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VMware policies

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You can enable backups for a vCenter by applying the appropriate protection policy. There are three ways to apply a policy to a vSphere VM.

  • You can protect a Physical Layer, which means the data center, cluster, or host.
  • You can protect a Folder or Sub-Folder.
  • You can protect a Tag

You can create as many protection policies as required by your business and add new policies at any time. Any VM that has its Policy removed will place this VM in an “Unprotected” Status.

>Note>: The vCenter inventory objects (such as data centers, clusters, hosts, etc. are referred to as vCenter Groups).

Policy details

When a vSphere VM is protected, Clumio immediately starts the backup seeding process to synchronize the data between the resource and Clumio. The initial backup seeding process creates a full backup of the vSphere VM and saves it to Clumio. After that, granular backups are generated based on the policy’s configured schedule.

Backups can be scheduled to occur at various frequencies throughout the year, with yearly backups retained for up to 7 years. During the retention period, you can restore the backups.

Up to four scheduled backup frequencies can be configured: hourly, daily, monthly and yearly.

  • Hourly: Enable the first checkbox to generate backups every few hours. After the initial seeding, subsequent backups are generated every day at 12:00 AM UTC and then at the frequency specified. For example, if a policy has been configured to take backups every 7 hours, backups will always occur at 12:00 AM, 7:00 AM, 2:00 PM, and 9:00 PM every day. Each backup is retained for the specified number of days. If you are using hourly backups, the Backup Window option is not supported.
  • Daily: Enable the second checkbox to generate backups every few days. After the initial seeding, subsequent backups are generated at the frequency specified, calculated from the first of every month. A backup is also taken on the 1st of every month. For example, if a policy has been configured to take backups every 10 days, backups will always occur on the 1st, 11th, 21st, and 31st days of each month. Each backup is taken at 12:00 AM UTC and retained for the specified number of days.
  • Monthly: Enable the third checkbox to generate backups every few months. After the initial seeding, subsequent backups are generated at the frequency specified, calculated from the 1st of January every year. A backup is also taken on January 1st each year. For example, if a policy has been configured to take backups every 5 months, backups will always occur on January 1st, June 1st, and November 1st of each year. Each backup is taken at 12:00 AM UTC and retained for the specified number of months.
  • Yearly: Enable the fourth checkbox to generate backups once per year. When enabled, a backup is generated on the first of year, and then again on the first of the following year. Each backup is taken at 12:00 AM UTC and retained for the specified number of years. If multiple backups are generated on the same day, only one copy is retained. For example, if monthly and yearly backups are generated on January 1st, only one copy is saved.

Using the following granular backup settings as an example, if a virtual machine was protected on January 15th, the following would occur:

  • If the first checkbox is enabled, backups are taken on January 16th at 12:00 AM UTC, 8:00 AM, and 4:00 PM, and then at the same time every day thereafter. Each backup is kept for 5 days.
  • If the second checkbox is enabled, backups are taken on the 1st, 11th, 21st, and 31st days of each month. The first backup (after seeding) is taken on January 21, and the next backup is taken on January 31. Subsequent backups will be generated on the 1st, 11th, 21st, and 31st days of each month. Each backup is taken at 12:00 AM UTC and kept for 31 days.
  • If the third checkbox is enabled, backups are taken on the 1st, 4th, 7th, and 10th months of each year. The first backup (after seeding) is taken on April 1, the next backup is taken on July 1, and the backup after that is taken on October 1. Subsequent backups will be taken on the 1st, 4th, and 7th, and 10th months of each year. Each backup is taken at 12:00 AM UTC and kept for 12 months.
  • If the fourth checkbox is enabled, backups are taken every year on January 1 at 12:00 AM UTC, and each backup is kept for 7 years.

Since multiple backups are generated on January 1, April 1, July 1, and October 1, only one copy is saved for each of those months.

Policy hierarchy

VMs reside in a hierarchy that may contain multiple policies. Policies are inherited unless they are superseded by another policy that takes precedence.

The policy hierarchy is as follows: VM > Tag > Folder > Physical Layer.

Examples include the following:

  • If you apply a policy to both a Tag and a Folder, the policy applied to the Tag takes precedence.
  • If you apply a policy to a Cluster, any new VM created within the Cluster is automatically backed up.

Policy guidelines

  • Use meaningful names for policies
  • A VM can only be protected by one policy
  • Policies are independent of vCenters
  • The changes made to a policy only apply to future backups. The policy change will not affect backup tasks that have already started ("In progress") or are waiting to start ("Queued"); instead, those tasks will follow the policy that was configured at the time the backup task started or entered the queue, which is based on the task "Submitted On" timestamp.

Clumio lets you locate files to back up from all file systems, and then select and restore multiple directories and files. Using Clumio to back up your data, you can do the following:

  • View vCenter details/inventory
    • Summary
    • Tags
    • VM folders
    • Clusters/hosts
    • VMs
  • Associate and apply Protection Policies in your environment
  • Enable backups

Updated about 2 months ago