Creating a VM Group for Google Cloud Platform

To specify a set of instances to back up or restore, create a VM group.

You can add content to the VM group by using rules that auto-discover content, by selecting specific clusters, and by other ways. When you first create the VM group, you can add an instance that is relatively small, and then later you can update the VM group by adding more content.

Important

If you specify VM group content based on regions or zones, and one or more of the regions or zones contains multiple projects, then all instances in those projects are backed up. If some of those instances don't actually need to be backed up, then you will incur unnecessary costs. After you specify content for the VM group, use the Preview button to verify that the VM group does not include instances that don't actually need to be backed up.

Procedure

From the navigation pane, go to Protect > Virtualization.

The Virtual machines page appears.
In the upper-right area of the page, click Add VM group.

The Select Hypervisor page of the Add VM Group configuration wizard appears.
From the Hypervisor list, select the hypervisor to create a VM group for.
Click Next.

The Plan page of the Add VM Group configuration wizard appears.
From the Plan list, select the plan for the VM group.
Click Next.

The Add VM Group page of the Add VM Group configuration wizard appears.
In Name, enter a descriptive name for the VM group.
To create rules that auto-discover and select clusters to back up, do the following:
1. Click Add, and then select Rules.
  
  The Add rule dialog box appears.
2. From the list, select the type of rule to create:
  
  When entering values, you can use "*" to represent any characters.
  - Browse: Select specific clusters. (Selecting this option changes the Add rule dialog box to the Add content dialog box.)
3. Instance name or pattern: Select instances based on their names. For example, to select instances that have a name that includes "east", enter Instance name or pattern | Contains | east.
4. Label: Select instances based on the labels they contain. For example, to select instances that have a "department:finance" label, enter the following:
  
  - Key: Equals | department
  
  - Value: Equals | finance
5. Project: Select instances based on the project that they belong to. For example, to select instances in the MyCompany project, enter Project | Equals | MyCompany.
6. Region: Select clusters based on the region that they reside in.
7. Zone: Select clusters based on the zone that they reside in. For example, to select clusters that reside in any eastern US zone, enter Zone | Contains | us-east. You can enter the zone value by typing or browsing to select.
8. Click Save.
To select clusters in other ways, do the following:
1. Click Add, and then select Content.
  
  The Add content dialog box appears.
2. From the Browse and select VMs list, select one of the following:
  - By project: Select clusters based on the project they are associated with.
  - By region: Select clusters based on the region that they reside in.
3. By zone: Select clusters based on the zone that they reside in.
4. Click Save.
To use IntelliSnap to back up the VM group, move the IntelliSnap toggle key to the right.

When you enable IntelliSnap for a VM group, the associated plan is automatically updated to have the Snap enabled option selected.
To see the clusters that are selected for the VM group, click the Preview button.

Important

Carefully review the VM group to verify that it does not include instances that don't actually need to be backed up.
Click Next.

The Summary page of the configuration wizard appears.

Summary

Review the summary.
Click Finish.