Administrator Guide

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.

NOTE: Use this extension if the virtual machine memory state is a requirement.

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. For

further instructions, see: kb.vmware.com/selfservice/microsites/search.do?

language=en_US&cmd=displayKC&externalId=1031298

• 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. Note that

including machine memory causes the backup to take more time to complete. For more information,

see: kb.vmware.com/selfservice/microsites/search.do?

language=en_US&cmd=displayKC&externalId=1007532

Data Recovery for VMware

Replay Manager provides two data recovery actions: Expose and Restore. The VMware backup extension

selected for the Replay Manager job determines which data recovery actions are available.

Expose Action for VMware

The Expose action is supported by both VMware backup extensions. This action presents a View of the

exposed Replay back to the vSphere cluster in order to recover data at either the image or file level.

Although exposing the volume is managed by Replay Manager, the act of data recovery is not. The

administrator must manually register the virtual machine on the View volume and power it on for an