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SnapCenter Plug-in for VMware vSphere 6.2

Overview of the different SnapCenter user interfaces

Contributors netapp-jani jani ronya netapp-madhulik
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In your SnapCenter environment, you must use the appropriate user interface to perform data protection and management operations.

SnapCenter Plug-in for VMware vSphere is a standalone plug-in that is different from other SnapCenter plug-ins. You must use the VMware vSphere client user interface in vCenter for all backup and restore operations for VMs, VMDKs, and datastores. You also use the web client user interface Dashboard to monitor the list of protected and unprotected VMs. For all other SnapCenter plug-in (application-based plug-ins) operations like backup and restore and job monitoring, you use the SnapCenter user interface.

To protect VMs and datastores, you use the VMware vSphere client interface. The web client user interface integrates with NetApp snapshot technology on the storage system. This enables you to back up VMs and datastores in seconds and restore VMs without taking an ESXi host offline.

There is also a management user interface to perform administrative operations on the SnapCenter Plug-in for VMware vSphere.

The following table shows the operations that the SnapCenter user interface performs.

Use this user interface… To perform these operations…​ And to access these backups…​

SnapCenter vSphere client user interface

VM and datastore backup
VMDK attach and detach
Datastore mount and unmount
VM and VMDK restore
Guest file and folder restore

Backups of VMs and datastores using the VMware vSphere client user interface.

SnapCenter user interface

Backup and restore of databases and applications on VMs, including protecting databases for Microsoft SQL Server, Microsoft Exchange, and Oracle.
Database clone

Backups performed using the SnapCenter user interface.

SnapCenter Plug-in for VMware vSphere management user interface

Modify the network configuration
Generate a support bundle
Modify NTP server settings
Disable/enable the plug-in

N.A.

vCenter user interface

Add SCV roles to vCenter Active Directory users
Add resource access to users or groups

N.A.

For VM-consistent backup and restore operations, you must use the VMware vSphere client user interface. Although it is possible to perform some operations using VMware tools, for example, mounting or renaming a datastore, those operations will not be registered in the SnapCenter repository and are not recognized.

SnapCenter does not support single snapshots of databases and VMs together. Backups for VMs and databases must be scheduled and run independently, which creates separate snapshots even if the databases and VMs are hosted in the same volume. Application-based backups must be scheduled by using the SnapCenter user interface; VM-consistent backups must be scheduled by using the VMware vSphere client user interface.