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NetVault Plug-in for VMware 11.1 - User Guide

Introduction Installing the plug-in Configuring the plug-in Defining a backup strategy Using the image-level backup method Using the file-level backup method Restoring image-level backups Restoring file-level backups Troubleshooting

Supported transport modes

The Plug-in for VMware supports the following methods for accessing virtual machine disks:

•
SAN mode
•
HotAdd mode
•
LAN mode
SAN mode

To use the SAN transport mode, the plug-in must be installed on a physical machine.

The SAN transport mode supports virtual machine disks stored on Fibre Channel SAN, iSCSI SAN, or Serial Attached SCSI (SAS) storage devices. This mode allows you to offload backups to a physical NetVault Backup Client.

SAN mode requirements
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With SAN storage, the NetVault Backup Client must have read and write access to the LUNs that contain the VMFS volumes (datastores) with virtual disks or the virtual compatibility RDMs. The NetVault Backup Client must be added to the same fabric zone to which the ESX Server belongs. Moreover, the same host mode (connection type) must be set on the NetVault Backup Client and the ESX Server. For example, if you have an IBM array with the host mode set to LNXCL, the same setting must be used for the NetVault Backup Client.
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To access VMFS datastores through iSCSI, you can use iSCSI initiators that are enabled on the ESXi hosts. The iSCSI initiators allow the host to connect to the iSCSI storage device through dedicated hardware or standard network adapters. For more information about configuring your systems, see the VMware iSCSI setup documentation and vendor-specific documentation.
 
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NOTE: During restores, the SAN transport mode offers the best performance on thick disks. On thin disks, the NBD and NBDSSL transport modes are faster than the SAN mode.

During SAN restores, disable CBT on the virtual machine.

HotAdd mode

To use the HotAdd transport mode, the plug-in must be installed in a virtual machine.

The HotAdd method involves creating a linked clone of the target virtual machine and attaching the virtual disks to the backup proxy, which allows the disks to be read locally. However, these operations incur some overhead on the ESXi host, so the HotAdd mode is not as efficient as the SAN mode.

The HotAdd mode supports all types of storage devices. This mode does not require you to expose SAN LUNs to the NetVault Backup Client.

HotAdd mode requirements
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To use the SCSI HotAdd mode, the backup proxy virtual machine must reside on the same datacenter as the target virtual machines (the virtual machines that you want to back up).
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The ESXi Server that hosts the backup proxy must have access to the datastores on which the backup proxy and target virtual machines reside.
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The virtual machines must use SCSI controller; the HotAdd mode does not support IDE and SATA controllers. The HotAdd mode only supports LSI SCSI controller; it does not support Paravirtual SCSI controllers.
LAN mode

To use the LAN mode, the plug-in can be installed either on a physical machine or in a virtual machine.

The LAN mode uses the Network Block Device (NBD) or NBDSSL protocol to access virtual disks. The ESX Server host reads data from the storage device, and sends the read data across a network channel to the plug-in. The NBD transport mode performs unencrypted data transfers and can be used if the ESX/ESXi Server and Plug-in for VMware reside on a secure isolated network. NBD is faster than NBDSSL, and takes fewer resources on the ESX Server and backup proxy. The NBDSSL transport mode uses SSL to encrypt all data passed over the TCP connection and can be used to protect sensitive data.

The LAN transport mode supports all types of storage devices. You can use the LAN transport mode if the ESX/ESXi Server uses local storage devices or NAS to store its virtual machine disks.

LAN mode requirements

To use secure communication channels (NBDSSL), enable SSL certificate verification in your virtual environment. This option is disabled by default.

Configuring default settings

To configure the default settings for Plug‑in for VMware
1
In the navigation pane, click Create Backup Job, and then click Create New next to the Selections list.
2
Open the NetVault Backup Client on which the plug-in is installed.
3
Select VMware Plugin, and in the Actions list, click Configure.
 
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NOTE: You can also configure the default settings from the Change Settings page:
1
In the Navigation pane, click Change Settings.
2
If the plug-in is installed on the NetVault Backup Server, click Server Settings.
— or —
If the plug-in is installed on a NetVault Backup Client, click Client Settings; in the clients table, select the client, and click Next.
3
Under Plugins, click Plugin Options.
4
Under Plug-in for VMware, configure the following settings.
 
Table 2. Default settings for Plug‑in for VMware
Option
Description

Transport Mode

Select the transport mode for accessing virtual machine disks. The supported modes are:

•
SAN
•
HotAdd
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NBD or NBDSSL

For more information about transport modes, see Supported transport modes.

To automatically use the most suitable transport mode, select Auto. On new plug-in installations, the Auto transport mode is selected by default.

Fallback Transport Mode

In the Fallback Transport Mode list, select the transportation mode that is used when the primary transportation mode fails. The available options are nbd, nbdssl, and none. If no alternative is available, select none.

On new plug-in installations, the fallback transport mode is set to nbd by default.

On upgrade installations, the fallback transport mode is set to nbdssl if the mode was set to san or hotadd mode before upgrade.

Default Inventory View

The Plug-in for VMware provides two View Types to browse the VMware inventory objects on the NetVault Backup Selections page:

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Hosts and Clusters: The Hosts and Clusters view is the default inventory view for the Plug‑in for VMware.
The Hosts and Clusters view provides a hierarchical view of the hosts, clusters, and their child objects. In a cluster setup managed by a vCenter Server, the virtual machines are displayed under the Cluster node. In a standalone ESX Server setup, the virtual machines are displayed under the individual hosts.
The Hosts and Clusters view does not display the folders created on the vCenter Server.
•
VMs and Templates: The VMs and Templates view provides a flat view of all virtual machines and templates in the inventory; the virtual machines are grouped by Datacenters and folders.
NOTE: To switch between the two views, select the ESX/ESXi or vCenter Server on the NetVault Backup Selections page, and in the Actions list, click Toggle Inventory View. This option is only available when the server node is open.

Progress Statistics Update Interval

This setting determines the interval at which the plug-in updates progress statistics on the Monitor Job page. The default value for this option is 10 seconds. To change the default interval for progress updates, type or select a new value. The progress interval is specified in number of seconds.

NOTE: Frequent progress updates can have a negative impact on the performance of the plug-in.

Read Block Size

This setting specifies the number of disk sectors to read or write per operation. The default value is 65536 sectors (one sector = 512 bytes; 65536 sectors = 32MiB). Setting a large block size for read and write operations can improve backup performance.

Working Directory

The Working Directory is used for the following purposes:

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To mount virtual machine volumes during file-level browse and backup operations.
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To store the data temporarily while restoring legacy backup savesets created with Plug‑in for VMware 1.x.

The default path for the Working Directory is <NetVault Backup home>\tmp on Windows and <NetVault Backup home>/tmp on Linux. To change the location, specify the full path. If you specify a path that does not exist, the plug-in automatically creates it on the NetVault Backup machine.

5
Click OK or Apply to save the settings.

Enabling or disabling CBT on virtual machines

This section includes the following topics:

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About CBT
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Enabling CBT on individual virtual machines
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Disabling CBT on a virtual machine
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Manually disabling CBT on a virtual machine

About CBT

The VMware Changed Block Tracking (CBT) feature allows virtual machines to keep track of changed disk sectors. When CBT is enabled on a virtual machine, a “Change ID” is assigned to each disk when a snapshot is generated for backups. The Change ID identifies the state of a virtual disk at a specific point in time. Subsequent snapshots capture only the blocks that have changed since the last snapshot.

CBT offers the following advantages:

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It allows Incremental and Differential image-level backups of virtual machines.
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It often reduces the backup size of Full image-level backups because only the used sectors of a virtual disk are backed up.

CBT is only supported on virtual machines that use virtual hardware 7 or later. CBT is not supported on virtual machines that use Physical compatibility RDM virtual disks, Virtual compatibility RDM (Independent Disks), or Virtual disks attached to a shared virtual SCSI bus.

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