Introduction to VMware vSphere® Data ProtectionT E C H N I C A L W H I T E P A P E R

Introduction to VMware vSphere® Data Protection

T E C H N I C A L W H I T E P A P E R / 2

Table of Contents

Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

Architectural Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

Deployment and Configuration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

Administration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

Backup . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .6

Restore . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

Reporting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .10

Avoiding Backup Data Corruption . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

About the Author . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

T E C H N I C A L W H I T E P A P E R / 3

Introduction to VMware vSphere® Data Protection

Introduction VMware vSphere® Data Protection™ is a backup and recovery solution for VMware® virtual machines. It is fully integrated with VMware vCenter Server™ and VMware vSphere Web Client, providing disk-based backup of virtual machines. It is available in two versions:

•vSphereDataProtection–IntroducedwithvSphere5.1andincludedwithVMwarevSphereEssentialsPlusKitand higher.

•vSphereDataProtectionAdvanced–AnewofferingthatbuildsonthesuccessofvSphereDataProtection,primarilywithincreasedcapacity(upto8TB)andapplication-specificagentsforMicrosoftExchangeServerand SQL Server. These agents facilitate application-consistent backups and more granular backup and restore capabilities.

Benefits

•Fast,efficientbackupandrecoveryforvSpherevirtualmachines

•Significantlyreducedbackupdata-diskspacerequirements,withapatented,variable-lengthdeduplicationtechnology across all backup jobs

•UseofVMwarevSphereStorageAPIs–DataProtection,andChangedBlockTracking(CBT),toreduceloadonthevSpherehostinfrastructureandminimizebackupwindowrequirements

•Fullvirtualmachinerestore—or“image-level”restore—andfile-levelrestore(FLR),withouttheneedforanagent to be installed in every virtual machine

•Simplifieddeploymentandconfigurationusingavirtualapplianceformfactor

•vSphereWebClient–utilizedadministration

•Applianceanddataprotectionviaacheckpointandrollbackmechanism

•EasyrestorationofWindowsandLinuxfilesbyanenduserwiththeWeb-basedvSphereDataProtectionRestoreClient

Additional benefits with vSphere Data Protection Advanced

•Mission-criticalMicrosoftExchangeServerandSQLServerworkloadprotectionwithagentsdesignedspecifically for these applications

•Dynamiccapacitygrowthasbackuprequirementsgrow

•UpgradefromvSphereDataProtectiontovSphereDataProtectionAdvanced

This paper presents an overview of the architecture, deployment, configuration and management of vSphereDataProtectionandvSphereDataProtectionAdvanced.

Architectural OverviewvSphereDataProtectionandvSphereDataProtectionAdvancedrequirevCenterServer5.1orhigher. vCenterServercanbethetraditionalMicrosoftWindowsimplementationortheLinux-basedvCenterServerAppliance.vSphereDataProtectionandvSphereDataProtectionAdvancedsupportbackingupvirtualmachinesonvSphereversions4.1andhigher.WebbrowsersmustbeenabledwithAdobeFlashPlayertoaccessthe vSphere Web Client and vSphere Data Protection functionality. See vSphere documentation for a list of Web browsers currently supported with vSphere Web Client.

vSphereDataProtectionisdeployedasaprebuilt,Linux-basedvirtualappliance.Itsupportsasmanyas100virtualmachinesperappliance.vSphereDataProtectionAdvancedsupportsasmanyas400virtualmachinesperappliance.Amaximumof10appliancespervCenterServerinstanceissupported.

T E C H N I C A L W H I T E P A P E R / 4

Introduction to VMware vSphere® Data Protection

VMVMVMVirtual

ApplianceVirtual

Appliance

vSphere WebClient

Deduplication Store(.vmdk files)

vSphere DataProtection

vSphere

vCenterServer

Figure 1. vSphere Data Protection Components

AvSphereDataProtectionandvSphereDataProtectionAdvancedapplianceisdeployedbydefaultwithfourprocessors.Figure2outlinestherespectivedefaultstorageandmemoryconfigurations.Theactualamountof(thick-provisioned)storageconsumedbyanapplianceisgreaterthanthecapacityshowninthe“DeduplicatedBackupDataStorageCapacity”column.Thisadditionalstoragecapacityisrequiredforitemssuchastheappliance guest operating system (OS), the vSphere Data Protection application and integrity checks. Thin-provisioned storage can also be utilized when deploying a vSphere Data Protection appliance.

DEDUPLICATED BACKUP DATA STORAGE CAPACITY

MEMORY

vSphere Data Protection .5TB 4GB

vSphere Data Protection 1TB 4GB

vSphere Data Protection 2TB 4GB

vSphereDataProtectionAdvanced 2TB 6GB

vSphereDataProtectionAdvanced 4TB 8GB

vSphereDataProtectionAdvanced 6TB 10GB

vSphereDataProtectionAdvanced 8TB 12GB

Figure 2. vSphere Data Protection and vSphere Data Protection Advanced Storage and Memory Configurations

WhendeployingvSphereDataProtection,planadequatelytohelpensurepropersizing,becauseextrastoragecapacity cannot be added after the appliance has been deployed. In contrast, vSphere Data Protection Advancedenablesdynamicprovisioningofadditionalcapacity(upto8TBtotal).Whendeterminingstoragecapacityrequirements,anumberofitemsshouldbeconsidered,suchasnumberofprotectedvirtualmachines,amount of data being backed up, retention periods and typical data change rates.

T E C H N I C A L W H I T E P A P E R / 5

Introduction to VMware vSphere® Data Protection

Deployment and ConfigurationvSphereDataProtectionandvSphereDataProtectionAdvancedaredeployedusingvSphereWebClientorVMwarevSphereClient™fromaprepackagedOpenVirtualizationArchive(.ova)file.The.ovafilesarelabeledtoeasily identify the amount of backup data storage capacity deployed with the appliance.

Aftertheappliancehasbeendeployedandpoweredon,aWebbrowserisusedtoaccessthevSphereDataProtection–configureduserinterface(UI)andperformtheinitialconfiguration.ThefirsttimeyouconnecttothevSphereDataProtection–configuredUI,itwillberunningin“installmode.”Withthe“installmode”wizard,itemssuchasIPaddress,hostname,DNS,timezoneandvCenterServerconnectioninformationareconfigured.Uponsuccessfulcompletionofthe“installmode”wizard,theappliancewillneedtoberebooted.Thisrebootcantakeupto30minutestocompleteastheappliancefinishesinitialconfiguration.

Aftertheinitialconfiguration,thevSphereDataProtection–configuredutilityrunsin“maintenancemode.”Inthismode,thevSphereDataProtection–configuredUIisutilizedtoperformfunctionssuchasstartingandstoppingservices on the appliance, collecting logs, and rolling back the appliance to a previous valid configuration state, which will be discussed later in this document.

AdministrationThe vSphere Web Client is used to create and maintain backup jobs and to perform virtual machine and application restores, reporting and configuration.

Figure 3. vSphere Data Protection Advanced in vSphere Web Client

T E C H N I C A L W H I T E P A P E R / 6

Introduction to VMware vSphere® Data Protection

BackupCreating and editing a backup job is accomplished using the BackuptaboftheUIinvSphereWebClient.Individual virtual machines can be selected for backup. Containers such as datacenters, clusters and resource pools can also be selected for backup.

Backupjobscanbescheduleddaily,weeklyormonthly.Eachjobrunsonceonthedayitisscheduledandbeginswhen the backup window opens.

Theretentionpolicycanbedefinedinafewways—forexample,forxnumberofdaysoruntilaspecificdate. Acustomretentionpolicycanalsobedefined.

Figure 4. vSphere Data Protection Retention Policy Configuration

Afterabackupjobhasbeencreated,itcanbeeditedordeleted;itisalsopossibletoclonethebackupjob.Cloningcanbeusefulif,forexample,thebackupadministratorwantstoeasilyduplicateanexistingcustomretentionpolicyforanewsetofvirtualmachines.Theadministratorcanclonetheexistingbackupjobandedittheselectedvirtualmachinesinthenew—thatis,clone—backupjob.

vSphereDataProtectionAdvancedcanprotectandrestoreMicrosoftExchangeServerandSQLServer.Anapplication-specificagentisinstalledintheguestOSofavirtualmachine.vSphereDataProtectionAdvancedutilizesthisagenttobackupandrestoretheExchangeorSQLServerapplicationanddatabases.UsingtheseagentswithvSphereDataProtectionAdvancedalsoenablesapplication-consistentbackupsandprovidessupportforotheroptionssuchasfull,differentialorincrementalbackupsandmultistreamingbackups.

T E C H N I C A L W H I T E P A P E R / 7

Introduction to VMware vSphere® Data Protection

Figure 5. Application Backup Job Options in vSphere Data Protection Advanced

The initial backup of a virtual machine or application takes more time because all of the data for that virtual machineisbeingbackedup.SubsequentbackupstakelesstimebecausevSphereDataProtectionand vSphereDataProtectionAdvancedutilizeCBTinvSphere.

RestoreRestoringanentirevirtualmachineisperformedusingtheRestoretaboftheUIofvSphereDataProtectionandvSphereDataProtectionAdvancedinvSphereWebClient.Theadministratorcanbrowsethelistofprotectedvirtual machines and select one or more restore points.

vSphereDataProtectionandvSphereDataProtectionAdvancedofferfastandefficientrecoverybyleveragingCBT. When restoring an entire virtual machine, workloads of both a full image restore and a recovery leveraging CBT are evaluated. In some cases, the change rate since the last backup is very high, so the overhead of a CBT analysis operation would be more costly than that for a full image restore. vSphere Data Protection intelligently determines which method will result in the fastest virtual machine recovery time.

Topreventoverwritinganexistingvirtualmachine,anewvirtualmachinenameanddestinationdatastore canbespecified.Choosingarestorelocationotherthantheoriginalwillresultinafullimagerestore—CBTis not leveraged. There is also the option to power on the virtual machine and reconnect its NIC after the restorehasbeencompleted.Thisisusefulforperformingrehearsalstoverifythatexistingbackupscanberestored successfully.

T E C H N I C A L W H I T E P A P E R / 8

Introduction to VMware vSphere® Data Protection

Figure 6. Specifying a New Name and Location for the Restored Virtual Machine

WithvSphereDataProtectionandvSphereDataProtectionAdvanced,itisalsopossibletorestoreindividualfilesandfolders/directorieswithinavirtualmachine.Afile-levelrecoveryisperformedusingaWeb-basedtoolcalledvSphereDataProtectionRestoreClient.Theprocessenablesenduserstoconductrestoresontheirown,without the assistance of a backup administrator, by selecting a restore point and browsing the file system as it looked at the time that backup was done. They locate the item(s) to be recovered, select a destination for the restored items and start the recovery. The progress of the restore job can be monitored in vSphere Data ProtectionRestoreClient.

Figure 7. vSphere Data Protection Restore Client

ExclusivetovSphereDataProtectionAdvancedistheabilitytorestoreMicrosoftExchangeServerandSQLServerapplicationsandtheirassociateddatabases.Figure8showsanindividualdatabaseselectedforrecovery.

T E C H N I C A L W H I T E P A P E R / 9

Introduction to VMware vSphere® Data Protection

Figure 8. Individual Database Selected for Recovery in vSphere Data Protection Advanced

Anotherexampleisrestorationtoarecoverydatabase(RDB)inExchangeServer2010.TheExchangeServeradministratorcanrecoveranindividualmailboxormailboxfolderfromtheRDB.

Figure 9. Exchange Server Restore into a Recovery Database in vSphere Data Protection Advanced

Introduction to VMware vSphere® Data Protection

ReportingTheReportstabinvSphereDataProtectionandvSphereDataProtectionAdvanceddisplaysavarietyofinformation: appliance status, used capacity, backup job and virtual machine backup details, and so on. There are links to the event console and task console for additional information and for troubleshooting purposes. The listofvirtualmachinescanbefilteredusingseveralcriteria;forexample,virtualmachinenameordateofthemost recent backup. The Details section displays specifics about the virtual machine selected in the list of clients—itemssuchasvirtualmachinename,guestOS,backupstatusanddateoflastsuccessfulbackup.

InadditiontothereportingcapabilitiesoftheUI,vSphereDataProtectionandvSphereDataProtectionAdvancedcanbeconfiguredtosendemailreports.Theseemailreportscanbescheduledataspecifictime,onceperdayonanyoralldaysoftheweek.SimilartotheUI,theseemailmessagescontaindetailsonthevSphere Data Protection appliance, backup jobs and the virtual machines that are backed up.

Avoiding Backup Data CorruptionvSphereDataProtectionandvSphereDataProtectionAdvancedcontainacheckpointandrollbackmechanism.Acheckpointisasystem-widebackupofthevSphereDataProtectionappliancethatisperformedtohelpprotecttheappliancefromrisksthatmightcausedatacorruption.Anunexpectedappliancepower-offisanexampleofthis.Inthiscase,theappliancewouldrollbacktothelastvalidatedcheckpoint.Anybackupjobsperformedafterthatcheckpointwouldbelost,butdatacorruption—thatis,lossofallbackupinformation—likelywould be avoided.

Figure 10. vSphere Data Protection Rollback Checkpoints

SummaryData protection is a key component of any business continuity plan. VMware vSphere Data Protection and vSphereDataProtectionAdvancedprovideefficientsolutionsforprotectingaVMwarevirtualmachineinfrastructureincludingmission-criticalapplicationssuchasMicrosoftExchangeServerandSQLServer.Deploymentisquickandeasy.AdministrationisperformedusingaWeb-basedgraphicalUIintegratedwiththeVMwarevSphereWebClient.Enduserscanrestorefileswithoutrequiringassistancefromabackupadministrator.Acheckpointandrollbackprotectionsystemisincludedtohelpensurethatbackupdataisavailable for restoration when data loss occurs or disaster strikes.

T E C H N I C A L W H I T E P A P E R / 1 0

T E C H N I C A L W H I T E P A P E R / 1 1

Introduction to VMware vSphere® Data Protection

About the AuthorJeffHunterisaseniortechnicalmarketingmanagerwithafocusonbusinesscontinuitysolutionsatVMware. HehasbeenemployedatVMwareformorethanfiveyears.PriortoJeff’stenureatVMware,hespent several years assisting with the implementation and administration of VMware virtual infrastructures at two Fortune500companies.

VMware, Inc. 3401 Hillview Avenue Palo Alto CA 94304 USA Tel 877-486-9273 Fax 650-427-5001 www .vmware .comCopyright © 2013 VMware, Inc . All rights reserved . This product is protected by U .S . and international copyright and intellectual property laws . VMware products are covered by one or more patents listed at http://www .vmware .com/go/patents . VMware is a registered trademark or trademark of VMware, Inc . in the United States and/or other jurisdictions . All other marks and names mentioned herein may be trademarks of their respective companies . Item No: VMW-WP-vSPHR-DATA-PRO-USLET-101 Docsouce: OIC-12VM008 .12