PowerProtect Data Manager 19.16 Virtual Machine User Guide

Selective protection: vCenter servers

This procedure protects just the vCenter server file-based VCF components, while providing more control over the backup settings used for them than quick protection. To protect other VCF components, refer to the other selective-protection procedures.

1. From a PowerProtect Data Manager command line, type the following two commands:

   cd /usr/local/brs/lib/sysmgr/bin

   ./ppdm-vcf-component-protection.sh
2. Provide PowerProtect Data Manager credentials for a user with the Administrator role.
3. Enter the IP address or fully qualified domain name (FQDN) of the SDDC Manager server, and then provide SDDC Manager credentials for a user with the Administrator role.
4. From the backup-script main menu, enter 2 twice.
5. Select the automatically discovered vCenter servers to protect.

   Enter a to protect all the servers. Otherwise, enter the numbers that correspond to the individual servers to protect, separating each number with a space.

6. Enter the FQDN or IP address of an external SFTP server, including the backup directory path, followed by credentials to access the server.
   Supported protocols for the external server are FTP, SFTP, FTPS, HTTP, HTTPS, NFS, and SMB. The external SFTP server is also used for vCenter server configuration. The external SFTP server and backup directory path uses the format sftp://server_address:port_number/folder/subfolder.

   Examples:

   sftp://172.17.62.201:22/upload/backup

   sftp://a053.ppdm.vmware.com:22/upload/backup

7. Select the days of the week a backup takes place, and then enter the time of day.

   Type a number that represents a day of the week, where 1 represents Sunday. If selecting multiple days of the week, separate the numbers with a space. For example, to select Sunday and Monday:

   1 2

   The time of day uses the format HH:MM in 24-hour notation. For example, to enter 1:25 p.m.:

   13:25

8. Confirm if the backups should be encrypted. If they should be encrypted, enter an encryption password.
   If you enter an encryption password, it must be between 8 and 20 characters in length and contain at least one lowercase letter, one uppercase letter, one number, and one special character.
9. Confirm if historical data should be backed up and the number of backups to retain.
   NOTE:In quick protection, the default is to back up historical data and retain all backups.
10. Confirm if common credentials should be used.
    • Enter y to provide common credentials for all vCenter servers.
    • Enter n to be prompted for the credentials for each individual server.

    Provide vCenter credentials for a user with the Administrator role.

11. If there is an existing vCenter server backup configuration, confirm if it should be overridden.
    NOTE:Should the existing backup configuration fail to be overridden, the vCenter server will be left without a backup configuration.
12. Confirm if a new File System protection policy should be created in order to protect the external server.
    • Enter y to provide details of the new protection policy.
    • Enter n to either select from a list of existing protection policies or skip protection of the external server.