# Configuring Application-Aware Backups for a VM Group in the Command Center

You can configure application-aware backups for VM groups to protect in-guest, application plug-ins that help the Virtualization software to quiesce file systems and applications and support the recovery of granular application data.

A VM group can contain VMs that run multiple applications that are supported for application-aware backups. Create a separate VM group for each application type that is included in an application-aware backup.

Create a different VM group for each set of VMs in the same domain.

## Before You Begin

- Verify that all VMs and applications in the VM group can be accessed using the same domain credentials.

- The VMs that you identify for application-aware backups vary depending on the application you are protecting:

  - You can include virtual machines running Microsoft Exchange, Microsoft SQL Server or Oracle applications.

  - For Active Directory, include virtual machines that act as Active Directory domain controllers.

  - For application-aware backups of Microsoft SharePoint, the content must be a virtual machine running a SQL Server configuration database that supports SharePoint operations.

    In the VM group content, do not include the web servers that serve SharePoint data to users.

    Application-aware backups set up a maximum of two SharePoint web servers that provide front ends for SharePoint operations. Any additional SharePoint web servers that point to the same configuration database are ignored.

- If a specific VM requires unique credentials, specify the credentials for that VM directly as part of the VM group content.

- Do not filter virtual machine disks. If a virtual machine disk is filtered, the VSA backup job completes with errors and the application backup job fails. You will not be able to restore application data.

- The backup plan that is associated to the VM group must have 1 or more snap recovery points configured.

- To configure application-aware backups for Nutanix AHV when IntelliSnap backups are enabled, see Enabling Application-Aware IntelliSnap Backups for Nutanix AHV.

## Procedure

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

   The Overview page appears.

2. On the VM Group tab, click the VM group.

   The VM groups page appears.

3. On the Configuration tab, in the Options area, click Edit.

   The Edit options dialog box appears.

4. Under Virtual machine backup type, select Application Aware.

5. To specify credentials for guest VMs in the VM group, click the Edit Credentials button , and then enter the guest credentials.

6. Click Save.

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