deploy multiple SNAs for load balancing and fault tolerance. A practical starting point is about one SNA for every five concurrent backup jobs, adjusted for workload size, storage performance, network capacity, and recovery needs.
SCA is placed in the provider or central management environment when an MSP or CSP operating model is used.
snagent is installed only on supported CloudStack KVM hypervisor hosts where the configured storage backend can use the host-assisted path.
EBA repositories are provisioned and managed from SHA. A deployment can use self-hosted EBA repositories or repositories backed by external S3-compatible providers.
Sendense Controllers live in the recovery or replication target environment. The destination system must have the controller template available before Sendense can provision controllers on demand.

Lifecycle Ownership

SHA

The SHA GUI is the main place administrators configure, operate, update, monitor, and recover the Sendense environment, subject to RBAC, edition, readiness, and provider access policy.

SNA

SNA enrollment uses pairing and approval. After enrollment, SHA coordinates SNA use for backup, recovery, lifecycle, and health workflows.

snagent

SHA creates the host-agent deployment script. After installation on supported CloudStack KVM hosts, SHA manages the agent lifecycle and version promotion.

EBA

SHA provisions EBA repositories and exposes repository health, capacity, retention, immutability, legal hold, cleanup, and recovery-point operations through the appropriate GUI controls.

Sendense Controllers

Customers do not pre-provision controller VMs. Sendense creates one controller per protected VM as VMs are added to controller-backed replication patterns, after the destination template is available.

SCA

For MSPs, access can be customer-led or MSP-led depending on the relationship. For CSPs, provisioning and enrollment are provider-led and designed for automation.

Component Boundaries

SCA does not replace SHA. SHA remains the hub appliance for the customer or tenant environment.
SNA and snagent are separate. SNA is the backup proxy virtual appliance. snagent is a host agent for supported CloudStack KVM hypervisors.
EBA is the Sendense backup storage and recovery-point system, independent of the storage that backs a repository.
EBA-ST is part of the backup proxy data path. snagent is required for qualified QCOW NFS, ZFS, and LINSTOR DRBD host-assisted modes, but not for ordinary RAW Block full-source-read protection or repository deduplication.
Sendense Controllers are DR target appliances. They are not general backup proxies and are not used for ordinary EBA full VM restore.