Configuring SLA policies

SLA Policies allow administrators to create customized templates for the key processes involved in the creation and use of Backup jobs. Parameters are configured in SLA Policies, which can be used and re-used in Backup jobs.

Before you begin

If a virtual machine is associated with multiple SLA Policies, ensure that the policies are not scheduled to run concurrently. Either schedule the SLA Policies to run with a significant amount of time between them, or combine them into a single SLA Policy.

Procedure

To create an SLA policy, complete the following steps:

  1. From the navigation menu, click SLA Policy.
  2. Click the add icon the plus icon. The New SLA Policy pane opens.
  3. In the Name field, enter a name that provides a meaningful description of the SLA Policy.
  4. In the Backup Storage section, define the recovery point objective to determine the frequency and interval with which backups must be made. In the Retention field, enter the number of copies to keep either by number of days or number of snapshots. In the Frequency field, set the backup frequency and interval.
  5. In the Target Site field, select a primary or secondary backup destination. Target sites are designated as primary or secondary through the Backup Storage pane. If more than one Primary or Secondary Backup Storage is available to IBM Spectrum Protect Plus, the vSnap backup destination with the largest amount of available storage will be used first.
  6. Expand the Backup Storage Replication section to display replication options.
    Backup storage replication allows you to complete asynchronous replication of backup data from one vSnap server, such as the primary site, to another, such as the secondary site.
  7. Select Enable Backup Storage Replication, and complete the following fields:

    Frequency

    Enter the backup frequency and interval through the associated menus.

    Target Site

    Select a replication target site.

    Same retention as source selection

    Select to use the same retention as the source vSnap server. Clear this option to set a new retention schedule.

    Replication partnerships are established through the Backup Storage pane. For more information, see Establishing a replication partnership for a vSnap server.

    To create one-to-many replication scenarios, where a single set of backup data is replicated to multiple vSnap servers, create multiple SLA policies for each replication site. In each SLA Policy, set the Backup Storage Target to the primary site, then set each Backup Storage Replication Target Site to the available replication sites.

  8. Expand the IBM Spectrum Protect Offload section to display IBM Spectrum Protect offload options.

    Offloading essentially creates two backups of your data – one on the vSnap server for short term protection, and one on the IBM Spectrum Protect server for longer term protection. Select Offload to IBM Spectrum Protect to enable offloading. Enter the backup frequency and interval through the associated pulldown menus.

    If Leverage most recent backup is selected, the offload occurs from the ESX original host or cluster directly, and the latest backup image on the vSnap server is mounted. Note that incremental backups are not supported if selected.

    Important: Microsoft Hyper-V is not currently supported for offloading.
  9. When you are satisfied that the SLA Policy-specific information is correct, click Save. The SLA Policy can now be applied to Backup job definitions.

What to do next

After you create an SLA policy, complete the following actions:
Action How to
Assign user permissions to the SLA policy. See Creating a user role.
Create a Backup job definition that utilizes the SLA policy. See Creating a VMware backup job or Creating a Hyper-V backup job.