Copy of VSA Configuration - CommCell® Console - Concept

VSA Instance Configuration

Right-click Client Computers | Click New Client | Virtualization

Once the VSA software has been installed on all the desired proxies, the VSA pseudo client, or instance, can be configured. When configuring the instance, a list of proxies must be defined. The first proxy in the list acts as the VSA proxy coordinator.

Default Subclient Content

Right-click the default subclient | Click Properties | Content tab

The default subclient content tab contains a backslash entry, similar to the Windows^® File System agents to signify the subclient as a catch all. Any VMs not protected in other subclients are automatically protected by the default subclient. It is recommended that the default subclient contents is not changed, activity is not disabled and the default subclient is regularly scheduled to back up, even if there are no VMs in the subclient.

To avoid protecting VMs that do not need to be backed up, use the backup set level filters and add all VMs that don't require protection. Complying with these best practices ensures that if a VM is added in the virtualization environment, even if the Commvault system administrator is unaware of the VM, it gets protected by the default subclient.

VM Content Tab

Right-click the desired subclient | Click Properties | Content tab

VSA subclient contents are defined using the Browse or Add buttons. Browse provides a vCenter like tree structure where resources can be selected at different levels including Cluster or Datastore. For most environments, it is recommended to select subclient contents at the cluster level. For smaller environments, or for optimal performance, defining subclient contents at the Datastore level can be used to distribute the backup load across multiple Datastores.

The Add option is used to define discovery rules for VM content definition. Multiple rules can be nested such as all Windows^® VMs in a specific Datastore.

Discovery Rules

Right-click the desired subclient | Click Properties | Content tab | Add

You can refine the selection of virtual machines for subclient content by defining rules that identify specific virtual machines based on their properties. These rules are used in conjunction with other discovery rules that identify virtual machines based on operating system, server, and storage location.

Custom virtual machine properties can include: 

Transport Modes (VMware)

Right-click the desired subclient | Click Properties | General tab

The VMware transport mode is configured in the General tab of the subclient. The default setting is Auto which will attempt to use SAN or HotAdd mode and fall back to NBD mode if other modes are not available. To configure a specific transport mode with no fall back, select the desired mode from the drop-down box.

Data Readers

Right-click the desired subclient | Click Properties | Advanced Options tab

The data readers setting in the advanced tab of the subclient properties is used to determine the number of streams used for the subclient backup. This value must be set to meet backup windows while avoiding overloading DataStore, network, and proxy resources.

Subclient Proxies

Right-click the desired subclient | Click Properties | Advanced Options tab

Proxies are defined in the VSA instance but can be overridden at the subclient level. This is useful when specific subclient VM contents are not accessible from all VSA proxies. Proxies can be added, removed, and moved up or down to set proxy priority.

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

Virtual Machine Filtering

Virtual machines can be filtered by browsing for VMs or adding specific criteria for VM filtering. This can be useful when content is being defined at a parent level but specific virtual machines are to be excluded from backup. For instance, if the subclient is configured to auto-discover and protect all VMs within a specific Datastore, but there are few virtual machines that do not require protection, they can be added as filters. Virtual machines can be defined as filters at the subclient or at the backup set level.

If your subclients content is defined using auto-discovery rules, it is recommended to define VM filters at the backup set level to ensure that none of the subclients back up the VM.

Virtual Disk Filtering

For some hypervisors, such as VMware and Hyper-V, disk level filtering can also be applied. This provides the ability to filter disks based on host, Datastore, VMDK, VHD or VHDX name pattern or hard disk number. This can be useful when certain disks do not require protection or if Commvault agents installed within the VM are used to protect data.

Example: A database server requires protection. For shorter recovery points and more granular backup and recovery functionality, a database agent can be used to protect application database and log files. For system drives, the virtual server agent can be used for quick backup and recovery. Disks containing the database and logs should be filtered from the VSA subclient. The VSA will protect system drives and the application database agent will be used to protect database daily and log files every 15 minutes. This solution provides shorter recovery points by conducting frequent log backups, application aware backup and restores, and protects system drives using the virtual server agent.

Subclient and Backup Set Filters

Right-click the desired subclient | Click Properties | Filters tab

Subclient or backup set filters can be used to filter virtual machines or virtual machine disks for both Hyper-V and VMware. If auto-discovery rules are used to define content, it is recommended to apply filters at the backup set level to ensure that no subclients protect the VM.

The option to filter an entire datastore is available in the disk filters option. This means that VM disks stored in the selected Datastore are filtered out from backups.

Backup Options

Right-click the desired subclient | Click Properties | Backup Options tab

There are several subclient options that are specific to the VMware^® and Hyper-V^® VSA subclient.

• File System and Application Consistent – Configured in the Backup Options tab, this is used to enable (default) use of VSS to quiesce disks and VSS aware application for Windows^® virtual machines.
• Application Aware – Configured in the Backup Options tab, this backup type pushes an in-guest plug-in use to quiesce a supported application. It allows the backup software to protect the application in a consistent state and to granularly recover items.
• Perform Datastore free space check (VMWare only) – Configured in the Backup Options tab, this sets a minimum free space (default 10%) for the Datastore to ensure there is enough free space to conduct and manage software snapshots during the VM data protection process.

Auto Detect VM Owner

Right-click the desired subclient | Click Properties | Advanced Options tab

Virtual machine owners can be assigned automatically during virtual machine discovery, based on privileges and roles defined in vCenter that indicate rights to virtual machines. When this feature is enabled, users and user groups who have appropriate capabilities in vCenter and are also defined in the CommCell^® console are automatically assigned as VM owners in the client computer properties for the virtual machine.

This feature enables administrators and end users to access virtual machine data without requiring that they be assigned as VM owners manually. Depending on the permissions and role a user has in vCenter, they can view virtual machine data or recover VM data. Any user with Remove VM, VM Power On, and VM Power Off capabilities for a virtual machine is assigned as an owner of that VM during VM discovery.
Owner IDs are only assigned during discovery for a streaming or IntelliSnap backup and are not modified by backup copy or auxiliary copy operations.

Single sign on must be enabled on the vCenter and required vCenter capabilities must be configured for users and groups.

Users or user groups defined in vCenter must also be defined in the CommCell interface, either through a local user definition or a Name Server user definition (such as an Active Directory user or group).

Proxy ESX Server

Right-click the desired subclient | Click Properties | Advanced Options tab

To use the Live File Recovery feature, you must identify an ESX server that can be used to mount an NFS DataStore, which enables browsing and restoring files and folders from backup data. The values entered here are also used on the IntelliSnap Operations tab.

• Virtual Center / ESX Server - Specify the name of the vCenter that contains the ESX server to use for mounting the NFS DataStore.
• Select ESX server for snap mount - Click to access the Browse for ESX server dialog box and select an ESX server to use for mounting the NFS DataStore.
• Host - The name or IP address of the selected ESX server appears in this box.

Automatically add VM to Client Group

Right-click Client Computer Groups | Click New Group

You can automatically assign virtual machines in a subclient to a Client Computer Group. It is achieved by creating a smart client group using the 'Client discovered using VSA subclient' criteria.

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:

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:

1. It validates that the MediaAgent software is installed on the VSA proxy server
2. It validates that the Snap Copy is created for the storage policy
3. It discovers if a supported application is installed in the VM
4. It pushes the application plugin
5. It protects the application

SQL Transaction Log Backup Support

The VSA application aware backups for SQL server has been enhanced to include an automatic schedule for transaction log backups.

This provides the following advantages:

• Allows point-in-time restores of SQL databases, also known as log replays.
• Since the automatic schedule uses a free space threshold, it ensures that the volume containing the SQL logs does not fill up between VSA backups.

The schedule default setting can be modified as desired.