Domain.vmfull

The domain.vmfull option specifies the virtual machines (VMs) to include in your full virtual machine image backup operations.

Windows operating systems

Domain.vmfull for Microsoft Hyper-V virtual machines

For Hyper-V VM backups, use the domain.vmfull option to specify which Hyper-V VMs are processed when you run a backup vm command, without specifying any Hyper-V VM names.

You can specify which VMs to process by using any of the following techniques:
  • Use the VM= option and specify the name of a virtual machine.
  • Provide a comma-separated list of virtual machine names.
  • Use wildcard syntax to process virtual machines that match the name pattern.
  • Use the vmname:vhdx= option to specify the VM hard disk (VHDX) to include or exclude during the Hyper-V RCT backup operation of a VM.
  • Use the all-vm domain-level parameter. You can also include one or more virtual machines by using the VM= keyword, or exclude VMs by using the -VM= syntax.

The virtual machines that are specified on the domain.vmfull option are processed only when the backup vm command is entered without specifying a virtual machine or a list of virtual machines on the command line.

Attention: For Microsoft Hyper-V operations, the only valid domain-level parameter for the domain.vmfull option is all-vm. You can also include one or more virtual machines by using the VM= keyword, or exclude virtual machines by using the -VM= syntax.

Supported Clients

This option can be used with supported Windows clients. This option can also be defined on the server.

Options file

Set this option in the client options, by using the command line, or by using the VM Backup tab of the Preferences editor.
Restriction: The vmname:vhdx=vhdx_location parameter cannot be set in the Preferences Editor. Include this setting in the options file, or on the command line when you run a backup vm command:

Syntax for Microsoft Hyper-V virtual machines

Read syntax diagramSkip visual syntax diagram
                  .-;-------------------------------.   
                  V .-vmname1,vmname2-------------. |   
>>-DOMAIN.VMFUll----+-----------------------------+-+----------><
                    +-VM=vmname1,vmname2----------+     
                    +- -VM=vmname1,vmname2--------+     
                    +-vmname:vhdx=disk_location---+     
                    +- -vmname:vhdx=disk_location-+     
                    '-ALL-VM----------------------'     
Syntax rules: Multiple keywords must be separated by a semicolon. There cannot be any spaces after the semicolons. Multiple machine or domain names must be separated by commas, with no space characters. For examples, see vm=vmname.

Parameters

vmname
Defines the virtual machine name that you want to process. You can supply a list of virtual machine host names by separating the names with commas (vm1,VM2,Vm5). The names are case-sensitive and must match the capitalization that is shown on the Hyper-V host in the Hyper-V Manager > Virtual Machines view.
vm=vmname
The vm= keyword specifies that the next set of values is a list of virtual machine names. The vm= keyword is the default and is not required.
In this example, vm= is not specified and commas are used to separate the machine names.
domain.vmfull my_vm1,my_vm2
If you specify multiple keywords, such as vm= and -vm=, the values that the keywords refer to must be separated by semicolons, with no intervening space characters:
domain.vmfull vm=my_vm1;vm=my_vm2
domain.vmfull -vm=my_vm3;-vm=my_vm4
Wildcard characters can be used to select virtual machine names that match a pattern. An asterisk (*) matches any sequence of characters. A question mark (?) matches any single character, for example:
  • Exclude all files that have "test" in the host name: -vm=*test*
  • Include all virtual machines with names such as: "test20", "test25", "test29", "test2A": 
    vm=test2?
You can exclude a virtual machine from a backup operation by specifying the exclude operator (-) before the vm= keyword. For example, -vm is used to exclude a particular machine, or machines, from a domain level backup, such as, ALL-VM. If "vm1" is the name of a virtual machine, you can back up all of the virtual machines in the domain, but prevent the virtual machine "vm1" from being backed up. Set the following option:
domain.vmfull all-vm;-vm=vm1
You cannot use the exclude operator (-) to exclude a domain, such as ALL-VM. The exclude operator works only at the virtual machine name level.
vmname:vhdx=vhdx_location
This option specifies the location of the virtual machine hard disk (VHDX) to include in Hyper-V RCT virtual machine backup operations on the Windows Server 2016 operating system.
The vmname variable specifies the name of the virtual machine to back up. Wildcard characters can be used to select virtual machine names that match a pattern. An asterisk (*) matches any sequence of characters. A question mark (?) matches any single character.
The :vhdx=disk_location keyword specifies the location of the virtual machine disk to include in the backup operation. The disk location specified by the disk_location variable must begin with "SCSI" or "IDE" followed by the controller number and device location number. For example:
domain.vmfull "vm1:VHDX=IDE 1 0"
domain.vmfull "vm*:VHDX=SCSI 0 1"
domain.vmfull "vm?:VHDX=SCSI 0 1"
You can exclude a virtual machine disk from backup operations by specifying the exclude operator (-) before the vhdx= keyword. For example, use -vhdx= to exclude a VM disk from the backup operation of a virtual machine. For example:
domain.vmfull "vm1:-VHDX=IDE 1 0"
If you specify multiple virtual machine disks to include or exclude, the vhdx= or -vhdx= keyword and associated values must be separated by colons, with no intervening space characters. For example:
domain.vmfull "vm1:vhdx=IDE 1 0:vhdx=SCSI 0 1"
If you specify multiple virtual machine names and virtual machine disks, the VM name and associated values must be separated by semicolons, with no intervening space characters. For example:
domain.vmfull "vm1:VHDX=IDE 1 0:VHDX=SCSI 0 1;vm2:VHDX=IDE 1 0:VHDX=SCSI 0 1"
domain.vmfull "vm1:-VHDX=IDE 1 0:-VHDX=SCSI 0 1;vm2:-VHDX=IDE 1 0:-VHDX=SCSI 0 1"
all-vm
This option specifies that a backup vm operation processes all Hyper-V virtual machines that are known to the Hyper-V host.

Examples for Microsoft Hyper-V virtual machines

Options file:
Include all virtual machines in full VM backup operations.
domain.vmfull all-vm
Include all virtual machines in full VM backup operations, except for the ones that have a name suffix of _test.
domain.vmfull all-vm;-vm=*_test
Include all virtual machines in full VM backup operations, but exclude virtual machines testvm1 and testmvm2. 
domain.vmfull all-vm;-VM=testvm1,testvm2
Include IDE disks (with controller 1 and disk location 0) and SCSI disks (with controller 0 and disk location 1) in Hyper-V RCT backup operations of virtual machines vm1 and vm2.
domain.vmfull "vm1:VHDX=IDE 1 0:VHDX=SCSI 0 1;vm2:VHDX=IDE 1 0:VHDX=SCSI 0 1"
Restriction: You cannot use the all-vm option together with the vmname:-vhdx= option in the options file or on the command line.