Configuring a VMware policy to use hardware snapshots
The following procedure describes how to configure a VMware policy using the NetBackup web UI to create hardware snapshots of the virtual machines that reside on an NFS datastore.
Note:
This feature is not supported with protection plans for VMware. You need to create a VMware policy using the NetBackup web UI to use this feature.
For more information about configuring VMware policies, see the following:
See Configure a VMware policy.
See About automatic virtual machine selection.
Table: Configuration steps and description
Step | Description | Reference |
|---|---|---|
1 | Configure the NetBackup Snapshot Manager server in NetBackup. | NetBackup Snapshot Manager for Data Center Administrator's Guide |
2 | Configure the NAS storage array plug-in. | NetBackup Snapshot Manager for Data Center Administrator's Guide |
3 | Add the VMware backup host to your NetBackup configuration. | |
4 | Configure NetBackup access credentials for the VMware vCenter Server or ESX server. | See Add VMware servers. |
5 | Configure the SLP to use snapshot. | For more details, refer to these chapters in the NetBackup Snapshot Manager for Data Center Administrator's Guide,topic: Configuring storage lifecycle policies for snapshots and snapshot replication. |
6 | Configure a NetBackup VMware policy to perform the operations that are specified in the SLP. |
Only those policy options that are necessary to configure VMware policy to use hardware snapshot of VMs residing on NFS Datastore are listed in the following procedure.
To create a policy to use VM hardware snapshot
- Open the NetBackup web UI.
- On the left, select Protection > Policies.
- Select Add.
- Configure the options on the policy Attributes tab.
Enter a Policy name and from the Policy type list select VMware.
Policy storage: Select the SLP which you want to use and is configured for the snapshot-based protection.
Perform snapshot backups: Enable this option to automatically select other options which are required for the snapshot backup.
Use Accelerator: Select this option to accelerate backup operations.
Note:
To accelerate backups, Backup From Snapshot must be defined in the SLP.
The MSDP storage unit that is used for the Backup From Snapshot operation must be the same as the MSDP storage unit that is used in the Snapshot (or snapshot replication).
- Select Snapshot options.
Perform snapshot backup options: Select Snapshot options to view the configuration parameters:
Snapshot Type: Select the appropriate snapshot type. By default, the Auto option is selected which enables NetBackup to automatically determine the snapshot type to be used for an array snapshot.
Snapshot Manager: Select the NetBackup Snapshot Manager host which communicates with the storage array to perform the snapshot operations.
Note:
To view the list of configured NetBackup Snapshot Manager hosts, users must have the View permission for Snapshot Managers in the RBAC role (Global permissions > NetBackup Management > Snapshot Managers > View).
Maximum Snapshots: Sets the maximum number of Snapshots to be retained at one time. When the maximum is reached, snapshot rotation occurs:
The next snapshot causes the oldest to be deleted. Managed by SLP retention is automatically selected if the Fixed or the Expire after Copy retention is currently selected in the SLP.
Application Consistent Snapshot: This option is enabled by default. In most cases, NetBackup recommends that you keep this option enabled. To allow the SLP to create a backup image from the snapshot, this option must be enabled.
If this option is disabled, data in the virtual machine may not be in a consistent state when the snapshot occurs. The snapshot may not capture all the data in the virtual machine. Also note that the following settings are disabled on the VMware tab: Enable block-level incremental backup, Exclude deleted blocks, Exclude swap and paging files, and Application Protection.
- Select the Schedules tab. To configure the full and the incremental schedule for the backup, select Add.
Note:
To use an incremental schedule, the Enable block-level incremental backup option must be enabled.
- Use the Clients tab to create a query for the automatic selection of virtual machines. The selected VMs must reside on the NFS datastore.
- Use VMware tab to select the virtual machine backup options.
Select Enable block-level incremental backup option to perform block level incremental backups.
Note:
The Transport modes are not supported and are disabled. NetBackup uses the VMware file transport mode to move the data between the backup host and the storage array.
Note:
Under the Application protection options only Microsoft Exchange and Microsoft SQL Server are supported.
- When the policy configuration is complete, select Create.