VMware Backup Plan

CloudBerry Backup VM edition supports vSphere ESXi virtual machine backup and restore.

Note that to perform VMware backups and restore VMware backups, you have to purchase a special license. Refer to the MSP360 website to learn more

The following system requirements apply:

Component	Requirement
Operating System	64-bit, Windows 10/11, Windows Server 2008/2008R2/2012/2012R2/2016/2019/2022
vSphere version	6.0 to 8.0
MSP360 (CloudBerry) Backup	VM Edition

This chapter cover the following topics:

Learn Backup Wizard steps:

Create Backup Plan

To create a new VMware backup plan, click the VMware icon in the horizontal menu bar

Select Backup Storage

Select a storage account for the backup plan from the list of available backup storage. If no storage is available, click Add new Storage Account.

Once you selected backup storage, click Next.

| Top |

Plan Name

Specify the name for the backup plan.

Click Next.

| Top |

Select VMware Host Server

Specify VMware server credentials.

Click Next.

In case credentials are invalid or the VMware server cannot be accessed, you are not allowed to proceed to the next Backup Wizard step

| Top |

Select Virtual Machines

Select virtual machines for the backup plan.

The following options are available:

Back up all Virtual Machines. Select this option to include all virtual machines from the server to the backup plan
Back up only running Virtual Machines.
Back up selected Virtual Machines. With this selection you can configure application processing settings for selected virtual machines.

Note that if you switch the backup option from the Back up selected Virtual Machines to any other, the previously made selection is kept for the case if you change your mind and select back the Back up selected Virtual Machines option, but the selected option will be applied regardless the VM selection. An example below shows the case when all running VM will be included in the backup plan despite a previously made selection

Click Advanced Settings to manage Changed Block Tracking.

Select the Use Changed Block Tracking check box to apply the changed block tracking feature. In most cases, this feature increases the backup speed.

Changed Block Tracking is an incremental backup technology for VMware virtual machines. To learn more about CBT, refer to Change Block Tracking on Virtual Machines article at vmware.com.

Configure Application-Consistent Backups

You can configure the application processing settings on the Select Virtual Machines step of the VMware backup wizard.

By default, the Try application processing setting is set. Click on the setting to change it, if necessary.

The following options are available:

Try application processing. Back up virtual machines 'as is' if failed. Once this option is selected, virtual machines are backed up one by one. Using the installed VMware Tools, the state of applications running on virtual machines is checked, then a snapshot is made and an application-consistent backup is performed. In case an application-consistent snapshot is not made for some reason, a regular snapshot is done for this virtual machine.
Require successful application processing. Skip virtual machines if failed. Once this option is selected, virtual machines with applications that did not flush pending I/O operations from memory to disks, are skipped and an appropriate warning is displayed for a user.
Disable application processing. Back up virtual machines 'as is'. Once this option is selected, regular VM snapshots are done without quiescing.

Click Next.

| Top |

,/a>

Select Virtual Disks to Back Up

You can backup all discs on the virtual machine, or required disks only to minimize the backup size.

To back up required discs only, select Back up selected disks only and then select the disks that will be added to backup scope. You can expand selected NTFS disks to exclude some content. Non-NTFS disks can only be included or excluded as a whole.

Click Next.

| Top |

Compression and Encryption Options

Specify compression and encryption options for the backup plan.

The following options are available:

Select Enable compression check box to compress backup source contents for optimal backup storage space usage
To protect your backup contents with encryption, select Enable encryption check box. MSP360 (CloudBerry) Backup supports AES encryption of 128, 192 and 256 bit key length. Select the appropriate key length in Algorithm drop-down menu
Specify the encryption password in the Password field, then confirm the password in the Confirm field. To display the password, select the Display password check box

Note that the encryption password will NOT be stored in the backup plan configuration for security reasons. Keep this password in a safe place to be able to restore the backup contents afterward

Particular Options for Amazon S3 Storage

If your backup storage destination is Amazon S3, the following particular options are available on this Backup Wizard step.

Server-Side Encryption. Select this check box to enable encryption of your backup content on Amazon cloud storage.

If the Server-Side Encryption option is enabled, specify permissions a user is required to have to be able to access backup contents:

Use the Amazon S3 Service master key. Select this option for Amazon S3 decrypts data for anyone who is granted permissions to access this backup content on the cloud
Use the Amazon Key Management Service master key. Select this option for Amazon S3 decrypts data for anyone who has the permissions to access this object in the cloud along with permissions to use a specified master key.

To learn more about the Amazon master key, refer to the What is AWS Key Management Service article.

Amazon S3 Storage Classes

If your backup storage destination is Amazon S3, select the S3 storage class for the backup plan:

Usage of different storage classes for different backups is the subject of optimizing your storage costs.

Learn more about Amazon S3 storage classes here

Microsoft Azure Blob Storage

If your backup storage destination is Microsoft Azure, select the required Azure Blob Storage.

The following options are available:

Archive Blob Storage. This is a low-cost storage option for infrequently accessed data. As opposed to hot and cool storage tiers, retrieving data from an Archive Blob Storage may take up to several hours
Cool Blob Storage. The cool storage tier has lower storage costs and higher access costs compared to hot storage. This tier is intended for data that will remain in the cool tier for at least 30 days.

Note that this feature is only supported for General Purpose v2 Azure accounts. If you are using another kind of account, you need to upgrade your account to be able to use this feature

Be aware of the additional charges and increased blob access rates after your Azure account upgrade

To learn more about the difference between Azure storage tiers, refer to the Azure Blob Storage - Hot, cool, and archive storage tiers article at docs.microsoft.com.

Click Next.

| Top |

Consistency Check

Select whether to run the full consistency for this backup plan.

To learn more about consistency checks, refer to the Mandatory and Full Consistency Checks chapter

Click Next.

| Top |

Schedule

Specify the backup plan schedule settings.

The following options are available:

Select the No schedule option to run the backup plan manually
Select the Forever Forward Incremental option to apply the Forever Forward Incremental (FFI) schedule

Once you select this option, specify the FFI schedule for the backup plan:

If you want the backup plan to run on a constant periodic basis, select Recurring (Incremental) option. The schedule configuration dialog box appears automatically

The Repeat Every option allows configuring flexible schedule according to your requirements. The example on the drawings shows the incremental backups schedule executed every week on Wednesdays starting from 30 March, 2022 or every 3 months starting from 30 March, 2022. You can create a schedule with multiple days of week and specify the desired period measured in weeks or months.

To create full backups by schedule, select the Execute full backup (Synthetic full if possible) check box, then configure the schedule for full backups

To set the time limit for plan execution, select Stop the plan if it runs for check box, then specify the backup plan duration limit
To run the backup plan after the computer is on in case the backup plan run has been missed, select Run missed scheduled backup immediately when computer starts up check box

Click Next.

| Top |

Retention Policy, GFS and Object Lock

Specify the retention policy settings for the backup plan.

The following options are available:

Do not purge. Select this option to keep all your backup runs
Keep backup for. Select this option to limit the period while backup contents are kept in the backup storage, then specify the period

Learn more about the retention policy in the Retention Policy chapter chapter

To apply the GFS retention policy for the backup plan, select the Enable GFS check box, then customize the GFS retention policy by enabling the required keeping periods (weekly, monthly and yearly purge delays).

To learn more about the GFS retention policy, refer to the About GFS chapter

If backup data is required to be locked, enable the Object Lock (Immutability) check box.

To learn more about the Object Lock (Immutability) feature, refer to the Object Lock (Immutability) chapter

Retention Policy with Forever Forward Incremental Schedule

If on the Schedule step you selected the Forever Forward Incremental schedule, the Retention Policy step has different settings.

The Keep backup for value defines the period Restore Points with the Forever Forward Incremental schedule are kept. If their retention period expires, these Restore Points are merged into a full backup (with Forever Forward Incremental only one full backup is kept on backup storage).

Enable the **Intelligent Retention option (highly recommended). Intelligent Retention is based on the following approach: each time the backup plan is executed, backup storage parameters are checked and the retention period for the full backup is set in such a way that it is kept on backup storage for the minimum period based on the storage provider data deletion conditions. Analysis of backup storage parameters is performed automatically, you do not need to do anything.

Learn more about Intelligent Retntion in the Intelligent Retention chapter

Click Next.

| Top |

Pre / Post Actions

Customize actions before and/or after the backup plan run.

Custom Scripts

You can execute custom scripts before or after running the backup plan.

To specify the script execution before the backup plan starts, select the Pre-backup action check box, then specify the path to the script in the field below. To open a standard Windows dialog box, click the ... button
Select the pre-backup script execution options:
- Exit backup plan if pre-backup action failed. Select this option to cancel the backup plan in case the specified script fails
- Continue backup plan if pre-backup action failed. Select this option to run the backup plan regardless of the specified script execution results
To specify the script execution after the backup plan terminates, select the Post-backup action check box, then specify the path to the script in the field below. To open a standard Windows dialog box, click the ... button
Select the post-backup script execution options:
- Execute post-backup action only if backup plan has been successfully completed. Select this option to execute the post-backup script only in case of a backup plan success
- Execute post-backup action regardless of the backup result. Select this option to execute the post-backup script in any case

Note that an absolute path to a script is required, i.e. if you specify the path to a script, it should be as follows:

c:\scripts\prebackup-script.bat

In case the absolute path to a script file is not specified, the default directory for script is "C:\Windows\System32"

The following script formats are supported: EXE, COM, BAT, CMD, or PIF

Mind EXE file execution has several restrictions: EXE files must not use GUI and must close automatically upon termination.

For example, the following script will not succeed:

cmd.exe /F:ON

In this case, this command must be used with the /C parameter, as shown below:

cmd.exe /F:ON /C

The same restriction applies to applications executed by PowerShell scripts:

PowerShell.exe Start-Process cmd.exe exit

It is highly recommended to perform a test run for the created backup plan to ensure that Backup for Windows properly executes specified scripts

Backup Plan Chains

In case you need to run another backup or restore plan once the backup plan is finished, use the Backup Chain feature. To create a backup chain, select the Backup chain check box, then select a backup or restore plan to be chained.

Execute the specified backup plan only if backup plan has been successfully completed. Select this option to execute the chained backup plan only in case of a backup plan success
Execute the specified backup plan regardless of the backup result. Select this option to execute the chained backup plan in any case
In case you chained a backup plan, you can enable the full backup for it regardless of the contents in the backup storage. To do this, select the Force full backup for the chained plan.

To learn more about the full backup type, refer to the Full Backup chapter

Click Next.

| Top |

Notification

Specify notification settings.

To receive the notification after the backup plan completion, select the I want to receive notification email when backup completes check box.
- Select When backup fails option if you want to receive the notification message only in case of the backup plan failure
- Select the In all cases option if you want to receive the notification message in any case.
In the fields Username, Email, Email subject specify the notification email details. You can specify one or more email recipients. Separate them by semicolon or comma, the recipient name (one for all of them). The email subject can also contain any of the following variables:
%COMPUTER_NAME% Indicates the name of a computer on which the routine was running
%RESULT% Indicates whether the routine was finished successfully or failed

%RESULT% variable has the following values:

Completed. This value is assigned when the plan is terminated with success
Completed with warnings. This value is assigned when the plan is terminated with errors, warnings or has been interrupted

%PLAN_NAME% Indicates the backup plan's name.
If you want to use own SMPT server for notification emails, select the I want to use my SMTP server for email notifications check box, then specify the settings for the SMTP server
If you want the backup plan record to be added to Windows Event Log, select the Add entry to Windows Event Log when backup completes check box
- Select When backup fails option if you want to receive the notification message only in case of the backup plan failure
- Select the In all cases option if you want the entry to be put in Windows Event Log in any case.

Click Next. Do not forget to confirm the email address to receive notifications.

| Top |

Summary

Review the configuration of the backup plan.

Click Next to proceed to the last wizard page.

Select the Run backup now check box to run the backup plan immediately.

If you want to run the backup plan later, leave the Run backup now check box unselected, then click Finish.

Edit a Backup Plan

To edit the backup plan, proceed as follows:

Switch to the Backup Plans tab.
Open the plan to edit, expand it, then click Edit.

Follow the Backup Wizard steps to save the backup plan configuration.

Note that some backup plan parameters you can edit without a backup wizard. The editable parameters are marked with the Pencil icon next to them. To edit, click on this icon

Note that every time the backup plan is edited, the synthetic full backup conditions are checked and the synthetic full backup may be switched off (for example, if you edited the storage account and the new backup destination does not support the synthetic full backup)

Delete a Backup Plan

To delete the backup plan, proceed as follows:

Switch to the Backup Plans tab.
Open the plan to delete, expand it, then click Delete.

Click Yes to confirm the backup plan deletion.

| Top |