PowerProtect Data Manager 19.16 Virtual Machine User Guide

Select protection policy assets

On the Assets page, click + Add to select the unprotected assets that you want to add to the backup of this protection policy.

1. Choose one of the following view options, and then click + Add to select the assets for inclusion in this policy.
   NOTE:To view only unprotected assets in the Add Assets dialog, make sure that Show only unprotected assets is selected.
   • Tree view()—This view shows the hierarchical relationships of a specific host, and enables you to select individual assets or a group of assets at the host or container level for policy inclusion. For example:

   Option	Notes
   Select a stand-alone host to include all assets under this host.	If you select a host in a cluster, no assets are selected. For a host in a cluster, ensure that you select the cluster or other containers (for example, a resource pool or vApp) under the cluster host.
   Expand the tree and select a container level in the vCenter hierarchy (for example, the data center, cluster, host, or resource pool) to include all assets under that level.	When you expand the tree view, you can see all the assets within a host. When you select a host or container, all the contained assets and objects are also selected. You can also select individual assets or a group of assets within the host or container to include in the protection policy. If assets at any level are protected by another policy, a label with the name of that policy appears next to the level.    The following types of virtual assets are saved in PowerProtect Data Manager but excluded from protection:    VMProductType.DDVE - DD Virtual Edition VMProductType.VPROXY - VM Direct protection engine VMProductType.ECDM VMProductType.VIRTUAL_HOST - Nested_ESXi appliance VMProductType.REPORT - PowerProtect Data Managerreporting engine appliance VMProductType.SEARCH - PowerProtect Data ManagerSearch Engine appliance VMProductType.VRPA - RecoverPoint for VMs When you select a host or container within the tree view, the icon appears next to the selection, indicating that Dynamic protection is enabled by default. When dynamic protection is enabled, a dynamic protection rule is automatically created to ensure that all the selected assets within the selected host or container are dynamically protected by the protection policy, even if changes occur from movements within the vSphere environment or the names of resource pools or folders change. PowerProtect Data Manager manages the protection rule. The rule is updated automatically when you edit the policy and make changes to the container selections, or when assets are moved into or out of a selected container. With dynamic protection, any new assets that you add to this folder or container after the policy is created or edited will be automatically added to the protection policy. Any assets that you remove from the folder or container are also removed from the policy. When any selection overlap occurs between different policies, the UI displays the overlaps and helps you to resolve the asset assignment conflicts by adjusting the protection rules' priority.    To disable the dynamic protection for a container, click and then click Disable in the displayed text box. When the dynamic protection is disabled, the protection policy does not dynamically protect the selected container and its objects. As a result, all the selected objects within the container become static selections that are not automatically protected by the policy. After you create or edit a protection policy that has dynamic protection, you can select Protection > Protection Rules to see the protection rule details for the protection policy, including the priority of the protection rule. The name in the Protection Rule Name column for this new rule matches the policy name. Dynamic protection rules apply only at the container level.    NOTE:The behavior of automatic rule creation that allows assets to move into or out of policies can only be modified in the REST API. After updating from a previous release, if the tree view is not visible, you can enable this view by manually changing the /api/v2/common-settings/DYNAMIC_FILTER_SETTING. The PowerProtect Data Manager Public REST API documentation provides instructions.
   Expand the tree and select individual assets within containers.	When you select individual assets within this view, these selections are considered static, and no protection rule is automatically created. In cases where protection rules result in assets moving from one policy to another, any assets that are manually selected for inclusion in the policy will not be moved to a different policy.

   • List view—This view enables you to see all unprotected assets within a table, and then select individual unprotected assets that you want to include in the protection policy.
     NOTE:Only the tree view shows assets that are protected based on protection rules. To view assets that are protected with protection rules, switch from list view to tree view.

     In cases where protection rules result in assets moving from one policy to another, any assets that are manually selected for inclusion in the policy will not be moved to a different policy.
     

     When you select a virtual machine asset in this view, a dialog displays indicating that you can exclude virtual disks (VMDKs) from protection of these assets. To dismiss the dialog for other selections, select the checkbox and click OK.
   Both views provide additional information about the virtual machines, such as any currently associated tags, protection rules, and whether the virtual machine is already assigned to another policy, to help you identify which assets you want to add. If the virtual machines that you want to protect are not listed, use the Search box to search by asset name.

   NOTE:When you configure a virtual machine application-aware protection policy to protect a Microsoft SQL Server Always On availability group (AAG), you must add all the virtual machines for that AAG to the same policy, to ensure proper protection. Failure to do so might result in missed transaction log backups.

   For the virtual machine application-aware case, the Assets page displays a warning about the AAG policy configuration requirement.
2. Optionally, to exclude nonproduction VMDKs such as network shares or test disks from a protection policy:
   1. Select the virtual machine asset from the list, and then click Manage Exclusions in the Disk Excluded column.
      The Exclude Disks dialog box appears. By default, the slider next to each VMDK is set to Included.
   2. For each disk that you want to exclude, move the slider to the right.
      The status updates to Excluded.
   3. Click Save.
      The Assets page updates to indicate the number of disks for that particular asset that will be excluded from the protection policy.
3. Click Next.
   If the Assets page included any asset assignment conflicts with other protection policies, a notification page appears that describes the assets that are already assigned to other protection policies:
   • To continue, click OK.
   • To return to the Assets page, click Cancel.
   • To exclude any of these assets from this policy, unselect the assets, and then click OK.
   When you click OK, the Check conflicts due to rule priority page appears, displaying the assets with conflicting assignments and their protection policies and rules. Conflict can occur, for example, when two policies (the new policy and an existing policy) use the tree view for asset selection by container level.
   1. In the Protection Rules pane, click the up and down arrows to change the protection rule priority of any policy.
      When you raise the rule priority for a policy, the assets with conflicts in a lower-priority policy are moved to the policy with the higher protection rule priority.
   2. Click Next.