IBM® Tivoli® Storage Manager for Virtual
Environments (referred
to as Data Protection for VMware)
provides a comprehensive solution for protecting VMs.
Data Protection for VMware eliminates
the impact of running backups on a VM by offloading backup workloads
from a VMware ESX or ESXi-based host to a vStorage Backup server. Data Protection for VMware works
with the Tivoli Storage
Manager backup-archive
client (installed on the vStorage Backup server) to complete full
and incremental backups of VMs. The client node installed on the vStorage
Backup server is called the Tivoli Storage
Manager data mover node. This node
"moves" the data to the Tivoli Storage
Manager 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 Tivoli Storage
Manager backup-archive
client 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. Tivoli Storage
Manager for Virtual Environments V7.1 for Microsoft Windows 64-bit includes the Tivoli Storage
Manager backup-archive
client data mover features on the product DVD or download package.
Figure 1. Tivoli Storage
Manager 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. This GUI is provided
in two access methods:
You can specify one or both access methods during installation.
In addition to
Data Protection for VMware vSphere GUI version
7.1 style updates, the summary tab and VMware inventory tree were
removed to provide space for more content.
The
Data Protection for VMware vSphere GUI is the primary
interface from which to complete these tasks:
- Initiate a backup of your VMs to a Tivoli Storage
Manager server,
or schedule a backup for a later time.
- Initiate a full recovery of your VMs from a Tivoli Storage
Manager server.
- Issue reports about the progress of your tasks, the most recent
events that completed, backup status, and space usage. This information
can help you troubleshoot your backups.
Important: Information about how to
complete tasks with the Data Protection for VMware vSphere GUI is provided
in the online help that is installed with the GUI. Click Learn
More in any of the GUI windows to open the online help
for task assistance.
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.
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 plug-in
can then manage a subset of the total number of datacenters that
are defined on the vCenter Server. For each plug-in 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 . In the Plug-in
Domain page, reduce the list of datacenters that
are managed by the plug-in. Managing a subset of all available datacenters reduces
the query and processing time that is required by the plug-in 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
- Tivoli Storage
Manager server
- vCenter Server
In addition, ports for the Derby Database (default
1527)
and GUI web server (default
9080,
9081)
must be available.
For prerequisite information,
see Supported
operating systems for Data Protection for VMware vSphere GUI.
Data Protection for VMware Recovery Agent
This
service enables the mounting of any snapshot volume from the
Tivoli Storage
Manager server.
You can view the snapshot locally, with read-only access, on the client
system, or use an iSCSI protocol to access the snapshot from a remote
computer. In addition, the
Data Protection for VMware 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
Data Protection for VMware Recovery Agent is
accessed with the
Data Protection for VMware Recovery Agent GUI
or command-line interface.
The
Data Protection for VMware 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
- Mount a snapshot as a virtual device.
- Get a list of virtual devices.
- Remove a virtual device.
For detailed information regarding
tasks, scenarios, and guidelines, see Restoring files and instant restore of volumes with the Data Protection for VMware Recovery Agent.
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 VMware vSphere GUI. You can
use the
Data Protection for VMware CLI to complete these tasks:
- Initiate® a backup of
your VMs to a Tivoli Storage
Manager server,
or schedule a backup for a later time.
- Initiate a full recovery
of your VMs, VM files, or VM Disks (VMDKs) from a Tivoli Storage
Manager server.
- View configuration information about the backup database and environment.
Although the
Data Protection for VMware vSphere GUI is
the primary task interface, the
Data Protection for VMware CLI provides a useful secondary interface. For
example, the
Data Protection for VMware CLI can be used to implement a scheduling
mechanism different from the one implemented by the
Data Protection for VMware vSphere GUI. Also, the
Data Protection for VMware CLI is useful when evaluating automation results
with scripts.
For detailed information
regarding available commands, see Data Protection for VMware command-line interface.
Figure 2. Tivoli Storage
Manager for Virtual Environments system
components in a VMware vCloud Director user environment
Data Protection for VMware
vCloud GUI
This
component is a GUI that protects
vApps and
organization vDCs in a vCloud Director environment. This GUI is accessed
through a URL bookmark to the GUI web server. For example:
https://finapps.mycompany.com:9081/TsmVMwareUI/
The
Data Protection for VMware
vCloud GUI is
the primary interface from which to complete these tasks:
- Run immediate or schedule incremental forever backups of specific vApps,
or vApps contained
in an organization vDC to Tivoli Storage
Manager server storage.
- Restore single or multiple vApps.
- Generate reports to display progress information about your tasks
and space usage information about your backups.
- Display information about the progress of your tasks,
the most recent events that completed, the backup status of your vApps,
and space usage. This information can help you troubleshoot errors
that occurred in backup processing.
Important: Information about how to
complete tasks with the Data Protection for VMware
vCloud GUI is
provided in the online help that is installed with the GUI. Click Learn
More in any of the GUI windows to open the online help
for task assistance.
For prerequisite
information, see Supported
operating systems for Data Protection for VMware
vCloud GUI.