Selecting a data mover for backing up a virtual machine

Select a data mover to use for backing up virtual machines from the Data mover field. This field is available only for a virtual machine object.

About this task

The data mover is part of the IBM Spectrum Protect™ for Virtual Environments: Data Protection for VMware program that backs up VMs to the IBM Spectrum Protect server or the local hardware storage. The data mover resides on the server where Data Protection for VMware is installed.

The Data mover field identifies the data mover that is assigned to a VM or inherited from a parent inventory object. The data mover is inherited from a parent object through the schedule that is assigned to the parent object.

For VMs to be backed up by a schedule, they must be in a container object that belongs to the schedule, and at least one data mover must be associated with the schedule.

If a schedule that is assigned to a container object specifies a single data mover, the VMs inherit the data mover assignment from the container object. However, if the schedule has multiple data mover associations, each VM needs an explicit data mover assignment. Otherwise, the VM will be backed up by the default data mover if one of the associated data movers is configured as the default data mover.

Procedure

Select a VM in the vSphere Web Client and complete 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.
On the Server page of the Configure Backup Policies wizard, select a data mover from the Data mover list. If both the Server and Local page are provided in the wizard to configure server and local backup options, the selected data mover applies to both server and local backups. The Data mover list is not provided on the Local page. All the data movers in the list are associated with the schedule or schedule group that is assigned to the VM and displayed in the Schedule field. If no schedule or schedule group is associated with a VM, no data movers are shown.
Tips:
- You can set a data mover for multiple VMs only if you navigated to the Monitor > IBM Spectrum Protect tab, selected multiple VMs that are backed up by the same schedule, and clicked Actions > Manage Data Protection.
- If you need to add or remove data movers that are associated with a schedule, click IBM Spectrum Protect > Configure > Schedules, select the schedule, and click Edit.
If you do not assign a data mover to a virtual machine, the data mover is inherited from the parent object. If no inherited setting exists, or the Default Data Mover tag is set or inherited, the virtual machines are backed up by the default data mover that is assigned to a schedule, if any. Otherwise, the virtual machines are not backed up and are identified in the IBM Spectrum Protect vSphere Client plug-in with the At Risk status until a data mover is assigned to the virtual machines.
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.
Optional: To set the data mover selection back to its inherited state (if any), select Clear from the Data mover field.