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vRanger 7.7.1 - User Guide

Introduction Configuring vRanger
Configuring vRanger through the Startup Wizard Configuring vRanger manually Supplemental instructions: additional repository types
Using vRanger Backup Restore
Restoring a physical server Performing a full restore for VMware VMs Performing a full restore for Hyper-V® VMs Performing a full restore for VMware vApps Performing a full restore of a physical machine Performing an FLR on Windows Performing an FLR on Linux Restoring from manifest
Replicate VMs Reports Integrating and monitoring vRanger Using the vRanger Console vAPI Cmdlet details
Add-BackupJobTemplate Add-CIFSRepository Add-DdbReplicationRepository Add-DdbRepository Add-EsxHost Add-HypervCluster Add-HypervHost Add-HypervRestoreJobTemplate Add-NFSRepository Add-NVSDRepository Add-PhysicalMachine Add-RdaRepository Add-ReplicationJobTemplate Add-RestoreFromManifestJobTemplate Add-RestoreJobTemplate Add-VirtualAppforLinuxFLR Add-VirtualAppforLinuxFLRVA Add-VirtualCenter Disable-Job Dismount-LinuxVolume Enable-Job Get-AddressBook Get-BackupGroupEntity Get-CatalogSearchData Get-CatalogStatus Get-ConfigOption Get-Connection Get-CurrentTemplateVersionID Get-Datastore Get-GlobalTransportFailover Get-InventoryEntities Get-IsInventoryRefreshing Get-Job Get-JobTemplate Get-MonitorLog Get-Network Get-PhysicalMachineDiskMap Get-Repository Get-RepositoryJob Get-RepositorySavePoint Get-RestoreDiskMap Get-SavepointDisk Get-SavepointManifest Get-Savepoints Get-TransportFailover Get-VirtualApplianceConfig Get-VirtualApplianceDeploymentStatus Get-VirtualApplianceReconfigStatus Get-VirtualMachinesUnderInventory Get-VmDisk Get-VMDKVolume Install-VirtualAppliance Mount-LinuxVolume New-BackupFlag New-BackupGroupMember New-Daily Schedule New-EmailAddress New-IntervalSchedule New-MonthlySchedule New-ReplicationFlag New-RestoreFlag New-SMTPServer New-TransportConfiguration New-VirtualAppliance New-WeeklySchedule New-YearlySchedule Remove-AllMount Remove-BackupGroupEntity Remove-BackupGroupMember Remove-Catalog Remove-DdbStorageUnit Remove-JobTemplate Remove-LinuxVolume Remove-Repository Remove-SavePoint Remove-VirtualAppliance Remove-VirtualApplianceConfiguration Run-JobsNow Run-ReplicationFailover Run-ResumeReplicationFailover Run-TestReplicationFailover Set-Cataloging Set-CBTonVM Set-LinuxVolume Set-MountPath Set-Resources Stop-vRangerJob Update-BackupJobTemplate Update-GlobalTransportFailover Update-HypervRestoreJobTemplate Update-Inventory Update-ReplicationJobTemplate Update-RestoreJobTemplate Update-VirtualAppliance Update-VirtualApplianceConfiguration
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VMware backup transport options

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Backup > Reviewing backup transport options > VMware backup transport options

VMware backup transport options

When configuring a backup job, vRanger automatically chooses the fastest option available, but you can also override this selection by configuring a custom transport selection. vRanger chooses from the following transport options, based on your configuration.

HotAdd

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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:

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.
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.

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 disable Automount:
1
Click Start > Run, and enter diskpart.
2
Run the automount disable command to disable automatic drive letter assignment.
3
Run the automount scrub command to clean any registry entries pertaining to previously mounted volumes.
HotAdd limitations

The use of HotAdd for backups is subject to the following limitations:

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.
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.
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

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SAN backups

To perform SAN backups, vRanger must be installed on a physical system attached to your fibre or iSCSI network. In addition, the volumes containing the servers to protect must also be properly zoned and mapped to the vRanger proxy server.

Configuring vRanger for SAN backups

With vRanger installed on a physical proxy server, the following configurations must be made:

Click Start > Run, and then enter diskpart.

Run the automount disable command to disable automatic drive letter assignment.

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

Run the automount scrub command to clean any registry entries pertaining to previously mounted volumes.
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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LAN

If no LAN-free option is available, backups can be processed over the network. LAN backups are supported in all configurations and require no additional set-up to work, but are generally the slowest option. Network backups can be processed one of two ways, depending on the source host configuration.

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.
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.
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