Back up VMware VMs

Step 1: Add a vCenter

Before you back up VMs, add a vCenter in the Cloud Backup console.

1. Log on to the Cloud Backup console.

2. In the left-side navigation pane, choose Back Up > VMware Backup & Disaster Recovery.

3. In the top navigation bar, select a region.

4. On the VMware Backup & Disaster Recovery page, click the Managed vCenter Servers tab, and then click Add vCenter Server.

5. In the Add vCenter Server panel, configure the following parameters and click Create.

   Parameter	Description
   Server IP	The address of the vCenter. For Alibaba Cloud VMware Service, obtain the vCenter address from the Alibaba Cloud VMware Service console. This address is the network address of the server. Note The server address of a registered vCenter cannot be modified. To change it, delete the existing vCenter and add it again with the new address.
   Username	The username for the vCenter. In an on-premises VMware environment, the username is usually in the format of `username@domain`, for example, admin***@vsphere.local. For Alibaba Cloud VMware Service, obtain the username from the console, for example, cloud***@acvs.aliyuncs.com.
   Password	The password for the vCenter user. Note The vCenter registration may fail if the password contains the following special characters: ` ^ ~ = ; ! / ( [ ] { } @ $ \ & # % +
   Description	A description of the server.

Step 2: Create a backup plan

To create a backup plan:

1. Find the vCenter that you added and click Create Backup Plan in the Actions column.

2. In the Create Backup Plan panel, configure the following parameters and click Next.

   Parameter	Description
   Plan Name	Name of the backup plan. If empty, a random name is assigned.
   Retention Period	How long to retain backup data. Supported units: Day, Week, Month, and Year.
   Consistency Mode	Data consistency method used during snapshots. Crash Consistency (Default): Uses VMware software snapshots for a standard backup. File System Consistency: Attempts to create a quiesced snapshot using VMware Tools for application consistency. Falls back to crash-consistent if quiescing fails.
   Use LAN-free Backup	Attempts to back up data over SAN by hot-adding the VM disk to the backup gateway. Falls back to LAN transfer if hot-add fails.
   Backup Policy	Select Right Now or On Schedule. If you select On Schedule, you must specify the Start Time, Backup Interval, and Enable Incremental Backup parameters. To use an incremental backup policy, you must also specify the Start Time and Backup Interval. Important If Changed Block Tracking (CBT) is disabled for a VM, full backup runs instead of incremental. Enable CBT mode. An incremental backup includes only data generated or modified since the last full or incremental backup. Set different start times for incremental and full backups. Schedule them at least one hour apart to avoid conflicts.
   Start Time	Required only when Backup Policy is set to On Schedule. Specifies the backup start time. Defaults to the plan creation time.
   Backup Interval	Required only when Backup Policy is set to On Schedule. Specifies the backup interval. Default: 1 day. Units: hours, days, or weeks.
   Enable Incremental Backup	Required only when Backup Policy is set to On Schedule. Enables or disables incremental backup. No (Default): Incremental backup is not used. Yes: Incremental backup is used.

3. Select the Select VMs and click Next.

4. On the Confirm tab, confirm that the backup plan name, backup retention period, backup policy, and selected VMs are correct. Then, click Create.

   After the plan is created, Cloud Backup runs the backup jobs. On the Backup Plans tab, you can:

   • Click Run Now in the Actions column to run the backup job.

   • To pause a running backup job, click More > Suspend Plan in the Actions column. To resume, click More > Resume Plan in the Actions column.

   • Click More > Delete Plan in the Actions column. Deleting a plan stops its backup jobs but retains existing backup data.

(Optional) Specify a gateway for backups

By default, Cloud Backup load-balances backup jobs across gateways based on LAN-Free capability, job count, and ESXi host performance.

For many VMs, deploy multiple backup gateways to improve efficiency. The deployment procedure is similar to a single gateway. For more information, see Before you begin (on-premises VMware).

After deployment, Cloud Backup schedules jobs by gateway load. You can also manually assign a gateway to a plan:

1. Log on to the Cloud Backup console.

2. In the upper-left corner, select a region.

3. In the left navigation pane, select Backup > VMware Backup & Disaster Recovery.

4. On the Backup Plans tab, in the Actions column for the target plan, select More > Specify Gateway.

5. In the Specify Gateway panel, select a gateway to run backup jobs.

6. Click Create.

   On the Backup History tab, you can verify which gateway runs each VM backup job.

References

• To learn how to restore a backed-up VMware VM to an on-premises VMware environment or Alibaba Cloud VMware Service, see Restore a VMware VM.

• Restore a backed-up VMware VM as an entire machine to an Alibaba Cloud ECS instance: Restore a VMware VM to the cloud as an entire machine.