The backup process requires the
backup/restore software to collect and store information both from vCloud
Director and from vSphere. This process assumes that you use vCloud Director
system administrator credentials to connect to vCloud Director. System
administrator credentials allow the software to access vApps belonging to any
Organization, and to access all the necessary information about a vApp and
associated vCloud constructs.
A vApp in vCloud Director can comprise one or
more virtual machines. When you work with a single vApp in vCloud Director, you
might be working with a number of virtual machines in vSphere.
To back up a vApp or set of vApps:
Procedure
1 | Connect to vCloud Director and access the
organization where vApp (or vApps) will be backed up.
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2 | When backing up a vApp for a given
Organization or VDC in vCloud Director, access the vCloud Director inventory
for a list of all desired vApps.
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3 | Select maintenance mode for each vApp to
prevent updates during the backup process.
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4 | Collect all the metadata related to the
vApp(s), including any user-defined metadata associated with any given vApp.
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5 | Use the vApp metadata to identify the
virtual machines associated with each vApp.
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6 | Connect to vCenter Server as a user with
sufficient permissions to access the virtual machines. Use the vSphere
inventory to locate the virtual machine configuration and virtual disk files.
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7 | Use the VMware APIs for Data Protection to
back up the vSphere virtual machine files:
a | (optional) Save a
snapshot of the virtual machine.
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b | Save the virtual
machine configuration, using the WS API.
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c | Save the virtual
disks using the VDDK API.
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d | (optional) Delete
the virtual machine snapshot, if applicable.
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8 | Store the vApp metadata in an appropriate
format along with the associated virtual machine files.
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9 | Deselect maintenance mode for each vApp.
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