Backup Considerations for Agentless VMware Backups
General Backup Considerations
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.
VM Exclusions from Backup
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. See Installing Agentless VMware Backup.
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:
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