Offload to IBM Spectrum Protect

Although the vSnap server is the primary backup location for snapshots, you can also offload snapshots to IBM Spectrum Protect.

Prerequisites for offloading snapshots: To use the offload feature, you must have IBM Spectrum Protect server and IBM Spectrum Protect for Virtual Environments: Data Protection for VMware installed and configured. It is assumed that you have an understanding of these applications.

When you use the offload feature in IBM Spectrum Protect Plus, two backups of your data are created. One backup is on the vSnap server for short-term protection, and the other backup is on a IBM Spectrum Protect server for long-term protection.

Enabling the offload feature

The offload feature is enabled by using backup policies, which are also referred to as service level agreement (SLA) policies. These policies define parameters that are applied to backup jobs, including the frequency of backup operations and the retention policy for the backups. For more information about SLA policies, see Managing SLA policies for backup operations.

The SLA policy determines the method that is used to offload snapshots to IBM Spectrum Protect server. These methods are:
Offload from the hypervisor
The offload operation happens from the hypervisor directly. Incremental backups are supported. This is the default method.
Offload from the vSnap server
The offload operation happens from the vSnap server. Incremental backups are not supported. All backups are full backups. To enable this method, select the Leverage most recent backup option for the SLA policy.
Important: Microsoft Hyper-V is not currently supported for offload for either method.

The decision regarding which offload method to choose depends on the use case and environment. Factors to consider when you are deciding which offload method to use include speed, impact on production hypervisor servers, and storage needs.

Consider offloading from the hypervisor if you frequently create long-term recovery points (for example, daily).

Consider offloading from the vSnap server if you periodically create long-term recovery points (for example, monthly).

Deploying Data Protection for VMware

The offload operation uses data movers that are provided by Data Protection for VMware to backup and restore information to and from the IBM Spectrum Protect server.

For instructions about how to install and configure Data Protection for VMware for integration with IBM Spectrum Protect Plus, see Data Protection for VMware deployment checklist.

Considerations for integrating Data Protection for VMware with IBM Spectrum Protect Plus

Review the considerations to help to smoothly integrate Data Protection for VMware with IBM Spectrum Protect Plus:
  • IBM Spectrum Protect Plus uses the Data Protection for VMware VMCLI command line interface (CLI) to run offload operations. Before you select virtual machines for offloading, review the vmname restrictions for the Backup command. Go to the online product documentation, select the product version, and type backup command in the Search IBM Knowledge Center field.
  • Review the unsupported characters in virtual machine or datacenter names. Go to the online product documentation, select the product version, and type troubleshooting in the Search IBM Knowledge Center field.
  • Offloading requires that vCenters and Data Protection for VMware vStorage Backup Servers are registered in IBM Spectrum Protect Plus as a pair, or configured so that all datacenters in a vCenter are registered in IBM Spectrum Protect Plus. The scope for offloaded backups is limited to the vCenter that is configured with the vStorage Backup Server. Backup and restore operations are limited to the same vCenter. Alternatively, virtual machines that are selected for backup should be restricted to the datacenters that configured in IBM Spectrum Protect.
  • Data movers must meet the following requirements:
    • The data mover and the IBM Spectrum Protect server must be configured with the same time zone.
    • A single data mover supports one command at a time. If a data mover is performing a backup operation, it cannot perform a restore operation until the backup operation completes.
    • A single data mover can support multiple virtual machines. When selecting multiple virtual machines for offloading, select the virtual machines from a single datacenter per SLA policy. The virtual machines will be distributed among the available datamovers, and will offload in a parallel sequence. If creating multiple offload jobs for virtual machines on the same datacenter, schedule the jobs so that they do not overlap.
  • For Linux-based vStorage Backup Servers, the user must have sufficient permissions to run a shell as the tdpvmware user. Typically, root is used as the user when registering a Linux-based vStorage Backup Server.
  • To enable back up and offloading of virtual machine templates, you must include the VMENABLETEMPLATEBACKUPS option in the data mover options file. A backup of a templates can be completed only as a Full type backup. For more information about configuring your environment for backing up virtual machine templates, see Vmenabletemplatebackups.
  • Instant Disk Restore jobs utilizing offloading are not supported.