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NetVault Plug-in for VMware 12.3.3 - User Guide

Introducing NetVault Backup Plug-in for VMware 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

Unlocking a virtual machine

You can use the following procedure to unlock a virtual machine from the WebUI.

1
Start the Backup Job Wizard, and click 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 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
Click the applicable virtual machine, and select Unlock Virtual Machine from the context menu.

 

Defining a backup strategy

•
About backup methods and types
•
Data backed up and restored for different disk types
•
Backup and recovery strategy

About backup methods and types

The Plug‑in for VMware supports image-level and file-level backup methods:

•
Image-level backups
•
File-level backups
Image-level backups

Image-level backups use the VMware snapshot technology to provide point-in-time image of virtual machines. You can use these backups to perform the following types of recoveries:

•
Recover a full virtual machine to a previous known state.
•
Restore one or more virtual drives for a virtual machine.
•
Restore individual files and directories to a specified location.
•
Restore virtual machine disk and configuration files to a specified location.

Image-level backups are supported on Linux- and Windows-based virtual machines. These backups can be performed with or without CBT.

Image-level backups with CBT

When CBT is enabled on a virtual machine, the following backup types are supported:

•
Full Backup: A Full Backup provides a backup of all allocated sectors on a virtual drive. Full Backups take longer to complete and consume more backup media. These backups serve as the base backup for future Incremental and Differential image-level backups.
•
Differential Backup: A Differential Backup provides a backup of disk sectors that have changed since the last Full Backup. Differential Backups speed up recovery since the plug-in is only required to restore two savesets.
•
Incremental Backup: An Incremental Backup provides a backup of disk sectors that have changed since the last Full, Differential, or Incremental Backup. Incremental Backups consume minimum storage space and are quicker to perform. However, data recovery can take more time depending on the number of savesets that the plug-in is required to restore.
Image-level backups without CBT

Only Full image-level backups are supported on virtual machines that do not use CBT.

File-level backups

The file-level backup method is only available to Windows-based virtual machines. File-level backups allow you to restore a single file or a set of files. You can use these backups to recover from data loss due to user errors, data corruption, or accidental deletion of files.

 
* 
NOTE: Only the Windows version of the Plug‑in for VMware supports file-level backups of virtual machines.

The plug-in can only mount a virtual machine that uses the same version, or an earlier version, of the OS used by the backup proxy. For example, the plug-in cannot mount a Windows Server 2016 virtual machine that is located on a Windows Server 2012 backup proxy.

The Plug‑in for VMware uses NetVault Backup Plug-in for FileSystem (Plug-in for FileSystem) for file-level backups.

File-level backup types

The Plug‑in for VMware supports the following types of file-level backups:

•
Full Backup: A Full Backup provides a backup of all selected files and folders. Full Backups take longer to complete and consume more backup media. However, restores are faster since the plug-in is only required to restore a single saveset. Full Backups serve as the base backups for subsequent Incremental and Differential Backups
•
Differential Backup: A Differential Backup provides a backup of files that are new or have changed since the last Full Backup. Differential Backups speed up recovery since the plug-in is only required to restore two savesets. However, these backups consume more storage space and take more time to complete than the Incremental Backups. Differential Backups duplicate the data backed up by previous backups of the same type.
•
Incremental Backup: An Incremental Backup provides a backup of files that are new or have changed since the last Full or Incremental Backup. Incremental Backups consume minimum storage space and are quicker to perform. However, data recovery can take more time depending on the number of savesets that the plug-in is required to restore.

Data backed up and restored for different disk types

The Plug‑in for VMware includes the following data in CBT-enabled backups and restores.

 
Table 2. Data backed up and restored for different disk types
Disk Type
CBT-enabled
Full Image
Backups
Incremental/
Differential
Image Backups
Restore of
CBT-enabled
Full Image
Backups
Restore of
Incremental/
Differential
Image Backups

Thin

(Required space supplied and zeroed out on demand.)

Only used disk sectors are backed up.

Only changed disk sectors are backed up.

Only used sectors are restored.

Only used disk sectors are restored. Each sector is restored only once.

Zeroed Thick

(All space allocated at creation time, unused part zeroed out on first write.)

Only used disk sectors are backed up.

Only changed disk sectors are backed up.

Only used sectors are restored.

Only used disk sectors are restored. Each sector is restored only once.

Eager Zeroed Thick

(All space allocated and zeroed out at creation time.)

All disk sectors are backed up.

Only changed disk sectors are backed up.

The entire disk is restored.

The entire disk is restored. Each sector is restored only once.

Virtual Compatibility RDM (Raw Device Mapping)

All disk sectors are backed up.

Only changed disk sectors are backed up.

The entire disk is restored.

The entire disk is restored. Each sector is restored only once.

Network File System (NFS)

All disk sectors are backed up.

Only changed disk sectors are backed up.

The entire disk is restored.

The entire disk is restored. Each sector is restored only once.

 
* 
NOTE: Regardless of the disk provisioning type, image-level Full Backups without CBT back up only the allocated blocks of the disk. Thus, backup of a 20 GB disk that only uses 2 GB results in a backup size of approximately 2 GB backup. If the disk resides on an NFS disk, the entire disk is backed up and the size reflects this.

When you restore a non-CBT backup, all blocks are restored and allocated. After a disk is restored from a non‑CBT backup, subsequent CBT-enabled Full Backups back up the entire disk.

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