vRanger 7.8.1 - User Guide

Using Custom transport selection

Using Custom transport selection

The Custom transport selection option lets you specify both where the actual backup processing activity occurs) and which transport to use. For more information, see VMware backup transport options.

To use the Custom Transport selection:

1	On the Transport Selection page, select Custom transport selection.

This option enables the custom settings.

2	Select where you want the job to occur from the following options:

▪	On this vRanger machine.

▪	On a vRanger VA.

vRanger verifies whether any VAs are configured on the source host. If the host belongs to a cluster, and no host VA is found, vRanger searches for shared VAs on the cluster as well.

If no VA is detected, click Configure Virtual Appliance to add a VA to vRanger. For more information about configuring the VA, see Understanding the vRanger virtual appliance (VA).

 

NOTE: Using the vRanger VA is recommended for scalability and performance.

3	Select which transports the job should attempt from the following options:

▪	Advanced [SAN / HotAdd]

▪

LAN

For more information, see VMware backup transport options.

4	[Optional] If you want your LAN backups to be encrypted, select Use SSL encryption while transferring files over the LAN connection when available.

 

CAUTION: This option causes reduced performance.

5	Click Next.

Configuring backup options

Configuring backup options

The Backup Options page lets you configure additional operations performed during the backup job. The options available depend on the server, or inventory, type you want to back up.

To configure backup options:

1	On the Backup Options page, select your preferences from the options described in the following table.

 

Option	Description	Inventory type
Backup powered on machines only.	If this flag is selected, vRanger checks the status of the VM before it begins a backup. If the VM is not running, it might not have changed significantly since the last backup, making another backup redundant.	• VMware • Hyper-V
Check destination for free space.	This option prompts vRanger to check the destination location to ensure that there is enough space available for the backup file to be written. Because it is not possible to determine how much space is saved by compression, vRanger generates an error if the free space at the destination is less than the combined size of the files belonging to the source server.	• VMware • Hyper-V • Physical
Compress backed up files.	This option prompts vRanger to compress the archive. NOTE: The following repositories do not support compression: Quest NetVault SmartDisk, EMC® Data Domain® (DD Boost™), and Quest RDA.	• VMware • Hyper-V • Physical
Update notes with latest backup results.	If this flag is selected, vRanger updates the VM Notes in VMware® vCenter™ with the most recent backup status. vRanger maintains the existing VM notes in vCenter, appending the backup status to the end.	• VMware
Enable guest quiescing.	This option enables the VMware® Tools when creating a backup. Use this flag if you are backing up a database server. During this process, vRanger freezes or pauses writes on supported applications to provide a consistent image of VSS-enabled databases. For more information, see Application consistency for virtual backups.	• VMware
Enable VSS Application-level quiescing	This option engages the Microsoft VSS to put supported applications into a consistent state during a backup. NOTE: This option is only presented for physical backups. For backups of VMware and Hyper-V® VMs, selecting Enable guest quiescing enables VSS application quiescing if supported by the Guest OS and application.	• Physical
Enable VSS log truncation	This option uses the Microsoft VSS to initiate the truncation of any supported application transaction logs upon a successful backup. NOTE: This option is only presented for physical backups. For backups of VMware and Hyper-V VMs, selecting Enable guest quiescing enables VSS log truncation if supported by the Guest OS and application.	• Physical
Enable Active Block Mapping (ABM)	Selecting this option enables ABM, which lets vRanger skip zeroed out blocks and junk data. NOTE: With this option enabled, deleted data on the source server is not backed up. The following ABM settings options are also available: • Do not include the Windows page file. • Do not include the Windows hibernation file. NOTE: In vRanger 6.1, page files were not backed up by default. In vRanger 7, the page 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 page files.	• VMware • Hyper-V • Physical
Enable Cataloging	Cataloging lets you browse, search, and restore file level content in a backup image. For more information, see Enabling cataloging options.	• VMware • Hyper-V • Physical
Enable Change Block Tracking (CBT)	VMware 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. For more information, see Enabling VMware Changed Block Tracking (CBT)	• VMware

2	Click Next.

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.