VMware backup and disaster recovery

On-premises VMware

To back up VMware VMs in an on-premises VMware environment, follow these steps:

1. Activate Cloud Backup

   Activating Cloud Backup is free. Ongoing charges include a software usage fee for VMware backup and a storage capacity fee. For billing details, see Billing methods and billable items.

2. Prepare a backup account

   Create a dedicated VMware username and password so that Cloud Backup can authenticate to vCenter Server and access the resources it needs to run backup jobs.

3. Add a disaster recovery gateway

   Create a disaster recovery gateway in the Cloud Backup console. The disaster recovery gateway helps you perform backup and restore jobs.

4. Install and activate disaster recovery gateway

   Download the gateway package and its certificate, then install and activate the gateway in your VMware environment. After activation, you can create backup and restore jobs in the Cloud Backup console.

5. Add vCenter

   Before you back up VMware VMs, you must add the vCenter Server in the Cloud Backup console.

6. Back up VMware virtual machines

   Create a backup plan and configure the plan name, backup cycle, and retention period. Cloud Backup starts the plan and backs up your VMware VMs on the defined schedule.

7. Restore a VMware virtual machine

   If a VM encounters an issue, create a restore job to recover it to an on-premises server, an ECS instance, or Alibaba Cloud VMware Service.

Alibaba Cloud VMware service (ACVS)

To back up VMs in Alibaba Cloud VMware Service (ACVS), follow these steps:

1. Activate Cloud Backup

   Activating Cloud Backup is free. Ongoing charges include a software usage fee for VMware backup and a storage capacity fee. For billing details, see Billing methods and billable items.

2. Prepare the VMware service environment

   Get the login credentials and address for your VMware components, then configure the firewall rules for the virtual private cloud (VPC) and the dedicated VMware environment.

3. Add a disaster recovery gateway

   Create a disaster recovery gateway in the Cloud Backup console. The disaster recovery gateway helps you perform backup and restore jobs.

4. Install and activate the disaster recovery gateway

   Download the gateway package and its certificate, then install the gateway in your VMware environment. After installation, you can create backup and restore jobs in the Cloud Backup console.

5. Add vCenter

   Before you back up VMware VMs, you must add the vCenter Server in the Cloud Backup console.

6. Back up VMware virtual machines

   Create a backup plan and configure the plan name, backup cycle, and retention period. Cloud Backup starts the plan and backs up your VMware VMs on the defined schedule.

7. Restore a VMware virtual machine

   If a VM encounters an issue, create a restore job to recover it to an on-premises server, an ECS instance, or Alibaba Cloud VMware Service.