Commvault backs up all the virtual machines (powered on or powered off) that are identified as content for a subclient.
The backup operation creates an application-consistent snapshot for each protection domain.
The backup operation also creates a default protection domain for any VMs that are identified as subclient content but are not associated with an existing protection domain.
You can perform full, incremental, or synthetic full backups of virtual machines. The first backup of a virtual machine is always a full backup, regardless of the backup type you select. By default, backups are application consistent. If an application-consistent backup cannot be performed, a crash-consistent backup is performed instead.
Backups of virtual machines are performed in round-robin sequence.
Note: Application-consistent backups are not supported for the following virtual machines:
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VMs that run Windows client operating system
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VMs with IDE disks
When a virtual machine is discovered during backup, a client for the VM is created in the CommCell Console if one does not already exist. If a virtual machine with spaces or special characters in its name is discovered during backup, the spaces or special characters are replaced with underscores ('_') when creating the VM client name that is displayed in the CommCell Console. The VM name with spaces or special characters is still displayed on the Virtual Machine Status tab for the backup job, in the backup job summary, and in reports that include the VM name. The following special characters are replaced:
[ \ \ | ` ~ ! @ # $ % ^ & * + = < > ? , { } ( ) : ; ' \ " \ \ s / ]