# Creating a VM group for Apache CloudStack

To specify a set of Apache CloudStack VMs to back up or restore, create a VM group.

You can populate the VM group using auto-discovery rules or by selecting specific VMs, and you can update the VM group later to add more content.

Note

Changed Block Tracking (CBT) is enabled by default for all supported primary storage types except Ceph. For VMs on Ceph primary storage, backups use cyclic redundancy check (CRC) instead.

## Procedure

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

   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 backup 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 Rule.

      The Add rule dialog box appears.

   2. From the list, select the type of rule to create, and then specify the rule:

      - Account: Select VMs that belong to a specific Apache CloudStack account.

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

      - Datacenter: Select VMs that reside in a specific Apache CloudStack datacenter.

      - Host: Select VMs that are running on a specific host within the Apache CloudStack environment.

      - Infrastructure: Select VMs based on infrastructure-level objects, such as clusters or hosts, within the Apache CloudStack environment.

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

      - Project: Select VMs that belong to a specific Apache CloudStack project.

      - 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 the following options to add to the VM group:

      - Accounts: Select all virtual machines that belong to one or more specified Apache CloudStack accounts.

      - Projects: Select VMs that belong to a specific Apache CloudStack project.

      - Infrastructure: Select VMs based on infrastructure-level objects, such as clusters or hosts, within the Apache CloudStack environment.

      - VMs: Select one or more individual virtual machines from the Apache CloudStack environment.

      - Tags: Select virtual machines that are associated with specific Apache CloudStack resource tags. Only VMs that match the specified tag criteria are included.

   3. Click Save.

10. To see a list of the VMs that are selected 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. This page displays list of VMs that will be backed up.

11. Click Submit.

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