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  1. Home
  2. Veritas NetBackup™ for VMware Administrator's Guide
  3. Configure NetBackup policies for VMware
  4. VMware backup options
  5. Primary VM identifier options (VMware)
Veritas NetBackup™ for VMware Administrator's Guide

Primary VM identifier options (VMware)

This setting specifies the type of name by which NetBackup recognizes virtual machines when it selects them for backup.

The name you use for the Primary VM identifier may have restrictions.

See NetBackup character restrictions for the Primary VM identifier.

Table: Primary VM identifier

Option

Description

VM hostname

The network host name for the virtual machine. (This option is the default.) NetBackup obtains the host name by means of a reverse lookup on the virtual machine's IP address.

Note:

For NetBackup to look up the IP address, the virtual machine must already be turned on.

If no host name can be found, the IPv4 address is used as the host name. In case of an IPv6 address, the field remains blank.

See Preventing browsing delays caused by DNS problems.

VM display name

The name of the virtual machine as displayed in the VMware interface. A display name is assigned to the virtual machine when the virtual machine is created.

When virtual machines are included in a NetBackup policy, restrictions apply to the characters that are allowed in the virtual machine display name.

See NetBackup character restrictions for the Primary VM identifier.

Note:

The restrictions also apply to other vSphere objects, such as floppy image name, parallel port or serial port file name, and CD-ROM ISO name.

Each display name must be unique in your VMware environment.

See NetBackup for VMware: notes and restrictions.

See Restoring individual VMware virtual machine files.

VM BIOS UUID

The ID assigned to the virtual machine when the virtual machine is created. This ID may or may not be unique, depending on whether the virtual machine has been duplicated. This option is included for compatibility with the policies that use the older VM UUID identifier.

VM DNS Name

The VMware DNS Name of the virtual machine. In vSphere Client, this name appears on the virtual machine's Summary tab.

Note:

This name may or may not be associated with the virtual machine's IP address. VMware Tools obtains this name from the host name that is configured in the virtual machine. For further information on this name, refer to the documentation for the guest operating system.

VM instance UUID

The globally unique ID assigned to the virtual machine when the virtual machine is created. This ID uniquely identifies the virtual machine within a vCenter server. Even if the virtual machine has been duplicated (such as within a vCloud), only the original virtual machine retains this instance ID. (The virtual machine duplicates are assigned different instance UUIDs.)

This option is recommended instead of the VM BIOS UUID option.

More Information

VMware backup options

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