Updating a Google Cloud Platform VM Group

When you update an Google Cloud Platform (GCP) VM group, you can modify many settings, including the plan, roles and permissions, access nodes, and the instances that are associated with the VM group.

Go to the VM Group

1. From the navigation pane, go to Protect > Virtualization.

   The Virtual machines page appears.

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

   The VM group page appears.

Modify the Plan or the Policy

This section is named either "Plan" or "Policy", depending on whether the VM group is associated with a plan that was created in the Command Center or a storage policy that was created in the CommCell Console. You cannot change that selection for an existing VM group, but you can select a different plan or policy, as follows:

• When modifying the Plan setting, you can select a plan that was created in the Command Center.

• When modifying the Policies setting, you can make the following changes:

  • From the Storage policy list, you can select a storage policy that was created in the CommCell Console or a plan that was created in the Command Center.

  • You can select a schedule policy that was created in the CommCell Console.

• On the Overview tab, in the Summary section, for Plan, click the edit button .

• From the Plan list or the Policies list, select the plan or the policy.

• Click Submit.

Specify the Time Zone

To schedule operations for the VM group based on a specific time zone, specify that time zone for the VM group.

1. On the Overview tab, in the Summary section, for Time zone, click the edit button .

2. From the list, select the time zone.

3. Click Submit.

View Recovery Points

On the Overview tab, the Recovery points section shows the backups that are available by date. For information about restores, see Restores for Google Cloud Platform.

Assign Roles to Users or User Groups

To allow a user or user group to perform data management operations on the VM group, create a security association between the user or user group and one of the following pre-defined roles:

• View: Provide read-only access to application group configuration, job history, and reporting data

• VM End User: Provide self-service backup, recover both in-place and out-of-place

Procedure

1. On the Configuration tab, in the Security section, click the edit button .

   The Security dialog box appears.

2. Enter the name of the user or user group, select the role to assign, and then click Add.

3. Click Save.

Related Topics

• Roles Overview

• Security for Virtualization

Modify the Number of Readers for Parallel Operations

If you have the Agent Management permission, you can modify the number of parallel read operations that can be launched during backups. (If you don't have the permission, the No. of readers setting is hidden.)

The default number of readers, 5, is tuned and validated by Commvault to function optimally with access nodes that meet the requirements for GCP access nodes. For information, see System Requirements for Protecting Google Cloud Platform Instances.

If additional CPU and RAM are provisioned to your GCP access nodes, you can increase the number of readers that your access nodes use.

1. On Configuration tab, in the Options section, click the edit button .

   The Edit options dialog box appears.

2. In the No. of readers box, enter the number of readers to use.

3. Click Save.

Modify the Backup Type

By default, when a VM group is created, the backup type is crash consistent.

Before You Begin

• If you want to use the File system and application consistent backup type (which applies only to Linux instances), first prepare your guest instances.

• If your environment contains both Windows and Linux instances and you select the File system and application consistent backup type, application-consistent backups are performed only on the Linux instances and crash-consistent backups are performed on the Windows instances.

Procedure

1. On Configuration tab, in the Options section, click the edit button .

   The Edit options dialog box appears.

2. For Virtual machine backup type, select one of the following options:

   • File system and application consistent: Quiesces the file system and applications while performing the backup.

   • Crash-consistent: Takes a point-in-time snapshot of instance data without quiescing.

3. Click Save.

Enable IntelliSnap

Procedure

• On Configuration tab, in the Options section, move the IntelliSnap toggle key to the right.

Results

When you enable IntelliSnap on a VM group, Commvault automatically does the following:

• Creates schedule policies for the primary (snap) and backup copies.

• Enables IntelliSnap for the plan that is associated with the VM group.

• Sets the plan to retain 8 snap recovery points. (You can modify the server plan to specify a different number of snaps to retain.)

Enable File Indexing

When you enable file indexing for the VM group, if the access node that is assigned to back up the VM group does not have the software packages that are required for file indexing, Commvault automatically installs those packages.

• On Configuration tab, in the Options section, move the Index files after backup toggle key to the right.

Specify the Time That Backup Jobs Start

You can specify the time of day that you want scheduled jobs for the VM group to start. By default, Commvault starts jobs based on the RPO (recovery point objective) settings of the plan that is specified for the application group.

If you modify the Backup job start time value, but the time that you enter is not within the time period that is set in the backup window or the full backup window for the server plan, then Commvault starts jobs at the next available time within the window.

Set the Backup job start time in the local time zone of the hypervisor. Commvault uses the Time zone setting of the VM group to ensure that jobs are started at the Backup job start time, in the local timezone of the hypervisor.

1. On Configuration tab, in the Options section, for Backup job start time click the edit button

2. Enter the time for jobs to start.

3. Click Submit.

Modify the Snapshot Location

You can modify the location type for backup, restore, and replication operations.

You can store snapshots in either one, multi-regional, cloud storage location (for example, Asia) or one, regional, cloud storage location (for example, Asia-South1).

• On Configuration tab, in the Options section, for Snapshot location select one of the following:

  • Multi-regional

  • Regional (default)

Disable Backups

When you disable backups, the VM group is excluded from SLA calculations.

• On Configuration tab, in the Activity control section, move the Data backup toggle key to the left.

Exclude the VM Group from SLA Calculations

You can exclude the VM group from SLA calculations.

1. On Configuration tab, in the Options section, click the edit button .

   The SLA exclusions dialog box appears.

2. Move the Exclude from SLA toggle key to the right.

3. To exclude the VM group only for a period of time, click Include after a delay, and then select the amount of time.

4. Select one of the following options:

   • Exclude permanently

   • Service provider action pending

   • Customer action pending

5. If necessary, in Reason for exclusion, enter an explanation for excluding the VM group.

6. Click Save.

Modify Tags

If you have the Tag Management permission, you can create and apply tags to the hypervisor. A tag is a key and an optional value that you can use to categorize application groups. Tags are useful for managing and reporting in large environments.

1. On Configuration tab, in the Tags section, click the edit button .

   The Manage tags dialog box appears.

2. In Tag name, enter a name for the tag.

3. To assign a value, in Tag value, enter the value.

4. Click Save.

Modify the Access Nodes

By default, VM groups inherit access nodes from the hypervisor. To control the access node resources that are used for the VM group (for example, to provide dedicated resources for mission-critical applications), you can specify different access nodes for the VM group.

To ensure that multiple access nodes are available to perform backups and other operations, regardless of planned or unplanned outages for individual access nodes, use access node groups (also called server groups).

If you specify multiple access nodes for a VM group, the first access node for the VM group functions as a coordinator to distribute VM backups to any other available access nodes.

Select Different Access Nodes for the VM Group

1. On Configuration tab, in the Access node section, click Actions, and then select Edit.

   The Edit access node dialog box appears.

2. Select the access node group or the access nodes to use for the VM group.

3. Click OK.

Create an Access Node for the VM Group

1. On Configuration tab, in the Access node section, click Actions, and then select Configure Access Node.

   The Add access node dialog box appears.

2. In Host name, enter the host name.

3. In Name, enter a descriptive name for the access node.

4. For OS Type, select the operating system of the access node.

5. Click Save.

Related Topics

For requirements for GCP access nodes, see System Requirements for Protecting Google Cloud Platform Instances.

Modify the VM Group Content

When you modify the content of an existing group, you can add and remove content, and you can exclude content using filters and disk filters.

1. On the Content tab, click the edit button .

   The Manage content dialog box appears.

2. To create rules that auto-discover and select instances to back up, do the following:

   1. Click Add, and then select Rules.

      The Add rule dialog box appears.

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

      When entering values, you can use "*" to represent any characters.

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

   3. Instance name or pattern: Select instances based on their names. For example, to select instances that have a name that includes "east", enter Instance name or pattern | Contains | east.

   4. Label: Select instances based on the labels they contain. For example, to select instances that have a "department:finance" label, enter the following:

      - Key: Equals | department

      - Value: Equals | finance

   5. Project: Select instances based on the project that they belong to. For example, to select instances in the MyCompany project, enter Project | Equals | MyCompany.

   6. Region: Select instances based on the region that they reside in.

   7. Zone: Select instances based on the zone that they reside in. For example, to select instances that reside in any eastern US zone, enter Zone | Contains | us-east. You can enter the zone value by typing or browsing to select.

   8. Click Save.

3. To select instances 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 one of the following:

      • By project: Select instances based on the project they are associated with.

      • By region: Select instances based on the region that they reside in.

   3. By zone: Select instances based on the zone that they reside in.

   4. Click Save.

4. To exclude some of the content that you added, move the Define filters toggle key to the right, and then specify the filters.

   Specifying filters uses the same steps as above for adding content.

5. To exclude some disks from the content that you added, do the following:

   1. Move the Define disk filters toggle key to the right.

   2. Click Add, and then select Rule.

      The Add disk filter dialog box appears.

   3. From the Disk filter type list, select the type of filter, and then do the following:

      • Disk label: Enter values for key and label. For example, to exclude disks that have a "department:finance" label, enter the following:

        - Key: Equals | department

        - Value: Equals | finance

      • Disk name or pattern: Enter the display name of the disk or a pattern using wildcards. For example, to exclude disks that have a name that begins with "Data", enter Data*.

      • Disk type: To exclude disks based on the operating system volume, leave select root (the only available option) selected.

6. To see the instances that are selected for the VM group, click the Preview button.

   Important

   Carefully review the VM group to verify that it does not include instances that don't actually need to be backed up.

7. Click Save.