Executing Backups of VMware Templates

Important Considerations

VMware VM templates can be protected using periodic on-demand full backups. Because there are no regular changes to capture in the template backups, templates are not eligible for incremental backups, differential backups and are not eligible for inclusion in an Incremental Forever backup strategy.

Either a one-time immediate backup may be taken or it is recommended to use one of the following scheduling strategies:

• Daily full backups for templates and small VMs that do not require incremental or differential backups.
• Daily full backups for templates only and separate jobs to contain other rotational options for other VMs.

Instructions

Before performing a backup of a template, you must verify that the template is listed in the Navigation pane.

To add individual templates to the Navigation pane

Recently created templates might not appear in the Navigation Pane. Follow this procedure to update inventory to add individual templates to the Navigation Pane that do not appear.

1. Click the Gears icon to open the settings menu.
2. Click “Inventory Sync” to contact vCenter systems and import the latest inventory listings.
3. When your recently created templates display in the Navigation pane, see "To execute an immediate backup of a VMware template" or "Creating a backup schedule for VMware templates" to continue the backup process.

Once the template you would like to backup appears in the navigation page, you are ready to execute a backup. Follow the procedure below to execute an immediate backup of a VMware template.

To execute an immediate backup of a VMware template

1. Select the Protect icon in the lefthand pane of the UI.
2. Click the “backup” icon above the navigation pane
3. In the Create Backup Job panel, then enter a unique job name in the Job name field.
4. Under “What do you want to back up” dropdown menu, select “VMware assets”
5. Select the templates you would like to back up. You may also include regular VMs for full backup in this same job if you wish. You may search by name using the search field at the bottom of the list which will highlight red any matching names. You may check as many templates as you like within the single job. For reference, checked templates will appear in the Job inventory Settings list.
6. For a particular VM Template, you may select the “edit” button to exclude disks you do not need to protect.
7. Click next once all VMs have been selected and any disk exclusion choices have been made (you may edit these later for scheduled jobs).
8. Select “Now” under the :Select when to run this job” option.
9. Select “Fulls” as the backup type. (Differential and incremental backups cannot be performed for templates. If you select Differential or Incremental for the backup type, the backup fails.)
10. Backups are stored on the default device. To back up to a different device, select it in the Backup Target area under options.
11. Select your reporting options under the options section for this job. The Default includes results in both the Job report and the Failure Report as necessary.
12. Click Save at the bottom of the screen to initiate the backup process.

To schedule periodic full backups of a VMware template:

Create a full backup schedule for templates and small virtual machines that do not require incremental or differential backups. For VMs that do require incremental or differential backups, see "To create a VMware backup schedule" on page 602 of the admin guide.

1. Select the Protect icon in the lefthand pane of the UI.
2. Click the “backup” icon above the navigation pane
3. In the Create Backup Job panel, then enter a unique job name in the Job Name field.
4. Under “What do you want to back up” dropdown menu, select “VMware assets”
5. Select the templates you would like to back up. You may also include regular VMs in this schedule. You may search by name using the search field at the bottom of the list which will highlight red any matching names. You may check as many templates or VMs as you like within the single job. For reference, checked templates will appear in the Job inventory Settings list.
6. For a particular VM or Template, you may select the “edit” button to exclude disks you do not need to protect.
7. Click next once all VMs have been selected and any disk exclusion choices have been made (you may edit these later for scheduled jobs).
8. Select “Create a Schedule” under the “Select when to run this job” option.
9. Select “Fulls” as the backup type. (Differential and incremental backups cannot be performed in schedules that contain VM templates. If you select Differential or Incremental for the backup type, the backup fails.)
10. Choose a start date by entering a date or using the calendar Icon to select a date graphically. This will be the first date in the future a backup is run.
11. Under the “Full Backup” line, Select “Every” and then select the weekdays you wish the full to be performed on. For small templates and VMs, a daily full is recommended. However, templates that are not expected to be modified or changed, or very large templates may benefit from a less frequent full backup. It is only necessary to protect a template as often as the template is modified.
12. Backups are stored on the default device. To back up to a different device, select it in the Backup Target area under options.
13. Select your reporting options under the options section for this job. The Default includes results in both the Job report and the Failure Report as necessary.
14. Click Save at the bottom of the screen to initiate the backup process.

A separate backup is created for each template selected.

To view the status of the backup, select Jobs > Active Jobs. To view details for completed backup jobs, select Jobs > Recent Jobs.