Setting the data consistency of virtual machine backups

Edit online

Select the data consistency to achieve for a virtual machine backup operation that fails due to snapshot failure.

About this task

You can set the level of data consistency by specifying the number of snapshot attempts to make, and whether to quiesce the virtual machine file system, including any applications, before attempting the snapshot.

If you do not specify the snapshot attempts and no inherited setting exists, the snapshot attempts that are specified in the include.vmsnapshotattempts option are used.

Procedure

  1. Select an inventory object in the vSphere Web Client and complete one of the following actions. You can select a datacenter, folder (Host and Cluster folders and VM and Template folders), host, host cluster, resource pool, or VM.
    • Click Actions > IBM Storage Protect > Manage Data Protection.
    • Click Actions > IBM Storage Protect > Configure Data Protection.
    • VMware vSphere 6.0 or earlier: Click Manage > IBM Storage Protect > Edit.
    • VMware vSphere 6.5 or later: Click Configure > IBM Storage Protect > Edit.
  2. On the Server page of the Configure Backup Policies wizard, select one of the following settings in the Data consistency list:
    Always application consistent
    Attempts two file system and Microsoft Windows VSS quiesced snapshots before failing the backup. This selection is the default.
    Attempt application consistency
    Attempts two quiesced snapshots and, as a final attempt, a nonquiesced, crash-consistent snapshot.
    Machine consistent only
    Attempts only a nonquiesced snapshot, for VMs that can never complete a quiesced snapshot.
    Custom quiesce,nonquiesce
    Specifies the number of attempts to take a snapshot with quiescing, followed with the number of attempts to take a snapshot without quiescing.

    This choice is available only if the Snapshot Attempts category and tag value are set outside of the IBM Storage Protect window. In this field, quiesce is the number of times to take a snapshot with quiescing, and nonquiesce is the number of times to take a snapshot without first quiescing the file system.

    For example, with the 2,2 setting, IBM Storage Protect attempts two quiesced snapshots, and if they fail, attempts two nonquiesced snapshots.

    If both the Server and Local page are provided in the wizard to configure server and local backup options, the selected disk protection setting applies to both server and local backups. The Data consistency list is not provided on the Local page.
    Tip: If an inheritance icon and object name are displayed in a field, the data protection setting that is shown is inherited from that higher-level inventory object. By changing this setting, you are overriding the inherited property for the current object level and any lower-level objects. For more information about inheritance of data protection settings, see Inheritance of data protection settings.
  3. If the wizard contains only the Server page, click Finish.

    If the wizard contains the Server and Local pages, click Next and complete the wizard.