VM Custom Attributes and VM vApp Options Support

When you configure VM custom attributes and VM vApp options in the vSphere Web client for the vCenter, the information, by default, is included in your backups and can be included in full VM restores.

Support for VM custom attributes and VM vApp options in your backups and restores applies to both streaming and IntelliSnap backup environments.

Custom Attributes

When you create a VM custom attribute using the vSphere web client, for example, Custom_Attribute_123, and then populate the attribute with a value, this information is included in your backups and restores, by default.

Considerations

• When you create a VM custom attribute using the vSphere web client, that custom attribute field is available to all other VMs present on that vCenter. However, the attributes on the other VMs are not populated with a value.

• By default, Commvault-generated custom attributes, such as "Last Backup" or "Backup Status", are not included in backups or restores. To include this information in your backups, contact your customer support representative.

• By default, custom attributes that were configured in the vSphere web client that have been backed up, but do not currently exist in the vCenter (perhaps because they were deleted), are not included in restores. For example, if a backup contains the following custom attributes: Custom_Attribute_A, Custom_Attribute_B, Custom_Attribute_C, but currently only Custom_Attribute_A and Custom_Attribute_B are on the vCenter, then, only Custom_Attribute_A and Custom_Attribute_B are restored. Custom_Attribute_C (even though it has been backed up) is not restored to the destination VM.

  To restore all custom attributes, including those currently not on the vCenter server, configure the bRestoreAllCustomAttributes additional setting.

  To the VSA proxy computer, add the bRestoreAllCustomAttributes additional setting as follows:

For more information, see Adding an Additional Setting from the CommCell Console.

vApp Options

When a VM is deployed from an open virtualization appliance (OVA) file or an open virtualization format (OVF) file, you must enter information such as the IP address, network configuration, environment configuration, firewall settings, etc. This information is stored in the form of vApp options and loaded into the VM when it is booted. This information is included in your backups, and then, restored to the destination VM as well.

For more information, see VMware documentation: Virtual Machine vApp Options.