You can create a filter for a VM group to exclude VMs from backups.
Before You Begin
To select VMs based on views or automatic discovery rules, see "Views and Rule Options" (below).
Considerations
If a virtual machine is explicitly added to the content of a subclient, the virtual machine will be discovered by its GUID. If the display name changes later, the machine is still included in the subclient as long as its GUID remains the same. Any virtual machines identified in a subclient and discovered by their GUIDs will not be filtered from backups.
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 the VM group that you want to create a VM filter for.
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In the Content section, click Manage.
The VM group content dialog box appears.
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On the Filters tab, specify the VMs to exclude:
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To select specific VMs, click Add virtual machines, and then select the VMs.
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To select VMs by rules, complete the following steps:
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Click Add filter rule.
The Add rule dialog box appears.
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From the Select rule for list, select a rule type.
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From the Which matches with list, select the option for how to match the string in Name.
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In the Name box, enter the string for the rule.
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Click OK.
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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 for 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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Group by host: Select this option to view hosts and the VMs running on each host. Select a host entry to protect all VMs on the host, or expand the tree to select specific VMs.
Virtual machines are shown directly under the host.
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Storage: Select this option to view storage containing virtual machine data. Select the storage entry to protect all VMs on the storage, or expand the tree to select specific VMs.
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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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Guest DNS hostname: In the Name box, type a hostname or a pattern to identify a hostname or domain (for example, myhost.mycompany.com to identify a specific host or *mycompany.com to identify all hosts on that domain).
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Guest OS: In the Name box, type the exact name of the operating system or a pattern to identify an operating system group (for example, Microsoft* to identify any virtual machine that has a version of the Windows operating system).
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Host: In the Name box, type the host name, the IP address of the host, or a host name pattern using wildcards. When you add a host, all virtual machines on the host are included in the backup.
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Notes: In the Name box, type a pattern to identify virtual machines based on notes text contained in annotations for the VM summary (for example, Test* to identify VMs with a note that begins with "Test").
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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").