You can define filters to exclude virtual machines or virtual machine disks from backups.
About This Task
For each subclient under a backup set, the filtering specified for the backup set is combined with the filtering for the subclient to determine which content is excluded from backups.
Remember:
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You cannot filter a virtual machine template based on the guest operating system.
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If a virtual machine is explicitly added to the content of a subclient, the virtual machine will be discovered by its GUID. If the display name changes later, the machine is still included in the subclient as long as its GUID remains the same. Any virtual machines identified in a subclient and discovered by their GUIDs will not be filtered from backups.
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If a virtual machine is added by browsing and selecting the VM display name, discovery is performed based on the GUID for the VM. If that virtual machine is later restored in place from a backup, a new GUID is generated, and that virtual machine is no longer filtered from the backup. To filter that VM, you must remove the old filter rule, then add a new rule or use a name pattern for the filter.
Before You Begin
Before defining the filtering criteria using guest OS or guest DNS hostname, ensure that following prerequisites are satisfied:
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The virtual machine must be powered on at the time of the backup.
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The Hyper-V integration services must be installed and updated on the virtual machine.
Procedure
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From the CommCell Browser, expand Client Computers > virtualization_client > Virtual Server > Hyper-V > backup_set.
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Right-click the subclient and then click Properties.
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In the Subclient Properties dialog box, click the Filters tab.
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To view any filters defined for the backup set, select Show Backupset Filters.
Filters for the backup set and subclient are always combined to determine which virtual machines are excluded from backups; this is true even if Show Backupset Filters is not selected on the subclient.
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To browse for an object:
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Click Browse.
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Select a view from the list at the upper-left corner of the Browse dialog box:
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VMs: Select one or more virtual machines.
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Hosts: Select one or more hosts or clusters.
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Storage: Select a local volume or cluster shared volume.
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To define a new VM filter, click Add.
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In the Add Rule dialog box, click ... to browse for specific virtual machines, or volumes, or select the filter type from the drop-down list and enter the appropriate values in the corresponding box.
You can also use wildcard characters when defining rules based on a name, or pattern.
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Filter name
Description
VM Name/Pattern
Enter a pattern (for example, Test* to exclude VMs for which the VM name begins with "Test").
Host
Enter a host name or the IP address of a Hyper-V host. When you filter a host, all virtual machines for the host are automatically excluded from backups.
Guest OS
Enter the exact name of the operating system or a pattern to identify an operating system group. For example, you can enter Microsoft* to filter any virtual machine that has a version of the Windows operating system, *windows2012r2 to filter Windows 2012 R2 machines
Tip: To get an exact name of the operating system, use one of the following methods:
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Refer to the Auto registry key on the Windows virtual machine. The OSName string displays the exact name of the operating system on the virtual machine. The registry key is located in this registry path:
Windows_virtual_machine\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Virtual Machine\Auto -
View the Backup Job Summary report. If the virtual machine is powered on at the time of backup and integration services are installed on the virtual machine, this report displays the exact name of operating systems on each backed up virtual machine. For more information, see Report.
Guest DNS Hostname
Enter a pattern to identify a host name or domain (for example, myhost.mycompany.com to exclude a specific host or *.mycompany.com to exclude all hosts on that domain).
Power State
Select the power on status of the virtual machines to be included in the subclient content. You can select from one of the following options:
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Powered On - to include VMs that are powered on.
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Powered Off - to include VMs that are powered off.
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Other - to include VMs with a different power on status, such as Pause, Saved, etc,.
Replication Mode
This rule has two options
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Primary: Back up all VMs that are primary-source VMs in Hyper-V replication.
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Replica: Back up all VMs that are replica VMs in Hyper-V replication, including failover VMs and extended replication.
Notes
Enter a pattern to identify virtual machines based on notes text contained in the Hyper-V Manager settings for the VM. (for example, Test* to identify VMs with a notes description that begin with "Test").
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Click OK to add the filter.
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To modify a filter, select the filter and click Edit.
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To remove a filter, select the filter and click Delete; then confirm the deletion request.
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To define Disk filters:
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Click the Disk Filters tab and click Add.
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In the Add Rule dialog box, select the filter type from the drop-down list and enter the appropriate values in the corresponding box.
You can also use wildcard characters when defining rules based on a name or pattern.
Virtual Device Node
Select a device node from the drop-down list.
Virtual Disk Name Pattern
Enter a pattern for the names of disks to filter (for example, VMName.vhd or VMName.vhdx).
To define multiple rules in a rule group, click + and define another rule. The following options are available for a rule group with multiple rules:
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If you define multiple rules in a rule group, you can indicate whether virtual machines are selected when they match all of the rules (selected by default), or when they match any of the rules.
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To exclude virtual machines based on any of the criteria, use the Does Not Equal operator. You can use this operator only when you are defining more than one rule. (For rule groups with a single rule, the only operator you can use is Equals.)
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Click OK to add the filter.
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Click OK to save the subclient properties.