Configuring backup policies

You can change the way that backups of your VMware assets are managed, such as excluding or including virtual machines (VMs) in scheduled backup services, changing the retention policy of backups, selecting the VM disks you want to protect, setting the data consistency for backups, and providing application protection for VM backups.

1. Navigate to the Configure Backup Policies wizard by selecting an inventory object in the vSphere Web Client and completing one of the following actions:
   • Click Actions > IBM Spectrum Protect > Configure Data Protection.
   • VMware vSphere 6.0 or earlier: Click Manage > IBM Spectrum Protect > Edit.
   • VMware vSphere 6.5 or later: Click Configure > IBM Spectrum Protect > Edit.
   This wizard contains a Server page to configure server backup policies. If local backups are possible, the wizard also contains a Local page to configure local backup policies. For more information about server and local backups, see Available features.
   Tip: To view the existing backup policy for an inventory object, select an inventory object and click Manage > IBM Spectrum Protect or Configure > IBM Spectrum Protect depending on the version of vSphere that you are using.
2. Update one or more of the following data protection settings on the Server and Local pages as applicable. Click one of the links in the Description column to learn more about the data protection setting.

   Option	Description
   Schedule Name	Selecting schedules for backing up virtual machines
   Exclude from backup	Excluding or including virtual machines from scheduled backup services
   Retention policy	Specifying the retention policy of virtual machine backups
   Data mover (VM only)	Selecting a data mover for backing up a virtual machine
   Disk protection	Protecting virtual machine disks by setting the disk protection
   Data consistency	Setting the data consistency of virtual machine backups
   Application protection (VM only)	Enabling application protection for a virtual machine

   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.

   The data protection settings correspond to data protection tags. For detailed information about the tags, see Supported data protection tags.

3. Click Finish after you complete the wizard.

   If you want to change all data protection settings back to the inherited states (if any), click Clear Local Settings.