Introduction
vRanger overview
Configuring vRanger
Configuring vRanger through the Startup Wizard
Using vRanger
Opening the Startup Wizard
Adding and selecting a license
Adding vCenter and host information
Adding Hyper-V System Center VMM, cluster, and host information
Selecting hosts for licenses
Adding a physical machine
Selecting physical machines for licenses
Deploying and configuring the VA from the Startup Wizard
Adding a repository
Setting up the SMTP server
Adding an email address
Configuring vRanger manually
Adding a vCenter
Adding a vCloud Director
Adding an ESXi server
Adding a Hyper-V System Center VMM, cluster, or host
Adding a physical server
Adding a repository
Managing repository replication
Supplemental instructions: additional repository types
Configuring a repository for automatic replication
Scheduling repository synchronization
Disabling repository replication
Changing a replication repository to a primary repository
Configuring an SMTP server
Configuring display language
Configuring a virtual appliance (VA)
Importing a license file
Managing VM host licensing
Managing physical machine licensing
Managing job configuration settings
Enabling cataloging options
Managing Transport Failover options
Configuring the number of times a backup process tries to run
Adding an NFS repository
Adding a NetVault SmartDisk repository
Adding an EMC Data Domain Boost (DD Boost) repository
Adding a Quest Rapid Data Access (RDA) repository
Adding a Quest DR Series system as an RDA repository
Configuring repository replication
Removing a Quest Rapid Data Access (RDA) repository
Adding a Quest DR Series system as a CIFS repository
Adding a Quest DR Series system as an NFS repository
Understanding the vRanger virtual appliance (VA)
The VA scratch disk
Strategies for sizing the scratch disk
Options for a smaller scratch disk
The scratch disk on the source host
Scratch disk location
Deploying the VA by using the Virtual Appliance Deployment Wizard
Starting the Virtual Appliance Deployment Wizard
Selecting a VA host
Selecting a VM Folder
Select a Computing Resource
Selecting VA deployment options
Configuring the VA IP address
Confirming VA deployment selections
About deploying multiple VAs
Changing the VA configuration
Configuring VA networking
Disabling Distributed Resource Scheduler (DRS) for the vRanger VA
Main toolbar
My Inventory view
Backup
My Inventory pane
My Jobs view
My Repositories view
My Reports view
My Inventory pane toolbar and icons
VMware inventory tab
Hyper-V inventory tab
Physical inventory tab
Working Inventory pane
Reviewing backup transport options
Restore
VMware backup transport options
Transport selection order: VM backup
Hyper-V backup transport options
Physical backup transport options
Determining application consistency
Understanding retention policies and space-saving technologies
Performing optional configurations
Enabling VMware Changed Block Tracking (CBT)
Adding a custom backup group
Configuring VSS tools for VMware VMs
Configuring a backup job
Starting the Backup Wizard
Excluding VMs
Including hard disks of physical machines or VMs
Selecting a repository
Selecting a backup data transport method for VMware machines
Configuring backup options
Selecting a Retention Policy
Setting the recurrence schedule
Configuring email notifications
Starting the backup job
Restoring an encrypted VMware VM
Performing a full restore for VMware VMs
Replicate VMs
Starting the Restore Wizard
Performing a full restore for Hyper-V® VMs
Starting the Restore Wizard
Selecting a VM Name & Folder
Selecting a Compute Resource
Selecting Storage
Selecting a network
Selecting a restore data transport method for
Configuring restore options
Setting the recurrence schedule
Configuring email notifications
Starting the restore job
Starting the Restore Wizard
Selecting a Destination
Selecting a network
Configuring restore options
Setting the recurrence schedule
Configuring email notifications
Starting the restore job
Performing a full restore for VMware vApps
Starting the Restore Wizard
Selecting a destination
Selecting a restore data transport method
Configuring restore options
Setting the recurrence schedule
Configuring email notifications
Starting the restore job
Performing a full restore of a physical machine
Creating the boot media
Performing an FLR on Windows
Performing an FLR on Linux
Restoring from manifest
Creating the boot media
Booting the target server
Booting into the restore environment using static IP
Selecting a savepoint
Mapping disks
Setting the recurrence schedule
Configuring email notifications
Starting the restore job
Performing a full restore from manifest for VMware VMs
Creating a restore job
Selecting a savepoint from the manifest
Selecting a VM Name & Folder
Selecting a Compute Resource
Selecting Storage
Selecting a network
Selecting a transport method
Configuring restore options
Setting the recurrence schedule
Configuring email notifications
Starting the restore job
Performing a full restore from manifest for Hyper-V VMs
Creating a restore job
Selecting a savepoint from the manifest
Selecting a destination
Selecting a network
Configuring restore options
Setting the recurrence schedule
Configuring email notifications
Starting the restore job
Performing a full restore from manifest for a physical machine
Creating the boot media
Booting the target server
Creating a restore job
Selecting a savepoint from the manifest
Mapping disks
Setting the recurrence schedule
Configuring email notifications
Starting the restore job
Performing FLR from manifest
How replication works
Replication modes
Reports
Integrating and monitoring vRanger
Replication with Changed Block Tracking (CBT)
Differential replication
Configuring transport failover options
Pre-seeding replication jobs
Creating a replication job
Using replication failover
Performing vRanger sweep-to-tape using Quest NetVault Backup
Using the vRanger Console
vAPI Cmdlet details
Performing vRanger sweep-to-tape using Quest NetVault Backup
Monitoring vRanger
Ensuring that system requirements are met
Checking the list of prerequisites
Preparing the systems
Preparing for vRanger sweep-to-tape using NetVault Backup
Performing backup operations
Performing restore operations
Using deduplication with Quest NetVault SmartDisk and vRanger
Using Data Domain and vRanger repositories
HotAdd
vRanger includes support for the VMware® HotAdd disk transport functionality, which permits LAN-free backups from a VM.
vRanger can use HotAdd for two backup methods:
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VA-based HotAdd: Mounts the source VM’s disk to the vRanger virtual appliance (VA) deployed on the source host or cluster. This method lets vRanger have direct access to the VM data through the VMware I/O stack rather than the network. |
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Machine based HotAdd: If vRanger is installed in a VM, this method mounts the source VM’s disk to the vRanger VM. This method lets vRanger have direct access to the VM data through the VMware I/O stack rather than the network. With this method, the backup processing activity occurs on the vRanger server. |
To use vRanger with HotAdd, the VM — either the vRanger VA or the vRanger VM — must be able to access the target VM’s datastores. In addition, all hosts to which the vRanger VM or VA could be vMotioned using VMware vSphere® vMotion® must be able to see the storage for all VMs that vRanger is configured to back up.
When using HotAdd, make sure to disable Automount on the vRanger machine. This step prevents Windows® on the vRanger VM from assigning a drive letter to the target VMDK.
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Run the automount disable command to disable automatic drive letter assignment. |
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Run the automount scrub command to clean any registry entries pertaining to previously mounted volumes. |
The use of HotAdd for backups is subject to the following limitations:
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VMFS Block Size: To use HotAdd, the VMFS containing the source VM and the VMFS containing the vRanger VM must use the same block size. For example, if you back up a virtual disk on a datastore with 1 MB blocks, the proxy must also be on a datastore with 1 MB blocks. For more information, see the VMware® VDDK 1.2.1 Release Notes at http://www.vmware.com/support/developer/vddk/VDDK-1.2.1-Relnotes.html#knownissues. |
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HotAdd and the vRanger VM: You cannot use HotAdd to back up the vRanger VM. This issue might result in the vRanger volume being removed from the VM along with the source VMDK. For more information, see the VMware VDDK 1.2.1 Release Notes at http://www.vmware.com/support/developer/vddk/VDDK-1.2.1-Relnotes.html#knownissues. |
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Mixed mode clusters are not supported for HotAdd. For example, a VM on a VMware® ESXi™ 6.0 host cannot HotAdd a disk from an ESXi 5.1 host. |
SAN backups
With vRanger installed on a physical proxy server, the following configurations must be made:
Run the automount disable command to disable automatic drive letter assignment.
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Verify that the SAN policy is set to Online All by typing san and hitting Enter. |
If it is not, set it to online all by typing san policy=onlineAll.
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Run the automount scrub command to clean any registry entries pertaining to previously mounted volumes. |
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Only one proxy should see a set of LUNs at one time. For backups only, The proxy server should only have read-only access to the LUNs. To perform LAN-free restores, ensure that the vRanger server has Read + Write access to any zoned LUNs to which you want to restore. |
LAN
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VA-based LAN: Transfers the source VM’s data from the source disk to the vRanger virtual appliance (VA) over the network. With this method, the backup processing activity occurs on the VA. |
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Machine-based LAN: If there is no vRanger VA deployed, vRanger transfers the source VM’s data from the source disk to the vRanger server over the network. With this method, the backup processing activity occurs on the vRanger server. For VMware® ESXi™ servers, data is sent by way of the VMware VDDK transport. |
Transport selection order: VM backup
When backing up VMs or other virtual objects — hosts, clusters, and so on — the vRanger Backup Wizard includes an Automatic option which lets vRanger select the best available method for your configuration. When determining the best transport, vRanger uses two key criteria: