> Essential > Virtualization > VMware > Configuration

Creating a VM Group for VMware

To specify a set of VMware VMs 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 VMs, and by other ways. When you first create the VM group, you can add a cluster that is relatively small, and then later you can update the VM group by adding more content.

To enable backup validation for VMware virtual machines, including VMs that run applications, create a VM group that contains only those VMs, and then edit the VM group configuration to enable backup validation. For more information, see Backup Validation and Editing VM Group Settings for VMware.

To enable IntelliSnap backups, create a plan and add the plan to the VM group. For more information, see Getting Started with IntelliSnap.

Procedure

  1. From the Command Center navigation pane, go to Protect > Virtualization.

    The Overview page appears.

  2. In the upper-right area of the page, click Add VM group.

    The Select Hypervisor page of the Add VM Group configuration wizard appears.

  3. From the Hypervisor list, select the hypervisor to create a VM group for.

  4. Click Next.

    The Plan page of the Add VM Group configuration wizard appears.

  5. From the Plan list, select the plan for the VM group.

  6. Click Next.

    The Add VM Group page of the Add VM Group configuration wizard appears.

  7. In Name, enter a descriptive name for the VM group.

  8. To create rules that auto-discover and select VMs 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, and then specify the rule:

      • Browse: Select specific VMs. (Selecting this option changes the Add rule dialog box to the Add content dialog box.)

      • Custom attribute: Select VMs based on custom attributes in vCenter annotations for the VM summary. For example, to select VMs that have a custom attribute that equals "128", enter Custom attribute | Equals | 128.

      • Datastore: Select VMs based on the datastore that contains them.

      • Folder: Select VMs based on the folder that contains them.

      • Guest DNS hostname: Select VMs based on a hostname or a domain. For example, to select hosts on the "mycompany.com" domain, enter Guest DNS hostname | Ends with | mycompany.com.

      • Guest OS: Select VMs based on operating system. For example, to select VMs that are not Windows, enter Guest OS | Does not contain | Windows.

      • Host: Select VMs based on hostname. For example, to select VMs that are on hosts that include "acme" in their names, enter Host | Contains | acme.

      • Notes: Select VMs based on notes contained in annotations for the VM summary. For example, to select VMs that have notes that begin with "Test", enter Notes | Starts with | Test.

      • Power state: Select VMs based on a power status of On, Off, or Other. (Other includes statuses such as Suspended).

      • Tag: Select VMs based on tags that the VMs are marked with.

      • Tag category: Select VMs based on tag categories that the VMs are marked with.

      • Template: Specify whether to select virtual machine templates. For example, to select templates, enter Template | Equals | True.

      • Virtual machine name or pattern: Select VMs based on their names. For example, to select VMs that have a name that includes "east", enter Virtual machine name or pattern | Contains | east.

    3. Click Save.

  9. To select VMs 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:

      • VMs: Backs up the VMs that you select.

      • Hosts and clusters: Backs up the VMs that are in the hosts and/or clusters that you select. Or you can select specific VMs.

        Content is shown as follows:

        - First level: vCenters

        - Second level: ESX servers

        - Third level: VMs

      • Datastores and datastore clusters: Backs up the VMs that are in the datastores and/or datastore clusters that you select.

        Content is shown as follows:

        - First level: Hosts

        - Second level: Datastores

        - Third level: VMs

    3. Select the VMs to add to the VM group.

    4. Click Save.

  10. To see a list of the VMs that are designated for backup based on your current selections or to run a backup test to verify that your backup configuration is successful, click Preview.

    The Preview page appears.

    1. In the Actions column for the VM, click the action_button icon, and then click Test backup.

      The Test VM backup page appears.

    2. Configure the following:

      • Transport mode: Select the transport mode for the backup job: Auto, HotAdd, NBD, NBD SSL, NAS, or SAN.

        By default, Auto is selected. This option uses the best transport mode for the environment.

      • Access node: Select the access node to use for the backup.

        If you do not select an access node, the Commvault software picks the first access node that is specified on the Configurations page for the hypervisor that the VM group resides in.

    3. Click Test backup.

      The Commvault backup utility runs the backup test, and then displays the results.

    4. Click OK.

  11. Click Submit.

Result

VM groups are created with default settings for backup options. To change default settings, see Editing VM Group Settings for VMware.

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