Backup

Syntax

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 IBM Storage Protect 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_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.

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 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, and NBDSSL modes), 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 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.

-o datamovernodename

Specify the data mover node name. This name is the node name for the data mover 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 IBM Storage Protect 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 IBM Storage Protect 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 IBM Storage Protect 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.

[-w vmBackupLocation]

Specifies the location for a VM backup. The location determines whether the VM is backed up on the IBM Storage Protect server; is persisted as a snapshot on the hardware storage; or both. You can specify one of the following values:

SERVER

VMs are backed up to the IBM Storage Protect server. This value is the default.

LOCAL

VMs are backed up on the hardware storage. The backup is a full VM image snapshot, even if the -t backupType parameter specifies an incremental backup.

To create a local backup, the VM must be stored in a VMware virtual volume (VVOL) datastore. If any virtual disk of the VM is not in a VVOL datastore, the local backup is not allowed.

Because no network data movement is needed for local snapshots, backup and restore operations can be faster than server backup and restore operations. By restoring from a local snapshot, you can only revert an existing VM to an earlier point in time. You also cannot restore a deleted VM, and you cannot restore a VM to a different name or location.

BOTH

VMs are backed up to the IBM Storage Protect server and are also backed up locally. If the -t backupType parameter specifies an incremental backup, this setting applies only to the server backup. The local backup is always a full VM image backup.