Configuring a VM Group for Application-Aware Backups

A VM group can contain VMs running any applications that are supported for application-aware backups. Create a separate VM group for each different application that is included in application-aware backups.

Create a different VM group for each set of VMs in the same domain.

Ensure that all VMs and applications in a VM group can be accessed using the same domain credentials.

Before You Begin

• The virtual machines that you identify for application-aware backups vary depending on the application you are protecting:

  • You can include virtual machines running Microsoft Exchange, Microsoft SQL Server, or Oracle applications.

  • For Active Directory, include virtual machines that act as Active Directory domain controllers.

  • For application-aware backups of Microsoft SharePoint, the content must be a virtual machine running a SQL Server configuration database that supports SharePoint operations.

    In the VM group content, do not include the web servers that serve SharePoint data to users.

    Application-aware backups set up a maximum of two SharePoint web servers that provide front ends for SharePoint operations. Any additional SharePoint web servers that point to the same configuration database are ignored.

• If a specific VM requires unique credentials, specify the credentials for that VM directly as part of the VM group content.

• Do not filter virtual machine disks. If a virtual machine disk is filtered, the VSA backup job completes with errors and the application backup job fails. You will not be able to restore application data.

• The server plan that is associated to the VM group must have 1 or more snap recovery points configured.

• To configure application-aware backups for Nutanix AHV when IntelliSnap backups are enabled, see Enabling Application-Aware IntelliSnap Backups for Nutanix AHV.

Procedure

1. From the navigation pane, click Solutions > Virtualization.

   The Virtualization Dashboard appears.

2. On the Hypervisors tab, click the hypervisor.

   The hypervisor details page appears. The VM groups area displays summary information for any existing VM groups.

3. Click an existing VM group.

4. Under Content, click Manage.

   The Content tab of the VM group content page shows the currently selected content to be backed up (hosts, specific VMs, or source virtual machine storage).

5. To add VM group content, click Add virtual machines.

6. The Add virtual machines page appears.

7. Select a browse method for the Browse and select VMs list, and then expand the tree below the list to select hosts, specific VMs, or VM storage locations for the VM group, or to clear previous selections.

8. Click OK.

9. After the VM group is created, edit the VM group settings and, for the Virtual machine backup type setting, select Application Aware.