vRanger 7.8.1 - Installation/Upgrade Guide

Installing vRanger in a virtual machine (VM)

Installing vRanger in a virtual machine (VM)

When vRanger is installed in a VM, you can perform backups and restores either over the network or in a LAN-free mode which uses the SCSI HotAdd functionality on VMware® ESXi™. The following topics provide a summary of each method. Replication and physical backup tasks are always performed over the network.

 

NOTE: The backup transport method describes only how data is read from the source server, not how the data is sent to the repository.

Available transports

Available transports

The transports available when vRanger is installed in a VM include the following:

•	With vRanger VA:

▪	VA-based HotAdd

▪	VA-based LAN

▪	Machine-based HotAdd

▪	Machine-based LAN

•	Without the vRanger VA:

▪	Machine-based HotAdd

▪	Machine-based LAN

HotAdd backups (VMs only)

HotAdd backups (VMs only)

When vRanger is installed in a VM, LAN-free backups are made possible by the VMware® HotAdd disk transport.

During backups with HotAdd, the source VM’s disks are mounted to the vRanger VM, allowing vRanger direct access to the VM’s data through the VMware I/O stack. Backup processing occurs on the vRanger VM, with the data then being sent to the configured repository.

Requirements for a HotAdd configuration

To use vRanger with HotAdd, vRanger must meet the following requirements:

•	vRanger must be installed in a VM, and that VM must be able to access the target VM’s datastores.

•	All hosts that the vRanger VM could be vMotioned to must be able to see the storage for all VMs that vRanger is configured to back up.

•	You must use a version of VMware vSphere® that supports VMware vSphere Storage APIs - Data Protection (formerly known as vStorage APIs for Data Protection or VADP).

•	When using vRanger with machine based HotAdd to backup encrypted VMs, the vRanger VM must also be encrypted.

•	When using vRanger with VA-based HotAdd to backup and replicate encrypted VMs, the VA must also be encrypted.

Configuring vRanger for HotAdd

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.

To configure vRanger for HotAdd:

1	Click Start > Run, and then enter diskpart.

2	To disable automatic drive letter assignment, run the automount disable command.

3	If you are using a SAN, verify that the SAN policy is set to Online All by typing san and pressing Enter.

If it is not, set it to online all by typing san policy=onlineAll.

4	To clean any registry entries pertaining to volumes that were previously mounted, run the automount scrub command.

LAN backups

LAN backups

vRanger can perform LAN backups one of two ways — either through the vRanger machine, or by using the vRanger VA.

•	VA-based LAN: This option transfers the source VM’s data from the source disk to the vRanger VA over the network using the VMware® VDDK LAN transport. The backup processing activity occurs on the vRanger VA, and then the data is sent to the repository directly.

•

Machine-based LAN: If there is no vRanger VA deployed, vRanger transfers the source VM’s data from the source disk to the vRanger VM over the network. With this method, the backup processing activity occurs on the vRanger server. The backup data flows “direct to target” from the source server to the target repository, which means that the vRanger server does not process the backup traffic.

 

NOTE: Generally, this configuration yields the slowest performance, and should be avoided if possible. A better option is to deploy a VA to any VMware® ESXi™ servers, and use that VA for backup and restore tasks.