Create an intelligent VM group

You can create an intelligent VM group based on a set of filters called queries. NetBackup automatically selects virtual machines based on the queries and adds them to the group. You can then apply protection to the group. Note that an intelligent group automatically reflects changes in the VM environment and eliminates the need to manually revise the list of VMs in the group.

Note:

This procedure requires the backup administrator role.

To create an intelligent VM group

On the left, click VMware.
Click the Intelligent VM groups tab and then click + Add.
Enter a name and description for the group.
Select the appropriate VMware server.
Perform one of the following:
- Select Include all VMs.
  This option uses a default query to select all VMs that currently reside in the vCenter or ESXi for backup when the protection plan runs.
- To select only the VMs that meet specific conditions, create your own query: Click Add condition.
To add a condition, use the drop-downs to select a keyword and operator and then enter a value.
The options are described after this procedure: Query options for creating intelligent VM groups.
The following is an example query:
In this example, the query adds to the group any VM that has prod in its display name.
To change the effect of the query, click + Condition and click AND or OR, then select the keyword, operator, and value for the condition. For example:
This example uses AND to narrow the scope of the query: it selects only the VMs that have prod in their display name and that also have a tag named eng. If a VM does not have prod in its display name as well as a tag named eng, that VM is not added to the group.
To broaden the scope of the query, use OR:
In this example, OR causes the query to add the following to the group:
- The VMs that have prod in their display name (regardless of any tags).
- The VMs that have a tag named eng (regardless of the display name).
You can also add sub-queries to a condition, if necessary. Click + Sub-query and click AND or OR, then select the keyword, operator, and value for the sub-query condition. For example:
In this example, the sub-query causes the query to narrow the scope further. From the VMs that have both prod in their display name and a tag named eng, only the VMs in clusters that start with clust are selected.
To test the query, click Preview.
Note:
The query-based selection process is dynamic. Changes in the virtual environment can affect which VMs the query selects when the protection plan runs. As a result, the VMs that the query selects later when the protection plan runs may not be identical to those currently listed in the preview.
Note:
The discovery of VMs in the VMware server occurs at set intervals according to the VMWARE_AUTODISCOVERY_INTERVAL option. (The default interval is every 8 hours.) The web UI must discover the VMs on each server before the query can select from them. If a VMware server was recently added in the web UI, its VMs may not have been discovered. More information about this option is available:
See VMWARE_AUTODISCOVERY_INTERVAL option for NetBackup servers.
To discover the VMs immediately:
See Discover VMware server assets manually.
To save the group without adding it to a protection plan, click Add.
To save and add it to a protection plan, click Add and protect, select the plan, and click Protect.
Note:
When you click Preview or you save the group, the query options are treated as case-sensitive when the VMs are selected for the group. Under Virtual machines, if you click on a VM that was not selected for the group, the Member of virtual machine groups field reads none.
However, when you add the group to a protection plan, some of the query options are treated as case-insensitive when the protection plan's backup runs. As a result, the same VM may now be included in the group and is backed up.
For the case behavior of each option, see Query options for creating intelligent VM groups.

Query options for creating intelligent VM groups

Table: Query keywords

Keyword	Description
cluster	The name of the cluster (group of ESXi servers) where the VMs reside. Not case-sensitive when the protection plan runs.
datacenter	The name of the datacenter. Not case-sensitive when the protection plan runs.
datastore	The name of the datastore. Case-sensitive when the protection plan runs.
displayName	The VM's display name. Case-sensitive when the protection plan runs.
host	The name of the ESXi server. The ESXi host name must match the name as defined in the vCenter server. Not case-sensitive when the protection plan runs.
tag	The name of the VM's tag. Case-sensitive when the protection plan runs.
dnsName	The VM's DNS name in vSphere Client. Not case-sensitive when the protection plan runs.
hostName	The VM name that is derived from a reverse lookup of its IP address. Not case-sensitive when the protection plan runs.
instanceUuid	The VM's instance UUID. For example: `501b13c3-52de-9a06-cd9a-ecb23aa975d1` Not case-sensitive when the protection plan runs.

Table: Query operators

Operator	Description
Starts with	Matches the value when it occurs at the start of a string. For example: If the value you enter is `box`, this option matches the string `box_car` but not `flatbox`.
Ends with	Matches the value when it occurs at the end of a string. For example: If the value you enter is `dev`, this option matches the string `01dev` but not `01dev99` or `devOP`.
Contains	Matches the value you enter wherever that value occurs in the string. For example: If the value you enter is `dev`, this option matches strings such as `01dev`, `01dev99`, `devOP`, and `development_machine`.
=	Matches only the value that you enter. For example: If the value you enter is `VMtest27`, this option matches `VMTest27` (same case), but not `vmtest27`, `vmTEST27`, or `VMtest28`.
!=	Matches any value that is not equal to the value that you enter.

Create an intelligent VM group

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