vRanger 7.8.1 - User Guide

Starting the Backup Wizard

Starting the Backup Wizard

The first step to creating a vRanger backup job is to select the inventory node — physical server, VMware® vCenter™, host, backup group, and so on — that you want to back up. After selecting the node, you may start the Backup Wizard as described in the following procedures.

You may also create a custom grouping consisting of multiple physical servers or of existing objects from multiple hosts or vCenters. For more information, see Adding a custom backup group. Backup groups are treated the same as any other inventory node when it comes to creating backup jobs.

 

IMPORTANT: A backup group must contain only physical objects, only Hyper-V® objects, or only VMware® objects. You cannot combine VMware, Hyper-V, and physical objects into a single backup group.

To select an inventory node, complete one of the following procedures:

•	Selecting a node in the My Inventory view

•	Selecting a node in the My Jobs view

 

NOTE: If you want to back up more than one node, you need to first create a custom backup group. For more information, see Adding a custom backup group.

Selecting a node in the My Inventory view

Selecting a node in the My Inventory view

When working in the My Inventory view, starting the Backup Wizard creates a job to back up the selected inventory node or backup group. If a node s not selected, the Add icon on the toolbar is disabled.

To select a node in the My Inventory view:

1	In the My Inventory view, click the appropriate tab, VMware, Hyper-V, Physical, or vCloud, and then select the preferred node to select the object or backup group.

 

NOTE: When viewing the vCloud inventory, the only inventory object that can be selected for backup is a vApp.

2	Do one of the following:

▪	Right-click the selected node and select Backup <object name>.

▪	With the preferred inventory node selected, click the Add drop-down menu, and then click Backup Job.

The Backup Wizard starts.

3	In the Job Name field, enter a name for the backup job.

4	[Optional] In the Job Description field, enter a description for the backup job.

5	Click Next.

NOTE: If your selected inventory node contains only one server, skip to Including hard disks of physical machines or VMs. If your selected node contains multiple servers (such as a backup group or host), proceed to Excluding VMs.

Selecting a node in the My Jobs view

Selecting a node in the My Jobs view

You may also start the Backup Wizard from the Scheduled Jobs, On Demand Jobs, and Disabled Jobs node of the My Jobs view. As there should be no inventory object selected, the process is slightly different than when using the My Inventory View.

To select a node in the My Jobs view:

1	In the My Jobs view, click one of the following nodes to enable the Add drop-down menu:

▪	Scheduled Jobs

▪	On Demand Jobs

▪	Disabled Jobs

 

NOTE: The node you select has no bearing on the status of the created job. For example, selecting the Disabled Jobs node does not cause the job to be created in a disabled state.

2	Click the Add drop-down menu, and then click Backup Job.

3	On the Inventory Node Selection page, click the VMware, Hyper-V, Physical, or vCloud tab.

4	Select the node you want to back up.

 

TIP: To back up a custom backup group, expand the Backup Groups pane, and then select the group of nodes displayed.

5	In the Job Name field, enter a name for the backup job.

6	[Optional] In the Job Description field, enter a description for the backup job.

7	Click Next.

Excluding VMs

Excluding VMs

 

NOTE: If you selected a node that includes multiple servers — such as a backup group or host — and multiple VMs, the next page in the Backup Wizard is the Virtual Machine Exclusion page. This page is followed by the Hard Disk Inclusion page. If you selected a single VM or are backing up physical servers, you see only the Hard Disk Inclusion page.

This page of the wizard only appears if you created a job for a node that includes multiple VMs, such as a host or backup group. On this page, you can select individual VMs to exclude from the backup job. For example, if you want to back up all but two of the VMs on a host, you can configure the backup job for the host node. You then use this page to select the two VMs you do not want to include in the job.

To exclude VMs:

1	In the Exclude column on the left, select the VMs you want to exclude from the backup job.

2	Click Next.

On the Virtual Machine Hard Disk Inclusion page, only the VMs included in the backup job appear in the Current Virtual Machines pane.