Datastore Considerations

For Agentless VMware backup to NetApp storage, both VMFS and NFS datastores are supported.

Virtual Volume (VVol) datastores are also supported. As a best practice, a backup of a virtual machine stored on a virtual volume (VVOL) datastore should be restored to a VVOL datastore that has the same provisioning (thick or thin) as the original.

Some datastore requirements and behavior are different for Instant Restore and Full Restore:

Instant VM or VMDK Restore

  • No datastore selection is required.

  • A VMFS datastore is automatically created during the restore to store the VM, VMDKs, or both. The size of the datastore is equal to the VM memory plus 10 percent of total size of VMDKs. Thin provisioning on the NetApp storage system contains the backup.

  • The VMFS datastore is removed when you run DeleteVM.

Full MV or VMDK Restore

  • If you restore to Original Location, no datastore selection is required. However, if you restore to a new location, you must select a datastore.

  • A temporary VMFS datastore is automatically created during the restore to store the VM, VMDKs, or both. The size of the datastore is equal to the VM memory plus 10 percent of total size of VMDKs. Thin provisioning on the NetApp storage system contains the backup.

  • The temporary VMFS datastore is deleted automatically when the job completes.

  • To remove restored VMs and VMDKS, use vSphere Client.

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