Backup

Use this vmcli command to start full and incremental backups of your VMs or VM templates.

Syntax

The vmcli -f backup command uses this syntax:

vmcli -f backup -t backupType -I backupObjectListFile -d datacenternodename | providervDCnodename -o datamovernodename [--name taskName] [--description descriptionInFile.txt] [-s tsmserverhostname][ -n vctrclinodename] [-p tsmserverport]

You must issue the vmcli -f backup command as tdpvmware user, and not as root.

Parameters

Before you issue a vmcli -f backup command, issue the vmcli -f inquire_config command to verify that your configuration is correct. Also, use the information from the vmcli -f inquire_config command output as a guide for setting your backup parameters.

When a backup operation is running, there is no command or method available to stop the backup, including the Ctrl + C command. You must wait for the operation to complete on its own.

The vmcli -f backup command requires that the VE_VCENTER_NODE_NAME is set correctly in the vmcliprofile. You cannot overwrite this parameter with a command-line entry.

The data mover system (the vStorage Backup Server where the Tivoli® Storage Manager backup-archive client is installed) must not set the ASNODENAME option.

-t backupType

Specify the type of backup to complete. You can choose from one of the following types:

TSM_INCR: Creates an incremental backup of the specified backup object. This parameter is valid only in vSphere mode.
TSM_FULL: Creates a full image backup of the specified backup objects. This parameter is valid only in vSphere mode.
TSM_IFFULL: Creates an incremental forever full backup of the specified backup objects. When TSM_IFFULL is specified, template VMs that are unchanged since the last backup are also included. This parameter is valid in both vSphere and vCloud mode.
TSM_IFINCR: Creates an incremental forever incremental backup of the specified backup object. This type backs up only the changed data since the last backup. This parameter is valid in both vSphere and vCloud mode. This type is the default.

The backup process does not create a snapshot of template VMs in the same manner that a snapshot is created for regular VMs. As a result, VMware VDDK advanced transports (SAN, HotAdd mode), change block tracking (CBT), and incremental backups are not available.

-I backupObjectListFile

Specify the file that contains the list of objects to back up. Each line contains one specification for backup.

In vCloud mode, the backupObjectListFile uses the following format:

vappname:Org=organization,OrgvDC=organization VDC[,vApp=vApp]

The org, orgvdc, and vapp keywords must be followed by an equal sign (=) and separated from the next keyword by a comma (,).

In vCloud mode, the backupObjectListFile uses the following keywords:

vappname: Specify the name of the vApp to back up. Each line in the backupObjectListFile must start with this keyword. You can repeat this keyword for each vApp you want to back up.
org: Specify the name of the organization from which the vApps are backed up. This parameter must be specified immediately after the vappname keyword. If you backup vApps from different organizations, create multiple lines.
orgvdc: Specify the name of the organization vDC from which the vApps are backed up. This parameter must be specified as the third parameter of an input line (after the org keyword). If you backup vApps from different organization vDCs, create multiple lines.
vapp: Specify the name of the vApp to back up. This parameter must be specified as the fourth parameter of an input line (after the orgvdc keyword). If you backup multiple vApps, create multiple lines. If this parameter is not specified, all vApps from the organization vDC (orgvdc) of the organization (org) are backed up.

In vSphere mode, the backupObjectListFile uses the following keyword:

vmname

Specify the name of the VM to back up. You can specify this keyword for each VM you want to back up. For example:

vmname:vm1
vmname:vm2

Restrictions:

Do not specify a VM host name in the backupObjectListFile. Data Protection for VMware does not support backing up a VM that is identified by the VM host name.
When you specify the name of a VM by using the vmname keyword in the backupObjectListFile, Data Protection for VMware does not differentiate between a colon (:) used as a keyword separator or a colon that is used in the VM name. Therefore, use caution when you specify keyword values. In addition, backing up a VM that contains a comma in its name is not supported.
Data Protection for VMware support for VM backup operations is limited to VM names and datacenter names that contain English 7-bit ASCII characters only. VM names and datacenter names that use other language characters are not currently supported. More character restrictions are listed in Troubleshooting.
A VMware vCenter allows the existence of two VMs with the same name. However, Data Protection for VMware does not support backing up two VMs with the same name. To prevent errors or backup failures, do not have two VMs with the same name in a vCenter.

-d datacenternodename | providervDCnodename | organizationvDCnodename

When the VE_TSM_MODE parameter specifies VSPHERE, specify the datacenter node name.

When the VE_TSM_MODE parameter specifies vCloud, specify the provider vDC node name (backup and restore operations) or the organization vDC node name (query operations).

-o datamovernodename

Specify the data mover node name. This name is the node name for the Tivoli Storage Manager backup-archive client that is installed on the vStorage Backup Server. This node performs the data movement.

[--name taskName]

Specify the string that identifies the backup task.

[--description descriptionInFile.txt]

Specify the name of the text file that contains a description of the backup task.

[-s tsmserverhostname]

Specify the host name or IP address of the Tivoli Storage Manager server. If this parameter is not specified, the value in the profile is used.

[-n vmclinodename]

Specify the VMCLI node name. This node connects the Data Protection for VMware command-line interface to the Tivoli Storage Manager server and the data mover node. If this parameter is not specified, the value in the profile is used.

[-p tsmserverport]

Specify the port of the Tivoli Storage Manager server.

If this parameter is not specified in the Data Protection for VMware command-line interface and not specified in the profile, the default port (1500) is used.
If this parameter is not specified in the Data Protection for VMware command-line interface, but is specified in the profile, the value in the profile is used.