IBM Spectrum Protect for Virtual Environments: Data Protection for VMware overview

IBM Spectrum Protect for Virtual Environments: Data Protection for VMware provides a comprehensive solution for protecting VMs.

Data Protection for VMware works with the integrated data mover to complete incremental-forever full, and incremental-forever incremental backups of VMs. The data mover node "moves" the data to the IBM Spectrum Protect server for storage, and for VM image-level restore at a later time. Instant restore is available at the disk volume level and full VM level. In addition, protection of vApps and organization vDCs in a vCloud Director environment is also available.

The data mover is a separately licensed component that contains its own user interfaces and documentation. Familiarity with this product and its documentation is necessary in order to adequately integrate a comprehensive plan for protecting your VMs with Data Protection for VMware. IBM Spectrum Protect for Virtual Environments for Microsoft Windows includes the data mover data mover features on download package.

Figure 1. IBM Spectrum Protect for Virtual Environments system components in a VMware vSphere user environment

Data Protection for VMware provides several components to assist with protecting your VMs.

Data Protection for VMware vSphere GUI

This component is a graphical user interface (GUI) that accesses VM data on the VMware vCenter Server. The content of the GUI is available in two views:

A web browser view. This view is accessed in a supported web browser by using the URL for the GUI web server host. For example:
```
https://guihost.mycompany.com:9081/TsmVMwareUI/
```
The IBM Spectrum Protect vSphere Client plug-in view in the VMware vSphere Web Client. The panels in this view are uniquely designed to integrate within the web client, but data and commands for this view are obtained from the same GUI web server as the other views. The IBM Spectrum Protect vSphere Client plug-in provides a subset of the functions that are available in the web browser view and some additional functions. Configuration and advanced reporting functions are not offered in this view.

The Data Protection for VMware vSphere GUI can be installed on any system that meets the operating system prerequisites. The Data Protection for VMware vSphere GUI resource requirements are minimal as it does not process I/O data transfers. Installing the Data Protection for VMware vSphere GUI on the vStorage Backup Server is the most common configuration.

For the web-browser view, you can register multiple Data Protection for VMware vSphere GUIs to a single vCenter Server. This scenario reduces the number of datacenters (and their VM guest backups) that are managed by a single VMware Data Protection for VMware vSphere GUI. Each GUI can then manage a subset of the total number of datacenters that are defined on the vCenter Server. For each GUI that is registered to the vCenter Server, one Data Protection for VMware package must be installed on a separate host. To update the managed datacenters, go to Configuration > Edit IBM Spectrum Protect Configuration. In the GUI Domain page, reduce the list of datacenters that are managed by the GUI. Managing a subset of all available datacenters reduces the query and processing time that is required by the GUI to complete operations.

When you register multiple Data Protection for VMware vSphere GUIs to a single vCenter Server, the following guidelines apply:

Each datacenter can be managed by only one installed Data Protection for VMware vSphere GUI.
A unique VMCLI node name is required for each installed Data Protection for VMware vSphere GUI.
Using unique data mover node names for each installed Data Protection for VMware vSphere GUI simplifies managing the nodes.

The Data Protection for VMware vSphere GUI must have network connectivity to the following systems:

vStorage Backup Server
IBM Spectrum Protect server
vCenter Server

In addition, ports for the Derby Database (default 1527) and GUI web server (default 9081) must be available.

Note: The vCenter Server user ID that signs on to the browser view for the Data Protection for VMware vSphere GUI must have sufficient VMware privileges to view content for a datacenter that is managed by the GUI. You must assign this role to a user ID for a specified vCenter Server. The role must be assigned at a vCenter Server level.

IBM Spectrum Protect file restore GUI

The web-based file restore GUI enables you to restore files from a VMware virtual machine backup without administrator assistance. The GUI is installed automatically when the Data Protection for VMware vSphere GUI is installed. For more information, see Getting started with file restore.

IBM Spectrum Protect recovery agent

This service enables the mounting of any snapshot volume from the IBM Spectrum Protect server. You can use the iSCSI protocol to access the snapshot from a remote computer. In addition, the recovery agent provides the instant restore function. A volume used in instant restore processing remains available while the restore process proceeds in the background. The recovery agent is accessed with the recovery agent GUI or command-line interface.

If you need to view the snapshot locally with read-only access on the client system, use Data Protection for VMware V8.1.4 or earlier versions.

The recovery agent command-line interface is installed on a Windows system to perform the following tasks from a remote machine:

Gather information about available restorable data, including lists of:
- Backed-up VMs
- Snapshots available for a backed-up machine
- Partitions available in a specific snapshot

Important: Information about how to complete tasks with the recovery agent GUI is provided in the online help that is installed with the GUI. Click Help in any of the GUI windows to open the online help for task assistance.

For detailed information regarding commands, parameters, and return codes, see Recovery Agent command-line interface.

Data Protection for VMware command-line interface

The Data Protection for VMware CLI is a full-function command-line interface that is installed with the Data Protection for vSphere GUI. You can use it to complete these tasks:

Initiate a backup of your VMs to the IBM Spectrum Protect server, or schedule a backup for a later time.
Initiate a IFFULL recovery of your VMs, VM files, or VM Disks (VMDKs) from the IBM Spectrum Protect server.
View configuration information about the backup database and environment.

Although the Data Protection for vSphere GUI is the primary task interface, the Data Protection for VMware CLI provides a useful secondary interface. For example, it can be used to implement a scheduling mechanism different from the one implemented by the Data Protection for vSphere GUI. Also, it is useful when evaluating automation results with scripts.

For detailed information regarding available commands, see vmcli command-line interface.

Figure 2. IBM Spectrum Protect for Virtual Environments system components in a VMware vCloud Director user environment