Cloud Backup:Back up VMware virtual machines

Step 1: Add a vCenter server

Before you can back up VMs, you must add a vCenter server in the Cloud Backup console.

1. Log on to the Cloud Backup console.

2. In the left-side navigation pane, choose Backup > VMware Backup & Disaster Recovery.

3. In the top navigation bar, select a region.

4. On the VMware Backup & Disaster Recovery page, click the Managed vCenter Servers tab, and then click Add vCenter Server.

5. In the Add vCenter Server panel, configure the parameters and click Create.

   Parameter	Description
   Server IP	The address of the vCenter server. If you use Alibaba Cloud VMware Service, obtain the vCenter address from the Alibaba Cloud VMware Service console. Note vCenter does not support changing the configured server network address. To change the address, choose More > Delete in the Actions column to remove the existing configuration. Then, add the vCenter server again with the new network address.
   Username	The username for the vCenter server. In an on-premises VMware environment, the username is typically in the format of username at sign domain. For example, admin***@vsphere.local. If you use Alibaba Cloud VMware Service, obtain the vCenter username from the Alibaba Cloud VMware Service console. For example, cloud***@acvs.aliyuncs.com.
   Password	The password that corresponds to the vCenter username. Note The vCenter server may fail to be added if the password contains the following special characters: ` ^ ~ = ; ! / ( [ ] { } @ $ \ & # % +
   Description	A description of the server.

Step 2: Create a backup plan

Follow these steps to create a backup plan:

1. Find the vCenter server that you added and click Create Backup Plan in the Actions column.

2. In the Create Backup Plan panel, configure the parameters and click Next.

   Parameter	Description
   Plan Name	The name of the backup plan. This parameter is optional. If you do not specify a name, a random name is assigned.
   Retention Period	The retention period for the backup. Units: Day, Week, Month, Year.
   Consistency Mode	You can set the snapshot consistency method. Crash consistency (default): Uses VMware software snapshots to perform a normal backup. File system consistency: Uses VMware Tools to perform a silent backup. If a silent backup cannot be performed, a normal backup is performed using VMware software snapshots.
   Use LAN-free Backup	Hot-adds a disk to the backup gateway to transfer backup data over a data network (Lan-Free). If the disk cannot be attached, the backup data is transferred over a LAN.
   Backup policy	Select Immediate Backup or Scheduled Backup. If you select Scheduled Backup, you must specify Start time, Backup interval, and whether to use an Incremental backup policy. If you want to use an incremental backup policy, you must also specify the Start time and Backup interval for the incremental backup. Important If Changed Block Tracking (CBT) is disabled for a VM, the incremental backup is automatically converted to a full backup. For more information, see How to enable CBT. An incremental backup includes only the files that are new or modified since the last full or incremental backup. We recommend that you start a full backup at least one hour after the incremental backup starts.
   Start time	This parameter is required only when Backup policy is set to Scheduled Backup. This parameter specifies the time to start the backup. You can set this parameter based on your backup plan. The default value is the time when the backup plan is created.
   Backup interval	This parameter is required only when Backup policy is set to Scheduled Backup. This parameter specifies the interval at which backups are performed. The default value is 1 day. Units: Hour, Day, Week.
   Incremental backup policy	This parameter is required only when Backup policy is set to Scheduled Backup. This parameter specifies whether to use incremental backup. Do not use (default): Does not use incremental backup. Use: Uses incremental backup.

3. Select the VMs to back up and click Next.

4. On the Confirm and Execute tab, review the information, such as the plan name, retention period, backup policy, and selected VMs. Then, click Create.

   After the backup plan is created, backup jobs will run according to the specified start time and backup interval. On the Backup Plans tab, you can also perform the following operations:

   • Click Run Now in the Actions column to immediately start a backup job.

   • Click More > Suspend Plan in the Actions column to suspend the backup plan. To resume the plan, click More > Resume Plan in the Actions column.

   • To delete a backup plan, choose More > Delete Plan in the Actions column. After you delete a backup plan, the plan will no longer run, but the existing backup data is retained.

(Optional) Specify a gateway for backups

When a backup job is created, the system automatically assigns it to a suitable gateway. The assignment is based on the real-time status of each backup gateway, including factors such as whether the gateway uses LAN-Free backup, the number of jobs in progress, and the performance of the ESXi host.

To back up many VMs, you can deploy multiple gateways to improve backup efficiency. The deployment procedure is the same as deploying a single gateway. For more information, see Preparations (on-premises VMware environment).

After you deploy the gateways, Cloud Backup schedules backup jobs based on the load of each gateway. You can also manually specify a gateway for a backup plan.

1. Log on to the Cloud Backup console.

2. In the upper-left corner of the page, select a region.

3. In the navigation pane on the left, choose Backup > VMware Backup & Disaster Recovery.

4. On the Backup Plans tab, find the backup plan that you want to modify and choose More > Specify Gateway in the Actions column.

5. In the Specify Gateway panel, select a gateway to run the backup plan.

6. Click Create.

   On the Backup History tab, you can view the gateway that was used for each backup job.

References

• To restore a backed-up VMware VM to an on-premises VMware environment or Alibaba Cloud VMware Service, see Restore a VMware VM.

• To restore a backed-up VMware VM to an Alibaba Cloud ECS instance, see Restore a VMware VM to an ECS instance.