Configuring a Hypervisor for Azure Local

Add an Azure Local hypervisor to support data protection operations for all virtual machines hosted or managed by the hypervisor. The hypervisor can be an Azure Local cluster or an Azure Local server in a cluster.

Before You Begin

• Verify that the access nodes can communicate with the CommServe computer. If the access nodes reside behind a firewall, register the access nodes to the CommServe computer by installing the VSA package with the required firewall settings on each of the access nodes.

  Although you registered these nodes to the Commserve computer, you must complete the entire procedure to add a hypervisor.

• Identify the nodes that you want to install the VSA on to create proxies for backups and restores.

Start the Configuration Wizard

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 hypervisor.

   The Configure Hypervisor page appears.

3. Click Microsoft Azure Local.

4. Click Next.

   The Configure Microsoft Azure Local page appears.

Add a Hypervisor

1. For Hostname/IP address, type the fully qualified domain name or IP address for the hypervisor.

2. For Hypervisor name, type a descriptive name for the hypervisor.

3. For Credentials, select existing credentials or create new credentials.

   Steps to create credentials

   1. Click the add button .

      The Add credential dialog box appears.

   2. For Credential Vault, select the credential vault to save the credentials in.

   3. In Credential name, enter a descriptive name for the credentials.

   4. In User account, enter the name of the Azure Local user account.

   5. In Password, enter the password for the user account.

   6. In Description, enter a description of the credentials.

   7. Click Save.

4. For Access node, select one or more existing access nodes for the hypervisor, or create a new one. Alternatively, you can manually download Windows or Linux 64-bit Access Node Package and set up authentication yourself.

   1. Click the add button .

      The Add a new Access node dialog box appears

   2. Click the package to download for the platform: Linux (64-bit) or Windows (64-bit).

5. Click Next.

6. Click Discover nodes.

   Nodes will contain a list of discovered nodes.

7. Select the nodes that you want to install the VSA on to create proxies for backups and restores.

8. Click Save.

You can create a group of Azure Local VMs that you want to back up or restore together.

The Add VM group page appears.

Add a VM Group

A VM group is a collection of virtual machines that you want to back up using the same settings. You can define the group's content by applying auto-discovery rules or by manually selecting specific VMs, hosts, clusters, or datacenters.

1. Create a VM group using the following steps:

   Steps to create a VM group

   1. In Name, enter a descriptive name for the VM group.

   2. To create rules that auto-discover and select VMs 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, and then specify the rule:

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

         • Guest DNS hostname: Select VMs based on a hostname or a domain. For example, to select hosts on the "mycompany.com" domain, enter Guest DNS hostname | Ends with | mycompany.com.

         • Guest OS: Select VMs based on operating system. For example, to select VMs that are not Windows, enter Guest OS | Does not contain | Windows.

         • Host: Select VMs based on hostname. For example, to select VMs that are on hosts that include "acme" in their names, enter Host | Contains | acme.

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

         • Tag: Select VMs based on tags that the VMs are marked with.

         • 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.

   3. 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 one of the following:

         • System: Displays the data centers.

         • Clusters: Displays specific clusters.

         • Hosts: Displays the Azure Local hosts.

         • Storage: Displays storage that contains virtual machine data. Select the storage entry to protect all VMs on the storage, or expand the tree to select specific VMs.

         • VMs: Displays specific VMs.

         • Tags: Displays tags. Select a tag to include all VMs that have that tag.

      3. Select the VMs to add to the VM group.

      4. Click Save.

2. To see the VMs that are selected for the VM group, click the Preview button.

3. Click Next.

The Plan page appears.

Add a Plan

1. For Plan, select an existing backup plan or create a new backup plan.

   Steps to create a backup plan

   1. Click the add button .

      The Create backup plan dialog box appears.

   2. In the Plan name box, enter a descriptive name for the backup plan.

   3. For Storage, select the storage pool where you want to store backups.

   4. For the backup plan settings, select pre-defined settings or create custom settings:

      • To select pre-defined settings, under Retention rules, select one of the following:

        • Select Standard retention to retain the incremental backups for 1 month.

        • Select Extended retention for optimized storage where the incremental backups of primary and secondary copies are retained for 1 month, and extended retention for monthly and yearly full backups.

          Note

          The Extended retention option is available only when the secondary copy backup is selected.

      • To create custom settings, select Custom plan, and then specify the following:

        • For Retention, specify the amount of time to retain the backup jobs.

        • For Retention monthly full (Secondary copy), specify the amount of time to retain the monthly full backup on secondary copy.

        • For Retention yearly full (Secondary copy), specify the amount of time to retain the yearly full backup on secondary copy.

        • For Backups run every, specify how often to run backups.

   5. Click Done.

2. Click Next.

   The Summary page of the configuration wizard appears.

Summary

1. Review the Summary page.

2. Click Finish.

The VM group is created with default settings for backup options. To change default settings, see Editing VM Group Settings for Azure Local.