NetWorker automatically creates a policy named “Default” in NetWorker when you register the first VMware Backup Appliance. NetWorker applies this policy to all registered VMware Backup Appliances, and saves the backups created by this policy on the internal storage of the appliance.
You may require multiple policies to back up VMs. For example, there may be VMs you want to protect based on retention, how many clones you need, and so on.
To create a new protection policy:
1. In the Configuration tab of the NMC Administration window, right-click VMware Protection Policies in the left pane and select New, as in Figure 15 on page 50.
Figure 15 Create new policy in NMC
2. In the Definition tab of the Create VMware Policy window, type a descriptive name for the policy, and specify a Start Time and Interval. NetWorker provides default values in these fields. In Figure 16 on page 50, a policy named BackuptoDDRAndClone is being created to backup and clone VMs to a Data Domain system.
Figure 16 Create VMware policy window
Note: Autostart is enabled by default.
Backing up VMs using NMC and the EMC Backup and Recovery plug-in 51 3. To create the VMware action (for example, action type=VMware backup), click the New
button in the VMware Actions pane. Figure 17 on page 51 displays.
Figure 17 Create VMware Action window
Four action types appear in the drop-down:
• VBA checkpoint discover — performs a discovery of the last validated checkpoint backup of the VMware Backup appliance. If there is no validated checkpoint available, this action discovers the last non-validated checkpoint. This action must occur before the VBA checkpoint backup action.
Note: Currently, the VBA checkpoint discover action cannot be specified before the VMware backup action. The NetWorker 8.1 and Service Packs Release Notes provide more information about this issue (NW154275).
• VBA checkpoint backup — performs a checkpoint backup of the VMware Backup appliance at a scheduled time (typically once daily) to be used in case of a disaster recovery. This action must occur after the checkpoint discover action.
Note: You can only perform a VBA checkpoint backup to a Data Domain pool.
• VMware backup — performs a backup of the VMware Backup appliance to internal storage or a Data Domain system. You can only perform one VMware backup action per VMware Protection policy. The backup action must occur before clone actions.
Note: Only backups to a Data Domain system can be cloned.
• Clone — performs a clone of the VMware backup on a Data Domain system to any cloning device that NetWorker supports (including Data Domain system or tape targets). You can specify multiple clone actions. Clone actions must occur after the VMware backup action. You can also clone a VBA checkpoint backup, but only to a Data Domain destination pool.
4. Repeat the following steps for each action type:
a. Type a name that describes the action.
b. In the Action type field, select the action type.
c. Choose a destination pool:
– For VBA checkpoint backup, select the Data Domain backup pool.
– For VMware backup actions, select Default Pool VBA Internal to backup to internal storage, or the Data Domain backup pool to backup to a Data Domain device.
– For clone actions, select the pool for your created Data Domain device, or a clone pool containing tapes for cloning to tape.
When you select the pool for the Data Domain device, the VMware backup occurs to the Data Domain device instead of VBA internal storage. For example, to create the BackuptoDDRAndClone policy, the Data Domain device requires a backup pool, since you cannot clone a backup to Default Pool VBA Internal.
d. Select a browse and retention policy for Index Management, or use the default values.
e. In the Schedule tab, NetWorker uses the default VMware Incremental Forever schedule. You can use the default schedule, select an alternate schedule from the drop-down, or click the green + to create a new schedule or edit a schedule.
When you click OK to create the VMware backup action, the Create/Edit VMware Protection Policy window displays again, with the new action in the VMware Actions pane, along with all of the policy details. You must now assign a VMware Backup Appliance to the policy.
5. In the Create/Edit VMware Protection Policy window, select an appliance in the VMware Backup Appliance Selection tab, as shown in Figure 18 on page 52, and then click OK.
Figure 18 Select a VMware Backup Appliance in the Create/Edit VMware Protection Policy window
Backing up VMs using NMC and the EMC Backup and Recovery plug-in 53 Note: If you do not select a VMware Backup Appliance for the policy, NMC displays a warning message indicating there is no appliance attached to this policy, and asks if you want to proceed. If this warning displays, click No, and then return to this window to assign a VMware Backup Appliance.
When you complete these steps, Figure 19 on page 53 displays, showing the completed VMware Protection Policy and associated actions. A map also appears at the bottom of the window displaying a visual representation of the policy and actions.
Figure 19 VMware Protection policy with associated actions
To avoid waiting until all backups complete before the clone action begins, you can choose to make the operations concurrent, similar to NetWorker’s immediate cloning option which allows a group to start cloning upon each save set completion.
To enable and mark actions to run concurrently with their preceding actions:
1. Open the Create VMware Policy or Edit VMware Protection Policy window.
2. Select the appropriate checkboxes under the Definition tab, as shown in Figure 20 on page 54.
Figure 20 Enable and mark actions concurrent in Create VMware Policy window
Once you create the policy and complete the Actions, select the VMware backup appliance that the policy applies by selecting the VMware Backup Appliance Selection tab, available from the Create VMware Policy or Edit VMware Protection Policy windows.
Note: Although you cannot use NetWorker to assign policies to specific VMs, you can assign a policy created in NMC to specific VMs in the vSphere Web Client interface.
“Assigning VMs to a policy” on page 64 provides more information.
