Add a VM group to identify a specific set of virtual machines to back up or restore.
Before You Begin
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Define a server plan that specifies the storage, retention, and backup schedule to be used for the VM group.
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To select VMs based on views or automatic discovery rules, see "Views and Rule Options" (below).
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.
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Click Add VM group.
The Add VM group dialog box appears.
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Provide the following information:
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Hypervisor: Select the hypervisor.
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Name: Type a descriptive name for the VM group.
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Beside Content, click Add > Virtual machines.
The Add virtual machines dialog box appears.
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From the Browse and select VMs list, select a category to find the VM you want to add to the VM group.
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Select the VMs that you want to include in the VM group, and then click Save.
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Optional: You can also define rules to discover virtual machines automatically:
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Click Add rule.
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From the Select rule for list, choose a rule type.
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From the Which matches with list, select Equals, Contains, Starts with, or Ends with.
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In the Name box, provide a value as required for the type of rule.
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Click OK.
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From the Plan list, select a plan that specifies the storage, retention, and backup schedule to be used for the VM group.
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Click Save to save the VM group.
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 from 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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Container: Select a storage container or specific virtual machines.
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Data protection: Select a host, protection domain, or specific virtual machines.
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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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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").