NetBackup™ for VMware Administrator's Guide

Last Published:
Product(s): NetBackup & Alta Data Protection (10.5)
  1. Introduction
    1.  
      About NetBackup for VMware
    2.  
      About the virtual machine backups that include database data
    3.  
      About the NetBackup appliance as a VMware backup host
    4.  
      NetBackup for VMware components
    5.  
      Appliance as backup host: component overview
    6.  
      Media servers as backup or discovery hosts
    7.  
      Overview of the VMware backup process
    8.  
      NetBackup for VMware terminology
  2. Required tasks: overview
    1.  
      Overview of VMware tasks
    2.  
      Overview of NetBackup tasks
  3. Configuring RBAC roles for VMware administrators
    1.  
      RBAC roles for the VMware administrator
    2.  
      Assigning permissions at specific VMware object levels
    3.  
      Create a custom role for a VMware server or datacenter
    4.  
      Create a custom role for an Organization VDC administrator
    5.  
      Create a custom role to manage specific VMs
    6.  
      Manage permissions for a datacenter
    7.  
      Manage permissions for a single VM
    8.  
      Apply RBAC role permissions for a VM to other VMs
  4. Notes and prerequisites
    1.  
      NetBackup for VMware: notes and restrictions
    2.  
      Notes on VMware Virtual Volumes (VVols)
    3.  
      NetBackup IPv6 parameter required for backups in VMware IPv6 environments
    4.  
      NetBackup for VMware: notes on Linux virtual machines
    5.  
      Notes on the NetBackup appliance as a VMware backup host
    6.  
      NetBackup for VMware support for SAN multi-pathing
    7.  
      NetBackup for VMware support for fault tolerant VMs
    8.  
      NetBackup character restrictions for the Primary VM identifier
    9.  
      In the policy Query Builder, display names, resource pool names, and vApp names are case-sensitive
    10.  
      Notes on the hotadd transport mode
    11.  
      Notes and limitations for tag usage in VMware Intelligent Policy queries
    12.  
      Notes and limitations for the backup and restore of VMware tag associations
    13.  
      Notes and limitations for the backup and restore of VMware storage policies
    14.  
      Support for LVM thin pool based volumes
  5. VMware vSphere privileges
    1.  
      About VMware vSphere privileges
    2.  
      VMware vSphere privileges for virtual machine backups
    3.  
      VMware vSphere privileges for a full VM restore
    4.  
      VMware vSphere privileges to create an instant access VM
    5.  
      VMware vSphere privileges for NetBackup plug-in operations
    6.  
      VMware vSphere privileges for instant rollback
    7.  
      VMware vSphere privileges for agentless SFR privileges
    8.  
      VMware vSphere privileges for individual vmdk restore privileges
    9.  
      VMware vSphere privileges for vApp restore and vApp restore to template
    10.  
      Optional permissions for better integration with VMware vSphere
  6. Managing VMware servers
    1. About VMware discovery
      1.  
        Change the autodiscovery frequency of VMware assets
      2.  
        Discover VMware server assets manually
    2. Add VMware servers
      1.  
        Using the VMware Managed Object Browser to verify the server name
    3.  
      Validate and update VMware server credentials
    4.  
      Browse VMware servers
    5.  
      Remove VMware servers
    6.  
      Create an intelligent VM group
    7.  
      Remove an intelligent VM group
    8.  
      Add a VMware access host
    9.  
      Remove a VMware access host
    10. Change resource limits for VMware resource types
      1.  
        VMware resource types and limits
    11.  
      Setting privileges for posting events to vCenter
    12.  
      Authentication token for the NetBackup vSphere plug-ins
    13.  
      Validating VMware virtualization server certificates in NetBackup
  7. Configuring backup policies for VMware
    1.  
      Configure a VMware policy
    2.  
      Limit jobs per policy on the Attributes tab (for VMware)
    3. Backup options on the VMware tab
      1.  
        VMware backup host
      2.  
        Optimizations options (VMware)
      3.  
        Primary VM identifier options (VMware)
      4.  
        Existing snapshot handling options (VMware)
      5.  
        Transport modes options (VMware)
      6.  
        Application protection options (VMware)
      7.  
        VMware - Advanced attributes
      8.  
        Post vCenter events option (VMware advanced attributes)
    4. Exclude disks tab
      1.  
        About the exclude disk options for virtual disk selection
      2.  
        Exclude disks from backups: an example to avoid
      3.  
        Restoring data from the backups that excluded the boot disk or data disks
    5.  
      Browse for VMware virtual machines
    6.  
      Limiting the VMware servers that NetBackup searches when browsing for virtual machines
    7.  
      Virtual machine host names and display names should be unique if VMs are selected manually in the policy
    8.  
      Primary VM identifier option and manual selection of virtual machines
    9.  
      About incremental backups of virtual machines
    10.  
      Configuring incremental backups
    11.  
      Storage Foundation Volume Manager volumes in the virtual machine
  8. Configuring a VMware Intelligent Policy
    1.  
      About automatic virtual machine selection for NetBackup for VMware
    2.  
      Support and use of VMware tag associations
    3.  
      The basics of a NetBackup query rule
    4.  
      Important notes on automatic virtual machine selection
    5.  
      NetBackup requirements for automatic virtual machine selection
    6.  
      Automatic virtual machine selection: Task overview
    7.  
      Options for selecting VMware virtual machines
    8. About the Reuse VM selection query results option
      1.  
        The effect of virtual machine discovery on vCenter
    9.  
      Configure automatic virtual machine selection
    10.  
      Editing an existing query in Basic mode
    11.  
      Using the Query Builder in Advanced mode
    12.  
      AND vs. OR in queries
    13.  
      Examples for the NetBackup Query Builder
    14.  
      The IsSet operator in queries
    15.  
      About selecting virtual machines by means of multiple policies
    16.  
      Order of operations in queries (precedence rules)
    17.  
      Parentheses in compound queries
    18.  
      Query rules for resource pools
    19.  
      Query rules for datacenter folders (host folder)
    20.  
      Query rules for duplicate names
    21.  
      Query rules for tags
    22.  
      Query Builder field reference
    23.  
      Test Query screen for VMware
    24.  
      Test Query: Failed virtual machines
    25.  
      Effect of Primary VM identifier parameter on Selection column in Test Query results
    26.  
      Effect of Primary VM identifier parameter on VM Name column in Test query results
    27.  
      Refreshing the display of virtual environment changes in the Query Builder
    28.  
      Reducing the time required for VM discovery in a large VMware environment
  9. Use Accelerator to back up virtual machines
    1.  
      About the NetBackup Accelerator for virtual machines
    2.  
      Accelerator: full vs. incremental schedules
    3.  
      How the NetBackup Accelerator works with virtual machines
    4.  
      Accelerator notes and requirements for virtual machines
    5.  
      Accelerator forced rescan for virtual machines (schedule attribute)
    6.  
      Accelerator requires the OptimizedImage attribute
    7.  
      Accelerator backups and the NetBackup catalog
    8.  
      Accelerator messages in the backup job details log
    9.  
      About reporting the amount of Accelerator backup data that was transferred over the network
    10.  
      Replacing the Accelerator image size with the network-transferred data in NetBackup command output
  10. Configuring protection plans for VMware
    1. Protect VMs or intelligent VM groups
      1.  
        Schedules
      2.  
        Backup options and Advanced options
      3.  
        Exclude disks from backups
      4.  
        Snapshot retry options
    2.  
      Customize protection settings for a VMware asset
    3.  
      Remove protection from VMs or intelligent VM groups
    4.  
      View the protection status of VMs or intelligent VM groups
  11. Malware scan
    1.  
      Assets by workload type
  12. Instant access
    1.  
      Prerequisites of instant access
    2.  
      Things to consider before you use the instant access feature
    3.  
      Create an instant access VM
    4.  
      Restore files and folders from a VM backup image
    5.  
      Download files and folders from a VM backup image
    6. Instant access Build Your Own (BYO)
      1.  
        Prerequisites of Instant Access Build Your Own (BYO)
      2.  
        Hardware configuration requirement of Instant Access Build Your Own (BYO)
      3.  
        Frequently asked questions
    7.  
      VM malware scan
  13. Instant rollback
    1.  
      Prerequisites of instant rollback
    2.  
      Things to consider before you use the instant rollback feature
    3.  
      Instant rollback from a VM backup image
  14. Continuous data protection
    1.  
      About continuous data protection
    2.  
      CDP terminology
    3.  
      CDP architecture
    4.  
      Prerequisites
    5.  
      Capacity-based licensing for CDP
    6.  
      Steps to configure CDP
    7.  
      Removing VMs from the CDP gateway
    8.  
      Defining the CDP gateway
    9.  
      Sizing considerations
    10.  
      Limiting concurrent CDP backup jobs
    11.  
      Controlling full sync
    12.  
      Monitoring CDP jobs
    13.  
      Using accelerators with CDP
    14.  
      Recovering CDP protected VMs
    15.  
      Some limitations of CDP
    16.  
      Troubleshooting for CDP
  15. Backing up virtual machines
    1.  
      Manually back up virtual machines
    2.  
      Trial backup for VMware
    3.  
      Using the Activity monitor to monitor virtual machine backups
    4.  
      Restarting jobs individually in the Activity monitor
    5.  
      Viewing NetBackup activity in vSphere Client (HTML5)
  16. VM recovery
    1.  
      Restore notes and restrictions
    2.  
      Restore notes and restrictions on Linux
    3. Recover a full VMware virtual machine
      1.  
        Recovery options
      2.  
        Storage policy
      3.  
        Advanced recovery options
      4.  
        Advanced recovery options: Format of restored virtual disks
      5.  
        Advanced recovery options: Transport mode
    4. Restoring VMware virtual machine disks
      1.  
        About VMware virtual machine disk restore
      2.  
        Selecting virtual disks or file systems
      3.  
        Recovery options for virtual machine disks
      4.  
        Storage target restore options
  17. VMware agentless restore
    1.  
      About VMware agentless restore
    2.  
      Prerequisites and limitations of VMware agentless restores
    3. Provide access to a credential for agentless single file recovery to a guest VM
      1.  
        Add a credential for a VMware guest VM
      2.  
        Create a custom role for agentless single file recovery to a guest VM, with a credential
    4.  
      Recover files and folders with VMware agentless restore
    5.  
      About restricted restore mode
  18. Restoring Individual files and folders from VMware backups
    1.  
      About restoring individual VMware files and folders
    2.  
      Restore individual files and folders
    3.  
      Recovery options for restore of VMware files
    4.  
      Setting up NetBackup Client Service for VMware restores to a Windows shared virtual machine drive
  19. Using NetBackup to back up Cloud Director environments
    1.  
      About NetBackup for vCloud Director
    2.  
      Notes on creating a NetBackup policy for vCloud
    3.  
      Notes on restoring virtual machines into vCloud Director
    4. Recover VMware Cloud Director virtual machines
      1.  
        Recovery target
      2.  
        vApp options
      3.  
        Recovery options
    5.  
      Restore a vApp template that has multiple virtual machines
    6.  
      Reducing the time required for VM discovery in a large vCloud environment
  20. Restore virtual machines with Instant Recovery
    1.  
      About Instant Recovery for VMware
    2.  
      Task overview for Instant Recovery for VMware
    3.  
      Performance recommendations for Instant Recovery for VMware
    4.  
      Requirements for Instant Recovery for VMware
    5.  
      Notes on Instant Recovery for VMware
    6.  
      Restarting the Client for NFS service on a Windows restore host
    7.  
      Instant Recovery options on the nbrestorevm command
    8.  
      Restoring a virtual machine with Instant Recovery for VMware
    9.  
      Restoring a virtual machine to a different location with Instant Recovery for VMware
    10.  
      Restoring individual files with Instant Recovery for VMware while the current virtual machine is running
    11.  
      Job types for Instant Recovery for VMware
    12.  
      Reactivating a restored virtual machine with Instant Recovery for VMware
  21. Protecting VMs using hardware snapshots and replication
    1.  
      About virtual machines and hardware snapshots
    2.  
      Deployment and architecture
    3.  
      Features and applications supported
    4.  
      Prerequisites for hardware snapshot and replication
    5.  
      Operations supported with hardware snapshot
    6.  
      Configuring a VMware policy to use hardware snapshots
    7.  
      Configuring a VMware policy to use NetBackup snapshot manager replication
    8.  
      Jobs in the Activity Monitor that use hardware snapshot for VMs
    9.  
      Notes and limitations
    10.  
      Troubleshooting with VMware hardware snapshot and replication operations
  22. Best practices and more information
    1. NetBackup for VMware best practices
      1.  
        NetBackup for VMware with deduplication
    2.  
      How NetBackup handles VMware tag associations at restore
    3.  
      Best practices for VMware tag usage
    4. About reducing the size of VMware backups
      1.  
        Block-level backup (BLIB): full vs incremental
      2.  
        Deleting a vSphere Client snapshot
    5.  
      Further assistance with NetBackup for VMware
  23. Troubleshooting VMware operations
    1. NetBackup logging for VMware
      1.  
        NetBackup logs for Accelerator with virtual machines
      2.  
        Configuring VxMS logging
      3.  
        Format of the VxMS core.log and provider.log file names
      4.  
        Configuring the VDDK logging level
    2.  
      Troubleshooting VMware backups
    3.  
      Troubleshooting the restore of VMware and restores of files
    4.  
      Troubleshooting the adding of VMware servers
    5.  
      Troubleshooting the browsing of VMware servers
    6.  
      Troubleshooting the status for a newly discovered VM
    7.  
      Troubleshooting policy configuration
    8.  
      Troubleshooting the download of files from an instant access VM
    9.  
      Troubleshooting backups and restores of excluded virtual disks
    10.  
      How to determine the ESX network that NetBackup used for the backup or restore
    11.  
      Preventing browsing delays caused by DNS problems
    12.  
      Changing the browsing timeout for virtual machine discovery
    13.  
      Changing timeout and logging values for vSphere
    14.  
      Credentials for VMware server are not valid
    15. Snapshot error encountered (status code 156)
      1.  
        The origin of the snapshot failure: NetBackup or VMware?
    16.  
      Conflict between NetBackup and VMware Storage vMotion with vSphere 5.0 or later
    17.  
      Backup or restore job hangs
    18.  
      VMware SCSI requirements for application quiesce on Windows
    19.  
      VMware virtual machine does not restart after restore
    20.  
      A restored VM may not start or its file system(s) may not be accessible
    21.  
      NetBackup job fails due to update tasks on the VMware server
    22.  
      The vSphere interface reports that virtual machine consolidation is needed
    23.  
      Linux VMs and persistent device naming
    24.  
      For a VMware virtual machine with Windows dynamic disks, a restore from incremental backup fails with a Windows restore host and the hotadd transport mode
    25.  
      Simultaneous hotadd backups (from the same VMware backup host) fail with status 13
    26.  
      Troubleshooting VMware tag usage
    27.  
      Ensuring that guest customizations can be restored in vCloud Director
    28.  
      Troubleshooting vmdk restore to existing VM
    29.  
      Troubleshooting backups of virtual machines on Virtual Volumes (VVols)
    30.  
      Issues with the CA certificate during installation of the NetBackup client on VMware Cloud (VMC)
  24. Appendix A. Configuring services for NFS on Windows
    1.  
      About installing and configuring Network File System (NFS) for Granular Recovery Technology (GRT)
    2. About configuring services for NFS on Windows 2012 or 2016 (NetBackup for VMware)
      1.  
        Enabling Services for Network File System (NFS) on a Windows 2012 or 2016 media server (NetBackup for VMware)
      2.  
        Enabling Services for Network File System (NFS) on a Windows 2012 or 2016 restore host (NetBackup for VMware)
    3.  
      Disabling the Server for NFS (NetBackup for VMware)
    4.  
      Disabling the Client for NFS on the media server (NetBackup for VMware)
    5.  
      Configuring a UNIX media server and Windows backup or restore host for Granular Recovery Technology (NetBackup for VMware)
    6.  
      Configuring a different network port for NBFSD (NetBackup for VMware)
  25. Appendix B. Backups of VMware raw devices (RDM)
    1.  
      About VMware raw device mapping (RDM)
    2.  
      Configurations for backing up RDMs
    3.  
      About alternate client backup of RDMs
    4.  
      Requirements for alternate client backup of RDMs
    5.  
      Configure an alternate client backup of RDMs

Query Builder field reference

You can use the Query Builder to enter rules for the automatic selection of VMware virtual machines for backup.

Note:

In the web UI, the advanced mode of the Query Builder uses OData keywords and operators.

Table: Query Builder options: Join, Field, Operator, Value describes the drop-down fields and options for creating rules in the Query Builder.

Table: Query Builder options: Join, Field, Operator, Value

Query Builder drop-down fields

Description

Join

Selects a connector to join the rules.

For the first rule, the choices are blank (none) or NOT. After you add a rule, the available connectors are AND, AND NOT, OR, OR NOT.

Field

Selects a parameter on which to build the rule. Select one from the list (scroll down for additional parameters).

You can type the first character to speed up selection. For example, on entering "d", the list moves to first entry starting with "d". Another entry of "d" moves through the list to the next entry starting with "d". The selected entry is automatically filled in.

See Table: Keywords in the Field drop-down .

Operator

Selects an operator. The available operators depend on the parameter that is selected for Field.

See Table: Operators in the Operator list.

Value

Specifies a value for the Field parameter.

The Value field allows manual entry. It may also be a drop-down, depending on the selections that are made in the other fields.

For manual entry, you can specify multiple comma-separated values.

See Table: Characters you can enter for Value.

Browse icon

Allows browsing for specific values, depending on the selections that are made in the other drop-down fields.

Save

Adds the current query selections to the Query pane as a new rule.

Field (keywords)

Table: Keywords in the Field drop-down describes the keywords available in the Field drop-down. The table also indicates whether the values for each keyword (in the Value field) are case-sensitive.

Note:

Use OData Field keywords only when you build queries with the NetBackup web UI 's advanced mode under the Query Builder or with NetBackup APIs.

Keep in mind that the inclusion or exclusion of virtual machines is not determined by the Field keyword alone, but depends on the rule you construct: the combination of Join, Field, Operator, and Values.

Table: Keywords in the Field drop-down

Field keyword

OData field keyword

Data type

Description

Annotation

annotation

Alphanumeric string

The text that is added to virtual machine annotations in vSphere Client.

Values are case-sensitive.

assetGroup

assetGroup

 

NEW

cluster

cluster

Alphanumeric string

The name of the cluster (a group of ESX servers) that the virtual machine is configured in.

Values are not case-sensitive.

Note:

A virtual machine may be assigned to an ESX server that is not in a cluster.

Note also that in VMware, a cluster name need only be unique within a datacenter path.

datacenter

datacenter

Alphanumeric string

The name of the VMware datacenter.

Values are not case-sensitive.

datacenterPath

datacenterPath

Alphanumeric string

The folder structure that defines the path to a datacenter. Use this option if the datacenter name that you want to filter on is not unique in your environment.

Values are case-sensitive.

datastore

datastoreName

Alphanumeric string

The name of the datastore.

Values are case-sensitive.

Note:

Multiple ESX servers can share access to the same datastore. Also, a datastore name can be duplicated between multiple ESX servers. Use DatacenterPath or ESXserver to uniquely identify the datacenter.

datastoreCluster

datastoreCluster

Alphanumeric string

The name of the datastore cluster that contains the datastores.

Values are not case-sensitive.

datastoreFolder

datastoreFolder

Alphanumeric string

The name of the folder that contains the datastores.

Values are not case-sensitive.

datastoreNfsHost

datastoreNfsHost

Alphanumeric string

The name of the datastore's NFS host.

Values are not case-sensitive.

datastoreNfsPath

datastoreNfsPath

Alphanumeric string

The folder structure that defines the path to an NFS datastore. Use this option if the NFS host name of the datastore that you want to filter on is not unique in your environment.

Values are not case-sensitive.

datastoreType

datastoreType

Alphanumeric string

The type of the datastore. Values are NFS, NFS41, VMFS, vsan, and VVOL.

Values are not case-sensitive.

displayname

displayName

Alphanumeric string

The virtual machine's display name.

Values are case-sensitive.

host

host

Alphanumeric string

The name of the ESX server.

Values are not case-sensitive.

The ESX host name must match the name as defined in the vCenter server.

hostFolder

hostFolder

Alphanumeric string

The folder path between the datacenter level and a cluster, ESX hosts, or a subfolder.

If an ESX cluster is not contained within a folder and you click the browse button: The ESX cluster name appears in the List of possible values for dialog.

Values are not case-sensitive.

See Query rules for datacenter folders (host folder).

instanceUuid

instanceUuid

Alphanumeric string

The virtual machine's instance UUID.

Example query:

InstanceUUID Equal "501b13c3-52de-9a06-cd9a-ecb25aa975d1"

Values are not case-sensitive.

networkName

network

Alphanumeric string

The name of the network switch (on an ESX server) or distributed switch.

Values are not case-sensitive.

networkFolder

networkFolder

Alphanumeric string

The name of the folder that contains the network.

Values are not case-sensitive.

powerstate

powerState

Alphabetic

The power state of the virtual machine.

Values are poweredOff, poweredOn, suspended.

resourcePool

resourcePool

Alphanumeric string

The name of the resource pool. (A resource pool is similar to a vApp.)

Values are case-sensitive.

If a resource pool contains other resource pools (sub-pools), the choice of Operator determines whether virtual machines in the sub-pools are included.

See Query rules for resource pools.

tagName

tagName

Alphanumeric string

The name of the tag.

Values are case-sensitive.

When NetBackup uses tags to select virtual machines, the selection is based only on tag names. The selection is independent of the category.

See Query rules for tags.

template

template

Boolean

TRUE if the virtual machine is a virtual machine template.

vApp

vApp

Alphanumeric string

The name of the vApp.

Values are case-sensitive.

A vApp is a collection of virtual machines. vApps can also contain resource pools and other vApps. vApps are components of standalone ESX servers or of clusters.

Like vSphere Client, NetBackup refers only to the top level of a vApp that contains sub vApps.

For the following rule:

vApp Equal "vapp1"

if vapp1 has a sub vApp named "vapp2", any virtual machines in vapp1 or vapp2 are included. You cannot make a rule that refers specifically to vapp2.

vCDCatalog

vcdCatalog

Alphanumeric string

The name of the vCloud Director catalog.

Values are not case-sensitive.

vCDIsExpired

vcdIsExpired

Alphabetic

Expired if the vCloud Director vApp or vApp template is expired.

Possible values are Expired, Not Expired, and Unknown. Unknown indicates that an error occurred between vCloud Director and the vSphere environment. Examples are errors in provisioning or in a deletion operation.

vCDIsvAppTemplate

vcdIsvAppTemplate

Boolean

TRUE if the vCloud Director vApp is a template.

vCDOrg

vcdOrg

Alphanumeric string

The name of the vCloud Director organization.

Values are not case-sensitive.

vCDOrgvDC

vcdOrgvDC

Alphanumeric string

The name of the organization virtual datacenter in vCloud Director.

Values are not case-sensitive.

vCDServer

vcdServer

Alphanumeric string

The name of the vCloud Director server.

Values are not case-sensitive.

vCDvApp

vcdVapp

Alphanumeric string

The name of the vCloud Director vApp.

Values are not case-sensitive.

vCenter

vCenter

Alphanumeric string

The name of the vCenter server.

Values are not case-sensitive.

The vCenter name that is specified in the Query Builder must match the name as entered when you added its credentials.)

Note that a fully qualified domain name is recommended.

vCenterVersion

vCenterVersion

Alphanumeric string

The version of the vCenter Server. For example: 5.1.0, 5.5.0, 6.0.0

The possible values of this field are automatically updated and populated based on the environment. Only the versions of the vCenter servers that are registered with NetBackup are shown.

dnsName

dnsName

Alphanumeric string

The virtual machine DNS name in vSphere Client.

Values are not case-sensitive.

vmFolder

vmFolder

Alphanumeric string

The name of the VM folder (within a datacenter), including the path to the folder that contains the VMs.

Values are not case-sensitive.

For example, assume the following VM folders containing a total of 65 VMs:

vm\VM_backup_prod1   (contains 5 VMs)
vm\VM_backup_prod1\cluster1   (contains 10 VMs)
vm\VM_backup_prod2  (contains 50 VMs)

To include the VMs in vm\VM_backup_prod1 but not the VMs in cluster1 or in any other folder:

VMFolder Equal "vm\VM_backup_prod1"

To include the VMs in vm\VM_backup_prod1 and in its subfolder cluster1:

VMFolder Equal "vm\VM_backup_prod1"
OR VMFolder StartsWith "vm\VM_backup_prod1\\"

Note:

The first backslash is an escape character that causes the following backslash to be interpreted as a literal character.

To include all 65 VMs:

VMFolder StartsWith "vm\VM_backup_prod"

Note:

Any VM that is in a path that begins with vm\VM_backup_prod is included.

vmHasIde

vmHasIde

Boolean

TRUE if the virtual machine has IDE drives.

VMhasIndD

vmHasIndD

 

NEW

vmHasMds

vmHasMds

Boolean

TRUE if the virtual machine has multiple datastores.

You can use this keyword to select any virtual machine that is configured to use more than one datastore.

VMHasNVME

vmHasNvme

Boolean

TRUE if the virtual machine has NVMe drives.

VMHasRDM

vmHasRdm

Boolean

TRUE if the virtual machine uses Raw Device Mapping (RDM).

VMHasRDMO

vmHasRdmo

 

NEW

VMHasSATA

vmHasSata

Boolean

TRUE if the virtual machine has SATA drives.

VMHasSnap

VMHasSnap

Boolean

TRUE if a VMware snapshot of the virtual machine is currently active.

VMHasVDSName

vmHasVdsName

Boolean

TRUE if the virtual machine has a display name that is valid for use as the host name.

hostName

hostName

Alphanumeric string

The virtual machine name that is derived from a reverse lookup of its IP address.

Values are not case-sensitive.

vmIsConn

vmIsConn

Boolean

TRUE if the virtual machine is connected and available.

For example: If a virtual machine's ESX server is down, that virtual machine is not connected.

vmVersion

vmVersion

Alphanumeric string

The VMware version of the virtual machine.

Values are case-sensitive.

For example: vmx-04, vmx-07, vmx-08.

VMXDatastore

vmxDatastore

Alphanumeric string

The name of the vmx datastore (sometimes called the vmx directory or configuration datastore).

Values are case-sensitive.

More information on the vmx datastore is available.

See NetBackup for VMware terminology.

VMXDatastoreFolder

vmxDatastoreFolder

Alphanumeric string

The name of the folder that contains the vmx datastores.

Values are not case-sensitive.

VMXDatastoreNFSHost

vmxDatastoreNfsHost

Alphanumeric string

The name of the vmx datastore's NFS host.

Values are not case-sensitive.

VMXDatastoreNFSPath

vmxDatastoreNfsPath

Alphanumeric string

The folder structure that defines the path to a vmx NFS datastore. Use this option if the NFS host name of the datastore that you want to filter on is not unique in your environment.

Values are not case-sensitive.

VMXDatastoreType

vmxDatastoreType

Alphanumeric string

The type of the vmx datastore. Values are NFS or VMFS.

Values are not case-sensitive.

[vSphere custom attributes]

[vSphere custom attributes]

Alphanumeric string

The value of a custom attribute that is set in vSphere Client for one or more virtual machines.

Note: In vSphere Client, the attribute must have a value for at least one virtual machine. The attribute type must be Virtual Machine.

The values are case-sensitive.

A disk exclusion based on custom attributes requires that you enter in NetBackup the credentials for the vCenter server or servers that host the VMs. ESXi server credentials are not sufficient.

See Add VMware servers.

Operators

Table: Operators in the Operator list describes the operators available in the Operator list. Note that in some cases, the operator is that is used in the NetBackup Administration Console is different from the operator that is used in the NetBackup web UI.

Note:

Use OData operators only when you build queries with the NetBackup web UI's advanced mode under the Query Builder or with NetBackup APIs.

Table: Operators in the Operator list

Operator

OData operator

Description

NotEqual

ne

Matches any value that is not equal to the value in the Value field.

StartsWith

startswith

Matches the value in the Value field when it occurs at the start of a string.

For example: If the Value entry is "box", StartsWith matches the string "box_car" but not "flatbox".

In

in

Matches any of the specified values in the Values field.

For example: If the ESX servers in the Values field are "ESX01","ESX02,"ESX03", AnyOf matches any ESX server that has one of those names. If the names of your servers are not identical to any of the specified values, no match occurs. A server named ESX01A is not a match.

EndsWith

endswith

Matches the value in the Value field when it occurs at the end of a string.

For example: If the Value entry is "dev", EndsWith matches the string "01dev" but not "01dev99", "devOP", or "Development_machine".

GreaterEqual

ge

Matches any value that is greater than or equal to the specified Value, according to the UTF-8 collating sequence.

Less

lt

Matches any value that is less than the specified Value, according to the UTF-8 collating sequence.

Equal

eq

Matches only the value that is specified in the Value field.

For example: If the display name to search for is "VMtest27", Equal matches virtual machine names such as VMTest27 or vmtest27 or vmTEST27, and so forth. The name VMtest28 is not matched.

Greater

gt

Matches any value that is greater than the specified Value, according to the UTF-8 collating sequence.

Contains

contains

Matches the value in the Values field wherever that value occurs in the string.

For example: If the Value entry is "dev", Contains matches strings such as "01dev", "01dev99", "devOP", and "Development_machine".

LessEqual

le

Matches any value that is less than or equal to the specified Value, according to the UTF-8 collating sequence.

Value

Table: Characters you can enter for Value describes the characters that can be entered in the Value field. The Field keyword determines case sensitivity.

Note:

The character string you enter in the Value field must be enclosed in single quotes or double quotes.

Table: Characters you can enter for Value

Character types

String characters allowed

Alphanumerics

A to Z, a to z, 0 to 9, - (minus sign), and special characters.

Note:

Decimal numbers only.

Wildcards

* (asterisk) matches everything.

For example: "*prod*" matches the string "prod" preceded or followed by any characters.

? (question mark) matches any single character.

For example: "prod??" matches the string "prod" followed by any two characters.

Escape character

\ (backslash) escapes the wildcard or meta-character that follows it.

For example: To search for a string that contains an asterisk (such as test*), enter "test\*"

Quotation marks

Note: The characters you enter in Value must be enclosed in single or double quotes.

To search for a string that contains quotation marks, either escape each quote (\") or enclose the entire string in the opposite type of quotes.

For example: To search for a string that includes double quotes (such as "name"), enter '"name"' (enclosing it in single quotes) or "\"name\""