Before you begin installation of the Plug-in for VMware vSphere, you should be familiar with the host and privilege requirements.
- You must have SnapCenter admin privileges to install and manage the SnapCenter GUI.
- You must install the Plug-in for VMware vSphere on a Windows host (virtual host or physical host).
The Plug-in for VMware vSphere must be installed on a Windows host regardless of whether you use the plug-in to protect data on Windows systems or Linux systems.
Best Practice: We recommend that you install the Plug-in for VMware vSphere on either the SnapCenter Server host or on a dedicated Windows host.
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Note: If you install the Plug-in for VMware vSphere on the SnapCenter Server host, the SnapCenter Plug-in for Microsoft Windows is automatically installed to support SnapCenter repository backup operations using PowerShell cmdlets. You cannot use any other features of this instance of the Plug-in for Windows.
- When installing a plug-in on a Windows host, if you specify a Run As account that is not built-in or if the Run As user belongs to a local workgroup user, you must disable UAC on the host.
- Do not install the Plug-in for VMware vSphere on the vCenter Server appliance.
You must not install the Plug-in for VMware vSphere on the vCenter Server appliance, which is a Linux host. You can only install the Plug-in for VMware vSphere on Windows hosts.
- You must not install other plug-ins on the host on which the Plug-in for VMware vSphere is installed.
- You must not install the Plug-in for VMware vSphere in a folder that has a name with special characters.
The folder name for the Plug-in for VMware vSphere should not contain the following special characters: $!@#%^&()_+{}';.,*?"<>|
- You must install and register a separate, unique instance of the Plug-in for VMware vSphere for each vCenter Server.
- Each vCenter Server, whether or not it is in Linked Mode, must be paired with a separate instance of the Plug-in for VMware vSphere.
- Each instance of the Plug-in for VMware vSphere must be installed on a separate Windows host. One instance can be installed on the SnapCenter Server host.
- vCenters in Linked Mode must all be paired with the same SnapCenter Server.
For example, if you want to perform backups from six different instances of the vCenter Server, then you must install the Plug-in for VMware vSphere on six hosts (one host can be the SnapCenter Server host) and each vCenter Server must paired with a unique instance of the Plug-in for VMware vSphere.
- The Plug-in for VMware vSphere provides limited support of shared PCI or PCIe devices (for example, NVIDIA Grid GPU) due to a limitation of the virtual machines in supporting Storage vMotion. For more information, see the vendor's document Deployment Guide for VMware.
- What is supported:
- Creating resource groups
- Creating backups without VM consistency
- Restoring a complete VM when all the VMDKs are on a NFS datastore and the Plug-in for VMware vSphere does not need to use Storage vMotion.
For more information, see the data protection documentation for the Plug-in for VMware vSphere for a description of how restore operations are performed.
Protecting VMs and datastores
- Attaching and detaching VMDKs
- Mounting and unmounting datastores
- Guest file restores
- What is not supported:
- Creating backups with VM consistency
- Restoring a complete VM when one or more VMDKs are on a VMFS datastore.
- The Plug-in for VMware vSphere does not support IPv6, VMware vSphere Thick Clients, Windows dynamic disks, or the VMware RUC tool.
- You do not have to install the Plug-in for VMware vSphere in the following scenarios:
- Your SQL Server environment uses an in-guest iSCSI initiator.
- Your Oracle environment uses NFS or an in-guest iSCSI initiator.
- You must have installed PowerShell 4.0 or later.
If the host from which you are installing is running Windows 2008 R2, then you must independently install Windows Management Framework (WMF) 4.0 or later for PowerShell 4.0. For machines running Windows 2012 and later, PowerShell 4.0 is installed by default.
- You must have installed Microsoft Net 4.5.2 or later.
- You must have VMware Tools installed and running to perform the following:
- Guest file restore operations
- Any backups using a policy that is configured for VM consistent backups (VM consistent backups require VMware Tools to quiesce the VM file systems)
- You must have turned on Windows message queuing.
- NFS 4.1 configured with Kerberos authentication on ESXi and storage is not supported. pNFS is not supported.