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You can use DPX to protect VMware assets, such as virtual machines and specific files stored on these machines. For VMware users, data protection for virtual machines running on VMware ESXi servers is a critical component of any virtualization strategy, and it presents unique challenges compared to the protection of physical machines.
Typically, Agentless VMware Backup is a fast and reliable data protection method for VMware assets. Backup targets include Catalogic vStor Server, NetApp Storage Systems, or Catalogic DPX Open Storage Server (OSS) from which previous backups can be restored.
Agentless VMware Backup provides robust protection in VMware environments. All backups are done through one or more proxy servers, that communicate with VMs through vSphere. Backup agents are not required on VMs or any VMware components, thus VM data protection is referred to as “agentless”.
Agentless VMware Backup provides significant advantages:
Agentless backup eliminates the overhead of installing and maintaining a backup agent on each VM. Where there are hundreds or even thousands of VMs to protect, the savings in administrative costs can be substantial.
The Catalogic DPX Agentless Backup for VMware combines several key technologies of Catalogic Software and VMware to provide high-performance, low-overhead backups:
VMware vStorage APIs for Data Protection (VADP) enables off-host backup of virtual machines through DPX proxy servers. This dramatically reduces overhead allowing for frequent backups without affecting VM users and critical applications.
DPX Virtualization proxy servers provide parallel load balancing for multiple VMs and associated virtual disks, promoting faster backups.
VMware Change Block Tracking is utilized to recognize and back up only changed blocks. This improves backup performance by minimizing CPU, reducing storage needs, and reducing network overhead.
No backup software to maintain on VMs.
Auto-discovery and protection of new and modified VMs.
Covers all VMs on all vSphere hosts.
Supports most operating systems running on VMs.
Optional automatic discontinuing of protection for deleted VMs.
VMs selectable for backup at vCenter, datacenter, ESX server, and VM levels.
Simplified, wizard-driven recovery.
Recovery of entire VM to original or alternative ESX server.
Recovery of individual VMDKs.
File recovery for all VMs, using LUN mapping plus file system copy.
In the main web interface view, go to Job Manager in the sidebar. Then select the New Backup Job button in the upper right corner.
Specify the Job Name. For VMware Backup, this field may contain no more than 16 characters. You can also add an optional description (up to 48 characters).
Select Job Type – VMware and the Job Folder to store the job in (see the Job Manager section for more information). By default, all jobs are stored in the SS_DEFAULT job folder.
Click Add Source in the SOURCES pane to specify which volumes you want to back up. The Source selection dialog will appear. Select the desired VMs and click Select.
Tip. You may change the Source tree display mode, using the radio button selection.
The VM view provides a list of virtual machines under each datacenter, VMs can also appear under folders on the list.
The Host view displays objects at the levels of vCenter, Datacenter, Host, Resource pool, Folder or VM. Objects under an object selected for backup can be excluded.
Tip. Powered-on machines are displayed with green icons, and powered-off machines are displayed with grey icons.
Agentless VMware backup is possible even when the virtual machine is powered off.
Tip. You may view your current selection at any moment, using the Selected Items button next to the search field.
You can clear each item using the “X” symbol next to the item, or clear all items at once using the Clear All button.
Click Set Destination in the DESTINATION pane to specify the destination for the VMware backup. The Destination dialog will appear. Choose the destination for your backup and click Select.
You may also add a schedule in the SCHEDULES pane for the backup to be run regularly. See Scheduling a VMware Backup Job.
If you want to add an Archive backup to your backup job, click Add Archive in the ARCHIVE pane. The Add Archive dialog will appear.
Important. Before using this functionality, read the Archive section in the Backup chapter.
Set advanced options as desired, selecting them from the Advanced Options drop-down at the bottom of the screen (scroll down if necessary).
See also. For more information about VMware backup job options, see the following sections:
Click Save. The job can now be viewed, run, edited or deleted from the Job Manager section.
Note. For information about selecting proxy servers to use in a VMware backup job, see Selecting Proxy Servers.
In the main desktop interface window, go to the Backup tab, and from the Backup Modes section in the task panel, choose Agentless VMware.
Two additional panes will appear. You are already in the defining new backup job view, so there is no need to click the Define New Backup Job button under Job Tasks in the task panel.
Specify VMware objects for backup. Expand the tree as necessary.
Empty checkboxes indicate a directory that will not be included. Checkboxes marked in red indicate a directory that will be fully included. Half-red checkboxes indicate that only some subdirectories/files of a given directory will be included.
Tip. You may change the Source tree display mode. Go to the View menu and select either Agentless VMware VM View or Agentless VMware Host View.
The VM view provides a list of virtual machines under each datacenter, VMs can also appear under folders on the list.
The Host view displays objects at the levels of vCenter, Datacenter, Host, Resource pool, Folder or VM. Objects under an object selected for backup can be excluded.
Specify the backup destination in the right-hand side pane. Select a vStor server, NetApp or DPX Open Storage Server (OSS). If selecting OSS, specify the volume.
Note. Before running a backup job, you need to save it. Once saved, a previously defined job can be modified, run, or deleted. If you try to leave the job creation view without saving the changes, you will be prompted to either save or discard changes before leaving.
If you select Define New Backup Job, all unsaved changes will be lost.
Set advanced options as desired, selecting appropriate items in the Other Tasks section of the side panel. Scroll down if necessary.
See also. For more information about VMware backup job options, see the following sections:
Save the job by doing one of the following:
Select File > Save Job
Select Save Backup Job in the Job Tasks section of the side panel
Press [Ctrl + S]
The Save Job dialog will appear.
Restrictions. The new job name must be unique throughout the entire DPX, regardless of the folder the job is stored in.
Click OK. The job is now saved.
Agentless backup is a method to back up virtual machines under a hypervisor without the need for backup agents on the virtual machines.
DPX has special features to protect VMs in supported virtual environments: VMware and Microsoft Hyper-V.
The following table outlines the features in Catalogic DPX, that are available for specific virtual environment:
| Features | VMware | Microsoft Hyper-V |
|---|---|---|
Tip. For the VMware virtual environments, you can use VM recovery and agentless backup through either the web interface or the desktop interface. For the Microsoft Hyper-V environments, you have to use the web interface.
Catalogic Software provides DPX Block and Agentless data protection for virtualization to protect Microsoft Hyper-V environments. For block data protection, the DPX agent must be installed on each guest virtual machine that is protected by DPX. Both hosts and clusters are supported.
Agentless Hyper-V Backup eliminates the overhead of installing and maintaining a backup agent on each VM. DPX backs up the VMs through the Hyper-V host by using an agent installed on each Hyper-V host or cluster which must be added to the DPX Enterprise. The agent handles Hyper-V snapshot processing and communicates with the storage destination and master server. Agentless Hyper-V Backup supports auto-discovery and protection of new and modified VMs. For a complete list of operating system versions, see the following web page:
Note. Backup and restore jobs for Microsoft Hyper-V can only be run through the DPX web interface.
Catalogic DPX supports crash-consistent backup of all guest operating systems that are supported by Microsoft Windows Server 2016 and later using the Catalogic DPX agentless feature.
You can use Catalogic DPX with the following Microsoft Hyper-V versions:
Microsoft Hyper-V for Windows Server 2022
Microsoft Hyper-V for Windows Server 2019
Microsoft Hyper-V for Windows Server 2016
The VMs to protect must be the Microsoft Hyper-V configuration versions of 8.0 or later.
Agentless VMware Backup eliminates the overhead of installing and maintaining a backup agent on each VM. Catalogic DPX backs up the VMs through the VMware vCenter and the Catalogic DPX virtualization proxy server, each of which must be added to the Catalogic DPX Enterprise. The Catalogic DPX virtualization proxy server handles VMware snapshot processing and communicates with the storage destination and master server. Agentless VMware Backup supports auto-discovery and protection of new and modified VMs. For a complete list of operating system versions, please refer to the VMware Compatibility Guide on the VMware website.
Using Agentless VMware Backup to protect VMs has significant advantages, including simplified administration and tight integration with VMware vCenter. Users have a wide range of recovery options available. These include the same Instant Virtualization and Full Virtualization features available with DPX agent-based backups. In addition, Instant VMDK allows rapid mapping of VMDK (Virtual Machine Disk) images back to the same VM or an alternate VM. VMDKs can also be mapped to physical servers to share data across physical/virtual boundaries.
DPX supports crash-consistent backup of all guest operating systems that are supported by vSphere 6.0 and later using the VADP interface and DPX’s agentless feature. Please refer to VMware’s compatibility website (www.vmware.com/resources/compatibility/search.php) for a complete list of operating system versions.
DPX supports application-consistent backup using DPX’s Agentless feature. Refer to Chapter 15: Agentless Backup for VMware in the DPX 4.9.x User’s Guide.
Supported VMware vSphere
VMware vSphere 8
VMware vSphere 7.0
VMware vSphere 6.7
VMware vSphere 6.5
Restrictions.
Catalogic DPX supports Virtual Volume (VVol) datastore for Agentless VMware backup to NetApp and vStor storage. VMware Virtual SAN (vSAN), a network-based storage solution with directly attached disks, does not support the SAN transport mode for VADP backup. As vSAN uses modes that are incompatible with SAN transport mode, if the virtual disk library detects the presence of vSAN, VADP SAN transport modes are automatically disabled. The other transport modes for VADP backup will continue to operate.
Rapid Return to Production (RRP) requires a Storage vMotion and valid ESXi license on vSphere. See the Rapid Return to Production section in the DPX 4.9.x User’s Guide.
Ensure the latest version of VMware Tools is installed for your vCenter version.
The only installation requirement for Agentless VMware Backup is to install Catalogic DPX as a Virtualization Proxy Server on at least one client. This is done by selecting the Virtualization Proxy Server setup type in the installation wizard.
Multiple proxy servers are highly recommended to enable load balancing for optimum backup speed.
For additional information about installation, including the proxy server setup type, see Chapter 5: Local Installation in the DPX 4.9.x Reference Guide.
Review the following prerequisites for Agentless VMware Backup:
vCenter administrative privileges or specific privileges. To browse VMs for backup without interruption, the Sessions privilege Validate session is required.
VMware Tools installed on each VM protected by Agentless VMware Backup.
Virtual hardware Release 7 or later on each VM protected by Agentless VMware Backup.
See also. For the latest system compatibility details regarding supported hardware, file systems, applications, operating systems, and service packs, see the DPX 4.10 .
Change Block Tracking must be enabled in the VM. If change tracking is not enabled, DPX enables it before proceeding with the backup. If change tracking is disabled in the VM between backups, DPX enables it again for the next backup.
In some cases, if you change a VM name after a backup is defined and run, the next backup may be a base backup, because the renamed VM appears as a new machine.
Attention! If you perform storage migration of a VM in power-off mode, you must power on the VM at least once before a backup. Otherwise, the backup fails.
VMs are automatically excluded from backup with Agentless VMware Backup in the following cases:
VMDKs shared across multiple VMs are not supported for protection due to VMware snapshot limitations.
VMs are running a virtual hardware release earlier than 7. These early versions do not support Change Block Tracking.
VMs with all VMDKs in an unsupported format such as physical compatibility VMDKs and independent disks. If the VM also has supported disks, they are backed up, and the unsupported disks are excluded. The VM is completely excluded from backup only if all the disks are unsupported.
Additionally, if you install DPX in a VM for application-aware protection, or for some other reason, you can set the Agentless VMware Backup to skip that VM.
Excluded VMs can be backed up with Block backup if DPX is installed on the VM.
For a complete list of limitations, please see the VMware list at:
Catalogic DPX offers a variety of job options for Agentless VMware backup. All of them are available from both interfaces, but the access thereto may differ. See details for each interface below.
In the web interface, backup source job options are defined in the Advanced Options section. To access them, do the following:
Go to Job Manager in the sidebar.
Open an already existing backup job. Or create a new VMware backup job, by clicking the New Backup Job button in the upper right corner and then selecting Backup Type VMware.
Go to the Advanced Options section at the bottom (scroll down if necessary) and expand it. Click any of the following section headers to expand it. Each field and the available choices are explained below.
This option specifies how the job status is reported in cases where unsupported VMs or VMDKs are skipped.
Use this option to configure the SSL encryption.
Use this option to quiesce VMs during the backup job.
Use this option to include VMs that have the Catalogic DPX Client.
To access the job source options for Agentless VMware backup, do the following:
Go to the Backup tab.
In the Backup Modes section, select Agentless VMware.
Open an already existing backup job by selecting Open Backup Job in the Job Tasks section. Or go directly to step 4 to set source options for the new job you will be defining directly afterward.
Go to the Other Tasks section in the task panel (scroll down if necessary) and select Set Source Options. The Set Job Source Options dialog will appear.
This option specifies how the job status is reported in cases where unsupported VMs or VMDKs are skipped.
Use this option to quiesce VMs during the backup job.
Use this option to include VMs that have the Catalogic DPX Client.
Enter the name of a script to execute prior to the actual job.
Basic usage: <script>@<node_name> <argument_list>
The action be taken if the Pre-Job Script fails to successfully complete:
Run Job/Run Post-Job Script
Skip Job/Run Post-Job Script
Skip Job/Skip Post-Job Script
The action to be taken if the Job fails to successfully complete:
Run Post-Job Script
Skip Post-Job Script
Enter the name of a script to execute after the actual job.
Basic usage: <script>@<node_name> <argument_list>
You can save the Agentless VMware Backup job configurations, reuse and run the saved backup jobs.
Apart from source options, DPX offers some additional backup job options, such as Job Notification Options. They are available from both interfaces as presented below.
If a backup job backs up multiple VMs, DPX by default uses available proxy servers for load balancing. If you prefer one or more specific proxy servers, specify this in the Proxy Selection section.
Go to the Advanced Options section at the bottom of the job definition view (scroll down if necessary) and expand it. Click the Proxy Selection header.
The Proxy Selection section consists of the Automatically Select toggle. By default, the toggle is on. DPX chooses the proxy servers to use for the backup job and how many to use for load balancing. When the toggle is off, the list of all proxy servers is displayed and you can choose which proxy servers will be used for the backup job. Multiple selection is possible.
The Notification Options section controls who receives messages pertaining to the current job when it is run.
To access the job notification options, go to the Advanced Options section at the bottom of the job definition view (scroll down if necessary) and expand it. Click the Notification options header.
This section includes the Job e-mail notification toggle.
Subject
The subject of your message. The subject line usually contains a combination of straight text and variable elements. Variables, which must begin with %, are replaced with actual corresponding values. If you enclose variables in double quotation marks, those variables are treated as literal values. You can embed the following variables:
%JOBNAME
%JOBID
%JOBTYPE
%RC
Use %RC to include the return code in the message for this run of the job, when applicable.
To
The email address of the primary recipient of your message. Only one “To” address is permitted.
Cc
Carbon Copy. The email address(es) of the secondary recipient(s) of your message. Use a semicolon to delimit multiple email addresses.
Bcc
Blind Carbon Copy. The email address(es) of the secondary recipient(s) not identified to other recipients. Use a semi-colon to delimit multiple email addresses.
Note. Note that the following characters are invalid in all fields: < > ; and '.
Enter the name of a script to execute prior to the actual job.
Basic usage: <script>@<node_name> <argument_list>
The action be taken if the Pre-Job Script fails to successfully complete:
Run Job/Run Post-Job Script
Skip Job/Run Post-Job Script
Skip Job/Skip Post-Job Script
The action to be taken if the Job fails to successfully complete:
Run Post-Job Script
Skip Post-Job Script
Enter the name of a script to execute after the actual job.
Basic usage: <script>@<node_name> <argument_list>
If a backup job backs up multiple VMs, DPX by default uses available proxy servers for load balancing. If you prefer one or more specific proxy servers, specify this in the Set Proxy dialog.
On the backup Task Panel, under Other Tasks, click Set Proxy. The Set Proxy dialog appears.
the Set Proxy dialog consists of a list of Proxy Server nodes added to the Enterprise, and the Automatically Select Proxy checkbox. By default, the checkbox is selected and the list is disabled. DPX chooses the proxy servers to use for a backup job and how many to use for load balancing. If you unselect this option, the displayed virtualization proxy servers become selectable, and you can choose the proxy servers to use for the backup job. Use [Ctrl + click] for multiple selection.
Click OK. The Set Proxy options are now saved.
The Set Job Notification Options dialog controls who receives messages about the current job when it is run.
To set backup job notification options:
Open the Set Job Notification Options dialog box by doing one of the following:
Right-click the Enterprise name or icon to display a context menu. Then select Set Notification Options.
From the menu bar, select Backup > Set Notification Options.
On the task panel, click Set Notification Options.
The Set Job Notification Options dialog box appears.
Complete the Set Job Notification Options dialog box as needed.
An explanation of each field and the available choices follows:
Two sets of mail information can be specified:
To
The email address of the primary recipient of your message. Only one “To” address is permitted.
Cc
Carbon Copy. The email address(es) of the secondary recipient(s) of your message. Use a semicolon to delimit multiple email addresses.
Bcc
Blind Carbon Copy. The email address(es) of the secondary recipient(s) not identified to other recipients. Use a semi-colon to delimit multiple email addresses.
Subject
The subject of your message. The subject line usually contains a combination of straight text and variable elements. Variables, which must begin with %, are replaced with actual corresponding values. If you enclose variables in double quotation marks, those variables are treated as literal values. You can embed the following variables:
%JOBNAME
%JOBID
%JOBTYPE
%RC
Use %RC to include the return code in the message for this run of the job, when applicable.
Selecting this check box option temporarily disables notifications for the job without deleting the currently defined job notification data.
Note. Note that the following characters are invalid in all fields: < > ; and '.
Locate virtualization proxy servers on the network close to the VMs being protected.
Do not use a vCenter node as a virtualization proxy server.
For optimum performance, multiple proxy servers are recommended to enable load balancing. However, the number of proxy servers is limited by the number of allowed connections to vSphere and the ESX server.
DPX automatically chooses proxy servers for a backup operation from available proxy servers and load balances among multiple available proxy servers.
Consider the storage requirements of your storage system based on the number of VMs to protect.
For best performance and reduced load on ESXi servers, back up over a SAN rather than a LAN. Note that the data transfer method for agentless backups is based on availability. If all the datastores of the VM are accessible to the proxy over the SAN, then SAN transfer method is used. If not, Catalogic DPX checks for HotAdd and, if available, it will be used. If neither SAN nor HotAdd are available, then LAN (NBD) transfer method will be used.
Tip. Try to ensure that the proxy server has SAN or HotAdd access to the target datastore, since NBD backup is much slower.
Define backup jobs at the container level, such as resource pool. Supported VMs added to the container are automatically added to the backup.
In a single Agentless backup job, do not combine VMs from more than one vCenter. The VMs from the different vCenters should be backed up using separate backup jobs.
Snapshot verification is available for DPX open storage. By running snapshot verification, you can quickly detect snapshot corruption. For more information, read the knowledge base article .
When VMs are no longer needed, run the Delete VM/VMDK Wizard to remove the VM and associated mappings, LUNs, temporary datastores, and associated cloned volumes. See .
Use Agentless VMware Backup to protect most VMs. Use the Catalogic DPX Block Data Protection (guest-based protection) to provide application-aware protection for VMs running applications such as Microsoft SharePoint, Microsoft Exchange, Microsoft SQL Server, or Oracle Databases, see .
If you install the Catalogic DPX Client on a VM to run Block backups, you can set the option to skip that VM during Agentless VMware Backup. See .
For best performance consider backing up over SAN or HotAdd rather than LAN (NBD).
In a single Agentless backup job, do not combine VMs from more than one vCenter. The VMs from the different VMware vCenters should be backed up using separate backup jobs. That is N servers to 1 job and 1 volume.
Define Agentless VMware backup jobs at the container level, such as VM folders or resource pools. Supported VMs added to the container are automatically added to the backup.
Avoid storage migration while Agentless VMware Backup backups are running.
Architecture and data flow are described in the following topics.
In addition to the Catalogic DPX Master Server, the following types of nodes are involved in Agentless VMware Backup.
Proxy servers
VMware vCenters
VMware ESXi servers managed by VMware vCenter
VMs
Catalogic vStor, the Catalogic DPX Open Storage Server, or the NetApp storage systems (STORAGE_CTL nodes)
Agentless VMware Backup does not require the Catalogic DPX installed on vCenter, hosts, and VMs. The following table summarizes requirements for installation or configuration on the different types of nodes:
| Node | Requires Catalogic DPX Installation | Requires Adding to the Enterprise |
|---|
Backup over a SAN or VMware HotAdd is recommended for superior performance. SAN has significant advantages over LAN (NBD):
Impact on ESX server processing is reduced. On a LAN, the ESX server needs to read VMDKs and transfer them to the proxy server. On a SAN, the proxy servers read directly from storage, bypassing ESX servers.
Network contention is reduced.
Network transmission time is reduced.
Fewer connections are required on the vSphere server.
For many small- to medium-sized companies, LANs are cost-effective. In such environments, Agentless VMware Backup can be easily deployed for LAN backup, though performance is constrained by the LAN.
For HotAdd transport mode, vStorage APIs use the SCSI hot-add functionality of the ESXi host to mount a virtual machine’s associated virtual disks to backup storage, such as the Catalogic vStor server, for backup jobs. Using HotAdd requires that SCSI disks be used.
If you want to run certain backup jobs on a regular basis, it is best to create a schedule for them.
You may add a schedule to an existing job and save it, add a schedule to an existing job and save it under another name (thus creating a new job without affecting the job you have made edits to), or create a completely new job, adding a schedule to it.
To add a schedule to an Agentless VMware backup job, create a new job or open an existing one from the Job Manager.
In the job creation/editing view, scroll down to the SCHEDULES pane and click Add Schedule. The Schedule dialog will open. Depending on the selected frequency, the dialog will display slightly different parameters to select. Below, the Monthly schedule view is shown.
Select all required parameters, such as the schedule starting time and date, day of the week (if applicable), repetition period, backup retention time, etc.
Click Save.
Important. The schedule is now added to the job, but the job is not saved yet. Continue with the procedure to save the job.
Save the job. If you have added the schedule by modifying an existing job, two options will be available.
Click Save to apply changes to the existing job; or
Click Save As to create a copy of the modified job, with the schedule added, under a new name.
Restrictions. The new job name must be unique throughout the entire DPX, regardless of the folder the job is stored in.
To add a schedule to an Agentless VMware backup job, start creating a new job or open a saved job to edit it.
Go to the Backup tab and from the Backup Modes section in the task panel, choose File.
Under the Job Tasks section, select Schedule Backup Job. The Job Schedule dialog will open.
The Schedule tab allows you to define the dates and times you want the current job to run.
The Exceptions tab allows you to list any exceptions to that schedule.
The Preview tab allows you to view all jobs scheduled for a specified future date.
Select the Schedule tab. Using the Schedule window, you systematically define the schedule for the particular job you are defining. A single schedule definition for a single job can include many schedule description items or job schedule elements, which can be for different frequencies and different backup types. The following illustrates a schedule definition that contains three job schedule elements. Note that after defining the schedule, you will have an opportunity to exclude particular events by using the Exceptions tab.
Add job schedule elements one by one. To do so:
Click New.
In the New Schedule box, select a frequency.
Fill in the relevant details.
Click Apply. The job schedule element is added to the “Schedule Description” list at the top of the window.
Repeat steps 4.1 through 4.4 as needed to define the schedule for the particular job you are defining.
Select the Exceptions tab if exclusions are desired. This window allows you to exclude any future scheduled runs of the job. Add exclusion description items one by one. To do so:
Click New.
In the New Exclusion box, select from the display calendar the date of your desired exclusion. In the display calendar, the dates for which the current job is scheduled are denoted in purple. The job elements scheduled for that date appear in the box.
To exclude certain job elements scheduled for that date, click Select one or more entries to exclude, then select the desired jobs from the entries listed in the box. To exclude all job elements scheduled for your selected date, click Exclude whole day.
Click Apply. The exclusion description item is added to the Schedule Description list at the top of the window.
Repeat steps 6.1 through 6.4 as needed to define the exceptions for the particular job you are defining.
You can also indicate whether or not scheduled jobs should be skipped on holidays by clicking to select or unselect Skip Run if Holiday.
Click OK. The schedule and exceptions you just defined are associated with the job you are defining.
Tip. Remember to save the job definition after you specify a job schedule.
Using Agentless VMware Backup to protect VMs has significant advantages, including simplified administration and tight integration with VMware vCenter. However, you can install Catalogic DPX in a VM to run Block backups of the VM. Block backup jobs are defined separately from Agentless VMware Backup jobs, though they are both defined, scheduled, and displayed in the management interfaces.
The VM data protection types are tightly integrated: both are controlled by a single master server and managed from either of the management interfaces. This enables you to deploy data protection strategies in a single data protection system.
Agentless VMware Backup is performed through VMware vStorage APIs for Data Protection, which mounts VMDK files and transfers data to proxy servers.
The following table compares Agentless VMware Backup and Block Data Protection:
Note. Proxy-based agentless backup is highly efficient for protecting many VMs, but agent-based backup with the Catalogic DPX Block Data Protection is required for protecting application servers or iSCSI-based volumes.
Agentless VMware and Microsoft Hyper-V backups combined with Catalogic vStor Server or the NetApp storage systems provide powerful data reduction capabilities.
Catalogic vStor server provides data reduction through deduplication and compression (target-side data reduction). The deduplication and data compression capabilities for the Catalogic vStor Server and NetApp storage systems can be applied to the stored backup data. For more information on the effect of data compression, see in the DPX 4.9.x User’s Guide.
Recreates the entire VM by physically transferring data to a local datastore. Restores to an original or alternative location. Storage relocation is used in most cases.
Uses LUN mapping to restore a selected VMDK file from a snapshot to an original or alternate ESX server. No data is transferred. This method is similar to Instant VM Restore, but it restores a VMDK rather than an entire VM.
Restores a VMDK from a snapshot to a VM. This method is similar to Full VM Restore, but it restores a VMDK rather than an entire VM. Storage relocation is used in most cases.
See also. You can find more on related topics in the DPX 4.9.x User’s Guide:
See also. For detailed information about pre- and post-job scripts, including all valid definitions, see .
Note. DPX emailing must be enabled when you first configure your Enterprise. At that time, you supply general system information, including SMTP Host Name and SMTP Port. See the section.
See also. For detailed information about pre- and post-job scripts, including all valid definitions, see .
Note. DPX emailing must be enabled when you first configure your Enterprise. At that time, you supply general system information, including SMTP Host Name and SMTP Port. See .
See also. More information can be found in in the DPX 4.9.x Reference Guide.
This dialog box contains three tabs along the top: Schedule, Exceptions, and Preview.
Restores specific files or directories in the VM backup snapshot. You can specify the VM, backup snapshot with a time stamp, and files or directories. For more information, see .
Uses LUN mapping from a snapshot to the original or alternative ESXi or vCenter, making an entire VM available for use. No data is transferred. After the VM is created, you may use RRP (Rapid Return to Production) Wizard to restore the VM permanently. See .
Toggle on | Backup job is reported as failed if a VM or VMDK is skipped because it is not supported. |
Toggle off | Backup job succeeds with warning messages if unsupported VMs or VMDKs are encountered. |
Toggle on | DPX reads data from the ESX server using SSL encryption. Data written to secondary storage is not encrypted. |
Toggle off | DPX does not read data from the VMware ESXi server using SSL encryption. |
Toggle on | DPX quiesces the file system and applications on the source VM. |
Toggle off | DPX backs up the VM while it is running. |
Toggle on | DPX performs an agentless backup of VMs that contain a DPX client installation. |
Toggle off | DPX skips VMs that have the Catalogic DPX Client. |
Yes | Backup job is reported as failed if a VM or VMDK is skipped because it is not supported. |
No | Backup job succeeds with warning messages if unsupported VMs or VMDKs are encountered. |
Yes | DPX reads data from the ESX server using SSL encryption. Data written to secondary storage is not encrypted. |
No | DPX does not read data from the VMware ESXi server using SSL encryption. |
Yes | DPX quiesces the file system and applications on the source VM. |
No | DPX backs up the VM while it is running. |
Yes | DPX performs an agentless backup of VMs that contain a DPX client installation. |
No | DPX skips VMs that have the Catalogic DPX Client. |
Output Email | Specifies that the subsequent fields apply to reports that are sent when a job has completed. |
Operator Email | Specifies that the subsequent fields apply to mount requests, error messages, and informational messages that are sent during a job. |
Virtualization proxy servers | Yes, with Virtualization Proxy Server installation setup type selected. | Yes |
VMware vCenter nodes | No | Yes |
ESXi servers | No | No |
VMs | No | No |
Catalogic vStor Server or NetApp storage system nodes | No | Yes |
To use the Agentless Backup for Microsoft Hyper-V, you must install Catalogic DPX Backup Agent for Microsoft Hyper-V on your Microsoft Hyper-V host. The agent handles Hyper-V snapshot processing and communicates with the storage destination and master server. Agentless Hyper-V Backup supports auto-discovery and protection of new and modified VMs. Moreover, it supports crash-consistent backup of all guest operating systems supported by Microsoft Windows 2016 and later.
Restrictions. Microsoft Hyper-V backup and restore are only accessible through the web interface.
You can use the Catalogic DPX Agentless Backup with the following Microsoft Hyper-V environments:
Microsoft Hyper-V for Windows Server 2022
Microsoft Hyper-V for Windows Server 2016
Microsoft Hyper-V for Windows Server 2019
The VMs you want to protect must have the Microsoft Hyper-V virtual machine configuration versions of 8.0 or later. To check the configuration version of a VM, click the VM in the main window of Microsoft Hyper-V Management Console and see the Configuration Version value in the summary tab.
Or, you can get the configuration versions of all or specific VMs by using Microsoft Hyper-V Module for Microsoft Windows PowerShell or Microsoft PowerShell. In the Microsoft Windows Server system, launch Microsoft Windows PowerShell or Microsoft PowerShell with the administrator privilege. Use the following command:
The command prompts the output that is structured as shown:
In this example, you have to upgrade the configuration version of sales-vm before DPX protects this VM.
See also. For more information about virtual machine configuration versions in Microsoft Hyper-V, see the following document:
In addition, you must install Catalogic DPX Backup Agent for Microsoft Hyper-V on the Microsoft Hyper-V host system.
Full Virtualization
Instant Virtualization and Rapid Return to Production (RRP)
Agentless backup
File-level restore
Hypervisor plug-in
Toggle on | The notification is sent as specified below the toggle (additional fields will appear – see below). |
Toggle off |
Description/ Benefits | Agentless VMware Backup (Proxy-Based backup) | Block Data Protection (Agent-Based Backup) |
Agent installation | Agent installation only on proxy servers. | Agent installation on each VM to be protected. |
Applicability |
Advantages | No agent installation and maintenance on VMs. Low impact on ESX servers. | Application-aware protection, including granular recovery for SharePoint and Exchange. Backup of iSCSI-based volumes. |
In the main web interface view, go to Job Manager in the sidebar. Then select the New Backup Job button in the upper right corner.
Specify the Job Name. For Hyper-V Backup, this field may contain no more than 64 characters. You can also add an optional description (up to 48 characters).
Select Job Type – Hyper-V and the Job Folder to store the job in (see the Job Manager section for more information). By default, all jobs are stored in the SS_DEFAULT job folder.
Click Add Source in the SOURCES pane to specify which volumes you want to back up. The Source selection dialog will appear.
Tip. You may select an entire Hyper-V node or individual virtual machines within the node.
Tip. Powered-on machines are displayed with green icons, and powered-off machines are displayed with grey icons.
Hyper-V backup is possible even when the virtual machine is powered off.
Tip. You may view your current selection at any moment, using the Selected Items button next to the search field.
You can clear each item using the “X” symbol next to the item, or clear all items at once using the Clear All button.
To close the Selected Items pane, click anywhere outside of it.
Use the EXCLUSIONS pane to exclude certain machines within a Hyper-V node. You may exclude individual machines by selecting them within the tree view in the Exclusions dialog or use exclusion patterns for a series of machines within an entire Hyper-V node selected as a Source.
In the DESTINATION pane, specify the destination for the Hyper-V backup.
You may also add a schedule in the SCHEDULES pane for the backup to be run on a regular basis. See Scheduling a Hyper-V Backup Job.
Specify the retention period for the backup. The default value is 90 days.
Click Save. The job can now be viewed, run, edited or deleted from the Job Manager section.
Editing a VMware backup job allows you to change some parameters of an already defined job (Save), or to create a new job based on the definition of an existing one (Save as…). The procedure is similar to creating a backup job from scratch.
In the main web interface view, go to Job Manager in the sidebar. Then select the VMware backup job you want to edit from the list.
Tip. You can control this view by ordering items by Job Name, Type, Created Date, Description, or Job Folder. Just click the column header to enable ascending/descending ordering.
Note also the Items per page value and navigation buttons at the bottom of the list, which can be useful when managing the display of many jobs.
Make all required changes to the job definition. The workflow is the same as in Creating an Agentless VMware Backup Job.
Save the job by clicking Save (the changes will be saved under the current job’s name, overwriting previous settings), or Save As (you will be prompted to provide a new name for the job).
Restrictions. The new job name must be unique throughout the entire DPX, regardless of the folder the job is stored in.
In the main desktop interface window, go to the Backup tab, and from the Backup Modes section in the task panel, choose Agentless VMware.
Under Job Tasks in the side panel, select Open Backup Job. The Open Job dialog will appear.
Note. The Job List includes all Agentless VMware backup job names, regardless of the folders they are stored in. The Folder field indicates the actual folder where the selected job is stored.
Select the job you want to edit from the list. Click OK. The Open Job dialog will close and the settings of the selected job will be loaded to the main window view.
Proceed with editing the job. See Creating an Agentless VMware Backup Job for more details.
When finished, save the job by doing one of the following:
Select File > Save Job
Select Save Backup Job in the Job Tasks section of the side panel
Press [Ctrl + S]
The Save Job dialog will appear.
Restrictions. The new job name must be unique throughout the entire DPX, regardless of the folder the job is stored in.
Click OK. If you choose the same name, you will be prompted to confirm the replacement of an already existing job. Select Yes to change the job definition, or No to return to the previous step and specify another name for the job.
Architecture and data flow are described in the following topics, with accompanying system illustrations.
In addition to the Catalogic DPX Master Server, the following types of nodes are involved in Agentless VMware Backup.
Proxy servers
VMware vCenters
VMware ESXi servers managed by VMware vCenter
VMs
Catalogic vStor, the Catalogic DPX Open Storage Server, or the NetApp storage systems (STORAGE_CTL nodes)
Agentless VMware Backup does not require the Catalogic DPX installed on vCenter, hosts, and VMs. The following tables summarizes requirements for installation or configuration on the different types of nodes:
| Node | Requires Catalogic DPX Installation | Requires Adding to the Enterprise |
|---|---|---|
Backup over a SAN or VMware HotAdd is recommended for superior performance. SAN has significant advantages over LAN (NBD):
Impact on ESX server processing is reduced. On a LAN, the ESX server needs to read VMDKs and transfer them to the proxy server. On a SAN, the proxy servers read directly from storage, bypassing ESX servers.
Network contention is reduced.
Network transmission time is reduced.
Fewer connections are required on the vSphere server.
For many small- to medium-sized companies, LANs are cost-effective. In such environments, Agentless VMware Backup can be easily deployed for LAN backup, though performance is constrained by the LAN.
For HotAdd transport mode, vStorage APIs use the SCSI hot-add functionality of the ESXi host to mount a virtual machine’s associated virtual disks to backup storage, such as the Catalogic vStor server, for backup jobs. Using HotAdd requires that SCSI disks be used.
Proxy-based agentless backup is highly efficient for protecting many VMs, but agent-based backup with the Catalogic DPX Block Data Protection is required for protecting application servers or iSCSI-based volumes.
Restores are accomplished through the management console. Internally, Catalogic DPX uses LUN mapping and Storage vMotion to provide either an Instant or Full restore.
For Instant restore of a VM or VMDK, Catalogic DPX creates a LUN on storage systems from the backup snapshot you select as the restore source. Catalogic DPX then maps the LUN to the ESX server that hosts the VM restore destination, creates a temporary datastore containing an RDM VMDK, then attaches the RDM VMDK to the VM restore target. That completes an Instant restore, and the VMDK is available for use through iSCSI LUN mapping.
A Full restore of a VM or VMDK includes the same steps as Instant restore and then uses Storage vMotion to migrate data from one or more RDM VMDKs on the temporary datastore to flat VMDKs on a production datastore.
If you want to run certain backup jobs on a regular basis, it is best to create a schedule for them.
You may add a schedule to an existing job and save it, add a schedule to an existing job and save it under another name (thus creating a new job without affecting the job you have made edits to), or create a completely new job, adding a schedule to it.
To add a schedule to an Agentless VMware backup job, create a new job or open an existing one from the Job Manager.
In the job creation/editing view, scroll down to the SCHEDULES pane and click Add Schedule. The Schedule dialog will open. Depending on the selected frequency, the dialog will display slightly different parameters to select. Below, the Monthly schedule view is shown.
Select all required parameters, such as the schedule starting time and date, day of the week (if applicable), repetition period, backup retention time, etc.
Click Save.
Important. The schedule is now added to the job, but the job is not saved yet. Continue with the procedure to save the job.
Save the job. If you have added the schedule by modifying an existing job, two options will be available.
Click Save to apply changes to the existing job; or
Click Save As to create a copy of the modified job, with the schedule added, under a new name.
Restrictions. The new job name must be unique throughout the entire DPX, regardless of the folder the job is stored in.
An Agentless VMware Backup with the file system and application quiesce option enabled allows Catalogic DPX to quiesce the source VM and generate an application-consistent backup, as opposed to a crash-consistent backup that is generated when the quiesce option is not enabled. A crash-consistent backup is equivalent to the VM losing power; the image consists of all of the VM’s data at the point the backup was taken. Crash-consistent backups restore the VM in the same state when the backup was taken. Crash-consistent backups do not capture pending transactions that are in memory, but not yet written to disk; database applications with pending transactions can lose those transactions after the crash-consistent backup is restored.
Application-Consistent backups allow applications that rely on databases to be properly backed up. Using Agentless VMware Backups with the file system and application quiesce option enabled allows application-consistent backups by quiescing the VM, thereby, placing the entire VM file system in a backup-ready state. The quiesce option allows Catalogic DPX to create a transactionally consistent backup of a VM running VSS-aware applications such as Active Directory, SQL Server, Exchange, and Sharepoint, without shutting them down.
Catalogic DPX uses VMware tools that direct the Microsoft VSS to invoke the snapshot process and quiesce the VSS-aware applications. VSS interfaces with the applications and Windows OS to quiesce all of the transactions at a specific point in time. The triggering of VSS writers starts a VSS freeze and halt the transactions of the database application to create a consistent view of application data before taking a VM snapshot. Using the VSS writer, the data for the application is in the same state as if the application was closed normally. This ensures that there are no unfinished database transactions or incomplete application files during backups.
Note. VMware Tools must be installed on the source VM to enable the quiesce capability. Consult your VMware documentation for more information.
Catalogic DPX provides additional application-aware agent-based protection for situations where additional granular application-level recovery is desired, such as restoring a specific SQL Server table instead of the entire VM. Agent-based backups are also recommended for VMs that have been uniquely configured for optimized performance of specific applications or require direct storage access. Application-aware agent-based backups are supported for Oracle, SharePoint, SQL Server, and Exchange. This protection is offered through the Catalogic DPX Block Data Protection and cannot be used through Agentless VMware Backup. Any VMs that manage these programs require the Catalogic DPX Client to be installed.
See also. For more information about protecting application data by using Catalogic DPX, see the following chapters from the Application Support section in the DPX 4.9.x User’s Guide:
On the Restore window, the application and file consistency state of a snapshot is indicated as follows:
Editing a Hyper-V backup job allows you to change some parameters of an already defined job (Save), or to create a new job based on the definition of an existing one (Save as…). The procedure is similar to creating a backup job from scratch.
In the main web interface view, go to Job Manager in the sidebar. Then select the file backup job you want to edit from the list.
Tip. You can control this view by ordering items by Job Name, Type, Created Date, Description, or Job Folder. Just click the column header to enable ascending/descending ordering.
Note also the Items per page value and navigation buttons at the bottom of the list, which can be useful when managing the display of many jobs.
Make all required changes to the job definition. The workflow is the same as in Creating a Hyper-V Backup Job.
Save the job by clicking Save (the changes will be saved under the current job’s name, overwriting previous settings), or Save As (you will be prompted to provide a new name for the job).
Restrictions. The new job name must be unique throughout the entire DPX, regardless of the folder the job is stored in.
The notification is sent to the default e-mail address configured in the section.
Data protection of all VMs, with application consistent protection through VM quiesce, see Source Options for Agentless VMware Backup in in the DPX 4.9.x User’s Guide.
Applicable for Windows and Linux VMs requiring application-aware protection of SharePoint, Exchange, SQL Server, or Oracle. See .
Virtualization proxy servers
Yes, with Virtualization Proxy Server installation setup type selected.
Yes
VMware vCenter nodes
No
Yes
ESXi servers
No
No
VMs
No
No
Catalogic vStor Server or NetApp storage system nodes
No
Yes
The blue dot indicates that Catalogic DPX has verified the snapshot as file system and application-consistent.
Indicates that Catalogic DPX is unable to confirm the consistency state of the snapshot. Possible reasons include the ineligibility of the VM or the consistency state have not been recorded due to the age of the snapshot.
