Backing up virtual machines
This topic applies to NetBackup for VMware.
Virtual machine backups initiate from a NetBackup policy. You can start the backup manually from a policy, or have it run automatically according to a schedule that is defined in the policy.
To create the policy, you can use the Policies utility in the NetBackup Administration Console, or the Policy Configuration Wizard.
See Configuring a VMware policy from the Policies utility.
See Configuring a VMware policy from the Policy Wizard .
For further information on policies and backup schedules, see the "Creating backup policies" chapter of the NetBackup Administrator's Guide, Volume I.
To back up a virtual machine manually from an existing policy
- Click on Policies in the NetBackup Administration Console, right-click on the policy, and click Manual Backup....
The Manual Backup dialog appears.
- Select the type of schedule for the backup.
- Select the clients (virtual machines) to back up.
If the policy was configured for automatic selection of virtual machines, the Clients pane shows the VMware backup host rather than the virtual machines.
- Click OK to start the backup.
- To see the job progress, click Activity Monitor in the NetBackup Administration Console.
It may take a few moments for the job to appear in the Activity Monitor. Do not start another backup if a job does not immediately appear. If the job does not show up after a few moments, close and restart the NetBackup Administration Console.
Note that your VMware backup request launches more than one job. The first job automatically creates and deletes snapshots. This job has a dash (-) in the Schedule column. The second job backs up the virtual machine files from the snapshot.
