Virtual machine backup and restore by using the VMware plug-in
Snap Creator supports the backup of VMware virtual machines through the VMware plug-in. Virtual machine backups are taken through the vSphere API on the VMware vCenter server.
For virtual machine backup, you must provide the following details in the configuration file:
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vCenter IP or host name and credentials
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vSphere virtual machines and datastore names
Snap Creator discovers vCenter only if vCenter is configured on the default port (443). |
For the restore operation, you should provide the backup parameters and the Snapshot copy name.
Consider the following when performing the VMware backup and restore processes:
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If a virtual machine is listed and is not available, the plug-in displays an error message. It will not be able to restore a lost virtual machine even if it is backed up.
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If a datastore is listed, all the virtual machines in the datastore are backed up.
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Only the listed virtual machines or virtual machines located in the datastores specified are backed up.
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If a virtual machine selected for backup is contained within a datastore that is also selected for backup, it will be backed up only once.
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The VMware plug-in supports both Network File System (NFS) and VMware Virtual Machine File System (VMFS) datastores.
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Virtual machine restores on an NFS datastore use Single File SnapRestore (SFSR) on the storage system, which avoids host copies.
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To restore a virtual machine on a VMFS datastore, perform the following steps:
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Use FlexClone or LUN clone of the LUN contained in a specific restore Snapshot copy.
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Map it to the cluster.
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Use vCenter API calls to copy contents from the Snapshot copy of the VMFS datastore to the original VMFS datastore.
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