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.
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.
See also. For detailed information about pre- and post-job scripts, including all valid definitions, 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. |
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 '.
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 Administrator E-mail Settings section.
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>
See also. For detailed information about pre- and post-job scripts, including all valid definitions, see Pre-Scripts and Post-Scripts.
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 '.
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 Configuration.
See also. More information can be found in Editing an Enterprise Configuration in the DPX 4.9.x Reference Guide.
Toggle on
The notification is sent as specified below the toggle (additional fields will appear – see below).
Toggle off
The notification is sent to the default e-mail address configured in the Administrator E-mail Settings section.
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.
