About automatic virtual machine selection for NetBackup for VMware
Instead of manually selecting the virtual machines for backup, you can configure NetBackup to automatically select virtual machines based on a range of criteria. You specify the criteria (rules) in the Query Builder on the NetBackup policy Clients tab. NetBackup creates a list of the virtual machines that currently meet the rules and adds those virtual machines to the backup.
This feature is called the VMware Intelligent Policy.
Automatic selection of virtual machines has the following advantages:
Simplifies the policy configuration for sites with large virtual environments.
You do not need to manually select virtual machines from a long list of hosts: NetBackup selects all the virtual machines that meet the selection rules in the policy's Query Builder.
Allows the backup list to stay up-to-date with changes in the virtual environment.
Eliminates the need to revise the backup list whenever a virtual machine is added or removed.
Virtual machine selection takes place dynamically at the time of the backup.
Examples of automatic virtual machine selection are the following:
Table: Examples for automatic virtual machine selection
Example | Description |
|---|---|
Add new virtual machines | At the next backup, the policy can automatically discover the virtual machines that have recently been added to the environment. If the virtual machines match the query rules that you configure in the policy, they are automatically backed up. |
Limit the backup list to the virtual machines that are currently turned on | If some of your virtual machines are occasionally turned off, NetBackup can be configured to automatically exclude those from the backup list. Among the virtual machines it discovers, NetBackup backs up only the virtual machines that are turned on. |
Back up virtual machines based on physical boundaries | Examples of physical boundaries are vCenter servers, ESX servers, datastores, and clusters. For example, a query rule can select all the virtual machines in a particular ESX server, so the policy backs up only those virtual machines. |
Back up virtual machines based on logical boundaries | Examples of logical boundaries are folders, vApps, templates, and resource pools. For example, a query rule can select all the virtual machines in a particular folder, so the policy backs up only those virtual machines. |
Back up virtual machines based on VMware tags | NetBackup can include or exclude virtual machines based on the user assigned tags. |