# Performing Backups for VMware Cloud Director VMs or VM Groups

You can back up a VM or a vApp Template in an Organization on demand. During the backup, VMs are distributed to access nodes in a round-robin fashion.

To back up a vApp Template, you first need to add or have a VM Group for vApp templates.

Commvault recommends performing backups for vApp templates separately in their own VM group.

## Procedure

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

   The Overview page appears.

2. Go to the VM or VM group that you want to back up:

   - To back up a VM, on the Virtual machines tab, in the row for the VM, click the action button , and then select Back up.

   - To back up all the VMs in a VM group, including a group for vApp Templates, do the following:

     1. Click the VM groups tab.

     2. In the row for the VM group, click the action button , and then select Back up.

   The Backup options dialog box appears.

3. For Backup type, select the type of backup to perform.

4. If you are backing up a VM, for Retention, to specify a custom retention period for the backup, do the following:

   By default, the retention period is inherited from the backup plan. The Retention setting is not available for VM groups.

   1. Click the edit button .

      The Edit retention settings dialog box appears.

   2. Select Retention period, and then specify the amount of time to retain the backup for.

   3. Click Save.

5. Click Submit to start the backup.

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