vRanger 7.6.4 - User Guide

Selecting a Retention Policy

Selecting a Retention Policy

The Retention Policy Selection page lets you configure the type of backup to perform — full, incremental, or differential — and the minimum number of savepoints to keep for each VM. For more information about retention policies, see Understanding retention policies and space-saving technologies.

 

IMPORTANT: For backup jobs configured to use a replicated repository, the chosen retention policy is applied to both the source and target repositories. For more information, see Managing repository replication.

vRanger offers three methods of backing up data while reducing the storage footprint and network load of VM backups.

To create a backup job, complete one of the following procedures:

•	Creating a full backup job

•	Creating an incremental backup job

•	Creating a differential backup job

Creating a full backup job

Creating a full backup job

For full backups, vRanger performs a full scan and copy of the source VM. Full backup jobs can be modified with the following operations:

•

Active Block Mapping (ABM): ABM scans the disks on a VM and detects the blocks actively used by the disk, as opposed to blocks that were deleted by the Windows® operating system. With ABM enabled, vRanger only backs up that part of a virtual disk that has active data on it. ABM also provides the following settings options:

▪	Do not include the Windows page file.

▪	Do not include the Windows hibernation file.

 

NOTE: In vRanger 6.1, page files and hibernation files were not backed up by default. In vRanger 7, page and hibernation files are backed up by default. If you are upgrading to vRanger 7 from version 6.1, page files are backed up unless you edit each job and explicitly select the option to skip the page file or hibernation file, or both. ABM does not back up deleted data. If a VM backed up using ABM is restored, undelete operations are not possible.

To create a full backup job:

1	On the Retention Policy Selection page, use the up and down arrows to select your Savepoint Count — the default is 7.

2	In the Space Saving Technology section, select None.

3	Click Next.

Creating an incremental backup job

Creating an incremental backup job

For incremental backups, vRanger performs a full scan of the source VM, but copy only blocks that have changed since the last backup.

Incremental backups are typically the fastest backup option and consume less storage space per archive. It is important to note, however, that to restore from an incremental backup, each incremental archive between the full backup and the preferred restore point must be available. When creating incremental backup schedules, use caution to minimize the risk introduced by long incremental chains.

Restoring an incremental backup can take longer than restoring a full or differential backup, because each previous incremental archive needs to be restored as well.

Incremental backups can be modified with the following operations:

•

Active Block Mapping (ABM): ABM scans the disks on a VM and detects the blocks actively used by the disk, as opposed to blocks that were deleted by the Windows® operating system. With ABM enabled, vRanger only backs up the part of a virtual disk that has active data on it. ABM also provides the following settings options:

▪	Do not include the Windows page file.

▪	Do not include the Windows hibernation file.

 

NOTE: In vRanger 6.1, page files and hibernation files were not backed up by default. In vRanger 7, page and hibernation files are backed up by default. If you are upgrading to vRanger 7 from version 6.1, page files are backed up unless you edit each job and explicitly select the option to skip the page file or hibernation file, or both.

 

CAUTION: ABM does not back up deleted data. If a VM backed up using ABM is restored, undelete operations are not possible.

•

Changed Block Tracking (CBT): CBT reduces the time needed for incremental and differential backups by only backing up the portions of a disk that have changed since the last backup. By determining which blocks changed within the VMDK file, vRanger only backs up the portions of a disk that have changed since the last backup. This often results in shorter durations for backup operations, and reduced resource consumption on network and storage elements.

 

NOTE: CBT does copy deleted blocks if ABM is not also enabled. CBT is a VMware® feature, and does not apply to physical machine or Hyper-V® VM backup.

For more information about selecting the ABM and CBT operations, see Configuring backup options.

To create an incremental backup job:

1	On the Retention Policy Selection page, select your Savepoint Count — the default setting is 7, the maximum value is 1000.

2	In the Space Saving Technology section, select Incremental.

The Options section appears.

3	Configure your incremental options by selecting one the following:

▪	Threshold Count: This option defines the number of incremental backups to perform before a full backup is done.

Use the up and down arrows to select a threshold count — the default is 6.

▪	Full Backup Days: Select the day or days on which you want vRanger to take a full backup of the server.

 

NOTE: To run full backups only on the selected days, the Threshold Count must be set to a value of 8 or higher. A threshold count of 7 or less causes a full backup to run seven days from the date the job is scheduled, even if that day is not a selected day.

4	Click Next.

Creating a differential backup job

Creating a differential backup job

For differential backups, vRanger performs a full scan of the source VM, but copies only blocks that have changed since the last Full backup.

Differential backups are typically slower than incrementals and can consume more storage space. They are faster to restore, however, and require only one differential backup and the parent full backup to restore.

Differential backups can be modified with the following operations:

•

Active Block Mapping (ABM): ABM scans the disks on a VM and detects the blocks actively used by the disk, as opposed to blocks that were deleted by the Windows® operating system. With ABM enabled, vRanger only backs up the part of a virtual disk that has active data on it. ABM also provides the following settings options:

▪	Do not include the Windows page file.

▪	Do not include the Windows hibernation file.

 

NOTE: In vRanger 6.1, page files and hibernation files were not backed up by default. In vRanger 7, page and hibernation files are backed up by default. If you are upgrading to vRanger 7 from version 6.1, page files are backed up unless you edit each job and explicitly select the option to skip the page file or hibernation file, or both.

 

CAUTION: ABM does not back up deleted data. If a VM backed up using ABM is restored, undelete operations are not possible.

•

Changed Block Tracking (CBT): CBT reduces the time needed for incremental and differential backups by only backing up the portions of a disk that have changed since the last backup. By determining which blocks changed within the VMDK file, vRanger only backs up the portions of a disk that have changed since the last backup. This often results in shorter durations for backup operations, and reduced resource consumption on network and storage elements.

 

NOTE: CBT copies deleted blocks if ABM is not also enabled. CBT is a VMware® feature, and does not apply to physical machine or Hyper-V® VM backup.

For more information about selecting the ABM and CBT operations, see Configuring backup options.

To create a differential backup job:

1	On the Retention Policy Selection page, select your Savepoint Count — the default setting is 7, the maximum value is 1000.

2	In the Space Saving Technology section, select Differential.

The Options section appears.

3	Configure your incremental options by selecting one the following:

▪	Threshold Count: This option defines the number of incremental backups to perform before a full backup is done.

Use the up and down arrows to select a threshold count — the value is 6.

▪	Full Backup Days: Select the day or days on which you want vRanger to take a full backup of the server.

 

NOTE: To run full backups only on the selected days, the Threshold Count must be set to a value of 8 or higher. A threshold count of 7 or less causes a full backup to run seven days from the date the job is scheduled, even if that day is not a selected day.

▪	The Threshold Size refers to the percentage of the hard disk of a VM that must be captured in differential backups before performing a full backup. Using the Threshold Size value might cause your full backups to be taken on unexpected days.

 

NOTE: The Threshold Size setting is still applied if one or more Full Backup Days are set. To prevent the Threshold Size setting from triggering an unwanted full backup, set the Threshold Size to 100 or higher.

4	Click Next.