Veritas NetBackup™ for VMware Administrator's Guide

Last Published:
Product(s): NetBackup (8.1.1)
  1. Introduction
    1.  
      About NetBackup for VMware
    2.  
      Updates to this guide for NetBackup 8.1.1
    3.  
      About the virtual machine backups that include database data
    4.  
      About the NetBackup appliance as a VMware backup host
    5.  
      NetBackup for VMware components
    6.  
      Appliance as backup host: component overview
    7.  
      Media servers as backup or discovery hosts
    8.  
      Overview of the VMware backup process
    9.  
      NetBackup for VMware license requirement
    10.  
      NetBackup for VMware terminology
  2. Required tasks: overview
    1.  
      Overview of VMware tasks
    2.  
      Overview of NetBackup tasks
  3. Notes and prerequisites
    1.  
      NetBackup for VMware prerequisites
    2.  
      NetBackup for VMware: notes and restrictions
    3.  
      Notes on VMware Virtual Volumes (VVols)
    4.  
      NetBackup IPv6 parameter required for backups in VMware IPv6 environments
    5.  
      NetBackup for VMware: notes on Linux virtual machines
    6.  
      Notes on the NetBackup appliance as a VMware backup host
    7.  
      NetBackup for VMware support for SAN multi-pathing
    8.  
      NetBackup for VMware support for fault tolerant VMs
    9.  
      NetBackup character restrictions for the Primary VM identifier
    10.  
      In the policy Query Builder, display names, resource pool names, and vApp names are case-sensitive
    11.  
      Notes on the hotadd transport mode
    12.  
      Notes and limitations for tag usage in VMware Intelligent Policy queries
    13.  
      Notes and limitations for the backup and restore of VMware tag associations
  4. Configure NetBackup communication with VMware
    1.  
      Adding the VMware backup host to NetBackup
    2. Adding NetBackup credentials for VMware
      1.  
        Using the VMware Managed Object Browser to verify the server name
    3.  
      Changing the host name of a VMware server in NetBackup
    4.  
      Setting privileges for posting events to vCenter
    5.  
      Authentication token for the NetBackup vSphere Web Client plug-in
    6.  
      Setting global limits on the use of VMware resources
  5. Configure NetBackup policies for VMware
    1.  
      Configuring a VMware policy from the Policy Wizard
    2.  
      Configuring a VMware policy from the Policies utility
    3.  
      Limit jobs per policy on the Attributes tab (for VMware)
    4. VMware backup options
      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 dialog
      8.  
        About the Post vCenter events option (VMware Advanced Attributes)
    5. 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
    6.  
      Browse for VMware virtual machines
    7.  
      Limiting the VMware servers that NetBackup searches when browsing for virtual machines
    8.  
      Virtual machine host names and display names should be unique if VMs are selected manually in the policy
    9.  
      Primary VM identifier option and manual selection of virtual machines
    10.  
      About incremental backups of virtual machines
    11.  
      Configuring incremental backups
    12.  
      Storage Foundation Volume Manager volumes in the virtual machine
  6. Configure 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.  
      Configuring automatic virtual machine selection
    9.  
      Editing an existing query in Basic Mode
    10.  
      Using the Query Builder in Advanced Mode
    11.  
      AND vs. OR in queries
    12.  
      Examples for the NetBackup Query Builder
    13.  
      The IsSet operator in queries
    14.  
      About selecting virtual machines by means of multiple policies
    15.  
      Order of operations in queries (precedence rules)
    16.  
      Parentheses in compound queries
    17.  
      Query rules for resource pools
    18.  
      Query rules for datacenter folders (host folder)
    19.  
      Query rules for duplicate names
    20.  
      Query rules for tags
    21.  
      Query Builder field reference
    22.  
      Test Query screen for VMware
    23.  
      Test Query: Failed virtual machines
    24.  
      Effect of Primary VM identifier parameter on Selection column in Test Query results
    25.  
      Effect of Primary VM identifier parameter on VM Name column in Test query results
    26.  
      Refreshing the display of virtual environment changes in the Query Builder
  7. Reduce the size of backups
    1.  
      About reducing the size of VMware backups
    2.  
      Block-level backup (BLIB): full vs incremental
    3.  
      Deleting a vSphere Client snapshot
  8. Back up virtual machines
    1.  
      Backing up virtual machines
    2.  
      Using the Activity Monitor to monitor virtual machine backups
    3.  
      Restarting jobs individually in the Activity Monitor
    4.  
      Viewing NetBackup activity in vSphere Web Client
    5.  
      Using OpsCenter to report on virtual machine backups
  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.  
      NetBackup logs for Accelerator with virtual machines
    10.  
      About reporting the amount of Accelerator backup data that was transferred over the network
    11.  
      Replacing the Accelerator image size with the network-transferred data in NetBackup command output
  10. Restore virtual machines
    1.  
      Restore notes and restrictions
    2.  
      Restore notes and restrictions on Linux
    3. Restoring the full VMware virtual machine
      1. Virtual Machine Recovery dialog boxes (restore to original location)
        1.  
          Recovery Destination dialog box
        2.  
          Recovery Options dialog box
        3.  
          Virtual Machine Options dialog box
        4.  
          Perform Recovery dialog box
      2. Virtual Machine Recovery dialogs boxes (restore to alternate location)
        1.  
          Recovery Destination dialog box (restore to alternate location)
        2.  
          Recovery Options dialog box (restore to alternate location)
        3.  
          Select ESX server dialog box (restore to alternate location)
        4.  
          Select Folder dialog box (restore to alternate location)
        5.  
          Select Datastore or Datastore Cluster dialog box (restore to alternate location)
        6.  
          Storage Destination dialog box (restore to alternate location)
        7.  
          Network Connections and Other Recovery Options dialog box (restore to alternate location)
        8.  
          Perform Recovery dialog box (restore to alternate location)
    4.  
      About VMware virtual machine disk restore
    5. Restoring VMware virtual machine disks by using Backup, Archive, and Restore
      1.  
        Select Virtual Disks panel
      2.  
        Recovery Destination panel
      3.  
        Virtual Disk Destination panel
      4.  
        Storage Destination panel
      5.  
        Recovery Summary panel
    6. Restoring VMware virtual machine disks by using NetBackup commands
      1.  
        Determining the backup image ID from which to restore a VMware virtual machine disk
      2.  
        Creating the VMware virtual machine disk restore file
      3.  
        Modifying the virtual machine disk restore file
      4.  
        Validating the virtual machine disk restore file
      5.  
        Restoring the virtual machine disk or disks by using the nbrestorevm command
      6.  
        VMware virtual machine disk restore file
    7.  
      About restoring individual VMware files
    8. Restoring individual VMware virtual machine files
      1.  
        Setting up NetBackup Client Service for VMware restores to a Windows shared virtual machine drive
      2.  
        Restore Marked Files dialog for restore of VMware files
    9.  
      How NetBackup handles VMware tag associations at restore
    10. Browse and search virtual machines for restore
      1.  
        Search Virtual Machines for Restore dialog
      2.  
        Browse the vCloud or vSphere view for virtual machine clients
      3.  
        Search results dialog
    11.  
      If the recovery host is not at the same NetBackup release level as the backup host
  11. 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
  12. Use NetBackup for vCloud Director
    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.  
      Restoring virtual machines into vCloud Director
    5.  
      Reducing the time required for VM discovery in a large vCloud environment
    6. Virtual machine recovery dialog boxes for vCloud Director
      1.  
        Recovery Destination dialog box (vCloud Director)
      2.  
        Recovery Options dialog box (vCloud Director)
      3.  
        Recovery vApp Options for vCloud Director dialog box (restore to original location)
      4.  
        Virtual Machine Options dialog box for vCloud Director
      5.  
        Perform Recovery dialog box for vCloud Director
      6.  
        Recovery Options dialog box for vCloud Director (restore to alternate location)
      7.  
        Recovery vApp Options for vCloud Director dialog box (restore to alternate location)
      8.  
        Select a vApp dialog box
      9.  
        Recovery Destination Options for vCloud Director dialog box (restore to alternate location)
      10.  
        Virtual Machine Options (restore to alternate location)
      11.  
        Network connections (restore to alternate location)
      12.  
        Perform Recovery dialog box for vCloud Director (restore to alternate location)
  13. Best practices and more information
    1. NetBackup for VMware best practices
      1.  
        NetBackup for VMware with deduplication
    2.  
      Best practices for VMware tag usage
    3.  
      Further assistance with NetBackup for VMware
  14. Troubleshooting
    1.  
      Notes on troubleshooting NetBackup for VMware
    2.  
      Beware of unsupported backup host
    3.  
      How to determine the ESX network that NetBackup used for the backup or restore
    4.  
      NetBackup logging for VMware
    5.  
      Configuring VxMS logging
    6.  
      Format of the VxMS core.log and provider.log file names
    7.  
      Configuring the VDDK logging level
    8.  
      Preventing browsing delays caused by DNS problems
    9.  
      Changing the browsing timeout for virtual machine discovery
    10.  
      Changing timeout and logging values for vSphere
    11.  
      Credentials for VMware server are not valid
    12.  
      Snapshot error encountered (status code 156)
    13.  
      The origin of the snapshot failure: NetBackup or VMware?
    14.  
      Conflict between NetBackup and VMware Storage vMotion with vSphere 5.0 or later
    15.  
      Incremental backups of the VM may fail if the NTFS file system in the guest OS is corrupted and the backup uses MSDP storage
    16.  
      The restore fails when you restore individual files to a virtual machine that has NetBackup client software
    17.  
      Backup or restore job hangs
    18.  
      VMware SCSI requirements for application quiesce on Windows
    19.  
      Mount point missing on a restored Windows virtual machine
    20.  
      Mount points not available when restoring files from a Linux virtual machine
    21.  
      Invalid client error when you restore files using NetBackup BAR interface installed on the virtual machine
    22.  
      VMware virtual machine does not restart after restore
    23.  
      A restored VM may not start or its file system(s) may not be accessible
    24.  
      NetBackup job fails due to update tasks on the VMware server
    25.  
      The vSphere interface reports that virtual machine consolidation is needed
    26.  
      The Enable file recovery from VM backup option does not work if a volume disk set contains a mixture of disk types
    27.  
      Linux VMs and persistent device naming
    28.  
      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
    29.  
      Simultaneous hotadd backups (from the same VMware backup host) fail with status 13
    30.  
      Troubleshooting VMware tag usage
    31.  
      Ensuring that guest customizations can be restored in vCloud Director
    32.  
      Troubleshooting vmdk restore to existing VM
  15. Appendix A. NetBackup commands to back up and restore virtual machines
    1. Using NetBackup commands to create a VMware policy
      1.  
        Notes on creating a VMware policy for vCloud Director
      2.  
        VMware policy: bpplinfo options and keywords
      3.  
        bpplinclude options for modifying query rules in a VMware policy
    2.  
      Using the nbdiscover command to search the virtual environment
    3.  
      Using the nbrestorevm command to restore virtual machines into vSphere
    4.  
      Using the nbrestorevm command to restore virtual machines into vCloud Director
    5.  
      Using the nbrestorevm command to restore virtual machine disks
    6.  
      The nbrestorevm -R rename file for restoring virtual machines
    7.  
      Logs for troubleshooting the nbrestorevm command
    8.  
      Query format and examples for searching virtual machine backups
    9.  
      Allowing other servers or clients to restore virtual machines
  16. Appendix B. 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. About configuring services for NFS on Windows 2008 and 2008 R2 (NetBackup for VMware)
      1.  
        Enabling Services for Network File System (NFS) on Windows 2008 or 2008 R2 (NetBackup for VMware)
    4.  
      Disabling the Server for NFS (NetBackup for VMware)
    5.  
      Disabling the Client for NFS on the media server (NetBackup for VMware)
    6.  
      Configuring a UNIX media server and Windows backup or restore host for Granular Recovery Technology (NetBackup for VMware)
    7.  
      Configuring a different network port for NBFSD (NetBackup for VMware)
  17. Appendix C. The Reuse VM selection query results option
    1.  
      About the Reuse VM selection query results option
    2.  
      The effect of virtual machine discovery on vCenter
  18. Appendix D. Backup 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.  
      Configuring alternate client backup of RDMs

VMware - Advanced Attributes dialog

This dialog appears when you click Advanced... on the VMware policy tab.

You can use the VMware Advanced Attributes dialog to set the following additional parameters for VMware backup. In most situations, the best settings are the defaults.

Table: VMware Advanced Attributes

Configuration parameter

Description

Virtual machine quiesce

This option is enabled by default. In the great majority of cases, you should accept the default.

I/O on the virtual machine is quiesced before NetBackup creates the snapshot. Without quiescing file activity, data consistency in the snapshot cannot be guaranteed. If not consistent, the backed-up data may be of little or no value.

If this option is disabled, the snapshot is created without quiescing I/O on the virtual machine. In this case, you must perform your own analysis for data consistency in the backup data.

Caution: Veritas does not recommend that you disable quiesce. In most cases, this option should be enabled.

Note:

To use this option, VMware Tools must be installed on the virtual machine.

Note:

To use this option with Linux virtual machines, snapshot quiesce must be enabled in the Linux guest OS.

Ignore diskless VMs

If this option is enabled:

NetBackup does not back up a replicated (passive) VM in a vCenter Site Recovery Manager (SRM) environment if that VM has no vmdk files. NetBackup skips that VM and backs up the corresponding active VM, which has vmdk files.

Note that virtual machines without vmdk files can occur in a vCenter SRM environment. If a replicated virtual machine has never been active, it is in passive mode and may have no vmdk file(s).

Note:

If this option is enabled and NetBackup does not have access to the vCenter where the active virtual machine runs: the Query Builder policies run without error; no attempt is made to back up the virtual machine. For the policies that use manual selection of virtual machines, backups fail with status 156, because the virtual machine cannot be located.

If this option is disabled:

NetBackup attempts to back up a virtual machine regardless of whether it has vmdk files. If the virtual machine has no vmdk files, the backup fails with status 156.

Post vCenter events

Enables NetBackup to send backup related events to the vCenter server. The events appear in vSphere Client under Home > Inventory > Hosts and Clusters, Tasks & Events tab.

See Viewing NetBackup activity in vSphere Web Client.

The following options are available:

  • All Events: NetBackup posts an event to the vCenter server on each backup success or failure. This setting is the default.

  • No Events: Disables the Post vCenter events option. NetBackup does not post any events to the vCenter server.

  • Error Events: NetBackup posts an event to the vCenter server only for backup failures.

Further information on Post vCenter events is available:

See About the Post vCenter events option (VMware Advanced Attributes).

Multiple organizations per policy

This option is disabled by default. If it is enabled, the query rules can select virtual machines from different vCloud Director organizations and back them up to the same storage unit.

If you do not want backups of virtual machines from different organizations to be stored on the same drive, leave this option disabled.

Ignore Instant Recovery VMs

If this option is enabled (the default): NetBackup skips any virtual machine that was restored with Instant Recovery for VMware if the virtual machine is running from a NetBackup NFS datastore.

When the virtual machine data files have been migrated to the production datastore, the virtual machine can be backed up.

NetBackup identifies Instant Recovery virtual machines according to the following criteria:

  • The virtual machine has a snapshot that is named NBU_IR_SNAPSHOT,

  • And the virtual machine is running from a datastore and the name of the datastore begins with NBU_IR_.

If the virtual machine meets all these criteria, it is not backed up if this option is enabled.

If this option is disabled: NetBackup backs up the virtual machine even if it is running from the NetBackup NFS datastore.

Snapshot retry count

Sets the number of times the snapshot is retried. The default is 10. The range is 0 to 100.

This option and the snapshot time-out and snapshot creation interval provide flexibility in the creation of snapshots. For most environments, the default values are usually best. In special circumstances, it may be helpful to adjust these settings. Example considerations are the size of the virtual machine and the processing load on the VMware server.

Snapshot timeout (minutes)

Sets a time-out period (in minutes) for completion of the snapshot. The default is 0, which means no time-out.

If snapshots do not complete, set this option to a specific period to force a time-out. Consider using the snapshot creation interval to retry the snapshot at a later time.

Snapshot creation interval (seconds)

Determines the wait time (in seconds) before the snapshot is retried. The default is 10 seconds. The range is 0 to 3600.

VMware server list

Specifies a colon-delimited list of virtual machine servers that NetBackup communicates with for this policy. In large virtual environments, you can use this list to improve backup performance: NetBackup communicates only with the servers that are in this list. For example, exclude from the list any vCenter or vCloud servers that do not contain virtual machines to be backed up by this policy. Also, if a duplicate of the virtual machine exists on a different server: the duplicate is not backed up if it resides on a server that is not included in this list.

Important: IPv6 addresses are not supported in the VMware server list field. Use fully qualified domain names or host names.

Note:

Each host name must match exactly the name as configured in the NetBackup credentials.

Note:

Separate the names with a colon (:) not a comma (,).

This option does not affect either of the following: the list of all possible values in the Query Builder for automatic selection of virtual machines, or browsing of virtual machines for manual selection.

If the list is blank (the default), NetBackup communicates with any servers in the virtual environment.

Treat Tags as unset if unable to evaluate

Tags were introduced with VMware vCenter Version 5.1. The APIs to interface with the tagging service were not released until VMware vCenter Version 6.0. NetBackup for VMware supports the tags that are assigned to virtual machine objects starting with VMware vCenter Version 6.0.

If you have a mixed vCenter environment, such as 5.1, 5.5, and 6.0: you can use this configuration parameter to modify how NetBackup treats tags for vCenter Version 5.1/5.5. This configuration parameter also applies to all versions of ESXi hosts whose credentials were added to the Virtual Machine Servers list.

This option is disabled by default. If you use the tag field in the VMware Intelligent Policy query and your policy searches for virtual machines across a mixed vCenter environment, note: NetBackup reports the virtual machines that are discovered from vCenter Server 5.1/5.5 and ESXi hosts as failed if it needs to evaluate the tag portion of the query to make an include or exclude decision.

When you enable this option NetBackup treats tags as unset. If you use the tag field in the VMware Intelligent Policy query and your policy searches for virtual machines across a mixed vCenter environment, note: NetBackup evaluates the tag part of the query as if no tags were set on the virtual machines that are discovered from vCenter Server 5.1, 5.5, and ESXi.

Continue VIP discovery if one vSphere login fails

Note:

This option applies to VMware Intelligent Policies (VIP) only.

When this option is set to Yes: For a VIP policy's discovery job, NetBackup ignores a failed logon to a vCenter and attempts to log on and discover VMs on other vCenters. On any vCenter that NetBackup can log on to, the VMs that match the VIP policy's query are backed up.

When this option is set to No (the default): If the attempt to log on to a vCenter fails, the discovery job fails and no VMs are backed up for any vCenters.

More information is available on the types of NetBackup jobs for VMware:

See Using the Activity Monitor to monitor virtual machine backups.

Perform snapshot without quiescing if quiesced snapshots fail

This option is disabled by default. If it is enabled and a quiesced snapshot cannot be created, the snapshot is created without quiescing I/O on the virtual machine. The resulting snapshot is referred to as crash consistent. In this case, you must perform your own analysis for data consistency in the backed-up data.

Warning:

In most cases, Veritas does not recommend enabling this option. NetBackup cannot guarantee that all required data has been flushed to disk when the snapshot occurs. The data that is captured in the snapshot may be incomplete.

If this option is disabled, the backup fails if a quiesced snapshot cannot be created.