VMware Backup

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SEP sesam provides efficient data protection for virtual machines (VMs) running on VMware ESXi servers by using VMware vSphere Storage APIs – Data Protection (formerly known as VMware vStorage APIs for Data Protection or VADP). The vSphere Storage APIs - Data Protection is included with all vSphere editions and kits. If a storage network environment (SAN) is configured properly, it enables SEP sesam to perform LAN-free, centralized virtual machine backups without involving backup tasks to be run from inside each virtual machine on the ESX host. Off-host backup off-loads backup processing from the ESX server thus also reducing costs by allowing each ESX host to run more virtual machines. SEP sesam provides simultaneous backup of a large number of virtual machines on SAN connected ESXi hosts.

SEP sesam uses VMware vSphere Storage APIs to create a virtual machine-consistent backup. It requests a snapshot of the VM, and backs up the complete virtual machine or individual virtual machine disk (VMDK) files to SEP sesam Server or SEP sesam Remote Device Server (RDS) directly over SAN to avoid network traffic. For an application-consistent backup, the quiescence snapshot option is used. If the changed block tracking (CBT) is enabled, SEP sesam features fast and efficient backup by backing up only the blocks that have changed since previous incremental or full backup.

For the list of supported VMware versions, see support matrix.

By using the integrated Si3 target deduplication for VMware backups, you can benefit from reduced disk capacity and increased overall storage performance.

Licenses

  • SEP recommends a SEP sesam volume license which is based on the data volume per front-side terabyte and on the utilisation of SEP database agents. Volume license includes unlimited usage of clients, hypervisors, disk storage, tape, Si3 deduplication and replication. For more details on volume licensing and how to calculate front-side capacity, see SEP volume licensing.
  • Because SEP sesam integrates with VMware vSphere Storage APIs – Data Protection, you will need at least a VMware vSphere Essentials license.

Key features

Enhanced VMware vSphere CBT (DIFF/INCR) backup for instant recovery and single file restore
Single item restore (SF) and instant recovery (IR) are based on almost any level of VMware backup, including differential and incremental.
Integration with VMware’s vStorage APIs
SEP sesam provides optimized backup and restore processes of your VMware virtual machines.
VMware CBT support
Copy, full, differential and incremental image-level backups of VMware virtual machines for storage optimization.
Complete protection of VMware resources
vCenter Servers (which automatically discover all the VMs in the vCenter environment) or individual vSphere ESX/ESXi servers can be added as a client to the SEP sesam environment.
Support of all VMware transport modes for backups and restores
SAN, HotAdd, NBD and NBDSSL are supported and their priority can be adjusted (see Selecting a VMware transport mode).
Si3 target deduplication
As of version 4.4.3, VMware backup can use an SI3 deduplication store, thus eliminating redundant data blocks and reducing the size of the backed up data.
Flexible restore
Complete VM image restore, restore VMDK files to alternate directory, single file restore. For details, see VMware Restore.

Prerequisites

To ensure error-free operation of SEP sesam and improve performance, make sure that the following conditions are met:

Configuring your VMware system as a SEP sesam Client

Depending on your VMware environment (single server or clustered), some steps in configuring a client will differ. Follow the relevant procedure below.

Configuring a vCenter Server as a SEP sesam Client

To protect your virtual machines, you must configure the VMware Virtual Center server as a SEP sesam Client. SEP sesam supports the following vCenter types:

  • vCenter appliance from VMware
  • vCenter installed on a Windows Server environment

The procedure for configuring vCenter Server may differ slightly depending on your SEP sesam version.

  1. From Main Selection -> Components -> Topology, select your location and click the New client button. The New client window opens.
  2. In the New client window, enter the DNS name of the vCenter server.
  3. From the drop-down list of configured locations, select a location to which you want to add a new client.
  4. Under Operating system drop-down list, select the appropriate operating system.
  5. Choose PROXY access mode for the SEP sesam server-client communication (the default setting is CTRL).
  6. Define your client as a vCenter Server.
  7. Select the option vCenter from the VM Server type drop-down list. (In versions lower than 4.4.2, there was a check box Client is a vCenter Server that needed to be selected.)
  8. Add vCenter client.png


  9. Click the tab vCenter access and enter vCenter credentials with administrator rights.
  10. Select a data mover.
  11. Information sign.png Note

    The VMware backup performance is highly dependent on the transport mode. To check the recommendations for the optimal data mover, see Selecting the best VMware transport mode for your environment.

    Add vCenter client-access.png


  12. Click OK to add the new client.

Configuring a standalone ESX Server as a SEP sesam Client without vCenter Server

In case no vCenter is available, the ESX server itself can be added to SEP sesam.

  1. From Main Selection -> Components -> Topology, select your location and click the New client button. The New client window opens.
  2. In the New client window, enter the DNS name of the ESX server.
  3. From the drop-down list of configured locations, select a location to which you want to add a new client.
  4. Under Operating system drop-down list, select the ESX-Server.
  5. Choose PROXY access mode for the SEP sesam server-client communication (the default setting is CTRL).
  6. Add ESXserver client.png


  7. Click the tab ESX server access and enter ESX server credentials with administrator rights.
  8. Select a data mover. Note that the optimal data mover depends on storage type and selected transport mode. For details on which data mover is optimal, see Selecting a VMware transport mode.
  9. Add client-set data mover.png


  10. Click OK to add the new client.