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NetVault Plug-in for VMware 10.5 - 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

Resetting CBT on a virtual machine

During Incremental or Differential backups, if the plug-in is unable to determine the changed disk sectors for a virtual machine, it reports an error (“Failed to determine disk areas to back up”) and backs up the entire disk. When this error occurs, use the following procedure to reset change block tracking for the virtual machine. Before proceeding, delete any existing snapshots of the target virtual machine.
To reset CBT on a virtual machine
1
Start the Backup Job Wizard, and click Create New next to the Selections list.
2
Open the NetVault Backup Client on which plug-in is installed, and then open VMware Plugin.
3
Open the ESX/ESXi or vCenter Server and the other applicable container nodes (for example, Datacenter, Cluster, Resource Pool, and other nodes) to display the target virtual machine.
4
Select the target virtual machine, and in the Actions list, click Reset Change Block Tracking.
This option is available to only those virtual machines on which CBT is enabled.
5
After the virtual machine is reconfigured, a message is displayed. Click OK to close the dialog box.
Important notes
•
When CBT is being reset, no snapshots should exist for the virtual machine. Otherwise, the reset operation fails.
•
If CBT is reset for a virtual machine that is powered off, we recommend that you power on the virtual machine before running a CBT-enabled backup for that virtual machine. If you perform a CBT-enabled backup in the powered off state, the backup may report the following error and fail:
Log message: Failed to determine disk areas to back up.
Log context: A specified parameter was not correct. deviceKey.
•
After CBT is reset for a virtual machine, the next Incremental Backup backs up all blocks for that virtual machine. Subsequent Incremental Backups only back up the disk sectors that have changed.
•
If an error message is displayed while CBT is being reset, check the “Recent Tasks” window on the vSphere Client for any messages that explain why the request failed.

Monitoring job progress

To monitor the progress of a job
1
In the Navigation pane, click Job Status.
2
In the list of jobs, select the applicable job, and click Monitor.
3
On the Monitor Job page, you can view the following information.
•
Job details: This area displays the Job ID, title, phase, instance, client, plug-in, start time, expected completion time, run count, duration, size, and status.
•
Data transfer chart: This area displays the data transfer chart.
•
Job logs: This area displays the log messages.
 

Using the file-level backup method

•
Performing file-level backups
•
Additional notes

Performing file-level backups

To perform a file-level backup
1
In the Navigation pane, click Create Backup Job to start the configuration wizard.
You can also start the wizard from the Guided Configuration link. In the Navigation pane, click Guided Configuration, and then on the NetVault Configuration Wizard page, click Create Backup Jobs.
2
In Job Name, specify a name for the job. Assign a descriptive name that allows you to easily identify the job for monitoring its progress or restoring data.
A job name can contain alphanumeric and non-alphanumeric characters, but it cannot contain non-Latin characters. There is no length restriction. However, a maximum of 40 characters is recommended on all platforms.
3
In the Selections list, select an existing Backup Selection Set, or complete the following steps to create a set.
a
Click Create New to open the NetVault Backup Selections page.
b
Open the NetVault Backup Client on which the plug-in is installed, and then open VMware Plugin
c
Open the applicable ESX/ESXi or vCenter Server. Depending on your inventory view type, do the following:
•
Hosts and Clusters Inventory View: Open the Datacenter, Cluster, Resource Pool, and other nodes to display the available virtual machines.
•
VMs and Templates View: Open the Datacenter and folder nodes to display the available virtual machines.
d
Select the target virtual machine, and in the Actions list, click Mount.
The plug-in tries to obtain a snapshot of the virtual disk files and mount it on the NetVault Backup Client. Depending on the file size of the virtual machine disk files, the mount operation can take a few minutes to complete. When the snapshot is mounted successfully, the following changes occur:
•
A folder is created in the Working Directory (set in the Configure dialog box). This folder is assigned the same name as the selected virtual machine
•
A Drives node is added to the selections tree. This node is displayed under selected virtual machine.
 
 
*NOTE: If the boot disk is not the first disk among the disks attached to a virtual machine when they are arranged in the controller:device order (that is, ide0:0, ide0:1, scsi0:0, scsi0:1, and so on), the mounting operation might fail for the virtual machine.
e
Open the Drives node to display the available drives. Select the drives, or open the nodes further to display the directory tree, and select the files and directories that you want to back up.
 
 
*IMPORTANT: After mounting a virtual machine, if you select the virtual machine node, the job fails. To include all drives in a job, you must select each drive individually.
f
Click Save, and in the Create New Set dialog box, type a name for the set. Click Save to close the dialog box.
 
 
*NOTE: A set name can contain alphanumeric and non-alphanumeric characters, but it cannot include non- English characters. On Linux OS, the names can have a maximum of 200 characters. On Windows OS, there is no length restriction. However, a maximum of 40 characters is recommended on all platforms.
4
In the Plugin Options list, select an existing Backup Options Set, or complete the following steps to create a set.
a
Click Create New to open the File System Plugin Backup Options page.
 
 
*IMPORTANT: On Windows, when you create a Backup Options Set for file-level backups, you must use the default set “Default Backup Options for 'File System' — VMware Plugin - Windows” as the template. If you use any other set as the template, the backup may fail.
b
Configure the following settings.
 
Table 1. Backup options for Plug-in for FileSystem
Option
Description
Backup Type
Select the applicable option from the following:
•
Full
•
Incremental
•
Differential
For more information about file-level backup types, see File-level backups.
Create Dump Type Backup
To create Dump Type Incremental or Differential Backups, select this check box. With these backups you can only restore those files that were backed up in a particular Incremental or Differential Backup.
Check For Files Being Modified During Backup
To mark the files that are being modified during a backup as “in flux,” leave this check box selected. During restore, these files are not restored by default. To restore these files, you must set the option Restore Files Modified During Backup on the Restore Options Set.
If you do not want to check for files that are being updated during backup, clear this check box.
Enable Restartable Backup
To add the ability to stop a job and resume it later from that point, select this check box.
When you stop the job, the plug-in generates an index for all items that have been processed up to that point and writes the index to the backup media and NetVault Database. When you restart the job later, the plug-in runs an Incremental Backup job to back up the remaining files and folders.
You can stop and resume a job from the Job Status page. For more information, see the Dell NetVault Backup Plug-in for FileSystem User’s Guide.
Path to Backup Log
To generate a backup log file, type the filename. The log provides a list of files that are selected for the backup. The files that are backed up successfully are marked with an “o” and the others are marked with an “x.” You can use this option with an Incremental Backup to determine which new or changed files have been backed up. If you specify an existing filename, the plug-in overwrites the file. The log file is created in CSV file format, and includes details such as file size, date modified, and file type.
c
Click Save, and in the Create New Set dialog box, type a name for the set.
5
Select or create the Schedule Set, Target Set, and Advanced Options Set. For more information about these sets, see the Dell NetVault Backup Administrator’s Guide.
6
To submit the job for scheduling, click Save & Submit. You can monitor the job progress from the Job Status page and view the logs from the View Logs page.
To save the job definition without scheduling it, click Save. You can view, edit, or run this job from the Manage Job Definitions page. This job is not displayed on the Job Status page until you submit it.
For more information about Job Status, View Logs, and Manage Job Definitions, see the Dell NetVault Backup Administrator’s Guide.
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