Dell Replay Manager Version 7.8 Administrator’s Guide

VMware Datastores

Use the VMware Datastores backup extension to create Replay Manager jobs based on vSphere datastores. This extension allows large groups of virtual machines to be protected by a Replay simply by selecting the datastore or datastores the virtual machines reside on. Any other data contained on the datastore is also included such as templates and .ISO files which are commonly found in virtual datacenters. This extension is ideal for virtual machines that have a single virtual machine disk file (.vmdk) or that have multiple .vmdk files residing on the same datastore.

When using the VMware Datastores backup extension, consider the following:

• If a virtual machine straddles multiple VMFS datastores, you may still use the VMware Datastores backup extension. However, all datastores required to obtain a complete job must be selected.
• Because virtual machine protection is founded at the datastore layer, the Replay Manager job methodology should fit each of the virtual machines on the datastore. Only one Replay Manager job is needed for a datastore. This practice helps to prevent Replay Manager jobs from overlapping.

VMware Virtual Machines

Use the VMware Virtual Machines backup extension to create Replay Manager jobs with finer granularity based on individual virtual machines. This extension supports both the Expose and Restore data operations.

The placement of the virtual machines or their virtual machine disk files (.vmdk) across datastores or the use of RDMs is not a constraint because Replay Manager determines the necessary datastores and volumes to include at the time of job creation. However, since vSphere cannot create a VMware snapshot of physical RDMs, the physical RDM Replays are unlikely to be consistent with the Replay containing the .vmdk file for the same virtual machine. Additionally, the VMware Virtual Machines backup extension supports including virtual machine memory in the VMware snapshot contained in the Replay.

When using the VMware Virtual Machines backup extension, consider the following.

• Grouping by data protection characteristics

  Replay Manager jobs created using the VMware Virtual Machines backup extension should be grouped by similar or identical data protection characteristics to minimize the overlap of Replay Manager jobs in the queue and to ensure the required protection and retention of virtual machine data.

• Backing up RDMs

  To include RDM volumes when using the VMware Virtual Machines backup extension, select the virtual machine configured to use the RDM.

• Backing up physical mode RDMs

  To include pRDM volumes when using the VMware Virtual Machines backup extension, select the virtual machine configured to use the pRDM. To include physical RDMs in a backup, select the Create Storage Center Replay of Physical RDMs backup set option.

  NOTE:Windows guest virtual machines that store data for VSS aware applications (like SQL Server or Exchange) on physical RDMs, or iSCSI volumes mapped directly to the guest, may fail to create snapshots when using the VMware Virtual Machines backup extension. This is a known issue with Windows VSS snapshot integration and VMware snapshot creation. If a failure occurs, use the vSphere Client to change the value of the disk.EnableUUID parameter to FALSE.
• Backing up virtual machine memory

  By default, a backup of a VMware virtual machine does not include machine memory. To include a dump of the virtual machine memory at the time of the backup, use the Include virtual machine memory in vSphere snapshot backup set option. Including machine memory causes the backup to take more time to complete. For more information, see https://kb.vmware.com/s/article/1007532.