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Table of Contents maxLevel 3
To add a VSA pseudo client
1 - Right-click Client Computers | New Client.
2 - Select the hypervisor vendor.
3 - Type client name and add hypervisor server name and credentials with administrative privileges.
4 - Select the Storage Policy to use by the default subclient.
5 - To add VSA proxies, click Add.
6 - Add VSA proxy client groups (bold) or clients (not bold).
7 - First proxy in the list acts as coordinator.
To access VSA subclient properties
1 - Expand Client Computers | <virtual Machine Client | Virtual Server | Virtual Server Agent | Backupset | Right-click the default subclient and select properties from the menu.
2 - The default subclient acts as a catch all and will protect all VMs that are not defined in any other custom subclient.
To define subclient content
1 - Right-click the subclient | Properties.
2 - Click browse to select content.
3 - Content can be selected as VMs, Datastores, clusters, etc.
4 - Selected content appears in the contents tab.
To define discovery rules
1 - Right-click the subclient | Properties.
2 - Click Add to create a rule.
3 - Create a rule by defining criteria.
4 - Click + to add additional rules to the rule group.
5 - If there is more than one rule, define if all or any of the rule need to be met.
6 - Click OK to save new rule and return.
7 - Click OK to save Rules.
8 - Once the rules are set, click Preview to display the result.
9 - The list of all VMs meeting the rules is displayed.
To configure the transport mode
1 - Right-click the subclient | properties.
2 - Select the transport mode from the drop-down list.
To configure subclient Data Readers
1 - Right-click the subclient | properties.
2 - Define the desired number of Data Readers.
To configure subclient Proxies
1 - Right-click the subclient | properties.
2 - Use Add or Remove to define VSA Proxies which overrides the Instance level proxy list.
VM Filtering
Virtual Machine Swap File Filtering
When backing up VMware® or Hyper-V virtual machines, by default, the VSA filters the Windows page file or Linux swap file. To achieve this, the system maps the virtual machine disk blocks from which the page file or swap file is made of. These blocks are skipped during the backups, significantly reducing the storage footprint and the backup time.
It is possible to disable the skipping of page and swap files by creating the bSkipPageFileExtent additional setting on the VSA proxy and by setting its value to 0 (zero).
Swap or Page file filtering during VSA backups
To configure subclient Proxies
1 - Right-click the subclient | properties.
2 - Select to see filters configured at the Backupset level.
3 - Define VM’s to filter at the subclient.
4 - Define filter list to exclude VM disks.
5 - Click Browse or Add to select VMs to exclude from backup in the subclient.
6 - Browse is used to navigate the virtual environment to select VMs to filter.
7 - Add is used to configure rules to exclude VMs. VMs meeting the rules are automatically excluded from backups.
8 - Click Browse or Add to select VMs disks to exclude from backup in the subclient.
9 - Use patterns, data store or device node to filter VM disks from backup in this subclient.
To configure backup set filter
1 - Right-click the backup set | properties.
2 - Filter either VMs or disks
3 - Browse VM filters or Add name patterns.
4 - Browse shows vCenter like tree structure to exclude VMs
5 - Add VM disk filters if needed.
To configure VSA subclient backup options
1 - Right-click the subclient | properties.
2 - Change Block Tracking keeps a trace of block that changed since last backup.
3 - Application aware backup slipstreams application plugin for full app aware backup and recovery. Guest credentials can be set at instance, subclient and guest VM levels.
4 - File system and Application consistency engages VSS for file system and attempts quiesce of VSS aware applications.
5 - Crash consistent does not engage any OS level quiescing mechanism.
6 - Datastore free space check validates defined free space percentage at the start of each VM backup.
To enable Auto VM Ownership option
1 - Right-click the subclient | properties.
2 - Supported for VMware® only, this detects owner based on user rights in vCenter.
To define the Proxy ESX Server
1 - Right-click the subclient | properties.
2 - Define the vCenter server name containing the ESX server.
3 - Click to browse for ESX servers.
4 - Select the ESX server to be used for proxy.
To create a VM smart client computer group
1 - Right-click Client Computer Groups | New Group.
2 - Select to use Automatic Association rules.
3 - Select the appropriate discovery rule.
4 - Select the VSA subclient.
VSA Application Aware Backup
Right-click the desired subclient | Click Properties | Backup Options tab
Application aware VSA backups inserts an 'application plugin' into the VM during a VSA backup and IntelliSnap® feature. When a VM backup runs, the plugin quiesces the application using a VSS snapshot. The VSA coordinator then communicates with the hypervisor to conduct a VM snapshot. If IntelliSnap is used, a hardware snapshot is taken on the Datastore and then the software snapshot and VSS snap is released.
VSA Application Aware backup support as of SP19:
Hypervisor | Active Directory | Microsoft Exchange | Microsoft SharePoint | Microsoft SQL Server | MySQL on Oracle database for Windows MySQL on | Oracle database for Linux | Oracle database for Windows | Oracle database for Linux | ||||
Amazon (streaming) | 
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Microsoft Hyper-VAzure Stack HCI (streaming) |
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Nutanix AHV (streaming) |
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Nutanix AHV (IntelliSnap) |
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| Azure Stack Hub (streaming) |
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Microsoft Azure Stack Hub (IntelliSnap) |
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Microsoft Hyper-V (streaming) |
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Nutanix AHV ( streamingIntelliSnap) |
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Oracle VM ( IntelliSnapstreaming) |
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To enable application aware VSA backups, a user account with administrative privileges for the application must be used. This account can be entered at the instance or subclient level. When the VSA backup runs, the system detects if any supported agents are installed in the VM and automatically installs the application plugin. After the backup completes, the plugin remains in the VM for subsequent backup operations. Application data recovery is conducted using the agent in the CommCell® console, providing full agent level recovery options.
Application Aware Backup additional prerequisites:
- MediaAgent software must be installed on the VSA proxy
- A snap copy must be created in the storage policy receiving the backup
When the first backup is initiated, a 'VSAAppAwareBackupWorkflow' is initiated. The workflow executes required tasks to properly protect the application.
VSAAppAwareBackupWorkflow high level phases:
- It validates that the MediaAgent software is installed on the VSA proxy server
- It validates that the Snap Copy is created for the storage policy
- It discovers if a supported application is installed in the VM
- It pushes the application plugin
- It protects the application
To configure VSA Application Aware backups
1 - Right-click the subclient | properties.
2 - Enable Application Aware backups.
3 - Click to provide credentials.
4 - Click Change.
5 - Provide the username and password.
The VSA AppAware Backup Workflow
1 - The workflow is initiated to validate that the prerequisites are in place, discover any supported application, push out the plugin and finally protect the application.
