From the VM group content dialog box, you can create filters to exclude virtual machines from backups.
Before You Begin
To select VMs based on views or automatic discovery rules, see "Views and Rule Options" (below).
Procedure
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From the navigation pane, go to Protect > Virtualization.
The Virtual machines page appears.
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Click the VM groups tab.
The VM group page appears. The VM groups area displays summary information for any existing VM groups.
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Click an existing VM group.
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Under Content, click Manage.
The VM group content dialog box appears.
The Filters tab shows content to be excluded from backups.
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On the Filters tab, to remove a filter, click in the Actions column of the row for the filter and select Remove.
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To add filters by browsing, click Add virtual machines.
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In the Add virtual machines page, select a browse method for the Browse and select VMs list, and then expand the tree below the list to select content for the VM group, or to clear previous selections.
You can select a view from the list to control the browse display.
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Click OK after selecting VMs or other objects.
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To exclude virtual machines based on different criteria:
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Click Add filter rule and then provide information for the rule:
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From the Select rule for list, choose a rule type.
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From the Which matches with list, choose Equals, Contains, Starts with, or Ends with.
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In the Name box, provide a value as required for the type of rule.
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Click OK.
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To edit a rule, click in the Actions column of the row for the VM and select Edit rule.
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Click OK to save the changes to VM group content.
Views and Rule Options
When you define content or filters for a VM group, you can change the view and select specific entities, or define rules to automatically select VMs that meet specific criteria.
Views
When you browse to select VMs for VM group content or filters, you can select a browse method from 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.
You can select one of the following options from the list to control the browse display:
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Container: Select a storage container or specific virtual machines.
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Data protection: Select a host, protection domain, or specific virtual machines.
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VMs: Select this option to browse and select specific VMs.
Rules
You can define rules to discover virtual machines automatically.
When you add a rule, from the Select rule for list, choose one of the following rules and then, from the Which matches with list, select Equals, Contains, Starts with, or Ends with:
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Power state: From the Name list, select the power on status of virtual machines to be included in the VM group content. You can select On to identify VMs that are powered on, Off to identify VMs that are powered off, or Other to identify VMs with a different power on status, such as Suspended.
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Virtual machine name/pattern: In the Name box, type the display name of the virtual machine or a pattern using wildcards (for example, Test* to identify VMs for which the VM name begins with "Test").