Avamar 7.

4 and Service Packs for VMware

User Guide
302-003-201
REV 03
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Published April 2018

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2 Avamar 7.4 and Service Packs for VMware User Guide

CONTENTS

Figures 7

Tables 9

Preface 11

Chapter 1 Introduction 17
Data protection overview............................................................................ 18
Image backup................................................................................. 18
Guest backup................................................................................ 20
Considerations............................................................................... 21
Changed block tracking.............................................................................. 23
Image backup virtual machine quiescing..................................................... 23
Image backup and recovery support in Amazon Web Services (AWS)........24

Chapter 2 Configuration and Setup 27

Best practices............................................................................................ 28
(Optional) Configuring support for multiple vCenters.................................28
Installing Avamar Administrator software................................................... 29
Configuring vCenter-to-Avamar authentication......................................... 29
Adding vCenter authentication certificates to the MCS keystore....
30
Disabling MCS certificate authentication....................................... 31
Creating a dedicated vCenter user account................................................ 31
Adding a vCenter client.............................................................................. 34
Auto-discovery of virtual machines............................................................ 35
Configuring domain mapping rules for VM auto-discovery.............36
Creating a rule............................................................................... 36
Deploying proxies....................................................................................... 38
Proxy Deployment Manager.......................................................... 38
Deploying proxies with Proxy Deployment Manger........................ 40
(Optional) Configuring proxy certificate authentication................ 42
Upgrading proxies.......................................................................................43
Upgrading Avamar proxies from release 7.2 or newer.................... 43
Upgrading Avamar proxies from releases prior to release 7.2.........44
Maintaining proxies.....................................................................................48
Reregistering a proxy with an Avamar server.................................48
Changing the proxy guest operating system root password...........48
Additional Avamar server configuration...................................................... 49
Configuring automatic proxy selection...........................................49
Configuring the MCS to support both guest and image backup.....50

Chapter 3 Administration 51
Clients and containers................................................................................ 52
Dynamic versus static containers.................................................. 52

Avamar 7.4 and Service Packs for VMware User Guide 3

CONTENTS

Dynamic container behavior.......................................................... 52

How independent and container protection interact...................... 53
Icons and what they mean............................................................. 53
Adding clients and containers..................................................................... 54
Editing clients and containers.....................................................................56
Viewing protected virtual machines............................................................ 57
Viewing a replicated virtual machine name................................................. 57
Monitoring the vCenter connection............................................................ 57
Manually synchronizing Avamar Administrator with a vCenter................... 58
Renaming a vCenter client..........................................................................58
VMware Image Dataset.............................................................................. 59
Adding guest backup throttling parameters to a dataset............................ 59
Groups....................................................................................................... 60
Default Proxy Group......................................................................60
Default Virtual Machine Group.......................................................60
Virtual machine and proxy relationships within groups...................60
Changing proxy datastore and group assignments...................................... 61

Chapter 4 Backup 63
Limitations..................................................................................................64
Performing an on-demand backup..............................................................65
Set advanced plug-in options in the AUI........................................ 67
Scheduling backups....................................................................................69
Automatically including virtual machines in a group....................... 69
Log truncation backups.............................................................................. 72
Scheduled backups with Microsoft SQL log truncation..................72
Scheduled backups with Microsoft Exchange log truncation......... 74
Monitoring backups.................................................................................... 75
Canceling backups......................................................................................75
Support for vCenter HA failover for inflight backups.................................. 76

Chapter 5 Restore 77
Overview.................................................................................................... 78
Image and file-level restore guidelines........................................................ 78
File-level restore supported configurations....................................78
Performance improvements for file-level restore...........................79
Limitations.................................................................................................. 79
Restoring the full image or selected drives to the original virtual machine....
81
Restoring the full image or selected drives to a different virtual machine... 82
Restoring specific folders or files to the original virtual machine................ 84
Restoring the full image or selected drives to a new virtual machine.......... 86
Restoring specific folders or files to a different virtual machine................. 88
Instant access............................................................................................ 89
Restoring the virtual machine........................................................ 90
Performing post-restore migration and clean-up........................... 92
Mounting Windows VMDKs from an image backup.....................................92
Configuring the recovery target machine...................................... 92
Restoring and mounting the Windows VMDKs...............................93
Monitoring restores.................................................................................... 94
Canceling restores......................................................................................94

Chapter 6 Backup Validation 95

Overview.................................................................................................... 96

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 CONTENTS

What is validated........................................................................... 96
VM Backup Validation groups........................................................ 96
Performing an on-demand backup validation..............................................96
Scheduling backup validations.................................................................... 98

Chapter 7 Protecting the vCenter Management Infrastructure 101

Overview...................................................................................................102
Backing up the vCenter management infrastructure................................. 102
Implementing guest backups of vCenter management infrastructure
.....................................................................................................102
Creating a dataset for vCenter management infrastructure backups
.....................................................................................................103
Adding a backup client for vCenter database hosts......................104
Recovering vCenter management infrastructure from Avamar backups... 104

Chapter 8 Protecting ESX Hosts 107

Overview...................................................................................................108
Limitations................................................................................... 108
Task List.......................................................................................108
Adding ESX host authentication certificates to the MCS keystore........... 109
Creating a dedicated ESX host user account............................................. 110
Adding an ESX host as a vCenter client..................................................... 112
Deploying a proxy in a standalone ESX host...............................................113
Deploying a proxy appliance in an ESX host using the vSphere
Client............................................................................................ 113
Manually configuring proxy network settings................................115
Registering and activating the proxy with the Avamar server....... 115
Disassociating an ESX host from a vCenter............................................... 116

Appendix A Manually deploying proxies 117

Overview................................................................................................... 118
Downloading the proxy appliance template file.......................................... 118
Deploying the proxy appliance in vCenter.................................................. 118
Deploying a proxy appliance in vCenter using the vSphere Web Client...... 118
Registering and activating the proxy with the Avamar server.................... 121
Configuring proxy settings in Avamar Administrator.................................. 121
Performing optional proxy performance optimization................................122

Appendix B vSphere Data Ports 123

Required data ports...................................................................................124

Appendix C Using VMware vRealize Log Insight 125

About VMware vRealize Log Insight.......................................................... 126
Configuring the Log Central Reporting Service.........................................126
Configuring Log Forwarding Agents ......................................................... 126

Appendix D Plug-in Options 129

How to set plug-in options........................................................................ 130
VMware Image plug-in options.................................................................. 130
Windows VMware GLR plug-in options..................................................... 132

Avamar 7.4 and Service Packs for VMware User Guide 5

CONTENTS

Appendix E Troubleshooting 133

Installation and configuration problems and solutions................................134
Problems adding vCenter Server as Avamar client....................... 134
Proxy network settings................................................................ 134
Error when registering guest backup or Windows recovery target
client............................................................................................ 134
Backup problems and solutions................................................................. 134
Backup does not start.................................................................. 134
Backups fail with “No Proxy” or “No VM” errors......................... 135
Changed block tracking does not take effect............................... 135
Proxies are not assigned to backup jobs....................................... 135
VM snapshot fails backups due to incorrect pre-evaluation of
available space............................................................................. 135
Backup and restore of vFlash Read Cache enabled VMs will use
NBD transport mode.................................................................... 136
Exchange log truncation unsupported when VMDK is encrypted via
vSphere........................................................................................136
Restore problems and solutions................................................................ 136
Preexisting snapshots cause restores to fail.................................136
Restore to new virtual machine not available when physical RDM
disks are involved......................................................................... 137
FLR browse of a granular disk backup without a partition table is not
supported..................................................................................... 137
Fault tolerance disabled when restore to new virtual machine is
performed.................................................................................... 137
Restore to new virtual machine to Virtual SAN 5.5 will fail .......... 138
Powering on an instant access vFlash-VM backup to a host without
flash capacity configured fails ..................................................... 138
Maximum number of NFS mounts with instant access issue........ 138
File-level restore on RHEL 5 requires the standard C++ library.... 138
File-level restore of a folder or file name containing certain special
characters fails.............................................................................138

Glossary 139

6 Avamar 7.4 and Service Packs for VMware User Guide

FIGURES

1 Image backup diagram.................................................................................................18

2 Example independent and container protection.......................................................... 53
3 Virtual machine and proxy relationships within groups................................................60
4 Example nested container structure........................................................................... 64
5 Example nested container structure............................................................................81

Avamar 7.4 and Service Packs for VMware User Guide 7

FIGURES

8 Avamar 7.4 and Service Packs for VMware User Guide

TABLES

1 Revision history........................................................................................................... 11
2 Typographical conventions..........................................................................................12
3 Guest backup installation resources........................................................................... 20
4 Default vCenter certificate locations.......................................................................... 30
5 Minimum required vCenter user account privileges.................................................... 32
6 Example chart for gathering proxy information...........................................................45
7 Example chart for gathering proxy information, continued......................................... 45
8 Avamar Administrator icons and what they mean....................................................... 53
9 Image restore toolbar buttons.................................................................................... 78
10 Important vCenter management infrastructure components.....................................103
11 Minimum required ESX host user account privileges..................................................110
12 Required vSphere data ports.....................................................................................124
13 Backup options for Avamar VMware Image plug-in................................................... 130
14 Restore options for Avamar VMware Image plug-in.................................................. 132

Avamar 7.4 and Service Packs for VMware User Guide 9

TABLES

10 Avamar 7.4 and Service Packs for VMware User Guide

Preface

As part of an effort to improve its product lines, EMC periodically releases revisions of
its software and hardware. Some versions of the software or hardware currently in
use do not support every function that this document describes. The product release
notes provide the most up-to-date information on product features.
If a product does not function correctly or does not function as described in this
document contact an EMC technical support professional.

Note

This document was accurate at publication time. Go to EMC Online Support (https://
support.EMC.com) to find the latest version of this document.

Purpose
This publication describes various methods and strategies for protecting VMware
virtual machines.
Audience
The information in this publication is intended for system administrators familiar with:
l Basic Avamar system administration principles, and procedures found in the
Avamar Administration Guide
l Other Avamar client software information (primarily installation, and configuration
procedures) found in various Avamar client guides

A comprehensive discussion of basic Avamar system administration concepts and

principles, such as clients, datasets, schedules, retention policies, groups, and group
policy, is beyond the scope of this publication. The Avamar Administration Guide
provides details.
Revision history
The following table presents the revision history of this document.

Table 1 Revision history

Revision Date Description

01 December, 2016 DA release of Avamar 7.4.

02 March, 2017 GA release of Avamar 7.4

Service Pack 1

03 April 23, 2018 Updated port tables.

Related documentation
The following EMC publications provide additional information:
l Avamar Compatibility and Interoperability Matrix
l Avamar Release Notes
l Avamar Administration Guide
l Avamar Operational Best Practices Guide

Avamar 7.4 and Service Packs for VMware User Guide 11

Preface

l Avamar Product Security Guide

l Avamar Backup Clients User Guide
l Avamar for Exchange VSS User Guide
l Avamar for IBM DB2 User Guide
l Avamar for Lotus Domino User Guide
l Avamar for Oracle User Guide
l Avamar for SharePoint VSS User Guide
l Avamar for SQL Server User Guide
The following VMware publications provide additional information:
l Introduction to VMware vSphere
l Getting Started with ESX
l vSphere Basic System Administration
l vSphere Resource Management Guide
l vSphere Web Access Administrator's Guide
l ESX and vCenter Server Installation Guide
l ESX Configuration Guide
l VMware Data Recovery Administration Guide
Special notice conventions used in this document
EMC uses the following conventions to alert the reader to particular information.

NOTICE

The Notice convention emphasizes important information about the current topic.

Note

The Note convention addresses specific information that is related to the current
topic.

Typographical conventions
In this document, EMC uses the typographical conventions that are shown in the
following table.

Table 2 Typographical conventions

Convention Example Description

Bold typeface Click More Options. Use for names of interface
elements, such as names of
windows, dialog boxes,
buttons, fields, tab names,
key names, and menu paths
(what a user specifically
selects or clicks).

Italic typeface EMC Avamar Administration Use for full titles of

Guide publications that are
referenced in text.

12 Avamar 7.4 and Service Packs for VMware User Guide

 Preface

Table 2 Typographical conventions (continued)

Convention Example Description

Monospace font Event Type = Use for:
INFORMATION l System code
Event Severity = OK l System output, such as
Event Summary = New an error message or
group created script
l Pathnames, file names,
prompts, and syntax
l Commands and options

Monospace font with italic Type Avamar_server, Use for variables.

typeface where Avamar_server is the
DNS name or IP address of
the Avamar server.

Monospace font with bold Type yes. Use for user input.
typeface

Square brackets [--domain=String(/)] Square brackets enclose

--name=String optional values.

Vertical bar [--domain=String(/)] | Vertical bar indicates

--name=String alternate selections - the bar
means “or”.

Braces {[--domain=String(/)] Braces enclose content that

| --name=String} the user must specify.

Ellipses valid hfs ... Ellipses indicate nonessential

information that is omitted
from the example.

Where to get help

The Avamar support page provides access to licensing information, product
documentation, advisories, and downloads, as well as how-to and troubleshooting
information. This information may enable you to resolve a product issue before you
contact EMC Customer Support.
To access the Avamar support page:
1. Go to https://support.EMC.com/products.
2. Type a product name in the Find a Product box.
3. Select the product from the list that appears.
4. Click the arrow next to the Find a Product box.
5. (Optional) Add the product to the My Products list by clicking Add to my
products in the upper right corner of the Support by Product page.
Documentation
The Avamar product documentation provides a comprehensive set of feature
overview, operational task, and technical reference information. Review the following
documents to supplement the information in product administration and user guides:
l Release notes provide an overview of new features and known limitations for a
release.

Avamar 7.4 and Service Packs for VMware User Guide 13

Preface

l Technical notes provide technical details about specific product features, including
step-by-step tasks, where necessary.
l White papers provide an in-depth technical perspective of a product or products
as applied to critical business issues or requirements.
Knowledgebase
The EMC Knowledgebase contains applicable solutions that you can search for either
by solution number (for example, esgxxxxxx) or by keyword.
To search the EMC Knowledgebase:
1. Click Search at the top of the page.
2. Type either the solution number or keywords in the search box.
3. (Optional) Limit the search to specific products by typing a product name in the
Scope by product box and then selecting the product from the list that appears.
4. Select Knowledgebase from the Scope by resource list.
5. (Optional) Specify advanced options by clicking Advanced options and specifying
values in the available fields.
6. Click Search.
Online communities
Go to EMC Community Network at http://community.EMC.com for peer contacts,
conversations, and content on product support and solutions. Interactively engage
online with customers, partners, and certified professionals for all EMC products.
Live chat
To engage EMC Customer Support by using live interactive chat, click Join Live Chat
on the Service Center panel of the Avamar support page.
Service Requests
For in-depth help from EMC Customer Support, submit a service request by clicking
Create Service Requests on the Service Center panel of the Avamar support page.

Note

To open a service request, you must have a valid support agreement. Contact an EMC
sales representative for details about obtaining a valid support agreement or with
questions about an account.

To review an open service request, click the Service Center link on the Service
Center panel, and then click View and manage service requests.
Enhancing support
EMC recommends that you enable ConnectEMC and Email Home on all Avamar
systems:
l ConnectEMC automatically generates service requests for high priority events.
l Email Home sends configuration, capacity, and general system information to EMC
Customer Support.
Comments and suggestions
Comments and suggestions help EMC to continue to improve the accuracy,
organization, and overall quality of the user publications. Send comments and
suggestions about this document to DPAD.Doc.Feedback@emc.com.
Please include the following information:

14 Avamar 7.4 and Service Packs for VMware User Guide

 Preface

l Product name and version

l Document name, part number, and revision (for example, 01)
l Page numbers
l Other details to help address documentation issues

Avamar 7.4 and Service Packs for VMware User Guide 15

Preface

16 Avamar 7.4 and Service Packs for VMware User Guide

CHAPTER 1
Introduction

This chapter includes the following topics:

l Data protection overview....................................................................................18

l Changed block tracking......................................................................................23
l Image backup virtual machine quiescing.............................................................23
l Image backup and recovery support in Amazon Web Services (AWS)............... 24

Introduction 17
Introduction

Data protection overview

EMC® Avamar® offers two basic ways to protect data residing on VMware virtual
machines:
l Image backup
l Guest backup

Image backup
Image backup uses VMware vStorage API for Data Protection (VADP) to protect
virtual machine data.
Image backup is fully integrated with vCenter Server to provide detection of virtual
machine clients, and enable efficient centralized management of backup jobs.
Figure 1 Image backup diagram

Proxies
Image backups and restores require deployment of proxy virtual machines within the
vCenter.
Proxies run Avamar software inside a Linux virtual machine, and are deployed using an
appliance template (.ova) file or the Proxy Deployment Manager.
Once deployed, each proxy provides these capabilities:
l Backup of Microsoft Windows and Linux virtual machines (entire images or
specific drives)
l Restore of Microsoft Windows and Linux virtual machines (entire images or
specific drives)

18 Avamar 7.4 and Service Packs for VMware User Guide

 Introduction

l Selective restore of individual folders and files to Microsoft Windows and Linux
virtual machines
Each proxy is capable of performing eight simultaneous backup or restore operations,
in any combination.
Proxies are allowed in any part of the Avamar Administrator account management tree
except the vCenter Server domain or subdomains. Additionally, you should not
activate proxies into the root domain (/), as this will cause problems during system
migration.
Although it is possible to restore across datacenters (that is, use a proxy deployed in
one datacenter to restore files to a virtual machine in another datacenter), restores
take noticeably longer than if the proxy and the target virtual machine are both
located in the same datacenter. Therefore, for best performance, use the Proxy
Deployment Manager to recommend the ideal deployment configuration.

Snapshots
The image backup process requires temporary creation of a virtual machine snapshot.
If the virtual machine is running at the time of backup, this snapshot can impact disk
I/O and consume disk space on the datastore in which the virtual machine resides.
Snapshot creation and deletion can take a long time if the virtual machine runs a heavy
disk I/O workload during backup
Avamar image backup supports the following types of virtual disks:
l Flat (version 1 and 2)
l Raw Device Mapped (RDM) in virtual mode only (version 1 and 2)
l Sparse (version 1 and 2)
Other virtual disk types are not supported.

Supported storage architectures

Image backup fully supports the following storage architectures:
l Fiber channel SAN storage hosting VMFS or RDMS
l iSCSI SAN storage
l NFS

Image backup system limitations

The following system-wide limitations apply to image backups.
Special characters are not allowed in datacenter, datastore, folder, or virtual
machine names
Because of a known limitation in the vCenter software, when special characters are
used in the datacenter, datastore, folder, or virtual machine names, the .vmx file is
not included in the backup.
This issue is seen when special characters like %, &, *, $, #, @, !, \, /, :, *, ?, ", <, >,
|, ;, ',+,=,?,~ are used.
As a long-term solution for this issue, upgrade the VMware software to a version
where this issue is resolved. However, until a fix is provided by VMware, rename the
datacenter, datastore, folder, or virtual machine names without using these special
characters.

Image backup 19
Introduction

Avamar server upgrades require proxy reboots

After you upgrade Avamar server software, you must manually reboot all proxies
connected to that server.

Guest backup
Guest backup protects virtual machine data by installing Avamar client software on
the virtual machine just as if it were a physical machine, then registering and
activating that client with an Avamar server. No special configuration is required.

Note

When registering virtual machine clients protected by guest backup, do not register
them to a vCenter domain. Doing so prevents the administrator from locating or
managing that virtual machine in Avamar Administrator. Instead register any virtual
machine clients protected by guest backup to some other domain or subdomain (for
example, /clients).

The following table lists Avamar client guides, which provide detailed instructions for
installing Avamar client software in virtual machines.

Table 3 Guest backup installation resources

Client Publication
IBM AIX file systems Avamar Backup Clients User Guide

Linux file systems: Avamar Backup Clients User Guide

l Debian
l CentOS
l Red Hat
l SUSE
l Ubuntu

Novell NetWare file systems Avamar Backup Clients User Guide

UNIX file systems: Avamar Backup Clients User Guide

l FreeBSD
l HP-UX
l SCO Open Server and UnixWare
l Solaris

IBM DB2 databases hosted on IBM AIX, Red Avamar for IBM DB2 User Guide
Hat and SUSE Linux, and Microsoft Windows

Lotus Domino databases Avamar for Lotus Domino User Guide

Mac OS X file systems Avamar Backup Clients User Guide

Microsoft Exchange databases Avamar for Exchange VSS User Guide

Microsoft Office SharePoint implementations Avamar for SharePoint VSS User Guide

Microsoft SQL Server databases Avamar for SQL Server User Guide

Microsoft Windows file systems Avamar Backup Clients User Guide

20 Avamar 7.4 and Service Packs for VMware User Guide

 Introduction

Table 3 Guest backup installation resources (continued)

Client Publication
Oracle databases hosted on IBM AIX, Red Avamar for Oracle User Guide
Hat, and SUSE Linux, Sun Solaris, and
Microsoft Windows

Considerations
These are the various considerations of using either image or guest backup to protect
virtual machine data.

General use case guidelines

For virtual machines hosted in a vCenter, image backup enables you to protect
multiple virtual machines with the least amount of effort.
On Windows Vista/2008 and later virtual machines, image backups are fully
application-consistent and sufficient for most use cases involving Microsoft Exchange,
Microsoft Office SharePoint, and Microsoft SQL Server. However, because image
backup is limited to functionality offered by the VMware vStorage API for Data
Protection (VADP), some deployments might require more advanced functionality
than that offered by VADP. In these situations, the additional functionality provided by
guest backup might offer a better solution.
The following deployments are known to benefit from using guest backup instead of
image backup:
l Exchange Database Availability Groups (DAGs)
l SharePoint Server Farms
l SharePoint deployments requiring log truncation
Guest backup is the only way to protect virtual machines that are not hosted in a
vCenter (for example, desktops and laptops).

Ease of implementation
Image backup:
l Can leverage vCenter to discover virtual machines, and add them to the Avamar
server in batches.
l Requires a moderate amount of initial setup and configuration.
Guest backup:
l Supports any virtual machine running an operating system for which Avamar client
software is available.
l Supports applications such as DB2, Exchange, Oracle, and SQL Server databases.
l Easily fits into most existing backup schemes; day-to-day backup procedures do
not change.
l Avamar client software must be individually installed, and managed inside each
virtual machine.

Efficiency
Image backup:

Considerations 21
Introduction

l Offers moderate deduplication efficiency.

l Does not consume guest virtual machine CPU, RAM, and disk resources during
backups.
l Does consume ESX Server CPU, RAM, and disk resources during backups.
Guest backup:
l Offers the highest level of data deduplication efficiency.
l Does consume small amounts of guest virtual machine CPU, RAM, and disk
resources during backups.
l Does not consume ESX Server CPU, RAM, and disk resources during backups.

Backup and restore

Image backup:
l Image backups are supported for all machines currently supported by VMware.
l Backups can comprise an entire virtual machine image (all drives) or selected
drives (.vmdk files).
l Individual folder and file restores supported for both Windows and Linux virtual
machines.
l Backups are not optimized (temp files, swap files, and so forth are included).
l Unused file system space is backed up.
l Virtual machines need not have a network connection to Avamar server.
l Virtual machines need not be running for backups to occur.
Guest backup:
l Backups are highly optimized (temp files, swap files, and so forth are not
included).
l Backups are highly customizable (supports full range of include and exclude
features).
l Database backups support transaction log truncation, and other advanced
features.
l Unused file system space is not backed up.
l Individual folder and file restores are supported for all supported virtual machines
(not just Linux and Windows)
l Backup and restore jobs can execute pre- and post-processing scripts.
l Virtual machines must have a network connection to Avamar server.
l Virtual machines must be running for backups to occur.

Required VMware knowledge

Image backup requires moderate VMware knowledge. Integrators should have working
knowledge of the vCenter topology in use at that customer site (that is, which ESX
Servers host each datastore, and which datastores store each virtual machine’s data),
and the ability to log in to vCenter with administrator privileges.
Guest backup and restore requires no advanced scripting or VMware knowledge.

Using both image and guest backup

A virtual machine can be protected by both guest backup and image backup. For
example, a daily guest backup might be used to protect selective files, and a less

22 Avamar 7.4 and Service Packs for VMware User Guide

 Introduction

frequent or on-demand full image backup might be used to protect the full machine.
This scheme accommodates scenarios with limited backup windows.
In order to support using both image and guest backup to protect the same virtual
machine, you must configure the Avamar MCS to allow duplicate client names.

Changed block tracking

Changed block tracking is a VMware feature that tracks which file system blocks on a
virtual machine have changed between backups.
Changed block tracking identifies unused space on a virtual disk during the initial
backup of the virtual machine, and also empty space that has not changed since the
previous backup. Avamar data deduplication performs a similar function. However,
using this feature provides valuable I/O reduction earlier in the backup process.
Changed block tracking dramatically improves performance if SAN connectivity is not
available.
If changed block tracking is not enabled, each virtual machine file system image must
be fully processed for each backup, possibly resulting in unacceptably long backup
windows, and excessive back-end storage read/write activity.
Changed block tracking can also reduce the time required to restore (“roll back”) a
virtual machine to a recent backup image by automatically eliminating unnecessary
writes during the restore process.
Changed block tracking is only available with the following types of virtual machines
that use the following types of virtual disk formats:
l Virtual machine versions 7 and later
The earlier virtual machine version 4 is commonly used on ESX 3.X hosts and in
virtual machines deployed from templates that support both ESX 3.x and 4.0
hosts. The version of a virtual machine does not change when the underlying ESX
host is upgraded. Many commercial appliances exist in version 4 to allow
deployment on ESX 3.x hosts.
vCenter version 4 provides the ability to upgrade version 4 virtual machine
hardware from to version 7 virtual machine hardware. This upgrade is irreversible
and makes the virtual machine incompatible with earlier versions of VMware
software products. vCenter online help provides details.
l Disks cannot be physical compatibility RDM
l The same disk cannot be mounted by multiple virtual machines
l Virtual machines must be in a configuration that supports snapshots
Enabling changed block tracking does not take effect until any of the following actions
occur on the virtual machine: reboot, power on, resume after suspend, or migrate.

Image backup virtual machine quiescing

Image backup does not provide any additional virtual machine quiescing capabilities
other than those provided by VMware vStorage API for Data Protection (VADP).
Prior to performing an image backup, three levels of virtual machine quiescing are
possible:
l Crash-consistent quiescing
l File system-consistent quiescing
l Application-consistent quiescing

Changed block tracking 23

Introduction

Crash-consistent quiescing is the least desirable level of quiescing because the virtual
disk image being backed up is consistent with what would occur by interrupting power
to a physical computer. File system writes might or might not be in progress when
power is interrupted. Because of that, there is always a chance of some data loss.
File system-consistent quiescing is more desirable because the virtual machine is
allowed to complete any file system writes before the disk is backed up. This level of
quiescing is only available on Windows virtual machines capable of providing Windows
Volume Snapshot Service (VSS) services, and that are running VMware Tools.
Application-consistent quiescing is the most desirable level of quiescing because, in
addition to the advantages provided by file system-consistent quiescing, applications
are notified that a backup has occurred so that they can clear their transaction logs.
Application-consistent quiescing is only available on Windows Vista/2008 and later
virtual machines that are running VMware Tools.

Image backup and recovery support in Amazon Web

Services (AWS)
Avamar proxy provides image backup and restore support for VMware Cloud on AWS.
You can use Avamar to seamlessly deploy and manage VMware workloads across all
VMware on-premises and AWS environments.
Consider the following points:
l VMware vSphere 6.5 or greater is required.
l There is no network connection between the ESXi host and the Avamar proxy on
VMware Cloud on AWS. A vCenter is required for communication.
l User privileges are limited on VMware Cloud on AWS.
l Supports virtual machines that reside in a workload service pool.
l Avamar Virtual Edition support for VMware tags with SSO service.
Limitations
The following features are not supported:
l Application consistent backup
l File-level restore from an image-level backup.
l Proxy deployment manager. Proxies must be deployed manually.
l Instant access recovery of an image-level backup
l Emergency restore (image restore directly to an ESXi host, bypassing the
vCenter)
l Image-level backups and restores using NBD or NBDSSL transport mode.
l Advanced policy based data protection for MS-SQL using Avamar.
l Application aware image backups for MS-SQL and MS-Exchange
l Image backup and restore when the datacenter is under a folder
l Data exclusion
l Proxy appliance configured with dual-stack or IPv6-only.
l NBD, NBDSSL, and SAN. Only HotAdd is supported.
l VMware tag based rule selection criteria for dynamic policy

24 Avamar 7.4 and Service Packs for VMware User Guide

 Introduction

l Restore to new vApp

l IPV6
l Virtual machine template backup

Image backup and recovery support in Amazon Web Services (AWS) 25

Introduction

26 Avamar 7.4 and Service Packs for VMware User Guide

CHAPTER 2
Configuration and Setup

This chapter includes the following topics:

l Best practices.................................................................................................... 28
l (Optional) Configuring support for multiple vCenters........................................ 28
l Installing Avamar Administrator software...........................................................29
l Configuring vCenter-to-Avamar authentication................................................. 29
l Creating a dedicated vCenter user account........................................................ 31
l Adding a vCenter client...................................................................................... 34
l Auto-discovery of virtual machines.................................................................... 35
l Deploying proxies............................................................................................... 38
l Upgrading proxies.............................................................................................. 43
l Maintaining proxies............................................................................................ 48
l Additional Avamar server configuration..............................................................49

Configuration and Setup 27

Configuration and Setup

Best practices
Follow these best practices when configuring your system.
Verify ESX and vCenter certificates
Use properly registered certificates from a trusted provider that match DNS names
for ESX and vCenter.
Use fully qualified ESX Server hostnames
When adding new ESX Servers to vCenter environments, you should adhere to the
VMware recommended practice of naming ESX Servers with fully qualified hostnames
(not an IP address or simple hostname). Using anything other than a fully qualified
hostname can result in network connection failures due to incorrect SSL certificate
handling.
Recommendations for high change-rate clients
When protecting high change rate clients, such as database hosts, use guest backup,
or store image backups on a Data Domain system.

(Optional) Configuring support for multiple vCenters

By default, Avamar 7.1 and later servers support protecting up to 15 vCenters with no
additional configuration required. However, if you will be protecting more than 15
vCenters, or if your Avamar server was upgraded from the previous version, some
manual configuration is required.
Procedure
1. Open a command shell and log in by using one of the following methods:
l For a single-node server, log in to the server as admin.
l For a multi-node server, log in to the utility node as admin.
2. Stop the MCS by typing dpnctl stop mcs.
3. Open /usr/local/avamar/var/mc/server_data/prefs/
mcserver.xml in a UNIX text editor.
4. Ensure that the max_number_of_vcenters setting is equal to or greater
than the number of vCenters you intend to protect:
a. Find the max_number_of_vcenters entry key.
b. Change the max_number_of_vcenters setting to num, where num is an
integer equal to or greater than the number of vCenters you intend to
protect.
For example, this setting allows as many as 15 vCenters to be protected by
this Avamar server:
<entry key="max_number_of_vcenters" value="15" />
5. If protecting 50 or more vCenters, also change the maxJavaHeap setting to -
Xmx2G:

a. Find the maxJavaHeap entry key.

b. Change the maxJavaHeap setting to -Xmx2G:
<entry key="maxJavaHeap" value="-Xmx2G" />

28 Avamar 7.4 and Service Packs for VMware User Guide

 Configuration and Setup

6. Close mcserver.xml and save your changes.

7. Start the MCS and the scheduler by typing:

dpnctl start mcs

dpnctl start sched

Installing Avamar Administrator software

Install Avamar Administrator software on your Windows computer.
Procedure
1. Open a web browser and type the following URL:
http://Avamar_server/dtlt/home.html

where Avamar_server is the DNS name or IP address of the Avamar server.

The EMC Avamar Web Restore page appears.
2. Click Downloads.
3. Navigate to the folder containing 32-bit Windows software installation
packages.
4. Locate the Java Runtime Environment (JRE) install package (it is typically the
last entry in the folder).
5. If the JRE on the client computer is older than the JRE hosted on the Avamar
server, download and install the newer JRE:
a. Click the jre-version-windows-i586-p link.
b. Open the installation file, or download the file, and then open it from the
saved location.
c. Follow the onscreen instructions to complete the JRE installation.
6. Click the AvamarConsoleMultiple-windows-x86-version.exe link.
7. Open the installation file, or download the file, and then open it from the saved
location.
8. Follow the onscreen instructions to complete the Avamar Administrator
software installation.

Configuring vCenter-to-Avamar authentication

Configure vCenter-to-Avamar authentication for each vCenter you intend to protect.
The most secure method for configuring vCenter-to-Avamar authentication is to add
vCenter authentication certificates to the Avamar MCS keystore. You must do this for
each vCenter you intend to protect .
If you do not want to add vCenter authentication certificates to the Avamar MCS
keystore, you must disable certificate authentication for all vCenter-to-Avamar MCS
communications.

Installing Avamar Administrator software 29

Configuration and Setup

Adding vCenter authentication certificates to the MCS keystore

Configure vCenter-to-Avamar authentication by adding a vCenter authentication
certificate to the MCS keystore. Do this for each vCenter you intend to protect.
This procedure uses the java keytool utility, which manages certificate keys. The
keytool utility is located in the Java bin folder (/usr/java/version/bin), where
version is the Java Runtime Environment (JRE) version currently installed on the
MCS. If this folder is not in your path, you can either add it to the path, or specify the
complete path when using keytool.
Procedure
1. Open a command shell and log in by using one of the following methods:
l For a single-node server, log in to the server as admin.
l For a multi-node server, log in to the utility node as admin.
2. Stop the MCS by typing dpnctl stop mcs.
3. Switch user to root by typing su -.
4. Copy rui.crt from the vCenter machine to /tmp on the Avamar utility node
or single-node server.
The following table lists the default locations for vCenter certificates.

Table 4 Default vCenter certificate locations

vCenter host OS Default certificate location

Windows 2008 and above C:\ProgramData\VMware
\vCenterServer\cfg\certs

Other Windows versions C:\Documents and Settings\All

Users\Application Data\VMware
\VMware VirtualCenter\SSL\rui.crt

Linux /etc/vmware-vpx/ssl/rui.crt

5. Copy the MCS keystore to /tmp by typing:

cp /usr/local/avamar/lib/rmi_ssl_keystore /tmp/

This creates a temporary version of the live MCS keystore in /tmp.

6. Add the default vCenter certificate to the temporary MCS keystore file by
typing:
cd /tmp
$JAVA_HOME/bin/keytool –import –file rui.crt -alias alias -
keystore rmi_ssl_keystore

where alias is a user-defined name for this certificate, which can often be the
file name.
7. Type the keystore password.
8. Type yes, and press Enter to trust this certificate.
9. (Optional) If you will be protecting more than one vCenter with this Avamar
server, add those vCenter certificates now.

30 Avamar 7.4 and Service Packs for VMware User Guide

 Configuration and Setup

10. Back up the live MCS keystore by typing:

cd /usr/local/avamar/lib
cp rmi_ssl_keystore rmi_ssl_keystore.date

where date is today's date.

11. Copy the temporary MCS keystore to the live location by typing:
cp /tmp/rmi_ssl_keystore /usr/local/avamar/lib/

12. Exit the root subshell by typing exit.

13. Start the MCS and the scheduler by typing:

dpnctl start mcs

dpnctl start sched

Disabling MCS certificate authentication

If you do not want to add vCenter authentication certificates to the Avamar MCS
keystore, you must disable certificate authentication for all vCenter-to-Avamar MCS
communications.
Procedure
1. Open a command shell and log in by using one of the following methods:
l For a single-node server, log in to the server as admin.
l For a multi-node server, log in to the utility node as admin.
2. Stop the MCS by typing dpnctl stop mcs.
3. Open /usr/local/avamar/var/mc/server_data/prefs/
mcserver.xml in a UNIX text editor.
4. Find the ignore_vc_cert entry key.
5. Change the ignore_vc_cert setting to true.
<entry key="ignore_vc_cert" value="true" />
6. Close mcserver.xml and save your changes.
7. Start the MCS and the scheduler by typing:

dpnctl start mcs

dpnctl start sched

Creating a dedicated vCenter user account

EMC strongly recommends that you set up a separate user account on each vCenter
that is strictly dedicated for use with Avamar.
Use of a generic user account such as “Administrator” might hamper future
troubleshooting efforts because it might not be clear which actions are actually
interfacing or communicating with the Avamar server. Using a separate vCenter user
account ensures maximum clarity if it becomes necessary to examine vCenter logs.

Disabling MCS certificate authentication 31

Configuration and Setup

Note

The user account must be added to the top (root) level in each vCenter you intend to
protect.

Procedure
1. Create a vCenter user account with privileges listed in the following table.

Note

You must create this user account at the vCenter level. If you create it at any
other level (for example, at a datacenter level), backups will fail.

Table 5 Minimum required vCenter user account privileges

Privilege type Required privileges

Alarms l Create alarm
l Edit alarm

Datastore l Allocate space

l Browse datastore
l Configure datastore
l Low levefile operations
l Move datastore
l Remove datastore
l Remove File
l Rename datastore

Extension l Register extension

l Unregister extension
l Update extension

Folder l Create folder

Global l Cancel task

l Disable methods
l Enable methods
l Licenses
l Log event
l Manage custom attributes
l Set custom attribute
l Settings

Host l Configuration > Storage partition configuration

Network l Assign network

32 Avamar 7.4 and Service Packs for VMware User Guide

 Configuration and Setup

Table 5 Minimum required vCenter user account privileges (continued)

Privilege type Required privileges

l Configure

Resource l Assign virtual machine to resource pool

Sessions l Validate session

Tasks l Create task

l Update task

Virtual Machine-Configuration l Add existing disk

l Add new disk
l Add or remove device
l Advanced
l Change CPU count
l Change resource
l Configure managed by
l Disk change tracking
l Disk Lease
l Extend virtuadisk
l Host USB device
l Memory
l Modify device settings
l Raw device
l Reload from path
l Remove disk
l Rename
l Reset guest information
l Set annotation
l Settings
l Swapfile placement
l Upgrade virtual machine Compatibility

Virtual Machine-Guest Operations l Guest Operation Modifications

l Guest Operation Program Execution
l Guest Operation Queries

Virtual Machine-Interaction l Console interaction

l DeviceConnection
l Guest operating system management by VIX API
l Power off

Creating a dedicated vCenter user account 33

Configuration and Setup

Table 5 Minimum required vCenter user account privileges (continued)

Privilege type Required privileges

l Power on
l Reset
l VMware Tools install

Virtual Machine-Inventory l Create from existing

l Create new
l Register
l Remove
l Unregister

VirtuaMachine-Provisioning l Allow disk access

l Allow read-only disk access
l Allow virtual machine download
l Clone virtual machine
l Mark as template

Virtual Machine-Snapshot Management l Create snapshot

l Remove snapshot
l Revert to snapshot

vApp l Export
l Import
l vApp application configuration

Adding a vCenter client

You must add each vCenter you intend to protect as an Avamar client in Avamar
Administrator.
Procedure
1. In Avamar Administrator, click the Administration launcher button.
The Administration window appears.
2. Click the Account Management tab.
3. In the tree, select the top-level (root) domain, and then select Actions >
Account Management > New Client(s).
The New Client dialog box appears.
4. Complete the following settings:
a. Select VMware vCenter in the Client Type list.
b. Type the vCenter fully qualified DNS name or IP address in the New Client
Name or IP field.

34 Avamar 7.4 and Service Packs for VMware User Guide

 Configuration and Setup

c. Type the vCenter web services listener data port number in the Port field.
443 is the default setting.

d. Type the vCenter user account name in the User Name field.
e. Type the vCenter user account password in the Password field.
f. Type the vCenter user account password again in the Verify Password field.
g. (Optional) To enable auto-discovery of VMs on the vCenter, select Enable
dynamic VM import by rule. Auto-discovery of virtual machines on page
35 contains more information.
h. (Optional) If Enable dynamic VM import by rule is selected, determine
whether to enable Change Block Tracking for imported VMs by selecting
Enable change block tracking.
i. (Optional) Type a contact name in the Contact field.
j. (Optional) Type a contact telephone number in the Phone field
k. (Optional) Type a contact email address in the Email field.
l. (Optional) Type a contact location in the Location field.
5. Click OK.
Results
Adding a vCenter client in Avamar Administrator automatically:
l Adds the vCenter client to the Default Group.
However, this client is not activated as normal Avamar clients are. Therefore, no
backups are performed for it on behalf of the Default Group.
l Creates vCenter Server domain hierarchy.
l Creates a VirtualMachines subdomain within that vCenter Server domain
hierarchy.
l Creates a Default Virtual Machine Group.
This group performs scheduled backups for the target virtual machines. This group
cannot be deleted without first deleting the virtual center domain.
If the vCenter was already registered as a normal backup client (for example, to
support guest level backup), attempting to add that same vCenter as a vCenter client
will fail because the system will not allow you to register the same client twice. If this
occurs, you must:
1. Retire the existing vCenter client in Avamar Administrator.
2. Add the vCenter as a vCenter client (using this procedure).
3. Reinvite the retired vCenter client as a normal client to support guest level backup
from the vCenter Server.

Auto-discovery of virtual machines

Beginning with Avamar release 7.4, you can configure Avamar vCenter clients to auto-
discover VMs that have been added to the vCenter. When the VMs are auto-
discovered, user-defined rules are used by the Avamar software to map the auto-
discovered VMs to Avamar domains. User-defined rules are also used to automatically
assign backup policies to auto-discovered VMs.
In addition to auto-discovering new VMs, vMotion of VMs from one vCenter to
another is also automatically detected by the Avamar software. If the new vCenter

Auto-discovery of virtual machines 35

Configuration and Setup

hosting the VM is configured in Avamar, the VM is is automatically moved from the

original vCenter client to the new vCenter client using the same user-defined rules to
assign its domain and backup policy. If a VM is deleted from vCenter, it is
automatically removed from the vCenter client.
The auto-discover feature is supported with vCenter 5.5 and later releases. However,
the vCenter must be at release 6.0 or greater to the use of VM Tags in rules. When
protecting ESXi hosts instead of vCenter, only VM names and the root folder are
supported in rules.

Configuring domain mapping rules for VM auto-discovery

Domain mapping rules are used during auto-discovery to map new or moved VMs to
Avamar domains. Rules are selected or created when Enable dynamic VM import by
rule is selected during configuration of a vCenter client. Rules can also be created by
selecting Tools > Manage Rules from the Avamar Administrator, or during Group
definition. This procedure describes how to select or create rules during configuration
of the vCenter client.
Procedure
1. In Avamar Administrator, click the Administration launcher button.
The Administration window appears.
2. Click the Account Management tab.
3. In the tree, select the top-level (root) domain, and then select Actions >
Account Management > New Client(s).
The New Client dialog box appears.
4. Complete the dialog as described in Adding a vCenter client on page 34 and
select Enable dynamic VM import by rule.
5. In the Domain Mapping list:
a. From the Rule dropdown menu, do one of the following:
l Select an existing rule.
l Select New Rule....
If New Rule... is selected, create a new rule as described in Creating a
rule on page 36.

b. Enter the domain that the auto-discovered VM should be included in. If the
domain entered here does not exist, it will be automatically created.
6. To add additional domain mapping rules, click Add Domain Mapping.
This allows for multiple domain mapping rules, which will select different VMs
on the vCenter to map to different Avamar domains under the vCenter client.
7. Click OK when the vCenter client configuration is complete.

Creating a rule
Rules are used to automatically map auto-discovered VMs to domains, and to assign
backup policies to auto-discovered VMs. Rules use one or more filtering mechanisms
to determine whether VMs qualify under the rule.
There are three mechanisms to open the New Rules dialog box:
l During vCenter client configuration, by selecting Enable dynamic VM import by
rule and then selecting New Rule... from the Rule drop-down list in the Domain
Mapping list.

36 Avamar 7.4 and Service Packs for VMware User Guide

 Configuration and Setup

l During Group configuration, on the Include clients page of the wizard, by

selecting Enable automatic group selection by rule and selecting New Rule...
from the drop-down.
l By selecting Tools > Manage Rules from the Avamar Administrator, then clicking
New.
Procedure
1. Open the New Rules dialog box by using one of the listed mechanisms.
2. Type a name for the rule.
3. In the Rule Definition area, select whether the rule should match Any of the
listed filter mechanisms, or All of them.
This selection allows you to configure multiple different filters to select VMs,
and to determine how these filters interact with one another to select the
correct VMs. For example, you might create a filter that uses a VM folder path
to select VMs, and another filter that uses a VM naming convention. This option
can then be used as follows to determine which VMs are included under this
rule:
l To include only VMs that are in the defined folder path and also follow the
naming convention, select All. This step excludes VMs that are in the folder
path but that do not follow the naming convention, and also excludes VMs
that follow the naming convention but are not in the folder path.
l Alternatively, to include any VMs that are either in the VM folder path or
that follow the naming convention, select Any.

4. For the first filter:

a. Select the filter type.
For example, to create a filter that uses a VM naming convention, select VM
Name, or to create filter that uses a vCenter VM Tag, select VM Tag.

Note

The VM Tag selection is only available with vCenter 6.0 and greater.

b. Select the operand.

For example, if VM Name is selected for the filter type and begins with is
selected for the operand, then all VMs whose names begin with the filter
text is selected.

c. Type the filter text.

For example, to create a filter that selects all VMs whose names begin with the
text string HR_, select VM Name for the filter type, begins with for the
operand, and type HR_ for the filter text.
5. To create additional filters, click the plus sign (+).
This step adds a row to the list of filters. To delete an existing row, click the
minus sign (-).
6. Click OK.
Changes made to tags may experience a delay of up to 12 hours before being
enforced. For this reason, edit tags with caution, or perform a synchronized
vCenter operation, which automatically synchronizes the vCenter with the
Avamar server.

Creating a rule 37
Configuration and Setup

Best practice for rule creation is to ensure that rules are mutually exclusive, to
avoid the situation where a VM might qualify under multiple rules.

Deploying proxies
Deploy one or more proxies on each vCenter you intend to protect with image backup.

Proxy Deployment Manager

Proxy Deployment Manager is an Avamar Administrator feature that assists
administrators with deploying and managing Avamar proxies in vCenter environments.
Beginning with Avamar 7.2, Proxy Deployment Manager is the preferred method for
deploying proxies. Manual proxy deployment is still supported if necessary.
When you select a vCenter from the list, the tree pane shows the vCenter topology.
Any existing proxies that were previously deployed with Proxy Deployment Manager
are shown beneath ESX hosts.
The Recent Tasks pane shows status for all deployment tasks in the past two hours.
You can cancel tasks that have not completed by selecting the task and clicking
Cancel.

Functional overview
Proxy Deployment Manager assists administrators with proxy deployment by offering
a recommendation as to the number of proxies that should be deployed in each
vCenter, and a recommended ESX host location for each proxy.
When generating a recommendation, Proxy Deployment Manager performs a static
point-in-time analysis of the virtual infrastructure. This analysis gathers data about the
virtual infrastructure, such as the number of virtual machines, the number of
datastores, and the number of virtual machines hosted in each datastore.
Users specify a data change rate and backup window duration for their site.
Proxy Deployment manager then calculates the optimum number of proxies required
to back up those virtual machines in the time allotted by the backup window. Proxy
Deployment Manager also considers the datastore and ESX host topology, and
suggests an optimal ESX host location for each proxy so that all datastores are
protected.
This calculated proxy deployment topology is offered as a recommendation. This
recommendation can be accepted as offered, or modified to meet specific site
requirements.
Before proxies can be deployed, each recommended proxy must be configured by
specifying:
l Proxy name
l Avamar server domain where the proxy will reside
l Proxy IP address
l Datastore assignment
l Network settings:
n Which existing virtual network to use
n DNS server(s)

38 Avamar 7.4 and Service Packs for VMware User Guide

 Configuration and Setup

n Network gateway
n Network mask
After all proxies are configured, clicking Apply creates the proxy virtual machines with
the specified configuration settings.
You can generate new proxy deployment recommendations at any time. This is useful
for periodically reevaluating and optimizing proxy deployments when significant
changes have occurred in the virtual infrastructure.

Considerations and best practices

Proxy Deployment Manager has been intentionally designed to ensure broad
compatibility with most customer environments. This necessitated making certain
design assumptions about typical customer environments and reasonable proxy
capabilities in those environments. Understanding these design assumptions can help
you to better understand Proxy Deployment Manager's recommendations in order to
potentially further optimize proxy deployment at your site. Some best practices are
also discussed.
Data change rate
The data change rate is the percentage of a client file system that actually changes
between backups. Data change rates directly impact the number of proxies required to
successfully back up all required virtual machines in the time allotted by the backup
window. More data to be backed up requires more time, more proxies, or both.
Even though empirical field data routinely reports client data change rates of 3-4% per
day, by default Proxy Deployment Manager assumes a client data change rate of 12%
per day. The intentionally conservative use of 12% as a design assumption provides a
buffer.
If client data change rates at your site are routinely lower or higher than these
assumed values, you can add or delete proxies as needed. You can also shorten or
lengthen the backup window.
Proxy data ingestion rate
Proxy data ingestion rate is another parameter that directly impacts the number of
proxies required to successfully back up all required virtual machines in the time
allotted by the backup window. By default, Proxy Deployment Manager assumes that
each proxy can run 8 concurrent backup jobs and process 500 GB of data per hour.
While an assumed proxy data ingestion rate of 500 GB per hour is a very conservative
estimate, a number of factors at each customer site directly affect the actual proxy
data ingestion rate. Some of these factors are the:
l Avamar server architecture (physical Avamar server using a Data Domain system
for back end storage versus a virtual Avamar server hosted in vCenter)
l Type of storage media used for proxy storage
l Network infrastructure and connectivity speed
l SAN infrastructure and connectivity speed
If proxy data ingestion rates at your site are routinely lower or higher than 500 GB per
hour, you can add or delete proxies as needed. You can also shorten or lengthen the
backup window.
If your site consistently experiences substantially different proxy data ingestion rates
(that is, either substantially lower or higher than 500 GB per hour), you can
permanently change the default proxy data ingestion rate setting, which will affect all
future proxy deployment recommendations. To do this:

Proxy Deployment Manager 39

Configuration and Setup

1. Open a command shell and log in to the Avamar server as user admin.
2. Switch user to root by typing su - .
3. Open /etc/vcs/dm.properties in a UNIX text editor.
4. Change the proxy_ingest_rate_gb_per_hour setting.
5. Save your changes and close /etc/vcs/dm.properties.
Protecting against proxy over commit
By default, each Avamar proxy is configured to allow 8 concurrent backup jobs. This
setting is known to work well for most customer sites.
EMC recommends against increasing the number of concurrent jobs to more than 8
because it can lead to a condition in which too many backup jobs are queued for a
given proxy (proxy over commit). This causes uneven distribution of backup jobs
among proxies, and can also cause a bottleneck in which backup jobs to take longer to
complete than they otherwise might.
Some sites might benefit from configuring some proxies to allow fewer concurrent
backup jobs. This generally requires deploying additional proxies, but can result in
more even distribution of backup jobs among proxies, as opposed to concentrating or
clustering backups in a certain area of the virtual infrastructure.
Optimization for level-1 incremental change block backups
When Proxy Deployment Manager generates a proxy deploy recommendation, it does
so by calculating how many proxies are required to sustain normal backup operations.
One of the assumptions about normal backup operation is that backups will be level-1
incremental or changed block backups, not level-0 full backups.
Level-0 backups inherently take longer and use more proxy resources. Therefore,
large new virtual machine deployments can adversely affect the ability to complete all
required backups in the time allotted by the backup window.
For this reason, whenever possible phase-in large new virtual machine deployments in
order to give the system an opportunity to ingest the necessary level-0 backups.
If a phased-in deployment is not possible, another approach is to tolerate the failed
backups that will occur due to proxy over commit. Once the system begins to settle,
proxy resources will be under committed, and those virtual machines will eventually be
backed up. Administrators should monitor the situation closely to ensure that the
system does settle and that the virtual machines eventually do successfully back up.

Note

Avamar will attempt to deploy proxies where needed, but it is impossible to know all
details about the environment so it is important you verify the proxy deployment
manager does not over allocate proxies beyond the maximum supported.

Deploying proxies with Proxy Deployment Manger

Procedure
1. In Avamar Administrator, select VMware > Proxy Deployment Manger.
The Proxy Deployment Manger window appears.
2. Choose a vCenter.
3. Complete the following settings:
a. Set the Data change rate.
The default data change rate of 12% (.12) is a conservative setting that is
known to work with most customer sites.

40 Avamar 7.4 and Service Packs for VMware User Guide

 Configuration and Setup

b. Set the Backup window minutes.

c. To include virtual machines using direct attached storage in this
recommendation, select Protect VM's on local storage.
This will ignore VM's on clustered-host local storage.
4. Click Create Recommendation.
The tree pane shows the proposed deployment topology. Proposed new proxies
appear under each ESX host with the name New proxy.
5. For each recommended proxy you intend to deploy, configure the proxy as
follows:
a. In the tree pane, select a New proxy.
b. Click Edit.
The New Proxy dialog box appears.
c. Type the proxy name in the Name field.
d. Select an Avamar server Domain where this proxy will reside.
e. Type the IP address in the IP field.
f. Select a datastore from the Datastore list.
g. Select a virtual network from the Network list.
h. Type the fully qualified DNS server name or IP address in the DNS String
field.
i. Type the network gateway IP address in the Gateway field.
j. Type the network mask in the Netmask field.
k. Click Save.
6. (Optional) Add other proxies you want to deploy:

Note

You must be prepared to specify the proxy name, IP address, fully qualified DNS
server name or IP address, network gateway and network mask for each proxy
you add.

a. In the tree pane, select an ESX host.

b. Click New Proxy.
The New Proxy dialog box appears.
c. Type the proxy hostname in the Name field.
d. Select an Avamar server Domain where this proxy will reside.
e. Type the IP address in the IP field.
f. Select a datastore from the Datastore list.
g. Select a virtual network from the Network list.
h. Type the fully qualified DNS server name or IP address in the DNS String
field.
i. Type the network gateway IP address in the Gateway field.

Deploying proxies with Proxy Deployment Manger 41

Configuration and Setup

j. Type the network mask in the Netmask field.

k. Click Save.
7. (Optional) Delete any proxies you do not want to deploy:
a. In the tree pane, select a proxy.
b. Click Delete.
c. Click Yes to confirm the deletion.
8. When the proposed deployment topology is satisfactory, click Apply to deploy
the proxies.
Results
If a proxy fails to deploy for any reason, it is completely deleted from the system. That
hostname and IP address will be available for subsequent proxy deployments.

(Optional) Configuring proxy certificate authentication

By default, Avamar proxies do not validate SSL certificates when connecting to the
vCenter Server. This can leave the vCenter Server vulnerable to a man-in-the-middle
exploitation, which might result in unauthorized access to the vCenter Server.
Configuring each Avamar proxy to use SSL certificate authentication when connecting
to the vCenter Server corrects this vulnerability.
Before you begin
Ensure that a Certificate Authority (CA) signed SSL certificate is installed on the
vCenter Server.
Detailed instructions for generating and installing a CA signed SSL certificate and
installing it on the vCenter Server are found in the VMware Knowledge Base.
This procedure supports both standalone certificates and chained permission files. For
the remainder of this procedure, certificate-file can be either a standalone certificate
or chained permission file. Use the correct certificate-file for your site.
Procedure
1. Open a command shell and log in to the proxy as root.
2. Copy the vCenter Server certificate or chained permission file to /usr/
local/avamarclient/bin on the proxy.
3. Set the proper operating system permissions on the certificate by typing:
chmod 600 /usr/local/avamarclient/bin/certificate-file

where certificate-file is a standalone certificate or chained permission file.

4. Open /usr/local/avamarclient/var/avvcbimageAll.cmd in a UNIX
text editor.
5. Append the following entry to the end of the file:
--ssl_server_authentication_file=/usr/local/
avamarclient/bin/certificate-file

where certificate-file is the actual certificate name.

6. Save the changes and close avvcbimageAll.cmd.
7. Open /usr/local/avamarclient/var/avvmwfileAll.cmdin a UNIX
text editor.

42 Avamar 7.4 and Service Packs for VMware User Guide

 Configuration and Setup

8. Append the following entry to the end of the file:

--ssl_server_authentication_file=/usr/local/
avamarclient/bin/certificate-file

where certificate-file is a standalone certificate or chained permission file.

9. Save the changes and close avvmwfileAll.cmd.
10. Open /etc/vmware/config in a UNIX text editor.
11. Append the following lines to the end of the file:
vix.enableSslCertificateCheck = "true"
vix.sslCertificateFile = "/usr/local/avamarclient/bin/
certificate-file"

where certificate-file is a standalone certificate or chained permission file.

12. Save the changes and close config in a UNIX text editor.
13. Open /usr/local/avamarclient/var/vddkconfig.iniin a UNIX text
editor.
14. Find the vixDiskLib.linuxSSL.verifyCertificates=0 entry.
15. Change the value of the vixDiskLib.linuxSSL.verifyCertificates=0
entry to 1.
vixDiskLib.linuxSSL.verifyCertificates=1
16. Save the changes and close vddkconfig.ini.
17. Ensure that there are no running backup or restore jobs on this proxy.
18. Restart the avagent and vmwareflr services by typing:

service avagent restart

service vmwareflr restart

After you finish

Repeat this procedure for each Avamar proxy.

Upgrading proxies
Upgrading Avamar proxies from release 7.2 or newer
Use this procedure to upgrade Avamar proxies from release 7.2 or newer to release 7.3
or newer.
Procedure
1. In Avamar Administrator, select VMware > Proxy Deployment Manger.
The Proxy Deployment Manger window appears.
2. Choose a vCenter.
Existing proxies in the topology tree for the selected vCenter that need to be
upgraded will be indicated with a ! symbol as well as a tooltip that indicates that
the proxy has an update pending.
3. Click Apply to upgrade the proxies.

Upgrading proxies 43
Configuration and Setup

Upgrading Avamar proxies from releases prior to release 7.2

This section provides information and procedures for upgrading Avamar proxy
software when existing proxies are at a release level prior to release 7.2.

7.0 proxy compatibility with upgraded 7.5.1 servers

You cannot use both 7.0 and 7.5.1 proxies with the same Avamar server.
Each 7.0 proxy hosts eight separate avagent plug-ins, each of which can process
one backup or restore job. Each 7.0 proxy can therefore process as many as eight
simultaneous backup or restore jobs.
Each 7.5.1 proxy hosts a single avagent plug-in, but that single avagent plug-in can
perform up to eight simultaneous backup or restore jobs. The maximum simultaneous
job limitation is still eight.
In order to precisely control the maximum number of simultaneous jobs allowed for
each proxy, Avamar 7.5.1 introduced a new setting in mcserver.xml:
max_jobs_per_proxy. The default setting is 8.
You cannot use both 7.0 and 7.5.1 proxies with the same Avamar server. This is
because the Avamar server max_jobs_per_proxy setting is global. It applies to
every proxy in the environment. Therefore, in a heterogeneous environment
comprising both 7.0 and 7.5.1 proxies, a max_jobs_per_proxy=8 setting would
work fine for 7.5.1 proxies, but might result in 7.0 proxies attempting to process as
many as 64 simultaneous backup or restore jobs (that is, eight jobs for each of the
eight avagent processes). This might cause degraded performance. Similarly, a
max_jobs_per_proxy=1 setting would work fine for 7.0 proxies, but would limit
7.5.1 proxies to performing only one backup or restore job at a time. This would
drastically underutilize each 7.5.1 proxy.
These proxy compatibility issues only affect customers who upgrade their Avamar 7.0
servers to 7.5.1. Customers deploying new 7.5.1 servers in their environments will
deploy new 7.5.1 proxies. Customers using existing 7.0 servers will already have 7.0
proxies in their environment, and can deploy additional 7.0 proxies to support that
server.
EMC suggests the following solutions for these proxy compatibility issues:
l If 7.5.1 proxies will be deployed, the preferred solution is to upgrade all existing 7.0
proxies to 7.5.1.
l If new 7.5.1 proxies will never be simultaneously deployed with the existing 7.0
proxies, change the mcserver.xml max_jobs_per_proxy setting to 1.

Existing proxy configuration

The following information should be gathered prior to upgrading proxies in order to
restore the proxy settings to the values that existed prior to the upgrade:
l VM container
n Name
n Host
n Datastore
n Network
n Folder

44 Avamar 7.4 and Service Packs for VMware User Guide

 Configuration and Setup

l VM client
n IP address
n Gateway
n DNS servers
n Netmask
l Policy
n Domain
n Datastores protecting
n Group membership
The following example charts demonstrate how this information should be gathered
prior to upgrading proxies:

Table 6 Example chart for gathering proxy information

Name Host Datastore Network Folder IP

Proxy1 vcenter.com/ DS2 NW1 /proxies x.x.x.x
host1

Proxy2 vcenter.com/ DS2 NW1 /proxies x.x.x.x

host2

Table 7 Example chart for gathering proxy information, continued

Gateway DNS Netmask Domain Datastore Groups

protecting protecting
x.x.x.x x.x.x.x,x.x.x.x x.x.x.x /clients DS1,DS2 Default
Virtual
Machine
Group

x.x.x.x x.x.x.x,x.x.x.x x.x.x.x /clients DS1,DS2 Other Group

Viewing VM configuration
Procedure
1. In the vSphere Client or vSphere Web Client, navigate to VMs and Templates
view.
2. Locate existing proxies. For each proxy:
a. Note the VM and folder names.
b. Select the Summary tab.
c. Note the host, storage (datastore) and network.
d. Right click and select Edit Settings....
l If using the vSphere Web Client, navigate to the vApp Options tab and note
the IP, gateway, DNS, and netmask.
l If using the vSphere Client (Windows):
a. Navigate to the Options tab.

Upgrading Avamar proxies from releases prior to release 7.2 45

Configuration and Setup

b. Select vApp Options > Advanced.

The right pane shows the vApp option fields.
c. Click Properties > Properties in the right pane.
The Advanced Properties Configuration window appears.
d. From the Properties table, note the IP address, gateway, DNS, and netmask
values from the Value column corresponding to the following keys in the Key
column:

Key Value
vami.ip0.EMC_Avamar_Virtual_Machine_Combined_Proxy IP address
vami.gateway.EMC_Avamar_Virtual_Machine_Combined_Proxy Gateway
vami.DNS.EMC_Avamar_Virtual_Machine_Combined_Proxy DNS
servers
vami.netmask0.EMC_Avamar_Virtual_Machine_Combined_Proxy Netmask

Viewing datastore assignments and group membership

Procedure
1. In Avamar Administrator, click the Administration launcher button.
The Administration window appears.
2. Click the Account Management tab.
3. Locate the proxy and note the domain.
4. Select a proxy and click Edit.
The Edit Client dialog box appears.
5. Click the Datastores tab and note which datastores are selected.
6. Click the Groups tab and note which groups are selected.
7. Uncheck all groups in preparation for deleting this proxy.
8. Click OK.

Removing existing proxies

Procedure
1. In the vSphere Client or Web Client, locate existing proxies.
2. For each proxy:
a. Right click and select Power > Power off.
b. Wait for the proxy to power off, then right-click and select Delete from
Disk.
The Confirm Delete confirmation windows appears.
c. Click Yes.
3. In Avamar Administrator, click the Administration launcher button.
The Administration window appears.
4. Click the Account Management tab.

46 Avamar 7.4 and Service Packs for VMware User Guide

 Configuration and Setup

5. Locate existing proxies, and for each proxy:

a. Right click and select Retire Client....
The Retire Client window appears.
b. Click OK.

Re-deploying proxies using the Proxy Deployment Manager

Procedure
1. In Avamar Administrator, select VMware > Proxy Deployment Manger.
The Proxy Deployment Manger window appears.
2. Choose a vCenter.
3. Set the Data change rate to 0.
This ensures that the Proxy Development Manager will not recommend proxies
based on its analysis of your VMware environment.
4. Click Create Recommendation.
The tree pane shows your VMware topology. Verify that there are no
recommended proxies labeled New proxy.
5. For each proxy in the chart created in Existing proxy configuration on page 44:
a. Locate and select the host in the Proxy Deployment Manager.
b. Click New Proxy....
The New Proxy window appears.
c. Complete the Name, Domain, IP, Datastore, Network, DNS, Gateway, and
Netmask based on the information in the chart.
d. Click Save.
6. Click Apply to deploy the proxies.
The new proxies will be deployed and registered. If any failures occur, the
operation can be retried by clicking Apply again.

Restoring datastore assignments and group membership

Procedure
1. In Avamar Administrator, click the Administration launcher button.
The Administration window appears.
2. Click the Account Management tab.
3. Select the updated proxy and click Edit.
The Edit Client dialog box appears.
4. Click the Datastores tab and verify the Datastore protecting the client, based
on the chart created in Existing proxy configuration on page 44.
5. Click the Groups tab and verify the proxies that are members of this group,
based on the chart created in Existing proxy configuration on page 44.
6. Click OK.

Upgrading Avamar proxies from releases prior to release 7.2 47

Configuration and Setup

Maintaining proxies
Reregistering a proxy with an Avamar server
Use these instructions to reregister an existing proxy with an Avamar server.
Procedure
1. Launch the vSphere Client or vSphere Web Client, and log in to the vCenter
Server.
2. Locate the proxy you want to reregister.
3. Right click Power > Shut Down Guest.
4. Click Yes to confirm that you want to shut down the guest operating system.
5. Right click Power > Power Off.
6. Click Yes to confirm that you want to power off the proxy virtual machine.
7. Right-clickOpen Console.
A console window appears.
8. Right click Power > Power On.
9. Monitor the console window until the following message appears:
Please press a key now if you want to re-register this
proxy with Avamar Administrator. Continuing in 10
seconds...
10. Click inside the console window and press Enter.
11. Type the Avamar server DNS name, and then press Enter.
12. Type an Avamar server domain name, and then press Enter.
The default domain is “clients.” However, your Avamar system administrator
may have defined other domains, and subdomains. Consult your Avamar system
administrator for the domain you should use when registering this client.

Note

If typing a subdomain (for example, clients/MyClients), do not include a slash

(/) as the first character. Including a slash as the first character will cause an
error, and prevent you from registering this client.

Changing the proxy guest operating system root password

Procedure
1. Open a command shell and log in to the proxy as root.
2. Type passwd.
3. Type the current guest operating system root password, and then press Enter.
4. Type the new guest operating system root password, and then press Enter.
5. Confirm the new password by typing it again, and then pressing Enter.

48 Avamar 7.4 and Service Packs for VMware User Guide

 Configuration and Setup

Additional Avamar server configuration

Configuring automatic proxy selection
The automatic intelligent proxy selection feature provides three different algorithms
for determining which proxy to use to backup and restore operations. The algorithm
can only be configured by manually modifying the mcserver.xml
proxy_selection_algorithm setting.
Procedure
1. Open a command shell and log in by using one of the following methods:
l For a single-node server, log in to the server as admin.
l For a multi-node server, log in to the utility node as admin.
2. Stop the MCS by typing dpnctl stop mcs.
3. Open /usr/local/avamar/var/mc/server_data/prefs/
mcserver.xml in a UNIX text editor.
4. Find the proxy_selection_algorithm entry key.
5. Change the proxy_selection_algorithm setting to one of the following
values:
l hot_add_preferred—The MCS intelligently prefers and automatically
selects proxies based on hot-add capabilities. If none are found, then the
MCS will fall back to using proxies without hot-add capabilities. This is the
default setting.
l hot_add_only—The MCS intelligently prefers and automatically selects
proxies based on hot-add capabilities. If none are found, then the MCS will
pause the backup or restore operation and wait for a hot-add capable proxy
to become available.
l ignore_associated_datastores—This setting causes known proxy-
datastore associations to be ignored during the selection process. This
allows the MCS to select a proxy from a larger pool of available proxies. Like
the hot_add_preferred setting, proxies with hot-add capabilities are still
preferred over proxies without hot-add capabilities. But if no hot-add
capable proxies are found, then the MCS will fall back to using proxies
without hot-add capabilities.
For example:
<entry key="proxy_selection_algorithm"
value="hot_add_only" /> configures the automatic proxy selection
mechanism to use the hot_add_only algorithm.
6. Close mcserver.xml and save your changes.
7. Start the MCS and the scheduler by typing:

dpnctl start mcs

dpnctl start sched

Additional Avamar server configuration 49

Configuration and Setup

Configuring the MCS to support both guest and image backup

In order to support using both image and guest backup to protect the same virtual
machine, you must configure the Avamar MCS to allow duplicate client names.
Procedure
1. Open a command shell and log in by using one of the following methods:
l For a single-node server, log in to the server as admin.
l For a multi-node server, log in to the utility node as admin.
2. Stop the MCS by typing dpnctl stop mcs.
3. Open /usr/local/avamar/var/mc/server_data/prefs/
mcserver.xml in a UNIX text editor.
4. Find the allow_duplicate_client_names entry key.
5. Change the allow_duplicate_client_names setting to true.
<entry key="allow_duplicate_client_names" value="true" />
6. Close mcserver.xml and save your changes.
7. Start the MCS and the scheduler by typing:

dpnctl start mcs

dpnctl start sched

50 Avamar 7.4 and Service Packs for VMware User Guide

CHAPTER 3
Administration

This chapter includes the following topics:

l Clients and containers........................................................................................52

l Adding clients and containers.............................................................................54
l Editing clients and containers............................................................................ 56
l Viewing protected virtual machines....................................................................57
l Viewing a replicated virtual machine name......................................................... 57
l Monitoring the vCenter connection....................................................................57
l Manually synchronizing Avamar Administrator with a vCenter........................... 58
l Renaming a vCenter client................................................................................. 58
l VMware Image Dataset......................................................................................59
l Adding guest backup throttling parameters to a dataset....................................59
l Groups............................................................................................................... 60
l Changing proxy datastore and group assignments..............................................61

Administration 51
Administration

Clients and containers

Image backup can be used to manage and protect any of the following VMware
entities in a vCenter:
l Virtual machines
l vApps
l Virtual machine folders (that is, any folder residing below the datacenter level)
l Resource pools
In Avamar Administrator, virtual machines and vApps are managed as clients; folders
and resource pools are managed as containers.
Containers provide the capability of managing multiple virtual machines, vApps, virtual
machine folders, and resource pools as a single logical object.

Note

Empty containers such as a folder or resource pool are allowed to be added to MCS.
When VMs or vApps are added to a container, they are automatically protected by
Avamar. During a backup, MCS will skip a container if it is empty.

Dynamic versus static containers

When containers are added to Avamar Administrator, you define them to be either
dynamic or static.
Dynamic containers—include all contents of the vCenter container, but also
continuously monitor the container entity in vCenter, so that if changes occur (for
example, virtual machines or folders are added or deleted), those changes will
automatically be reflected in Avamar Administrator.
Static containers—only include what is in the vCenter container at the time it is added
to Avamar. If subsequent changes occur in vCenter, they will not be reflected in
Avamar Administrator.

Dynamic container behavior

When adding a dynamic container using the Recursive Protection checkbox, all the
child entities including the subcontainers get added to Avamar Administrator. Virtual
machines or vApps residing in the subcontainers will get added automatically to
Avamar Administrator.
If a virtual machine client is deleted from a container in vCenter, and that container
was being protected as a dynamic container in Avamar Administrator, that virtual
machine client will continue to exist in Avamar as part of that dynamic container.
However, the icon changes change color from blue to gray. This enables past backups
to be used for future restores. However, no new backups will occur because the
virtual machine client no longer exists in vCenter.
If you need to delete or retire one or more virtual machine clients from an Avamar
dynamic container, you must first change that container to a static container. An
alternative method is to move those virtual machine clients to another container in
vCenter.

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 Administration

How independent and container protection interact

When a virtual machine is protected independently and as a container member,
retiring or deleting that virtual machine are some special conditions.
Consider the following example nested container structure and scenario:
Figure 2 Example independent and container protection

First, vm-1 is added to Avamar as a virtual machine client; it is said to be independently

protected. Next, the vApp-1 container is added to Avamar; vm-1 is also protected as a
member of the vApp-1 container. At this point, Avamar recognizes that the same
virtual machine exists in two contexts:
l Independently protected as standalone virtual machine client vm-1
l Protected as a member of vApp-1 container
However, if the vApp-1 container is retired or deleted, vm-1 will continue to exist in
Avamar as a standalone virtual machine client because it was explicitly added that way
before it was protected as a member of the vApp-1 container. The standalone context
supercedes the container member context. Therefore, if you need to retire or delete
vm-1, you cannot simply delete or retire vApp-1 container. You must also retire or
delete the standalone instance as well. Otherwise, vm-1 will continue to be protected
by scheduled backups.

Icons and what they mean

In order to differentiate between the various types of entities, Avamar Administrator
uses various icons to communicate VMware entity type and state.

Table 8 Avamar Administrator icons and what they mean

Icon Description
vCenter Servers

Activated. This is the same icon used to show

nonvirtual machine clients.

Replicated. This icon is only visible in the

REPLICATE domain.

Unactivated

Note

Unless you are also protecting the vCenter

Server with guest backup, vCenter Servers
are not activated as normal Avamar clients.
Therefore, this can be the normal state for a
vCenter Server.

Virtual machine clients

How independent and container protection interact 53

Administration

Table 8 Avamar Administrator icons and what they mean (continued)

Icon Description
Powered off.

Template.

Proxies

Activated and enabled.

Disabled

Replicated. This icon is only visible in the

REPLICATE domain.

Unactivated.

Other entities

vCenter folder.

vApp.

Resource pool.

Adding clients and containers

Procedure
1. In Avamar Administrator, click the Administration launcher button.
The Administration window appears.
2. Click the Account Management tab.
The left side of the Account Management tab shows two panes and several
controls used to facilitate easily locating one or more virtual machine or vApp
clients.

l The upper pane shows the Avamar server domain structure.

l The lower pane shows contents of any domain selected in the upper pane.
l
Clicking the button shows all virtual machine or vApp clients in
subfolders.

54 Avamar 7.4 and Service Packs for VMware User Guide

 Administration

l Typing one or more characters filter field only shows clients that contain
those characters.
l
Clicking the button splits the two panes vertically.

3. In the upper tree, select a vCenter domain or subdomain.

4. Select Actions > Account Management > New Client(s).
The Select VMware Entity dialog box appears.
l The VMs & Templates tab is equivalent to the vSphere Virtual Machines
and Template view.
l The Hosts & Clusters tab is equivalent to the vSphere Hosts and Clusters
view.

Note

Resource pools are not visible in the VMs & Templates tab. They are only
visible in the Hosts & Clusters tab.
l VMware entities that already exist as Avamar clients are grayed out.
l Proxy virtual machines cannot be selected.
l For each VMware entity, the following information is shown in the right
properties pane:
n Name—Entity name.
n Location—Folder location.
l The following information is shown in the right properties pane for virtual
machines:
n Guest OS—Virtual machine operating system.
n Server—ESX Server or cluster hostname where the virtual machine
resides.
n Template—Whether or not the virtual machine is a template.
n Powered On—Whether or not the virtual machine is currently powered
on.
n Changed Block—Whether or not changed block tracking is turned on.
5. In the tree, select a folder that contains a VMware entity.
Contents of the folder are listed in the right properties pane.
6. (Optional) To view all entities within the selected folder, select Show sub-
entities.
7. In the right properties pane, select a folder, resource pool, virtual machine or
vApp.
8. If adding a container, set the Dynamic checkbox to make this a dynamic
container, or set the Static checkbox to make this a static container.
9. To enable changed block tracking, select Enable changed block tracking.
If changed block tracking is not enabled, each virtual machine image must be
fully processed for each backup, which might result in unacceptably long
backup windows, or excessive back-end storage read/write activity.

Adding clients and containers 55

Administration

Note

Enabling changed block tracking will not take effect until any of the following
actions occur on the virtual machine: reboot, power on, resume after suspend,
or migrate.

10. Click OK.

11. (Optional) If adding a client, type the following contact information:
a. Contact name.
b. Contact telephone (Phone) number.
c. Contact Email address.
d. Contact Location.
12. Click OK.
13. Click OK to dismiss the confirmation message.
14. If you enabled changed block tracking:
a. In the vSphere Client or vSphere Web Client, locate the virtual machine.
b. Perform any of the following actions for each virtual machine: reboot, power
on, resume after suspend, or migrate.

Editing clients and containers

Procedure
1. In Avamar Administrator, click the Policy launcher button.
The Policy window appears.
2. Click the Policy Management tab, and then click the Clients tab.
3. Select a virtual machine, proxy, or container.
The Edit Client dialog box appears.
Editing VMware clients is similar to editing other Avamar clients. The primary
difference is that when editing client properties from the Policy window, each
Edit Clientdialog box includes an additional VMware tab that contains client
properties relating to vCenter, proxy, or virtual machine clients. This tab is not
shown for nonvirtual clients.
Contents of the VMware tab differ according to the type of client:
l When editing a vCenter Server, editable credentials are shown.
l When editing a proxy, two tabs are shown:
n The Datstores tab is used to select all vCenter datastores that host
virtual machines you want to protect with this image proxy.
n The Groups tab is used to assign an image proxy to one or more existing
groups.
l When editing a virtual machine client, datastores on which that virtual
machine resides are shown.

56 Avamar 7.4 and Service Packs for VMware User Guide

 Administration

l When editing a container, the Properties tab shows a Dynamic Mode

checkbox, which is used to enable or disable dynamic inclusion for that
container.

Viewing protected virtual machines

You can view the backup protection state for all virtual machines from the Protection
tab. You cannot take any actions on this tab.
Procedure
1. In Avamar Administrator, click the Administration launcher button.
The Administration window appears.
2. Click on vCenter domain.
3. Click the Account Management tab.
4. Click the Protection tab.

Viewing a replicated virtual machine name

This feature is used to view the virtual machine name of any virtual machine in the
REPLICATE domain.
This feature is disabled anywhere other than in the REPLICATE domain.
If you try to view information for a nonvirtual machine client, No Information
appears..
Procedure
1. In Avamar Administrator, click the Administration launcher button.
The Administration window appears.
2. Click the Account Management tab.
3. In the tree, select a virtual machine client in the REPLICATE domain.
4. Select Actions > Account Management > View Information.
A dialog box appears, which shows the virtual machine name.
5. Click OK.

Monitoring the vCenter connection

Avamar Administrator maintains a pool of connections to the vCenter Server. As with
other essential services, the Administration window Services Administration tab
provides continuous status for the vCenter connection.
Procedure
1. In Avamar Administrator, click the Administration launcher button.
The Administration window appears.
2. Click the Services Administration tab.
3. Double-click the VMware vCenter Connection Monitor services entry.
The VMware vCenter Connection Monitor dialog box appears. Valid
connection states are Active and Idle.

Viewing protected virtual machines 57

Administration

Results
Connections to the vCenter can be stopped, started, and restarted. Stop the
connections for vCenter upgrades, and start them when the upgrade has completed. If
vCenter is shutdown, connections become invalid and must be reestablished. If this
occurs, Avamar Administrator cannot display the vCenter structure or virtual
machines.

Manually synchronizing Avamar Administrator with a

vCenter
Although Avamar Administrator automatically synchronizes with any vCenter it
monitors at regular intervals, you can also perform a manual synchronization at any
time.
Procedure
1. In Avamar Administrator, click the Administration launcher button.
The Administration window appears.
2. Click the Account Management tab.
3. In the tree, select a vCenter.
4. Select Actions > Account Management > Sync. with vCenter..
5. Click Yes to dismiss the confirmation message.

Renaming a vCenter client

If an existing vCenter client’s DNS name changes, the Avamar server will lose its
connection to that vCenter. This will prevent any interaction with that vCenter,
including scheduled backups, from occurring. If this occurs, you must manually rename
that vCenter client in Avamar Administrator.
This is the only method by which you should ever rename a vCenter client. In Avamar
Administrator, the vCenter client name must always be the fully qualified DNS name or
a valid IP address.
Procedure
1. In Avamar Administrator, click the Administration launcher button.
The Administration window appears.
2. Click the Account Management tab.
3. In the tree, select the vCenter client.
4. Select Actions > Account Management > Edit Client.
The Edit Client dialog box appears.
5. In the New Client Name or IP box, type the new fully qualified DNS name.
6. Click OK.
7. Open a command shell and log in by using one of the following methods:
l For a single-node server, log in to the server as admin.
l For a multi-node server:
a. Log in to the utility node as admin.

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 Administration

b. Load the admin OpenSSH key by typing:

ssh-agent bash
ssh-add ~admin/.ssh/admin_key
8. Stop the MCS by typing dpnctl stop mcs.
9. Start the MCS and the scheduler by typing:

dpnctl start mcs

dpnctl start sched

10. Reboot every Avamar proxy in this vCenter:

a. Launch the vSphere Client or vSphere Web Client, and log in to the vCenter
Server.
b. Locate an Avamar proxy.
c. Right-click Power > Shut Down Guest.
d. Click Yes to confirm that you want to shut down the guest operating
system.
e. Right-click Power > Off.
f. Click Yes to confirm that you want to power off the virtual machine.
g. Right-click Power > On.

VMware Image Dataset

The VMware Image Dataset is the default dataset for protecting VMware entities with
image backup.
In many respects, the VMware Image Dataset is simpler than most other datasets:
l The only available source data plug-ins are Linux and Windows virtual disks, and
both are selected by default.
l The Select Files and/or Folders option, as well as the Exclusions and Inclusions
tabs, are disabled.
l Change block tracking is enabled by default using an embedded
utilize_changed_block_list=true plug-in option statement.

Adding guest backup throttling parameters to a dataset

When performing scheduled guest backups of virtual machines on the same ESX
Server, add throttling parameters to the Avamar dataset.
The reason for doing this is that Avamar tries to initiate as many backups as possible,
subject to certain load restrictions on the Avamar MCS. However, if multiple guest
backups are attempted on virtual machines on the same ESX Server, this can spike
CPU usage, which will have an adverse effect on overall ESX Server performance.
Procedure
1. In Avamar Administrator, select Tools > Manage Datasets.
The Manage All Datasets window appears.
2. Select a dataset from the list and click Edit.
TheEdit Dataset dialog box appears.

VMware Image Dataset 59

Administration

3. Click the Options tab, and then click Show Advanced Options.
4. If the client supports Network usage throttle, type a nonzero value in the
Network usage throttle (Mbps) field.
Begin with a low value such as 20. Then monitor the next backup session to
verify that this has resolved any ESX Server CPU usage issues.
5. Click OK.

Groups
Groups have important behavioral differences when used with image backup and
restore.

Default Proxy Group

The Default Proxy Group is where all proxies reside. This group cannot be deleted.

Default Virtual Machine Group

The Default Virtual Machine Group is where new virtual machine clients are
automatically added when they are registered. This group cannot be manually deleted
but is automatically deleted if the vCenter domain is deleted.

Virtual machine and proxy relationships within groups

Consider the following simplified example configuration:
Figure 3 Virtual machine and proxy relationships within groups

Virtual machines VM-1 and VM-2 store their data in DATASTORE-1 and
DATASTORE-2, respectively.
Within Avamar Administrator, proxies have been assigned to protect vCenter
datastores as follows:
l PROXY-1 has been assigned to DATASTORE-1 and DATASTORE-2
l PROXY-2 has been assigned to DATASTORE-2
l PROXY-3 has been assigned to DATASTORE-3
Datastore assignments are made at the proxy level in the Edit Client dialog box.

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 Administration

A group (GROUP-1) is created, to which virtual machines VM-1 and VM-2 are added.
In order to protect these virtual machines, proxies must also be added to the group as
follows:
l PROXY-1, because it is assigned to both DATASTORE-1 and DATASTORE-2, can
protect both VM-1 and VM-2.
l PROXY-2, because it is only assigned to DATASTORE-2, is optional as long as
Proxy-1 exists in the group.
l PROXY-3, because it is only assigned to DATASTORE-3, cannot protect either
VM-1 or VM-2.
Every group must include enough proxies to support all the datastores assigned to
every client. Otherwise, when a backup is initiated and a proxy cannot be located to
perform the backup, the backup will fail with an Activity monitor status of no proxy.

Changing proxy datastore and group assignments

Procedure
1. In Avamar Administrator, click the Policy launcher button.
The Policy window appears.
2. Click the Policy Management tab, and then click the Clients tab.
3. Select a proxy and click Edit.

Note

Click Show sub-domain clients to show all available virtual machine clients.

The Edit Client dialog box appears.

4. Click the VMware tab, and then click the Datastores tab.
5. Select one or more datastores.
6. Click the Groups tab.
7. Select one or more groups.
8. Click OK.

Changing proxy datastore and group assignments 61

Administration

62 Avamar 7.4 and Service Packs for VMware User Guide

CHAPTER 4
Backup

This chapter includes the following topics:

l Limitations......................................................................................................... 64
l Performing an on-demand backup..................................................................... 65
l Scheduling backups........................................................................................... 69
l Log truncation backups...................................................................................... 72
l Monitoring backups............................................................................................75
l Canceling backups............................................................................................. 75
l Support for vCenter HA failover for inflight backups..........................................76

Backup 63
Backup

Limitations
These are the known limitations of Avamar for VMware image backup.
All backups must be initiated from Avamar Administrator
All image backups must be initiated from Avamar Administrator. You cannot initiate
backups from the virtual machine or proxy.
Changing a virtual machine's disk configuration forces a full backup
Changing a virtual machine’s disk configuration (either adding or removing a disk),
causes the next entire image backup to be processed as a full backup (that is, all
virtual disks are processed and changed block tracking is not used), which will require
additional time to complete. Backups of specific disks are not affected, unless that
disk is previously unknown to Avamar.
Version 8 or higher virtual machines with disks on multiple datastores
If backing up a hardware version 8 or 9 virtual machine that has multiple disks residing
on different datastores, not all datastores will be checked for orphaned snapshots.
The only known remedy is to reconfigure the virtual machine such that all virtual disks
reside on the same datastore.
Backups involving physical RDM disks
When backing up a virtual machine that has both virtual disks and physical RDM disks,
the backup will successfully process the virtual disks, bypass the RDM disks, and
complete with the following event code:
Event Code: 30929
Category: Application
Severity: Process
Summary: Virtual machine client contains disks that cannot be
backed up or restored.

ContainerClients domain
The ContainerClients domain is a special system domain, which is populated with
virtual machines residing in VMware container entities. Avamar assumes that when
you add a VMware container to Avamar, that you will always manage the container
and all virtual machines within it as a single object. Therefore, if only you add these
virtual machines to a backup group as individual machines, rather than adding the
parent VMware container, they will not be backed up.
Nested container limitations
When backing up a VMware container that contains other containers (that is, a nested
container structure), Avamar only backs up the top-level of the hierarchy. Consider
the following example nested container structure:
Figure 4 Example nested container structure

When vApp-1 is backed up to Avamar, the vApp backup image will only contain virtual
machine backup images for vm-1 and vm-2. When vApp-1 backup is restored, only
vm-1 and vm-2 data will be restored. vApp-2 and vm-3 containers will also be present
but will not contain any data.

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 Backup

Two interim solutions exist for this limitation:

l Flatten the container structure.
For example, move vm-3 under vApp-1. Then all three virtual machines will be
backed up when vApp-1 is backed up.
l Add both vApp-1 and vApp-2 to Avamar as separate container entities so that they
can be backed up separately.
When restoring, restore vApp-1 first, then restore vApp-2 into vApp-1
vApp backups fail if any subvirtual machine fails to backup
When backing up a vApp, all virtual machines within the vApp must successfully
complete the back up otherwise that entire back up will not be recorded. Backups for
virtual machines that did successfully complete are found in the ContainerClients
domain. All backup failures should be promptly investigated and remedied in order to
ensure maximum data protection.

Performing an on-demand backup

Procedure
1. In Avamar Administrator, click the Backup & Restore launcher button.
The Backup, Restore and Manage window appears.
2. Click the Backup tab.
The top-left pane contains a list of domains.
3. Select a domain in the upper tree, and then select a virtual machine client,
VMware folder, resource pool, or vApp in the lower tree.
4. In the Browse for File, Folders, or Directories pane, select the data to back
up:
l Select the top (root) folder to back up the entire image.
l Select one or more disks to only back up those specific virtual disks.
5. Select Actions > Backup Now.
The On Demand Backup Options dialog box appears.
6. Select the backup retention setting:
l To automatically delete this backup from the Avamar server after a specific
amount of time, select Retention period and then specify the number of
days, weeks, months, or years for the retention period.
l To automatically delete this backup from the Avamar server on a specific
calendar date, select End date and browse to that date on the calendar.
l To keep this backup for as long as this client remains active in the Avamar
server, select No end date.
7. From the Avamar encryption method list, select the encryption method to use
for data transfer between the client and the Avamar server during the backup.
The encryption technology and bit strength for a client/server connection
depends on several factors, including the client operating system and Avamar
server version. The Avamar Product Security Guide provides additional
information.
8. (Optional) Optionally select a proxy to perform backup.
The default setting is Automatic, which enables the Avamar server to choose
the best proxy for this operation.

Performing an on-demand backup 65

Backup

9. (Optional) Set plug-in options:

a. Click More Options.
The Backup Command Line Options dialog box appears.
b. Select the Show Advanced Options checkbox.
c. To enable changed block tracking, select the Use Changed Block Tracking
(CBT) to increase performance checkbox.
d. To store this backup on a Data Domain system, select the Store backup on
Data Domain System checkbox, then select a Data Domain system from the
list.
e. From the Encryption method to Data Domain system list, select the
encryption method to use for data transfer between the client and the Data
Domain system during the backup.
f. For the Max times to retry snapshot detele option, enter the maximum
number of times that a snapshot delete operations should be attempted.
g. In Guest Credentials, type a virtual machine guest OS user account name
and password with sufficient privileges to run scripts before or after the
backup.
For log truncation backups of Exchange servers, the guest credentials
entered here must have administrator privileges, and if multiple VMs are
being backed up, the same credentials must be used for all VMs.

h. To run a script before the vmdk snapshot, type the full path and filename of
the script that will be run. Also ensure that the script timeout is sufficient for
the script to complete.
i. To run a script after the backup completes and the vmdk snapshot is
removed, type the full path and filename of the script that will be run. Also
ensure that the script timeout is sufficient for the script to complete.
j. To run a script after the backup completes and the vmdk snapshot is
removed, type the full path and filename of the script that will be run. Also
ensure that the script timeout is sufficient for the script to complete.
k. For the Windows WMware Image plug-in only, for the Snapshot quiesce
timeout (minutes) option, enter the number of minutes to wait before a
snapshot quiesce operation is considered to have failed.
l. If performing an image backup of a Microsoft SQL server, select the type of
authentication:
l NT Authentication uses the credentials entered in Guest Credentials
for authentication.
l Application Authentication uses the SQL Server Username and SQL
Server Password to log into the SQL server.

m. If performing an image backup of a Microsoft SQL server, identify the post-

action options:
l Enter the maximum number of minutes to wait before post-action
operations are considered to have failed in the Post Action Timeout
(minutes) option.
l Select the type of post-action operation. LOG Truncation performs log
truncation after the backup has successfully completed. All disks of the

66 Avamar 7.4 and Service Packs for VMware User Guide

 Backup

VM must be selected for on-demand backup or log truncation will not

occur.

n. If performing an image backup of a Microsoft Exchange server, select the

type of post-action operation. LOG Truncation performs log truncation
after the backup has successfully completed.
o. Click OK.
These settings are all optional. In most cases, system default settings are the
optimum settings for on-demand image backups.
10. Click OK.
The On Demand Backup Options dialog box closes and the following status
message appears: Backup initiated.
11. Click OK.

Set advanced plug-in options in the AUI

Perform the following optional tasks from the More Options window when performing
an on-demand backup.
Procedure
1. Toggle the Show Advanced Options switch to on.
2. To enable changed block tracking, select the Use Changed Block Tracking
(CBT) to increase performance checkbox.
3. To enable the Avamar server to report information to the vSphere Client about
the most recent backup and most recent successful backup, select the Set
Annotionation Tag LastBackupStatus and LastSuccessfulBackup checkbox.
When selected, the following information displays in the vSphere Web Client:
l LastSuccessfulBackupStatus-com.dellemc.avamar: The date and time of the
most recent successful backup.
l LastBackupStatus-com.dellemc.avamar: The date and time of the most
recent backup, whether successful or not.

4. To index VMware image backups, select Index VMware Image Backups.

5. To exclude the Windows page file (pagefile.sys) from the backup, select
Exclude page file blocks when performing image backup on Windows VM.

Note

Page file exclusion is supported only for Windows Servers version 2008 R2 and
above. For client versions of Windows, this option has no effect. The page file is
included in backups of Windows clients, regardless of this setting.

6. To exclude deleted file blocks from the backup, select Exclude deleted file
blocks when performing image backup on Windows VM.
7. For the Exclude files with path and filter field, type the files that you want to
exclude.

Set advanced plug-in options in the AUI 67

Backup

Note

If you exclude a file during backup, and then try a restore of the excluded file,
the excluded is visible but unstable.

8. To store this backup on a Data Domain system, select the Store backup on
Data Domain System checkbox, then select a Data Domain system from the
list.
9. From the Encryption method to Data Domain system list, select the
encryption method to use for data transfer between the client and the Data
Domain system during the backup.
10. For the Windows VMware Image plug-in only, select one or more Snapshot
Quiesce Options. The options include the following:
l Fail backup on snapshot quiesce error.
l If VMware tools are not running, mark completed backup as 'Complete w/
Exception' (applications are not quiesced).

11. For the Max times to retry snapshot detele option, type the maximum number
of times that a snapshot delete operation should be tried.
12. In Guest Credentials, type a virtual machine guest OS user account name and
password with sufficient privileges to run scripts before or after the backup.
For log truncation backups of Exchange servers, guest credentials must have
administrator privileges. If multiple VMs are backed up, the same credentials
must be used for all VMs.
13. To run a script before the vmdk snapshot:
a. Type the full path and filename of the script that is run.
b. Ensure that the script timeout is sufficient for the script to complete.
14. To run a script after the backup completes and the vmdk snapshot is removed:
a. Type the full path and filename of the script that is run.
b. Ensure that the script timeout is sufficient for the script to complete.
15. For the Windows VMware Image plug-in only, in the Snapshot quiesce timeout
(minutes) filed, type the number of minutes to wait before a snapshot quiesce
operation is considered to have failed.
16. If performing an image backup of a Microsoft SQL server, select the type of
authentication:
l NT Authentication uses the credentials that are entered in Guest
Credentials for authentication.
l Application Authentication uses the SQL Server Username and SQL
Server Password to log in to the SQL server.

17. If performing an image backup of a Microsoft SQL server, identify the post-
action options:
l Type the maximum number of minutes to wait before post-action operations
are considered to have failed in the Post Action Timeout (minutes) option.
l Select the type of post-action operation. LOG Truncation performs log
truncation after the backup has successfully completed.

68 Avamar 7.4 and Service Packs for VMware User Guide

 Backup

l All disks of the VM must be selected for on-demand backup or log truncation
will not occur.

18. If performing an image backup of a Microsoft Exchange server, select the type
of post-action operation. LOG Truncation performs log truncation after the
backup has successfully completed.
19. Click FINISH.

Scheduling backups
Scheduled backups run automatically to ensure that backups occur on an ongoing
basis. You can schedule backups to run daily, weekly, or monthly.
Procedure
1. Create a dataset for the backups.
2. Create a group for the backups.
During the group creation process, you:

a. Assign the new dataset to the new group.

By default, dataset entries use absolute path notation. For example:
[datastore1] VM1/VM1.vmdk
However, you can use relative path notation to ensure that a
particular .vmdk is always included in a backup, even if that virtual machine
is migrated to another datastore using Storage vMotion. For example, the
following equivalent dataset entry uses relative path notation:
\[.*\] VM1/VM1.vmdk

b. Assign a schedule to the new group.

c. Assign a retention policy to the new group.
d. Add one or more clients to the new group, or configure the group to
automatically include auto-discovered VMs as clients.
The Avamar Administration Guide provides more information about groups, group
policy, datasets, schedules, and retention policies.
3. Enable scheduling for the group.

Automatically including virtual machines in a group

As part of the auto-discovery feature that is available with Avamar 7.4 and greater,
virtual machines that have been auto-discovered are automatically assigned to backup
groups using rules. In this way, backup policies can be automatically assigned to VMs
when they are created in vCenter. This procedure describe how to configure
scheduled backups to use rules to automatically assign backups policies to auto-
discovered VMs.

Note

Auto-discovery of virtual machines on page 35 contains information about configuring

auto-discovery of VMs.

Scheduling backups 69
Backup

Procedure
1. Create a new group as described in Scheduling backups on page 69.
2. At the Include clients page page of the wizard, select Enable automatic
member selection by rule.
3. From the Rule dropdown menu, do one of the following:
l Select an existing rule.
l Select New Rule....
If New Rule... is selected, create a new rule as described in Creating a new
rule on page 70.
VMs that have been automatically assigned to this group via rule selection will
be listed as Included (by rule) in the Membership column.
4. To include clients in this group that have not been automatically assigned to the
group, click Include.
VMs that have been manually assigned to this group through this mechanism
will be listed as Included (by user) in the Membership column.

Note

It is generally not good practice to manually include clients in a group that is

using VM auto-discovery. Best practice is to reserve groups that are using
automatic member selection for that purpose only, and create other groups for
clients that are not auto-discovered VMs.

5. To exclude clients in this group that have been automatically assigned to the
group, click Exclude.

Note

It is generally not good practice to manually exclude clients in a group that is

using VM auto-discovery. Best practice is to properly configure rules and VMs
so that only those VMs that should be in this group are automatically assigned
to it.

6. Click Finish when group configuration is complete.

Creating a new rule

Rules are used to automatically map auto-discovered VMs to domains, and to assign
backup policies to auto-discovered VMs. Rules use one or more filtering mechanism to
determine whether VMs qualify under the rule.
There are three mechanisms to open the New Rules dialog box:
l During vCenter client configuration, by selecting Enable dynamic VM import by
rule and then selecting New Rule... from the Rule drop-down list in the Domain
Mapping list.
l During Group configuration, on the Include clients page of the wizard, by
selecting Enable automatic group selection by rule and selecting New Rule...
from the drop-down.
l By selecting Tools > Manage Rules from the Avamar Administrator, then clicking
New.

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 Backup

Procedure
1. Open the New Rules dialog box by using one of the listed mechanisms.
2. Type a name for the rule.
3. In the Rule Definition area, select whether the rule should match Any of the
listed filter mechanisms, or All of them.
This selection allows you to configure multiple different filters to select VMs,
and to determine how these filters interact with one another to select the
correct VMs. For example, you might create a filter that uses a VM folder path
to select VMs, and another filter that uses a VM naming convention. This option
can then be used as follows to determine which VMs are included under this
rule:
l To include only VMs that are in the defined folder path and also follow the
naming convention, select All. This step excludes VMs that are in the folder
path but that do not follow the naming convention, and also excludes VMs
that follow the naming convention but are not in the folder path.
l Alternatively, to include any VMs that are either in the VM folder path or
that follow the naming convention, select Any.

4. For the first filter:

a. Select the filter type.
For example, to create a filter that uses a VM naming convention, select VM
Name, or to create filter that uses a vCenter VM Tag, select VM Tag.

Note

The VM Tag selection is only available with vCenter 6.0 and greater.

b. Select the operand.

For example, if VM Name is selected for the filter type and begins with is
selected for the operand, then all VMs whose names begin with the filter
text is selected.

c. Type the filter text.

For example, to create a filter that selects all VMs whose names begin with the
text string HR_, select VM Name for the filter type, begins with for the
operand, and type HR_ for the filter text.
5. To create additional filters, click the plus sign (+).
This step adds a row to the list of filters. To delete an existing row, click the
minus sign (-).
6. Click OK.
Changes made to tags may experience a delay of up to 12 hours before being
enforced. For this reason, edit tags with caution, or perform a synchronized
vCenter operation, which automatically synchronizes the vCenter with the
Avamar server.
Best practice for rule creation is to ensure that rules are mutually exclusive, to
avoid the situation where a VM might qualify under multiple rules.

Automatically including virtual machines in a group 71

Backup

Log truncation backups

Avamar release 7.4 and greater supports log truncation after a successful Microsoft
SQL and Microsoft Exchange image backup has been performed, thereby allowing the
backup window to be reduced along with the disk space required for the database
logs. The following sections describe how to configure scheduled log truncation
backups.

Scheduled backups with Microsoft SQL log truncation

Avamar 7.4 and later performs log truncation of a SQL Server Database after the
backup has completed.
This section describes how to schedule backups that perform log truncation.
Performing an on-demand backup on page 65 provides the procedure for performing
an on-demand backup of a single VM hosting an SQL server.
Scheduling backups that contain multiple VMs requires an automated mechanism to
select the VMs that are hosting SQL databases. This is performed by using a rule
created in the Avamar Administrator. Rules contain filtering mechanisms, such as the
VM name or VM tag, that determine which VMs qualify under the rules. Configuring
your VMs that host SQL databases correctly from within vCenter, and configuring
corresponding rules in the Avamar Administrator, allows you to determine which VMs
in a multiple VM backup should have log truncation performed. Creating a new rule on
page 70 contains instructions for creating a rule.

Full backup required prior to performing SQL log truncation

A full backup is required prior to performing log truncation.
If a backup is performed of a database that has never had a full backup, log truncation
will fail. Performing a full database backup, using either an SQL server native backup
or a full Avamar backup, is required prior to log truncation.

Scheduling backups Microsoft SQL servers for log truncation

Scheduled backups of Microsoft SQL servers for log truncation are configured using
the following procedure.
Procedure
1. Create a dataset for SQL server backup:
a. In the Avamar Administrator, select Tools>Manage Datasets.
The Manage Datasets window opens.
b. Click New.
You can also create a copy of the preconfigured Windows Dataset and
select Edit to edit the new dataset.

c. For the Name field, type a name for the dataset.

d. Select Select All Data for All Local Filesystems and select the following:
l All local Windows filesystems
l All virtual disks

e. Select the Options tab.

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 Backup

f. For Select Plug-in Type, select Windows VMware Image.

g. Select the Show Advanced Options checkbox.
h. In Guest Credentials, type a virtual machine guest OS user account name
and password with sufficient privileges to run scripts before or after the
backup.
i. For Microsoft SQL Server authentication, select the type of
authentication:
l NT Authentication uses the credentials that are entered in Guest
Credentials for authentication. You must have Windows Authentication
enabled on all SQL Server instances. If log truncation is used, the user
entered here must have sufficient rights to run log truncation on all
databases on all SQL Server instances.
l Application Authentication uses the SQL Server Username and SQL
Server Password to log in to the SQL server. The user credentials that
are listed here are used to log in to all SQL Server instances running on
the target virtual machine.

j. For Microsoft SQL Server post action, identify the post-action options:
l Enter the maximum number of minutes to wait before post-action
operations are considered to have failed in the Post Action Timeout
(minutes) option.
l Select the Type of post-action operation. LOG Truncation performs log
truncation after the backup has successfully completed.

k. Complete other information in the Options tab as necessary and click OK.
The Avamar Administration Guide contains further information about creating
and configuring datasets.

l. Click Close.
2. If multiple guest VMs are being backed up as part of this group, create a rule
that is used to select the appropriate VMs that have log truncation performed.
Creating a new rule on page 70 contains instructions for creating a rule.
3. Create a group for the backups.
During the group creation process, you:

a. Assign the new dataset to the new group.

b. Assign a schedule to the new group.
c. Assign a retention policy to the new group.
d. If multiple guest VMs are being backed up as part of this group, at the client
selection page, select Enable automatic member selection by rule and
select the rule that is created in 2 on page 73.
The Avamar Administration Guide provides more information about groups, group
policy, rules datasets, schedules, and retention policies.
4. Enable scheduling for the group.

Scheduled backups with Microsoft SQL log truncation 73

Backup

Scheduled backups with Microsoft Exchange log truncation

Avamar 7.4 and later performs log truncation of an Exchange Server Database after
the backup has completed.
This section describes how to schedule backups that perform log truncation.
Performing an on-demand backup on page 65 provides the procedure for performing
an on-demand backup of a single VM hosting an Exchange server.
Scheduling backups that contain multiple VMs requires an automated mechanism to
select the VMs that are hosting Exchange databases. This is performed by using a rule
created in the Avamar Administrator. Rules contain filtering mechanisms, such as the
VM name or VM tag, that determine which VMs qualify under the rules. Configuring
your VMs that host Exchange databases correctly from within vCenter, and
configuring corresponding rules in the Avamar Administrator, allows you to determine
which VMs in a multiple VM backup should have log truncation performed. Creating a
new rule on page 70 contains instructions for creating a rule.
Log truncation with Microsoft Exchange is supported with the following:
l vSphere 6.5 and greater and ESXi 6.5 and greater.
l Windows Server 2008 R2 and later.
l Exchange 2007 and later.
l VMware Tools release 10.1 or greater must be installed on the VM hosting the
Exchange server.

Scheduling backups of Microsoft Exchange servers for log truncation

Scheduled backups of Microsoft Exchange servers for log truncation are configured
using the following procedure.
Procedure
1. Create a dataset for Exchange server backup:
a. In the Avamar Administrator, select Tools>Manage Datasets.
The Manage Datasets window opens.
b. Type the Guest Credentials for the virtual machine guest OS user account
name and password administrator privileges.
If multiple VMs are being backed up, all VMs must use the same guest
credentials.

c. Select the Type of post-action operation. LOG Truncation performs log

truncation after the backup has successfully completed.
d. Complete other information in the Options tab as necessary and click OK.
The Avamar Administration Guide contains further information about creating
and configuring datasets.

Click Close.
2. If multiple guest VMs are being backed up as part of this group, create a rule
that is used to select the appropriate VMs that have log truncation performed.
Creating a new rule on page 70 contains instructions for creating a rule.
3. Create a group for the backups.
During the group creation process, you:

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 Backup

a. Assign the new dataset to the new group.

b. Assign a schedule to the new group.
c. Assign a retention policy to the new group.
d. If multiple guest VMs are being backed up as part of this group, at the client
selection page, select Enable automatic member selection by rule and
select the rule that was previously created.
The Avamar Administration Guide provides more information about groups, group
policy, rules datasets, schedules, and retention policies.
4. Enable scheduling for the group.

Monitoring backups
You can monitor backups to ensure that the backups complete successfully and to
troubleshoot issues. The Activity Monitor in Avamar Administrator enables you to view
status information for both on-demand and scheduled backups.
Procedure
1. In Avamar Administrator, click the Activity launcher button.
The Activity window appears.
2. Click the Activity Monitor tab.
A list of all activities appears.
3. To filter the results to display only backup activity, select Actions > Filter.
The Filter Activity dialog box appears.
4. Select All Backups from the Type list.
5. Click OK.

Canceling backups
You can cancel a backup any time before it completes. The cancellation might take
five minutes or longer. The backup may complete before the cancellation finishes.
Procedure
1. In Avamar Administrator, click the Activity launcher button.
The Activity window appears.
2. Click the Activity Monitor tab.
A list of all activities appears.
3. Select the backup from the list.
4. Select Actions > Cancel Activity.
A confirmation message appears.
5. Click Yes.

Monitoring backups 75
Backup

Support for vCenter HA failover for inflight backups

During a vCenter failover period, the Avamar software monitors the failover process
and performs the following actions.
1. Automatically detects vCenter failover events and then waits for the vCenter
failover to complete.
2. Cancels the hanging backup jobs that were caused by vCenter HA failover.
3. Removes mounted HotAdded disks from the proxy appliance.
4. Restarts all incomplete backups during the vCenter HA failover.

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CHAPTER 5
Restore

This chapter includes the following topics:

l Overview............................................................................................................ 78
l Image and file-level restore guidelines................................................................78
l Limitations......................................................................................................... 79
l Restoring the full image or selected drives to the original virtual machine.......... 81
l Restoring the full image or selected drives to a different virtual machine.......... 82
l Restoring specific folders or files to the original virtual machine........................ 84
l Restoring the full image or selected drives to a new virtual machine..................86
l Restoring specific folders or files to a different virtual machine.........................88
l Instant access.................................................................................................... 89
l Mounting Windows VMDKs from an image backup............................................ 92
l Monitoring restores............................................................................................94
l Canceling restores............................................................................................. 94

Restore 77
Restore

Overview
Image backup offers three levels of restore functionality: image restore, file-level
restore, and the capability to mount specific drives from a Windows image backup in
order to support application-level recovery.
Three buttons are provided above the Select for Restore contents pane, which are
not shown if a non-VMware image backup is selected:

Table 9 Image restore toolbar buttons

Button Tooltip Description

Browse for Image Restore Initiates an image restore.

Browse for Granular Restore Initiates a file-level restore.

Mount Windows VMDK Mounts selected drives in a

Windows image backup in
order to support application-
level recovery.

When performing an image restore, the Restore Options dialog box is slightly
different from the typical Restore Options dialog box. The primary differences are
that virtual machine information is shown and three choices for restore destinations
are offered:
l Original virtual machine
l Different (existing) virtual machine
l New virtual machine
Once the destination selection is made, each procedure varies slightly from that point
forward.

Image and file-level restore guidelines

Avamar provides two distinct mechanisms for restoring virtual machine data: image
restores, which can restore an entire image or selected drives, and file-level restores,
which can restore specific folders or files.
Image restores are less resource intensive and are best used for restoring large
amounts of data quickly.
File-level restores are more resource intensive and are best used to restore a relatively
small amounts of data.
If you restore a large numbers of folders or files, you will experience better
performance if you restore an entire image or selected drives to a temporary location
(for example, a new temporary virtual machine), then copy those files to the desired
location following the restore.

File-level restore supported configurations

The following supported configurations need both the proxy version and the Avamar
server to be at release 7.4 Service Pack 1 or later.
You can perform file-level restores on backups of the following file systems:

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l NTFS (Primary Partition with MBR)

l Ext2 (Primary Partition with MBR)
l Ext3 (Primary Partition with MBR)
l Ext4 (Primary Partition with MBR)
l XFS (Primary Partition with MBR)
l LVM with ext2 (Primary Partition with MBR and a Standalone [without MBR] LVM
with ext2)
l LVM with ext3 (Primary Partition with MBR and a Standalone [without MBR] LVM
with ext3)
l LVM with ext4 (Primary Partition with MBR and a Standalone [without MBR] LVM
with ext4)
l LVM with XFS (Primary Partition with MBR and a Standalone [without MBR] LVM
with XFS)
l Extended partition of type 0x05
l Mirrored and Striped LVMs with XFS-v5
l GUID Partition Table (GPT) disks (only basic disks)
l BTRFS on SLES12 SP2 VM client

Performance improvements for file-level restore

With Avamar 7.4 and later, the HTTPS protocol is used by default to perform file-level
restore. This improves the performance of restores by providing a faster mechanism
for file transfer than the previous mechanism using file copy.
If HTTPS is not available, the previous mechanism, using file copy, will be used to
perform the file-level restore. The following warning message will be displayed during
restore:

Target VM: server cannot reach proxy: proxy via https due to
incorrect network configuration. Restoration process may take
significantly longer time. Press ‘continue’ to start the restore.

where:
l server is the name of the Avamar server.
l proxy is the name of the proxy.
Select Yes to continue the restore operation using file copy. The restore will take
significantly longer.

Note

This implementation requires the wget command. To take advantage of the

performance improvement, you must have wget installed on the client.

Limitations
These are the limitations of restoring data from an image backup.
All restores must be initiated from Avamar Administrator
All restores from image backups must be initiated from Avamar Administrator. You
cannot initiate restores from the virtual machine or proxy.

Performance improvements for file-level restore 79

Restore

Virtual machine power state

When using image restore to restore an entire image or selected drives, the target
virtual machine must be powered off.
When using file-level restore to restore specific files or folders, the target virtual
machine must be powered on and have VMTools installed and running the current or
most up to date version.
Restores involving physical RDM disks
When restoring data from a backup taken from a virtual machine with physical RDM
disks, you cannot restore that data to a new virtual machine.
File-level restore unsupported configurations
The following virtual disk configurations are not supported with file-level restores:
l Dynamic disks (Windows)
l FAT16 filesystems
l FAT32 filesystems
l Extended partitions not of type 0x05
l Encrypted partitions or bootloaders
l Compressed partitions or bootloaders
l Parity LVM
l Mirrored LVM
l Deduplicated NTFS
l Resilient File System (ReFS)

Limitations on File-level restore

The following limitations apply to file-level restores:
l Symbolic links cannot be restored or browsed.
l In vCenter 5.x or later, zero-bytes files cannot be restored.
l In vCenter 5.x or later, encrypted folders or files cannot be restored. Attempting
to do so might cause the restore to fail.
l Progress bytes are not displayed in the Activity Monitor.
l FLR operations on virtual machines with Logical Volume Manager (LVM)
configurations are supported only if the LVM configuration is complete. A
complete LVM configuration consists of at least one partition configured with a
type 8E-Linux LVM, which consists of one or more physical volumes which
contains one or more volume groups made up of one or more logical volumes.
l Limitations on file-level restore from the Avamar Administrator:
n Browsing either a specified directory contained within a backup, or a restore to
destination, is limited to 50,000 files or folders.
n Restore is limited to 20,000 files or folders in the same restore operation.
n You can restore files from a Windows backup only to a Windows machine, and
files from a Linux backup only to a Linux machine.
Nested container limitations
When restoring a VMware container that contains other containers (that is, a nested
container structure), Avamar only restores the top-level of the hierarchy. Consider the
following example nested vApp structure:

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Figure 5 Example nested container structure

When vApp-1 is backed up to Avamar, the vApp backup image will only contain virtual
machine backup images for vm-1 and vm-2. When vApp-1 backup is restored, only
vm-1 and vm-2 will be present.
Two interim solutions exist for this limitation:
l Flatten the container structure.
For example, move vm-3 under vApp-1. Then all three virtual machines will be
backed up when vApp-1 is backed up.
l Add both vApp-1 and vApp-2 to Avamar as separate container entities so that they
can be backed up separately.
When restoring, restore vApp-1 first, then restore vApp-2 into vApp-1

Restoring the full image or selected drives to the original

virtual machine
Procedure
1. In the vSphere Client or vSphere Web Client, ensure that the target virtual
machine is powered off.
2. In Avamar Administrator, click the Backup & Restore launcher button.
The Backup, Restore and Manage window appears.
3. Click the Restore tab.
The upper left pane contains a list of domains.
4. Select a virtual machine client or VMware container:
a. Select the domain that contains the virtual machine client or VMware
container.
You cannot view clients outside the domain for the login account. To view all
clients, log in to the root domain.
A list of Avamar clients appears in the pane under the domains list.
b. From the list of clients, select the virtual machine client or VMware
container.
5. Select a backup:
a. Click the By Date tab.
b. Select the backup date from the calendar. Valid backups occurred on dates
with a yellow highlight.
A list of backups on that date appears in the Backups table next to the
calendar.
c. Select a backup from the Backups table.
6. Click the Browse for Image Restore button ( ) directly above the contents
pane.

Restoring the full image or selected drives to the original virtual machine 81
Restore

7. In the contents pane:

l Select the All virtual disks folder checkbox to restore the entire image.
l Select one or more drives to only restore those specific drives.
8. Select Actions > Restore Now.
The Restore Options dialog box appears.
9. Select Restore to original virtual machine as the restore destination.

Note

When restoring an image backup to the original virtual machine, the Configure
Destination button is disabled (grayed out).

10. (Optional) If you want to restore VMware configuration files, select Restore
virtual machine configuration.
11. (Optional) Optionally select a proxy to perform restore.
The default setting is Automatic, which enables the Avamar server to choose
the best proxy for this operation.
12. Click More Options.
The Restore Command Line Options dialog box appears.
13. Select or clear Use Changed Block Tracking (CBT) to increase performance.
14. From the Encryption method from Data Domain system list, select the
encryption method to use for data transfer between the Data Domain system
and the client during the restore.
15. Select one of the following settings in the Select Post Restore Options list:
l Do not power on VM after restore.
l Power on VM with NICs enabled.
l Power on VM with NICs disabled.
16. (Optional) To include additional plug-in options with this restore, type Enter
Attribute and Enter Attribute Value settings.
17. Click OK on the Restore Command Line Options dialog box.
18. Click OK on the Restore Options dialog box.
The following status message appears: Restore initiated.
19. Click OK.
20. If the restore target virtual machine will be using changed block tracking for
future backups, enable changed block tracking by performing any of the
following actions on that virtual machine: reboot, power on, resume after
suspend, or migrate.

Restoring the full image or selected drives to a different

virtual machine
Procedure
1. In the vSphere Client or vSphere Web Client, ensure that the target virtual
machine is powered off.

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 Restore

2. In Avamar Administrator, click the Backup & Restore launcher button.

The Backup, Restore and Manage window appears.
3. Click the Restore tab.
The upper left pane contains a list of domains.
4. Select a virtual machine client or VMware container:
a. Select the domain that contains the virtual machine client or VMware
container.
You cannot view clients outside the domain for the login account. To view all
clients, log in to the root domain.

A list of Avamar clients appears in the pane under the domains list.
b. From the list of clients, select the virtual machine client or VMware
container.
5. Select a backup:
a. Click the By Date tab.
b. Select the backup date from the calendar. Valid backups occurred on dates
with a yellow highlight.
A list of backups on that date appears in the Backups table next to the
calendar.
c. Select a backup from the Backups table.
6. Click the Browse for Image Restore button ( ) directly above the contents
pane.
7. In the contents pane:
l Select the All virtual disks folder checkbox to restore the entire image.
l Select one or more drives to only restore those specific drives.
8. Select Actions > Restore Now.
The Restore Options dialog box appears.
9. Select Restore to a different (existing) virtual machine as the restore
destination.

Note

When restoring an image backup to a different (existing) virtual machine, the

Restore virtual machine configuration option is disabled (grayed out).

10. Click Configure Destination.

The Configure Virtual Machine dialog box appears.
11. Click Browse.
The Select VMware Entity dialog box appears.
12. Select the destination virtual machine and click OK.

Restoring the full image or selected drives to a different virtual machine 83

Restore

Note

Only virtual machines that are powered off can be selected from the list; all
others are disabled. You are also prevented from selecting the original virtual
machine.

13. Click OK on the Configure Virtual Machine dialog box.

14. From the Avamar encryption method list, select the encryption method to use
for data transfer between the Avamar server and the client during the restore.
The encryption technology and bit strength for a client/server connection
depends on several factors, including the client operating system and Avamar
server version. The Avamar Product Security Guide provides additional
information.
15. (Optional) Optionally select a proxy to perform restore.
The default setting is Automatic, which enables the Avamar server to choose
the best proxy for this operation.
16. Click More Options.
The Restore Command Line Options dialog box appears.
17. Select or clear Use Changed Block Tracking (CBT) to increase performance.
18. From the Encryption method from Data Domain system list, select the
encryption method to use for data transfer between the Data Domain system
and the client during the restore.
19. Select one of the following settings in the Select Post Restore Options list:
l Do not power on VM after restore.
l Power on VM with NICs enabled.
l Power on VM with NICs disabled.
20. (Optional) To include additional plug-in options with this restore, type Enter
Attribute and Enter Attribute Value settings.
21. Click OK on the Restore Command Line Options dialog box.
22. Click OK on the Restore Options dialog box.
The following status message appears: Restore initiated.
23. Click OK.
24. If the restore target virtual machine will be using changed block tracking for
future backups, enable changed block tracking by performing any of the
following actions on that virtual machine: reboot, power on, resume after
suspend, or migrate.

Restoring specific folders or files to the original virtual

machine
Before you begin
You cannot restore more than 20,000 folders or files in the same file-level restore
operation.

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Where folders and files are actually restored differs according to the target virtual
machine operating system:
l Linux virtual machines
For best results when restoring specific folders or files to the original Linux virtual
machine (that is, the same virtual machine from which the backup was originally
taken), ensure that all partitions on all VMDKs are correctly mounted and that the
fstab file, which persists partition remounting on reboot, is correct. This will
ensure that files and folders are restored to original locations at the time of
backup.
If partitions are not mounted correctly, or the fstab file is not correct, partitions
will be prefixed with standard Linux disk designations (for example, sda, sdb, sdc1,
sdc2, and so forth). In these situations, folders and files are restored to the
relative path from root in the original backup.
Procedure
1. In the vSphere Client or vSphere Web Client, ensure that the target virtual
machine is powered on.
2. In Avamar Administrator, click the Backup & Restore launcher button.
The Backup, Restore and Manage window appears.
3. Click the Restore tab.
The upper left pane contains a list of domains.
4. Select a virtual machine client or VMware container:
a. Select the domain that contains the virtual machine client or VMware
container.
You cannot view clients outside the domain for the login account. To view all
clients, log in to the root domain.

A list of Avamar clients appears in the pane under the domains list.
b. From the list of clients, select the virtual machine client or VMware
container.
5. Select a backup:
a. Click the By Date tab.
b. Select the backup date from the calendar. Valid backups occurred on dates
with a yellow highlight.
A list of backups on that date appears in the Backups table next to the
calendar.
c. Select a backup from the Backups table.
6. Click the Browse for Granular Restore button ( ).
7. Optionally select a proxy to perform browse and restore, and then click OK.
The default setting is Automatic, which enables the Avamar server to choose
the best proxy for this operation.
8. Select one or more folders or files you want to restore.
9. Select Actions > Restore Now.
The Restore Options dialog box appears.
10. Select Restore everything to its original location.

Restoring specific folders or files to the original virtual machine 85

Restore

11. From the Avamar encryption method list, select the encryption method to use
for data transfer between the Avamar server and the client during the restore.
The encryption technology and bit strength for a client/server connection
depends on several factors, including the client operating system and Avamar
server version. The Avamar Product Security Guide provides additional
information.
12. Click More Options.
The Restore Command Line Options dialog box appears.
13. (Optional) Select Restore Access Control List (ACL) to restore ACLs.
14. (Optional) To include additional plug-in options with this restore, type Enter
Attribute and Enter Attribute Value settings.
15. Click OK on the Restore Command Line Options dialog box.
16. Click OK on the Restore Options dialog box.
The following status message appears: Restore initiated.
17. Click OK.

Restoring the full image or selected drives to a new virtual

machine
Procedure
1. In Avamar Administrator, click the Backup & Restore launcher button.
The Backup, Restore and Manage window appears.
2. Click the Restore tab.
The upper left pane contains a list of domains.
3. Select a virtual machine client or VMware container:
a. Select the domain that contains the virtual machine client or VMware
container.
You cannot view clients outside the domain for the login account. To view all
clients, log in to the root domain.

A list of Avamar clients appears in the pane under the domains list.
b. From the list of clients, select the virtual machine client or VMware
container.
4. Select a backup:
a. Click the By Date tab.
b. Select the backup date from the calendar. Valid backups occurred on dates
with a yellow highlight.
A list of backups on that date appears in the Backups table next to the
calendar.
c. Select a backup from the Backups table.
5. Click the Browse for Image Restore button ( ) directly above the contents
pane.
6. In the contents pane:

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l Select the All virtual disks folder checkbox to restore the entire image.
l Select one or more drives to only restore those specific drives.
7. Select Actions > Restore Now.
The Restore Options dialog box appears.
8. Select Restore to a new virtual machine as the restore destination.

Note

When restoring an image backup to a new virtual machine, the Restore virtual
machine configuration option is selected and disabled (grayed out) because
these configuration files are always required to configure the new virtual
machine.

9. Specify a location and settings for the new virtual machine:

a. Click Configure Destination.
The Configure Virtual Machine dialog box appears.
b. Click Browse.
The New Virtual Machine wizard appears.
c. In the Name and Location screen, type a unique Name for the new virtual
machine, select a datacenter and folder location in the inventory tree, and
then click Next.
d. In the Summary screen, review the information, and then Finish.
e. Click OK on the Configure Virtual Machine dialog box.
10. From the Avamar encryption method list, select the encryption method to use
for data transfer between the Avamar server and the client during the restore.
The encryption technology and bit strength for a client/server connection
depends on several factors, including the client operating system and Avamar
server version. The Avamar Product Security Guide provides additional
information.
11. (Optional) Optionally select a proxy to perform restore.
The default setting is Automatic, which enables the Avamar server to choose
the best proxy for this operation.
12. Click More Options.
The Restore Command Line Options dialog box appears.
13. Select or clear Use Changed Block Tracking (CBT) to increase performance.
14. From the Encryption method from Data Domain system list, select the
encryption method to use for data transfer between the Data Domain system
and the client during the restore.
15. Select one of the following settings in the Select Post Restore Options list:
l Do not power on VM after restore.
l Power on VM with NICs enabled.
l Power on VM with NICs disabled.
16. (Optional) To include additional plug-in options with this restore, type Enter
Attribute and Enter Attribute Value settings.

Restoring the full image or selected drives to a new virtual machine 87

Restore

17. Click OK on the Restore Command Line Options dialog box.

18. Click OK on the Restore Options dialog box.
The following status message appears: Restore initiated.
19. Click OK.
20. If the restore target virtual machine will be using changed block tracking for
future backups, enable changed block tracking by performing any of the
following actions on that virtual machine: reboot, power on, resume after
suspend, or migrate.

Restoring specific folders or files to a different virtual

machine
Before you begin
You cannot restore more than 20,000 folders or files in the same file-level restore
operation.
Procedure
1. In the vSphere Client or vSphere Web Client, ensure that the target virtual
machine is powered on.
2. In Avamar Administrator, click the Backup & Restore launcher button.
The Backup, Restore and Manage window appears.
3. Click the Restore tab.
The upper left pane contains a list of domains.
4. Select a virtual machine client or VMware container:
a. Select the domain that contains the virtual machine client or VMware
container.
You cannot view clients outside the domain for the login account. To view all
clients, log in to the root domain.
A list of Avamar clients appears in the pane under the domains list.
b. From the list of clients, select the virtual machine client or VMware
container.
5. Select a backup:
a. Click the By Date tab.
b. Select the backup date from the calendar. Valid backups occurred on dates
with a yellow highlight.
A list of backups on that date appears in the Backups table next to the
calendar.
c. Select a backup from the Backups table.
6. Click the Browse for Granular Restore button ( ).
7. Optionally select a proxy to perform browse and restore, and then click OK.
The default setting is Automatic, which enables the Avamar server to choose
the best proxy for this operation.

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8. Select one or more folders or files you want to restore.

9. Select Actions > Restore Now.
The Restore Options dialog box appears.
10. Select Restore everything to a different location.
11. Select the target virtual machine that will receive the restored data:
a. Click Browse next to the Absolute Destination box.
The Browse for Restore Client dialog box appears.
b. Locate and select the target virtual machine that will receive the restored
data.
c. In the Browse for Folders or Directories pane, expand the tree by clicking
+.
The Log into Virtual Machine dialog box appears.
d. Type virtual machine client login credentials in the User name and
Password fields.

Note

These login credentials must have administration privileges on the virtual

machine guest operating system.

e. Click Log On.

f. In the Browse for Restore Client dialog box, select the destination folder
that will receive the restored data.
g. Click OK.
12. Click More Options.
The Restore Command Line Options dialog box appears.
13. (Optional) Select Restore Access Control List (ACL) to restore ACLs.
14. (Optional) To include additional plug-in options with this restore, type Enter
Attribute and Enter Attribute Value settings.
15. Click OK on the Restore Command Line Options dialog box.
16. Click OK on the Restore Options dialog box.
The following status message appears: Restore initiated.
17. Click OK.

Instant access
If restoring an entire virtual machine from backups stored on a Data Domain system, a
special feature called “instant access” is available.
Instant access is similar to restoring an image backup to a new virtual machine, except
that the restored virtual machine can be booted directly from the Data Domain
system. This reduces the amount of time required to restore an entire virtual machine.
Instant access comprises the following tasks:
1. Restoring the virtual machine:

Instant access 89
Restore

l Instant access is initiated.

l Selected VMware backup is copied to temporary NFS share on the Data
Domain system.
2. Performing post-restore migration and clean-up:
l From the vSphere Client or vSphere Web Client, power on the virtual machine,
and then use Storage vMotion to migrate the virtual machine from the Data
Domain NFS share to a datastore within the vCenter.
l When Storage vMotion is complete, the restored virtual machine files no longer
exist on the Data Domain system.
l From Avamar Administrator, ensure that the Data Domain NFS share has been
deleted.

Note

When used with Data Domain systems earlier than release 6.0, in order to minimize
operational impact to the Data Domain system, only one instant access is permitted at
a time. For Data Domain systems at release 6.0 or greater, 32 instant access
processes are permitted at the same time.

Restoring the virtual machine

Before you begin
Instant access requires the following:
l Avamar 7.0 or later
l Data Domain Operating System 5.2.1 and above. Please refer to the Avamar
compatibility matrix for supported versions of DDOS
Procedure
1. In Avamar Administrator, click the Backup & Restore launcher button.
The Backup, Restore and Manage window appears.
2. Click the Restore tab.
The upper left pane contains a list of domains.
3. Select a virtual machine client or VMware container:
a. Select the domain that contains the virtual machine client or VMware
container.
You cannot view clients outside the domain for the login account. To view all
clients, log in to the root domain.

A list of Avamar clients appears in the pane under the domains list.
b. From the list of clients, select the virtual machine client or VMware
container.
4. Select a backup residing on the Data Domain:
a. Click the By Date tab.
b. Select the backup date from the calendar. Valid backups occurred on dates
with a yellow highlight.
A list of backups on that date appears in the Backups table next to the
calendar.

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 Restore

c. Select a backup from the Backups table.

5. Click the Browse for Image Restore button ( ) directly above the contents
pane.
6. In the contents pane, select the All virtual disks folder checkbox to restore the
entire image.
7. Select Actions > Instant Access.
The Restore Options dialog box appears.
8. Select Restore to a new virtual machine as the restore destination.

Note

When restoring an image backup to a new virtual machine, the Restore virtual
machine configuration option is selected and disabled (grayed out) because
these configuration files are always required to configure the new virtual
machine.

9. Specify a location and settings for the new virtual machine:

a. Click Configure Destination.
The Configure Virtual Machine dialog box appears.
b. Click Browse.
The New Virtual Machine wizard appears.
c. In the Name and Location screen, type a unique Name for the new virtual
machine, select a datacenter and folder location in the inventory tree, and
then click Next.
d. In the Summary screen, review the information, and then Finish.
e. Click OK on the Configure Virtual Machine dialog box.
10. Ignore the Avamar encryption method setting.
Because no client/server data transfer takes place, the Avamar encryption
method setting has no effect.
11. (Optional) Optionally select a proxy to perform restore.
The default setting is Automatic, which enables the Avamar server to choose
the best proxy for this operation.
12. Click More Options.
The Restore Command Line Options dialog box appears.
13. (Optional) To include additional plug-in options with this restore, type Enter
Attribute and Enter Attribute Value settings.
14. Click OK on the Restore Command Line Options dialog box.
15. Click OK on the Restore Options dialog box.
The following status message appears: Restore initiated.
16. Click OK.

Restoring the virtual machine 91

Restore

Performing post-restore migration and clean-up

Procedure
1. Launch the vSphere Client or vSphere Web Client, and log in to the vCenter
Server.
2. Locate the virtual machine you restored.
3. Use Storage vMotion to migrate that virtual machine from the Data Domain
NFS share to a datastore within the vCenter.
When Storage vMotion is complete, the restored virtual machine files no longer
exist on the Data Domain system.
The MCS NFS datastore poller automatically unmounts unused Data Domain
NFS mounts once daily. However, it is still a good practice to ensure that the
NFS mount has been unmounted and removed by performing the remainder of
this procedure.
4. In Avamar Administrator, click the Server launcher button.
The Server window appears.
5. Click the Data Domain NFS Datastores tab.
6. Ensure that there is no entry for the virtual machine you restored.
If an entry is found, select it, and then click Unmount/Remove.

Mounting Windows VMDKs from an image backup

Avamar provides a mechanism for mounting VMDKs from VMware image backups of
Windows virtual machines. This feature is typically used to enable third party tools
such as Kroll OnTrack PowerControls to perform data mining and advanced data
recovery.

Configuring the recovery target machine

This task configures a physical or virtual Windows machine to be a recovery target for
mounting Windows VMDKs from an image backup.
Before you begin
The recovery target machine must be a 64-bit Windows physical or virtual machine.

Note

Recovery targets can be physical or virtual machines. If you intend to use a virtual
machine as a recovery target, install the Avamar software directly on the virtual
machine just as you would if implementing guest backup.

Procedure
1. Using instructions in the Avamar Backup Clients User Guide, install Avamar
Windows client software on the recovery target machine.
2. Using instructions in the Avamar Backup Clients User Guide, register the
recovery target machine as a client with the same Avamar server storing the
image backup to be mounted.
3. Install the Windows VMware GLR plug-in software:

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a. Log in to the recovery target machine with Windows administrator

privileges.
b. Download the AvamarVMWareGLR-windows-x86_64-version.msi install
package from the Avamar server.
c. Open the install package, and then follow the on screen instructions.
d. Reboot the computer.

Restoring and mounting the Windows VMDKs

Before you begin
Ensure that the recovery target machine has been properly configured:
l The Avamar Windows client, and Windows VMware GLR plug-in software is
installed
l The recovery target machine is registered and activated as a client with the same
Avamar server storing the image backup from which the VMDK will be mounted
Procedure
1. In the vSphere Client or vSphere Web Client, ensure that the target virtual
machine is powered on.
2. In Avamar Administrator, click the Backup & Restore launcher button.
The Backup, Restore and Manage window appears.
3. Click the Restore tab.
The upper left pane contains a list of domains.
4. Select a virtual machine client or VMware container:
a. Select the domain that contains the virtual machine client or VMware
container.
You cannot view clients outside the domain for the login account. To view all
clients, log in to the root domain.

A list of Avamar clients appears in the pane under the domains list.
b. From the list of clients, select the virtual machine client or VMware
container.
5. Select a backup:
a. Click the By Date tab.
b. Select the backup date from the calendar. Valid backups occurred on dates
with a yellow highlight.
A list of backups on that date appears in the Backups table next to the
calendar.
c. Select a backup from the Backups table.
6. In the contents pane, select a virtual disk.
7. Click the Mount Windows VMDK button ( ).
The Select Destination Client dialog box appears.
8. Click Browse next to the Client box.
The Browse for Restore Destination Client dialog box appears.

Restoring and mounting the Windows VMDKs 93

Restore

9. Select the recovery target virtual machine, and then click OK.
The Browse Backup Status dialog box appears.
10. Click OK to confirm that the operation should continue.
The Restore Browse Options dialog box appears.
11. Select a time out value from the Amount of time to leave VMDKs mounted
list, and then click OK.
Results
A folder path appears in the right backup contents pane. The Windows VMDK is now
mounted to that folder.

Monitoring restores
You can monitor restores to ensure that the restores complete successfully and to
troubleshoot issues. The Activity Monitor in Avamar Administrator enables you to view
status information for restores.
Procedure
1. In Avamar Administrator, click the Activity launcher button.
The Activity window appears.
2. Click the Activity Monitor tab.
A list of all activities appears.
3. To filter the results to display only restore activity, select Actions > Filter.
The Filter Activity dialog box appears.
4. Select Restore from the Type list.
5. Click OK.

Canceling restores
You can cancel a restore any time before the restore completes. The cancellation
might take five minutes or longer. The restore may complete before the cancellation
finishes.
Procedure
1. In Avamar Administrator, click the Activity launcher button.
The Activity window appears.
2. Click the Activity Monitor tab.
A list of all activities appears.
3. Select the restore from the list.
4. Select Actions > Cancel Activity.
A confirmation message appears.
5. Click Yes.

94 Avamar 7.4 and Service Packs for VMware User Guide

CHAPTER 6
Backup Validation

This chapter includes the following topics:

l Overview............................................................................................................96
l Performing an on-demand backup validation..................................................... 96
l Scheduling backup validations............................................................................98

Backup Validation 95
Backup Validation

Overview
For image backups, the backup validation mechanism is similar to restoring a virtual
machine backup to a new virtual machine, except that once the backup is validated,
the new virtual machine is automatically deleted from vCenter.
Backup validations can be initiated for a single virtual machine backup as needed (on-
demand), or scheduled for an entire group of virtual machines. Scheduled backup
validations always use the latest completed backup for each virtual machine group
member.

What is validated
The default validation verifies that the virtual machine powers on and that the
operating system starts following the restore.
Backup validations also provide an optional capability for running a user-defined script
in order to perform custom application-level verifications. The script must exist in the
backup to be validated. You cannot run external scripts during a backup validation.
Supported script types are shell scripts for Linux virtual machines, and DOS batch files
for Windows virtual machines. Perl scripts are not supported.

VM Backup Validation groups

Scheduled backup validations are implemented using special VM Backup Validation
groups. These groups are only used to perform automated backup validations, they
cannot be used for any other purpose.
VM Backup Validation groups differ from other groups as follows:
l VM Backup Validation groups do not have retention policies assigned to them.
l The dataset assigned to each VM Backup Validation group is automatically created
when the group is created. The dataset name is the same as the VM Backup
Validation group name.
l Each VM Backup Validation group also stores a location where new virtual
machines are temporarily created during the backup validation (that is, an ESX
host or cluster, datastore, and folder).

Performing an on-demand backup validation

Procedure
1. In Avamar Administrator, click the Backup & Restore launcher button.
The Backup, Restore and Manage window appears.
2. Click the Manage tab.
3. Select a virtual machine client or VMware container:
a. Select the domain that contains the virtual machine client or VMware
container.
You cannot view clients outside the domain for the login account. To view all
clients, log in to the root domain.

A list of Avamar clients appears in the pane under the domains list.

96 Avamar 7.4 and Service Packs for VMware User Guide

 Backup Validation

b. From the list of clients, select the virtual machine client or VMware
container.
4. Select a backup:
a. Click the By Date tab.
b. Select the backup date from the calendar. Valid backups occurred on dates
with a yellow highlight.
A list of backups on that date appears in the Backups table next to the
calendar.
c. Select a backup from the Backups table.
5. Select Actions > Validate Backup.
The Validate Options dialog box appears.
6. Click Configure Destination.
The Configure Location wizard appears.
7. Select a vCenter, and then click Next.
8. Type an inventory location name, select a datacenter folder in the tree, and
then click Next.
9. Select a host or cluster and then click Next.
10. Select a resource pool and then click Next.
11. Select a datastore and then click Next.
12. At the Summary screen, click Finish.
13. From the Avamar encryption method list, select the encryption method to use
for data transfer between the client and the Avamar server during the backup
validation.
The encryption technology and bit strength for a client/server connection
depends on several factors, including the client operating system and Avamar
server version. The Avamar Product Security Guide provides additional
information.
14. (Optional) To run a user-defined script as part of the validation:

Note

The script must already be in the backup to be validated. You cannot run
external scripts during a backup validation.

a. Click More Options.

The Validate Command Line Options dialog box appears.
b. Type a virtual machine guest OS user account name and password with
sufficient privileges to run scripts.
c. Type the full path and filename of the validation script.

Note

If this is a Windows virtual machine, type exit /B exitcode after the script
path and filename, where exitcode is a user-defined exit message.

Performing an on-demand backup validation 97

Backup Validation

d. Ensure that the Maximum script run time (minutes) setting allows
sufficient time for the script to complete.
e. Click OK.
15. Click OK on the Validate Options box.
The following status message appears: Restore request initiating.
16. Click Close.

Scheduling backup validations

To schedule backup validations for an entire group of virtual machines, create a VM
Backup Validation Group.
Procedure
1. In Avamar Administrator, click the Policy launcher button.
The Policy window appears.
2. Click the Policy Management tab, and then click the Groups tab.
3. In the tree, select a location for the group.
4. Select Actions > Group > New > VM Backup Validation Group.
The New VM Backup Validation Group wizard appears.
5. In the General screen:
a. Type a Group name.
b. Select or clear the Disabled checkbox.
Select this checkbox to delay the start of scheduled backups for this group.
Otherwise, clear this checkbox to enable scheduled backups for this group
the next time the assigned schedule runs.

c. Select an Avamar encryption method for client/server data transfers

during the backup validation.

Note

The encryption technology and bit strength for a client/server connection

depends on several factors, including the client operating system and
Avamar server version. The Avamar Product Security Guide provides details.

d. Click Next.
6. In the Membership screen:
a. Select checkboxes next to the virtual machines you want to be members of
this validation group.
b. Click Next.
7. In the Location screen:
a. Click Configure Location.
The Configure VM Backup Validation Location wizard appears.
b. Select a vCenter, and then click Next.
c. Select a datacenter folder in the tree, and then click Next.

98 Avamar 7.4 and Service Packs for VMware User Guide

 Backup Validation

d. Select a host or cluster, and then click Next.

e. Select a resource pool, and then click Next.
f. Select a datastore, and then click Next.
g. In the Summary screen, review your settings, and then click Finish.
h. Click Next.
8. In the Schedule screen, select a schedule from the list, and then click Next.
9. In the Overview screen, review your settings, and then click Finish.
10. Ensure that the scheduler is running.

Scheduling backup validations 99

Backup Validation

100 Avamar 7.4 and Service Packs for VMware User Guide
CHAPTER 7
Protecting the vCenter Management
Infrastructure

This chapter includes the following topics:

l Overview.......................................................................................................... 102
l Backing up the vCenter management infrastructure.........................................102
l Recovering vCenter management infrastructure from Avamar backups........... 104

Protecting the vCenter Management Infrastructure 101

Protecting the vCenter Management Infrastructure

Overview
This topic discusses how to protect the vCenter management infrastructure (not the
virtual machines within that environment).
The vCenter runs on a 32- or 64-bit Windows host. It also comprises a database server
which can run on a different host. Some optional vSphere components require
additional databases that can be hosted on the same host as vCenter or on different
database server hosts.
The methodology for protecting vCenter management infrastructure is to implement
guest backup on each virtual host. The dataset should only back up the following
important vCenter management infrastructure components:
l License files
l SSL certificates
l Audit logs
l Windows guest customization (sysprep) files
l Database-hosted configuration settings
l UpdateManager database
l Site Recovery Manager (SRM) database
Recovering vCenter management infrastructure using Avamar backups is a two-step
process in which you first create a restore target virtual machine with a fresh
operating system image, then restore the vCenter management infrastructure
components from the latest Avamar backup.
One advantage to protecting a vCenter management infrastructure with Avamar is
that you can also use the Avamar backup to facilitate vCenter upgrades (for example,
upgrading the vCenter host from a 32- or 64-bit Windows virtual machine).

Backing up the vCenter management infrastructure

The methodology for protecting vCenter management infrastructure is to implement
guest backup on each virtual host using a custom dataset that only backs up important
vCenter management infrastructure components.
You should then add the vCenter Avamar clients to a group and schedule these
backups at regular intervals.

Implementing guest backups of vCenter management infrastructure

Procedure
1. Install and register Avamar Client for Windows software on the vCenter host as
described in the Avamar Backup Clients User Guide.
2. Install and register the correct Avamar database software on each database
host as described in various database-specific documentation such as the
Avamar for SQL Server User Guide.

102 Avamar 7.4 and Service Packs for VMware User Guide
 Protecting the vCenter Management Infrastructure

Creating a dataset for vCenter management infrastructure backups

For best results, define a custom dataset strictly for use in backing up vCenter
management infrastructure components.
Use of a custom dataset will not only shorten backup and restore times, but will also
allow you to use Avamar backups to facilitate vCenter upgrades (for example,
upgrading the vCenter host from a 32- to a 64-bit Windows virtual machine).
Procedure
1. In Avamar Administrator, select Tools > Manage Datasets.
The Manage All Datasets window appears.
2. Click New.
The New Dataset dialog box appears.
3. Type a name for this new dataset (for example, vCenter-1).
4. Click the Source Data tab.
5. Select Enter Explicitly, and then select the Windows File System plug-in from
the Select Plug-In Type list.
6. In the list of backup targets at the bottom of the dialog box, delete every entry
except for the Windows File System plug-in by selecting an entry, and then
clicking -.
7. Add each vCenter management infrastructure component to the dataset:
a. Select Files and/or Folders and click ...
The Select Files And/Or Folders dialog box appears.
b. Locate a vCenter management infrastructure component and select it.

Table 10 Important vCenter management infrastructure components

Component Default Location

License files The exact location depends on the
specific VMware and Windows version,
but is typically one of the following
folders:
C:\Program Files(x86)\VMware
\Infrastructure\VirtualCenter
Server\licenses\site
C:\Program Files\VMware
\VMware License Server
\Licenses

SSL certificates The exact location depends on the

specific VMware and Windows version,
but is typically one of the following
folders:
C:\Documents and Settings\All
Users\Application Data\VMware
\VMware VirtualCenter\SSL

Creating a dataset for vCenter management infrastructure backups 103

Protecting the vCenter Management Infrastructure

Table 10 Important vCenter management infrastructure components (continued)

Component Default Location

C:\ProgramData\VMWare\VMware
VirtualCenter\SSL

Audit logs The exact location depends on the

specific VMware and Windows version,
but is typically one of the following
folders:
C:\Documents and Settings\All
Users\Application Data\VMware
\VMware VirtualCenter\Logs
C:\ProgramData\VMWare\VMware
VirtualCenter\Logs

Windows guest customization (sysprep) The exact location depends on the

files specific VMware and Windows version,
but is typically one of the following
folders:
C:\Documents and Settings\All
Users\Application Data\VMware
\VMware VirtualCenter\sysprep
C:\ProgramData\VMWare\VMware
VirtualCenter\sysprep

c. Click OK.
d. Repeat these steps for each important vCenter management infrastructure
component.
8. Click OK.

Adding a backup client for vCenter database hosts

The location of the database used by vCenter, Update Manager, SRM, and so forth
can be determined by running the Windows Data Sources (ODBC) administrative tool.
Procedure
1. Install Avamar database backup agents on the database hosts as described in
the database-specific documentation, such as the Avamar for SQL Server User
Guide.
2. Configure a scheduled backup to protect the databases.
You should truncate vCenter database transaction logs after each backup. This
can be done by selecting the Truncate database log option in the SQL Server
plug-in . Truncating database transaction logs ensures that logs will not grow
too large, and consume excessive amounts of space on the Avamar server.

Recovering vCenter management infrastructure from

Avamar backups
Recovering vCenter management infrastructure from Avamar backups is a two-step
process in which you first create a restore target virtual machine with a fresh

104 Avamar 7.4 and Service Packs for VMware User Guide
 Protecting the vCenter Management Infrastructure

operating system image, then restore the vCenter management infrastructure

components from the latest Avamar backup. The Avamar Administration Guide provides
details. Avamar Administration Guide

Recovering vCenter management infrastructure from Avamar backups 105

Protecting the vCenter Management Infrastructure

106 Avamar 7.4 and Service Packs for VMware User Guide
CHAPTER 8
Protecting ESX Hosts

This chapter includes the following topics:

l Overview.......................................................................................................... 108
l Adding ESX host authentication certificates to the MCS keystore...................109
l Creating a dedicated ESX host user account.....................................................110
l Adding an ESX host as a vCenter client.............................................................112
l Deploying a proxy in a standalone ESX host...................................................... 113
l Disassociating an ESX host from a vCenter.......................................................116

Protecting ESX Hosts 107

Protecting ESX Hosts

Overview
Image backup can be configured to protect virtual machines residing in standalone
ESX hosts.
There are two primary uses for this feature:
1. Support for minimal customer configurations.
Some customer sites use a simple VMware topology, comprising a single ESX host,
with one or more virtual machines residing on that ESX host. These sites typically
do not implement a vCenter management layer. However, the virtual machines
residing on a standalone ESX host still must be backed up in order to protect
against data loss. Adding the standalone ESX host as an Avamar vCenter client
enables those virtual machines to be backed up with image backup, rather than
guest backup.
2. Virtual vCenter disaster recovery.
Adding an ESX host as an Avamar vCenter client can be useful when virtual
machines residing on a particular ESX host must be restored, but the vCenter is
not operational. This is often the case when a virtual vCenter must be recovered
from Avamar backups. Adding the standalone ESX host as an Avamar vCenter
client enables the vCenter management infrastructure virtual machines to be
restored so that the vCenter can be restarted.

Limitations
These are the known limitation of protecting virtual machines residing in a standalone
ESX host in Avamar.
ESX versions
Support for this feature is limited to ESX 5.0 or higher. Older versions are not
supported.
Virtual vCenter disaster recovery
If you are using this feature for the purpose of recovering a virtualized vCenter from
an ESX host, you must first disassociate that ESX host from the vCenter before
restoring any virtual machines to that ESX host.

Task List
In order to protect virtual machines residing in a standalone ESX host, perform the
following tasks:
1. Ensure that the Avamar server can communicate and authenticate with the ESX
host.
Add the ESX host certificate to the Avamar MCS keystore. Otherwise, you must
disable certificate authentication for all MCS communications.
2. (Optional) Create a dedicated user account on the ESX host for use with Avamar.
3. Add the ESX host to Avamar as a vCenter client.
This enables dynamic discovery of virtual machines residing on that ESX host, so
that they can be backed up with image backup rather than guest backup.
4. Deploy one or more proxies on the ESX host.
5. Perform on-demand or scheduled image backups of virtual machines residing on
that ESX host.

108 Avamar 7.4 and Service Packs for VMware User Guide
 Protecting ESX Hosts

Adding ESX host authentication certificates to the MCS

keystore
Add an ESX host authentication certificate to the MCS keystore. Do this for each ESX
host you intend to protect.
This procedure uses the java keytool utility, which manages certificate keys. The
keytool utility is located in the Java bin folder (/usr/java/version/bin), where
version is the Java Runtime Environment (JRE) version currently installed on the
MCS. If this folder is not in your path, you can either add it to the path, or specify the
complete path when using keytool.
Procedure
1. Open a command shell and log in by using one of the following methods:
l For a single-node server, log in to the server as admin.
l For a multi-node server, log in to the utility node as admin.
2. Stop the MCS by typing dpnctl stop mcs.
3. Switch user to root by typing su -.
4. Copy /etc/vmware/ssl/rui.crt from the ESX host machine to /tmp on
the Avamar utility node or single-node server.
5. Copy the MCS keystore to /tmp by typing:
cp /usr/local/avamar/lib/rmi_ssl_keystore /tmp/

This creates a temporary version of the live MCS keystore in /tmp.

6. Add the default ESX host certificate to the temporary MCS keystore file by
typing:

cd /tmp
$JAVA_HOME/bin/keytool –import –file rui.crt -alias alias -
keystore rmi_ssl_keystore

where alias is a user-defined name for this certificate, which can often be the
file name.
7. Type the keystore password.
8. Type yes, and press Enter to trust this certificate.
9. (Optional) If you will be protecting more than one ESX host with this Avamar
server, add those ESX host certificates now.
10. Back up the live MCS keystore by typing:

cd /usr/local/avamar/lib
cp rmi_ssl_keystore rmi_ssl_keystore.date

where date is today's date.

11. Copy the temporary MCS keystore to the live location by typing:
cp /tmp/rmi_ssl_keystore /usr/local/avamar/lib/

12. Exit the root subshell by typing exit.

Adding ESX host authentication certificates to the MCS keystore 109

Protecting ESX Hosts

13. Start the MCS and the scheduler by typing:

dpnctl start mcs

dpnctl start sched

Creating a dedicated ESX host user account

EMC strongly recommends that you set up a separate user account on each ESX host
that is strictly dedicated for use with Avamar.
Use of a generic user account such as “Administrator” might hamper future
troubleshooting efforts because it might not be clear which actions are actually
interfacing or communicating with the Avamar server. Using a separate ESX host user
account ensures maximum clarity if it becomes necessary to examine ESX host logs.

Note

The user account must be added to the top (root) level in each ESX host you intend to
protect.

Procedure
1. Create a ESX host user account with privileges listed in the following table.

Table 11 Minimum required ESX host user account privileges

Privilege type ESX 5.5 ESX 5.0

Alarms l Create alarm l Create alarm

Datastore l Allocate space l Allocate space

l Browse datastore l Browse datastore
l Low level file operations l Low level file operations
l Remove file l Remove file

Extension l Register extension l Register extension

l Unregister extension l Unregister extension
l Update extension l Update extension

Folder l Create folder l Create folder

Global l Cancel task l Cancel task

l Disable methods l Disable methods
l Enable methods l Enable methods
l Licenses l Licenses
l Log event l Log event
l Manage custom attributes l Manage custom attributes
l Settings l Settings

Host > Configuration l Connection l Connection

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 Protecting ESX Hosts

Table 11 Minimum required ESX host user account privileges (continued)

Privilege type ESX 5.5 ESX 5.0

l Storage partition l Storage partition

configuration configuration

Network l Assign network l Assign network

l Configure l Configure

Resource l Assign virtual machine to l Assign virtual machine to

resource pool resource pool

Sessions l Validate session l Validate session

Tasks l Create task l Create task

l Update task l Update task

vApp l Import l Import

Virtual machine

Configuration l Add existing disk l Add existing disk

l Add new disk l Add new disk
l Add or remove device l Add or remove device
l Advanced l Advanced
l Change CPU count l Change CPU count
l Change resource l Change resource
l Disk change tracking l Disk change tracking
l Disk Lease l Disk Lease
l Extend virtual disk l Extend virtual disk
l Host USB device l Host USB device
l Memory l Memory
l Modify device settings l Modify device settings
l Raw device l Raw device
l Reload from path l Reload from path
l Remove disk l Remove disk
l Rename l Rename
l Reset guest information l Reset guest information
l Settings l Settings
l Swapfile placement l Swapfile placement
l Upgrade virtual machine l Upgrade virtual machine
compatibility compatibility

Guest Operations l Guest Operation l Guest Operation

Modifications Modifications

Creating a dedicated ESX host user account 111

Protecting ESX Hosts

Table 11 Minimum required ESX host user account privileges (continued)

Privilege type ESX 5.5 ESX 5.0

l Guest Operation Program l Guest Operation Program

Execution Execution
l Guest Operation Queries l Guest Operation Queries

Interaction l Console interaction l Console interaction

l DeviceConnection l DeviceConnection
l Guest operating system l Power off
management by VIX API l Power on
l Power off l Reset
l Power on l VMware Tools install
l Reset
l VMware Tools install

Inventory l Create new l Create new

l Register l Register
l Remove l Remove
l Unregister l Unregister

Provisioning l Allow disk access l Allow disk access

l Allow read-only disk l Allow read-only disk
access access
l Allow virtual machine l Allow virtual machine
download download
l Mark as Template l Mark as Template

Snapshot Management l Create snapshot

l Remove snapshot
l Revert to snapshot
l Management

State l Create snapshot

l Remove snapshot
l Revert to snapshot

Adding an ESX host as a vCenter client

Procedure
1. In Avamar Administrator, click the Administration launcher button.
The Administration window appears.
2. Click the Account Management tab.

112 Avamar 7.4 and Service Packs for VMware User Guide
 Protecting ESX Hosts

3. In the tree, select the top-level (root) domain, and then select Actions >
Account Management > New Client(s).
The New Client dialog box appears.
4. Complete the following settings:
a. Select VMware vCenter in the Client Type list.
b. Type the ESX host fully qualified DNS name or IP address in the New Client
Name or IP field.
c. Type the ESX host web services listener data port number in the Port field.
443 is the default setting.

d. Type the ESX host administrative user account name in the User Name
field.
e. Type the ESX host administrative user account password in the Password
field.
f. Type the ESX host administrative user account password again in the Verify
Password field.
g. (Optional) Type a contact name in the Contact field.
h. (Optional) Type a contact telephone number in the Phone field
i. (Optional) Type a contact email address in the Email field.
j. (Optional) Type a contact location in the Location field.
5. Click OK.

Deploying a proxy in a standalone ESX host

Before you begin
1. Add DNS entries for each proxy you intend to deploy.
During proxy deployment, you will be asked to assign a unique IP address to each
proxy. The ESX host performs a reverse DNS lookup of that IP address to ensure
that it is resolvable to a hostname. For best results, configure all required DNS
entries for proxies you plan to deploy before proceeding with the remainder of this
procedure.
2. Download the proxy appliance template file from the Avamar server.
3. Install the vSphere Client on your Windows computer.

Deploying a proxy appliance in an ESX host using the vSphere Client

Procedure
1. Launch the vSphere Client and log in to the ESX host.
2. Select File > Deploy OVF Template.
The Deploy OVF Template wizard appears.
3. In the Source screen:
a. Click Browse.
The Open dialog box appears.
b. Select Ova files (*.ova) from the Files of Type list.

Deploying a proxy in a standalone ESX host 113

Protecting ESX Hosts

c. Browse to the appliance template file that was previously downloaded.

d. Select the appliance template file and click Open.
The full path to the appliance template file appears in the Source screen
Deploy from file field.
e. Click Next.
4. In the OVF Template Details screen:
a. Ensure that the template information is correct.
b. Click Next.
5. In the Name and Location screen:
a. Type a unique fully qualified hostname in the Name field.
A proxy can potentially have three different names:
l The name of the virtual machine on which the proxy runs.
l The DNS name assigned to the proxy virtual machine.
l The Avamar client name after the proxy registers and activates with
server.

Note

In order to avoid confusion and potential problems, EMC strongly

recommends that you consistently use the same fully qualified hostname for
this proxy in all three contexts.

b. Click Next.
6. In the Resource Pool screen:
a. Select an ESX host or a resource pool.
b. Click Next.
7. In the Storage screen:
a. Select a storage location for this proxy.
b. Click Next.
8. In the Disk Format screen:
a. Select a disk format for this proxy.
b. Click Next.
9. In the Network Mapping screen:
a. Select a destination network from list.
b. Click Next.
10. In the Ready To Complete screen:
a. Ensure that the information is correct.
b. Click Finish.

114 Avamar 7.4 and Service Packs for VMware User Guide
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Manually configuring proxy network settings

Procedure
1. Launch the vSphere Client and log in to the ESX host.
2. Locate the proxy you want to configure.
3. Right-click Open Console.
A console window appears.
4. In the console Main Menu, press 2 to quit.
5. In the welcome screen, select Log in, and then press Enter.
6. Log in as root:
a. Type root, and then press Enter.
b. Type the root password, and then press Enter.
7. Type /opt/vmware/share/vami/vami_config_net, and then press Enter.
A Main Menu appears.
8. In the Main Menu, select 6, and then press Enter to configure the IP address
for eth0.
You can configure an IPv6 address, a static IPv4 address, or a dynamic IPv4
address. Follow the on-screen prompts to configure the correct address type
for your site.
9. In the Main Menu, select 4, and then press Enter to configure DNS.
Follow the on-screen prompts to specify the primary and secondary DNS
servers in use at your site.
10. In the Main Menu, select 3, and then press Enter to configure the hostname.
11. Type the proxy hostname, and then press Enter.
12. In the Main Menu, select 2, and then press Enter to configure the default
gateway.
13. Type the IPv4 default gateway, and then press Enter.
14. Press Enter to accept the default IPv6 default gateway.
15. In the Main Menu, press Enter to show the current configuration.
16. Ensure that the settings are correct.
17. Press 1 to exit the program.

Registering and activating the proxy with the Avamar server

Register and activate each proxy deployed in vCenter with the Avamar server.
Before you begin
1. Deploy the proxy appliance in vCenter.
2. Add the ESX host as a vCenter client in Avamar.

Manually configuring proxy network settings 115

Protecting ESX Hosts

Note

For best results, always register and activate proxies as described in this task. Using
the alternative method of inviting the proxy from Avamar Administrator is known to
have unpredictable results.

Perform this task for every proxy you deploy in an ESX host.
Procedure
1. From the vSphere client, locate and select an Avamar image backup proxy.
2. Right-click Power > Power On.
3. Right-clickOpen Console.
A console window appears.
4. From the Main Menu, type 1, and then press Enter.
5. Type the Avamar server DNS name, and then press Enter.
6. Type an Avamar server domain name, and then press Enter.
The default domain is “clients.” However, your Avamar system administrator
may have defined other domains, and subdomains. Consult your Avamar system
administrator for the domain you should use when registering this client.

Note

If typing a subdomain (for example, clients/MyClients), do not include a slash

(/) as the first character. Including a slash as the first character will cause an
error, and prevent you from registering this client.

7. From the Main Menu, type 2, and then press Enter to quit.
8. (optional) If proxy certificate authentication is required, see Configuring
vCenter-to-Avamar authentication on page 29

Disassociating an ESX host from a vCenter

Only perform this task if you are restoring virtual machines to an ESX host while the
associated vCenter is not operational.
Procedure
1. Launch the vSphere Client or vSphere Web Client, and log in to the ESX host.
2. Click the Summary tab.
3. In the Host Management pane, click Disassociate host from vCenter Server.
4. Click Yes to confirm the action.

116 Avamar 7.4 and Service Packs for VMware User Guide
APPENDIX A
Manually deploying proxies

This appendix includes the following topics:

l Overview........................................................................................................... 118
l Downloading the proxy appliance template file..................................................118
l Deploying the proxy appliance in vCenter..........................................................118
l Deploying a proxy appliance in vCenter using the vSphere Web Client..............118
l Registering and activating the proxy with the Avamar server............................121
l Configuring proxy settings in Avamar Administrator..........................................121
l Performing optional proxy performance optimization....................................... 122

Manually deploying proxies 117

Manually deploying proxies

Overview
Beginning with Avamar 7.2, the Proxy Deployment Manager is the preferred method
for deploying proxies. Manual proxy deployment is still supported if necessary.

Downloading the proxy appliance template file

Download the proxy appliance template file from the Avamar server.

Note

If adding more than one proxy, you only need to perform this task once.

Procedure
1. Open a web browser and type the following URL:
https://Avamar-server

where Avamar-server is the Avamar server network hostname or IP address.

The EMC Avamar Web Restore page appears.
2. Click Downloads.
3. Navigate to the VMware vSphere > EMC Avamar VMware Image
Backup/FLR Appliance folder.
4. Click the AvamarCombinedProxy-linux-sles11_64-version.ova link.
5. Save AvamarCombinedProxy-linux-sles11_64-version.ova to a temporary
folder, such as C:\Temp, or the desktop.

Deploying the proxy appliance in vCenter

Use either the vSphere Client running on a Windows computer (also known as the
"thick client"), or the vSphere Web Client to deploy one or more proxies in each
vCenter you intend to protect with image backup.
Before you begin
1. Add DNS entries for each proxy you intend to deploy.
During proxy deployment, you will be asked to assign a unique IP address to each
proxy. The vCenter performs a reverse DNS lookup of that IP address to ensure
that it is resolvable to a hostname. For best results, configure all required DNS
entries for proxies you plan to deploy before proceeding with the remainder of this
procedure.
2. Download the proxy appliance template file from the Avamar server.

Deploying a proxy appliance in vCenter using the vSphere

Web Client
Procedure
1. Connect to the vCenter Server by opening a web browser, and then typing the
following URL:

118 Avamar 7.4 and Service Packs for VMware User Guide
 Manually deploying proxies

http://vCenter-server:9443/

where vCenter-server is the vCenter Server network hostname or IP address.

The vSphere Web Client page appears.
2. Download and install the vSphere Client Integration Plug-in:

Note

These steps only need to be performed the first time you connect to this
vCenter Server using the vSphere Web Client. You can skip these steps on
subsequent vSphere Web Client sessions.

a. Click the Download Client Integration Plug-in link.

b. Either open the installation file in place (on the server), or double-click the
downloaded installation file.
The installation wizard appears.
c. Follow the onscreen instructions.
3. Reconnect to the vCenter Server by opening a web browser, and then typing
the following URL:
http://vCenter-server:9443/

where vCenter-server is the vCenter Server network hostname or IP address.

The vSphere Web Client page appears.

4. Log in to the vCenter Server by typing your User name and Password, and
then clicking Login.
5. Select Home > vCenter > Hosts and Clusters.
6. Select Actions > Deploy OVF Template.
7. Allow plug-in access control.
The Deploy OVF Template wizard appears.
8. In the Source screen:
a. Select Local file, and then click Browse.
The Open dialog box appears.
b. Select Ova files (*.ova) from the Files of Type list.
c. Browse to the appliance template file that was previously downloaded.
d. Select the appliance template file and click Open.
The full path to the appliance template file appears in the Source screen
Deploy from file field.
e. Click Next.
9. In the OVF Template Details screen:
a. Ensure that the template information is correct.
b. Click Next.
10. In the Select name and Location screen:
a. Type a unique fully qualified hostname in the Name field.

Deploying a proxy appliance in vCenter using the vSphere Web Client 119
Manually deploying proxies

A proxy can potentially have three different names:

l The name of the virtual machine on which the proxy runs. This is also the
name managed and visible within vCenter.
l The DNS name assigned to the proxy virtual machine.
l The Avamar client name after the proxy registers and activates with
server.

Note

In order to avoid confusion and potential problems, EMC strongly

recommends that you consistently use the same fully qualified hostname for
this proxy in all three contexts.

b. In the tree, select a datacenter and folder location for this proxy.
c. Click Next.
11. In the Select a resource screen:
a. Select an ESX host, cluster, vApp or resource pool.
b. Click Next.
12. In the Select Storage screen:
a. Select a storage location for this proxy.
b. Click Next.
13. In the Setup networks screen:
a. Select a Destination network from list.
b. Select an IP protocol from the list.
c. Click Next.
14. In the Customize template screen:

Note

Proxy network settings are difficult to change once they proxy is registered and
activated with the Avamar server. Therefore, ensure that the settings you enter
in the Customize template screen are correct.

a. Enter the default gateway IP address for the network in the Default
Gateway field
b. If not using DHCP, type one or more Domain Name Server (DNS) IP
addresses in the DNS field. Separate multiple entries with commas.
c. If not using DHCP, type a valid IP address for this proxy in the Isolated
Network IP Address field
d. Type the network mask in the Isolated Network Netmask field.
e. Click Next.
15. In the Ready To Complete screen:
a. Ensure that the information is correct.
b. Click Finish

120 Avamar 7.4 and Service Packs for VMware User Guide
 Manually deploying proxies

Registering and activating the proxy with the Avamar server

Register and activate each proxy deployed in vCenter with the Avamar server.
Before you begin
1. Deploy the proxy appliance in vCenter.
2. Add the ESX host as a vCenter client in Avamar.

Note

For best results, always register and activate proxies as described in this task. Using
the alternative method of inviting the proxy from Avamar Administrator is known to
have unpredictable results.

Perform this task for every proxy you deploy in an ESX host.
Procedure
1. From the vSphere client, locate and select an Avamar image backup proxy.
2. Right-click Power > Power On.
3. Right-clickOpen Console.
A console window appears.
4. From the Main Menu, type 1, and then press Enter.
5. Type the Avamar server DNS name, and then press Enter.
6. Type an Avamar server domain name, and then press Enter.
The default domain is “clients.” However, your Avamar system administrator
may have defined other domains, and subdomains. Consult your Avamar system
administrator for the domain you should use when registering this client.

Note

If typing a subdomain (for example, clients/MyClients), do not include a slash

(/) as the first character. Including a slash as the first character will cause an
error, and prevent you from registering this client.

7. From the Main Menu, type 2, and then press Enter to quit.
8. (optional) If proxy certificate authentication is required, see Configuring
vCenter-to-Avamar authentication on page 29

Configuring proxy settings in Avamar Administrator

After deploying a proxy appliance in vCenter and registering it with the Avamar server,
configure datastore, group and optional contact settings in Avamar Administrator.
Before you begin
1. Deploy a proxy appliance in vCenter.
2. Register and activate the proxy with the Avamar server.

Registering and activating the proxy with the Avamar server 121
Manually deploying proxies

Procedure
1. In Avamar Administrator, click the Administration launcher button.
The Administration window appears.
2. Click the Account Management tab.
3. In the tree, select the proxy, and then select Actions > Account
Management > Client Edit.
The Edit Client dialog box appears.
4. Click the Datastores tab, and then select all vCenter datastores that host
virtual machines you want to protect with this proxy.
5. Click the Groups tab, and then assign this proxy to one or more groups by
clicking the Select checkbox next to each group.
6. (Optional) provide contact information:
a. Type a contact name in the Contact field.
b. Type a contact telephone number in the Phone field.
c. Type a contact email address in the Email field.
d. Type a contact location in the Location field.
7. Click OK.

Performing optional proxy performance optimization

By default, Avamar proxies are configured with four virtual CPU sockets and one core
per socket. However, if your ESXi host has two or more physical CPUs, changing the
proxy configuration to four virtual CPU sockets and two cores per socket will achieve
better backup and restore performance.

122 Avamar 7.4 and Service Packs for VMware User Guide
APPENDIX B
vSphere Data Ports

This appendix includes the following topics:

l Required data ports.......................................................................................... 124

vSphere Data Ports 123

vSphere Data Ports

Required data ports

These are the required data ports in a vSphere environment.

Table 12 Required vSphere data ports

Port Source Destination Function Additional

information
22 Avamar Proxies SSH Diagnostic
Administrator support.
Optional, but
recommended.

53 Proxies DNS server DNS UDP+TCP

443 Avamar ESXi hosts vSphere API

Deployment
Manager

443 Proxies ESXi hosts vSphere API

443 Proxies vCenter vSphere API

443 Avamar MCS vCenter vSphere API

902 Proxies ESX hosts VDDK

5489 Avamar Proxies CIM service Used to register

Deployment the proxy.
Manager

7444 Avamar MCS vCenter Test vCenter

credentials

27000 Proxies Avamar server GSAN Non-secured

communication communication

28009 Avamar MCS Proxies Access proxy

logs

28102 - 28109 Avamar MCS Proxies avagent paging Avamar 7.0 and
port 7.1

29000 Proxies Avamar server GSAN Secured

communication communication

30001 Proxies Avamar MCS avagent to Avamar 7.2

MCS
communication

30102-30109 Avamar MCS Proxies avagent paging Avamar 7.2

port

Note

All ports are TCP unless otherwise noted.

124 Avamar 7.4 and Service Packs for VMware User Guide
APPENDIX C
Using VMware vRealize Log Insight

This appendix includes the following topics:

l About VMware vRealize Log Insight................................................................. 126

l Configuring the Log Central Reporting Service................................................ 126
l Configuring Log Forwarding Agents .................................................................126

Using VMware vRealize Log Insight 125

Using VMware vRealize Log Insight

About VMware vRealize Log Insight

Beginning with Avamar 7.4, you can configure your image proxies to forward logs to
VMware vRealize Log Insight for centralized log management. This allows a
mechanism for identifying patterns and frequency of error types, and also to prevent
lost log entries due to log rotation.
Avamar support for Log Insight requires that the vRealize Log Insight appliance is
deployed on a vCenter. It then uses Log Forwarding Agents (LFAs) installed on proxies
or other clients to push log content to a Log Central Reporting Service (LCRS), which
is installed on a utility node or Avamar Virtual Edition server. The LCRS then forwards
the logs to the vRealize Log Insight server running on the vCenter.
This appendix describes configuration of the LCRS running on the Avamar server and
the LFAs running on proxies and other clients.

Configuring the Log Central Reporting Service

The Log Central Reporting Service (LCRS) runs on the utility node or the Avamar
Virtual Server (AVE). Use this procedure to configure the LCRS to forward logging
information from proxies to the vRealize Log Insight appliance.
Procedure
1. Log into the utility node or AVE as root.
2. Change to the /usr/local/emc-lcrs/etc/ directory.
3. Open the lcrs.ini in a text editor.
4. Edit this file as follows:

server.port=8080
forward.server=Log_Insight_Server_IP
forward.port=Log_Insight_Server_port
forward.messagePerSend=10
forward.type=LogInsight
upload.forward=true
forward.delete=true
forward.dispatch=true

where Log_Insight_Server_IP is the IP address of the vRealize Log Insight

appliance, and Log_Insight_Server_port is the port used by the vRealize Log
Insight appliance.
5. Save and close the file.

Configuring Log Forwarding Agents

Follow this procedure to configure Log Forwarding Agents (LFAs.
Procedure
1. Log in as root to the proxy that will be configured to forward log messages to
the Log Central Reporting Service (LCRS) and run the following command:
/usr/local/avamarclient/etc /proxylfa_setup.sh

126 Avamar 7.4 and Service Packs for VMware User Guide
 Using VMware vRealize Log Insight

The following appears:

Avamar VMware Log Forwarding Agent Setup

Main Menu
---------
1) Setup LCRS IP address
2) Enable Avamar VMware Log Forwarding Agent cron job
3) Disable Avamar VMware Log Forwarding Agent cron job
4) quit
Your choice:

2. Enter 1 at the prompt to enter the IP address of the Avamar utility node or AVE
running the Log Central Reporting Service (LCRS).
3. Enter 2 at the prompt to enable the LFA cron job.
The cron job will forward logs from the proxy to the LCRS every 10 minutes.
4. Enter 4 at the prompt to exit the program.

Configuring Log Forwarding Agents 127

Using VMware vRealize Log Insight

128 Avamar 7.4 and Service Packs for VMware User Guide
APPENDIX D
Plug-in Options

This appendix includes the following topics:

l How to set plug-in options................................................................................130

l VMware Image plug-in options......................................................................... 130
l Windows VMware GLR plug-in options............................................................. 132

Plug-in Options 129

Plug-in Options

How to set plug-in options

Plug-in options enable you to control specific actions for on-demand backups,
restores, and scheduled backups. The plug-in options that are available depend on the
operation type and plug-in type.
You specify plug-in options in Avamar Administrator for on-demand backup or restore
operations, or when you create a dataset for a scheduled backup. You set plug-in
options with the graphical user interface (GUI) controls (text boxes, checkboxes,
radio buttons, and so forth). In addition to using the GUI controls for the options, you
can type an option and its value in the Enter Attribute and Enter Attribute Value
fields.

NOTICE

The Avamar software does not check or validate the information that you type in the
Enter Attribute and Enter Attribute Value fields. In addition, the values in the Enter
Attribute and Enter Attribute Value fields override settings that you specify with the
GUI controls for the options.

VMware Image plug-in options

These backup and restore options are available for the Avamar VMware Image plug-in.

Table 13 Backup options for Avamar VMware Image plug-in

Setting Description
Use Changed Block Tracking (CBT) to If selected, the VMware changed block
increase performance tracking feature is used to identify areas of
the virtual machine file system that have
changed since the last backup and only
process those changed areas during the next
backup.

Note

Changed block tracking must be enabled at

the virtual machine level in order for this
feature to work.

Store backups on Data Domain system To store the backup on a Data Domain system
instead of the Avamar server, select the
checkbox and then select the Data Domain
system from the list.

Note

To enable this option, add a Data Domain

system to the Avamar configuration. The
Avamar and Data Domain System Integration
Guide provides instructions.

130 Avamar 7.4 and Service Packs for VMware User Guide
 Plug-in Options

Table 13 Backup options for Avamar VMware Image plug-in (continued)

Setting Description
Encryption method to Data Domain system Specifies the encryption method for data
transfer between the client and the Data
Domain system during the backup.

Snapshot delete retry

Max times to retry snapshot delete The maximum number of times that a
snapshot delete operations should be
attempted.

Guest credentials
Username Guest operating system user account with
sufficient privileges to run scripts.

Password Password for the guest operating system

username.

Pre-snapshot Script
Script file Full path and filename of the script that will be
run before the vmdk snapshot.

Maximum script run time (minutes) Maximum number of minutes this script is
allowed to run before timing out.

Post-snapshot Script
Script file Full path and filename of the script that will be
run after the backup completes and the vmdk
snapshot is removed.

Maximum script run time (minutes) Maximum number of minutes this script is
allowed to run before timing out.

Snapshot quiesce timeout

Snapshot quiesce timeout (minutes) Maximum number of minutes to wait before
the snapshot quiesce operation is considered
to have failed (Windows WMware Image plug-
in only)

Microsoft SQL Server authentication

NT Authentication Uses the credentials entered in Guest
Credentials for authentication. User must
have administrative privileges and must have
write permissions for the files system and
read permissions for the Windows registry.

Application Authentication Uses the SQL Server Username and SQL

Server Password to log into the SQL server.

Microsoft SQL Server post action

Post Action Timeout (minutes) Maximum number of minutes to wait before
post-action operations are considered to have
failed. Default is 900 seconds.

VMware Image plug-in options 131

Plug-in Options

Table 13 Backup options for Avamar VMware Image plug-in (continued)

Setting Description
Post Action Type of MSSQL The type of post-action operation to perform.
Available options are:
l LOG Truncation performs log truncation
after the backup has been performed.
When backing up a single VM, all disks of
the VM must be selected or log truncation
will not occur.

Table 14 Restore options for Avamar VMware Image plug-in

Setting Description
Use Changed Block Tracking (CBT) to If selected, the VMware changed block
increase performance tracking feature is used to identify areas of
the virtual machine file system that have
changed since the last backup and only
process those changed areas during this
restore operation.

Note

Changed block tracking must enabled at the

virtual machine level in order for this feature
to work.

Encryption method from Data Domain system Specifies the encryption method for data
transfer between the Data Domain system
and the client during the restore.

Windows VMware GLR plug-in options

Backup operations are not supported by the Avamar Windows VMware GLR plug-in,
and no user-configurable restore options are available.

132 Avamar 7.4 and Service Packs for VMware User Guide
APPENDIX E
Troubleshooting

This appendix includes the following topics:

l Installation and configuration problems and solutions....................................... 134

l Backup problems and solutions......................................................................... 134
l Restore problems and solutions........................................................................ 136

Troubleshooting 133
Troubleshooting

Installation and configuration problems and solutions

These are common installation and configuration problems and solutions.

Problems adding vCenter Server as Avamar client

If you encounter problems adding a vCenter Server as an Avamar client, ensure that:
l vCenter hostname, username, and password are correct.
l Port 443 is open between the Avamar server and the vCenter.
If that does not resolve the problem, try turning off certificate authentication for all
vCenter-to-Avamar MCS communications.

Proxy network settings

If a proxy is deployed with an incorrect IP address or DNS entry, it might have
registered with the Avamar server as localhost instead of the correct hostname.
Because proxies are virtual appliances managed by vCenter, once a proxy registers
with the Avamar server, it is difficult to change network settings. Doing so would
involve deleting it from the Avamar server, changing the network settings in vCenter,
then reactivating it with the Avamar server.
In most cases, the most efficient remedy is to deploy a new proxy with the correct
settings, then delete the old proxy from both Avamar and vCenter.
The vCenter documentation provides instructions for changing virtual appliance
network settings.

Error when registering guest backup or Windows recovery target client

If a virtual machine has been added to the Avamar server because it resides in a
vCenter domain, and you want to also protect that same virtual machine using guest
backup, or use that same virtual machine as a recovery target for mounting Windows
VMDKs, then you must change the mcserver.xml
allow_duplicate_client_names preference setting to true.

Backup problems and solutions

These are common backup problems and solutions.

Backup does not start

If a backup activity fails to start:
l Ensure that an Avamar Image Backup Proxy has been correctly deployed.
l Ensure that the datastore for the source virtual machine has been selected on a
running proxy server.
If that does not resolve the problem, the account used to connect to vCenter might
not have sufficient privileges. To verify account privileges, log in to the vSphere Client
or vSphere Web Client with that username and password. Ensure that you can access
datastores on that client. If you cannot, that account does not have the required
privileges.

134 Avamar 7.4 and Service Packs for VMware User Guide
 Troubleshooting

Backups fail with “No Proxy” or “No VM” errors

If backups fail with “No Proxy” or “No VM” errors, try manually synchronizing
Avamar Administrator with the vCenter hosting the virtual machines or proxies.

Changed block tracking does not take effect

Enabling changed block tracking in Avamar Administrator does not take effect until
any of the following actions occur on the virtual machine: reboot, power on, resume
after suspend, or migrate.
Therefore, if you enable changed block tracking but do not experience the expected
performance increase, use the vSphere Client or vSphere Web Client to locate any
virtual machines for which you have enabled changed block tracking, and then
perform any of the following actions: reboot, power on, resume after suspend, or
migrate.

Proxies are not assigned to backup jobs

Any time you restart the MCS, it might take some time until all proxies reconnect to
the MCS and are available for backups. Additionally, if you stop the MCS and do not
restart it within five minutes, proxies go into a sleep mode for at least 40 minutes.
To verify that a proxy is able to connect to the MCS, view that proxy's avagent.log file
and ensure that messages similar to the following appear at the end of the log history:
2014-03-20 20:34:33 avagent Info <5964>:
Requesting work from 10.7.245.161
2014-03-20 20:34:33 avagent Info <5264>:
Workorder received: sleep
2014-03-20 20:34:33 avagent Info <5996>:
Sleeping 15 seconds

VM snapshot fails backups due to incorrect pre-evaluation of available space.

The "snapshot_max_change_percent" flag tells the proxy to pre-evaluate free
datastore space to ensure that there is enough storage for the VM snapshot. The
default value is set to 5%. If the proxy incorrectly fails the backup due to the
perceived lack of storage, the value can be overridden by either changing the
percentage to "0" by the user of the policy, or by permanently overriding the value in
the proxy command file.
To permanently override this check in the proxy, log into each proxy, modify the file
"/usr/local/avamarclient/avvcbimageAll.cmd" to include the line:

-- snapshot_max_change_percent=0

This will disable this feature.

Backups fail with “No Proxy” or “No VM” errors 135

Troubleshooting

Backup and restore of vFlash Read Cache enabled VMs will use NBD
transport mode
Backup and restore of vFlash Read Cache enabled VMs will use NBD transport mode
by default
vCenter will display the error:

The
device or operation specified at index '0' is not supported for the
current virtual machine version 'vmx-07'. A minimum version of
'vmx-10' is required for this operation to succeed

If hot-add is desired then please upgrade the proxy hardware version to vmx-10 or
above.

Exchange log truncation unsupported when VMDK is encrypted via vSphere

When VMDK is encrypted via vSphere, WMware Tools will not use VSS for application
consistent quiescing. The encrypted image backup will be file-level consistent instead.
Because the Exchange server log truncation process involves the VSS writer, and in
this case the VSS writer is not involved in the snapshot quiesce, log truncation will not
be triggered.

Note

SQL server log truncation does not rely on the VSS writer; therefore SQL log
truncation is supported in this case.

Restore problems and solutions

These are common restore problems and solutions.

Preexisting snapshots cause restores to fail

Virtual machine restores will fail if a snapshot for that virtual machine already exists.
When this occurs, the restore operation will return an error message similar to the
following:
2012-12-07 09:30:26 avvcbimage FATAL <0000>: The pre-existing
snapshots from VMX '[VNXe3300-Datastore1] vm-example/vm-
example.vmx' will not permit a restore.
2012-12-07 09:30:26 avvcbimage FATAL <0000>: If necessary, use
the '--skip_snapshot_check' flag to override this pre-existing
snapshot check.
2012-12-07 09:30:26 avvcbimage Error <9759>: createSnapshot:
snapshot creation failed
To resolve this condition, you must perform a new restore of the affected virtual
machine and include the skip_snapshot_check plug-in option in the Restore
Options dialog box. This will force that restore operation to overwrite the existing
snapshot, which will enable the restore to successfully complete.
To perform a restore using the skip_snapshot_check plug-in option:

136 Avamar 7.4 and Service Packs for VMware User Guide
 Troubleshooting

1. Initiate an image restore of the affected virtual machine.

2. When you reach the point in the procedure that instructs you to set restore
options in the Restore Options dialog box, perform the following additional steps:
a. Click More Options.
The Restore Command Line Options dialog box appears.
b. Click More.
c. Type [avvcbimage]skip_snapshot_check in the Enter Attribute field.
d. Type true in the Enter Attribute Value field.
e. Click +.
The [avvcbimage]skip_snapshot_check=true entry appears in the plug-in
options list.
f. Click OK.
3. Proceed with the remainder of the restore procedure.

Restore to new virtual machine not available when physical RDM disks are
involved
If you back up a virtual machine that has both virtual disks and physical Raw Device
Mapping (RDM) disks, the backup will successfully process the virtual disks, bypass
the RDM disks.
However, when restoring data from one of these backups, you can restore the data to
the original virtual machine, or redirect it to another existing virtual machine.
However, you cannot restore data to a new virtual machine.
Note that because the physical RDM disks were not processed during the backup,
data residing on the physical RDM disks cannot be restored at all.
If you need to restore data to a new virtual machine, you must:
1. Manually create a new virtual machine in vCenter.
2. This new virtual machine must have the same number of virtual disks as the
original virtual machine from which the backup was taken.
3. Manually add the new virtual machine to Avamar.
4. Restore the data to this virtual machine.

FLR browse of a granular disk backup without a partition table is not

supported
When a non-LVM granular disk backup is performed of a disk that does not have a
partition table, FLR browsing of the backup will fail with the error:

Failed to mount disks. Verify that all the disks on the VM have
valid/supported partitions.

The workaround for this issue is to perform a full image backup of all disks on the VM,
then restore the files or folders from the disk that does not have a partition table.

Fault tolerance disabled when restore to new virtual machine is performed

When a fault-tolerant virtual machine is restored to a new virtual machine, fault
tolerance is disabled. You will need to enable fault tolerance after the machine is

Restore to new virtual machine not available when physical RDM disks are involved 137
Troubleshooting

restored to a new virtual machine. VMware documentation contains information

regarding how to enable fault tolerance.

Restore to new virtual machine to Virtual SAN 5.5 will fail

Restore to new virtual machine to a Virtual SAN 5.5 will fail with the message unable
to access file if the restore is of a multiple disk VM using a mix of datastore
types (VSAN and VMFS or NFS and the restore of first disk is to a non-VSAN
datastore. To workaround this issue, select a VSAN datastore for the first disk of the
VM. This issue is not seen in VSAN 6.0.

Powering on an instant access vFlash-VM backup to a host without flash

capacity configured fails
Powering on an instant access vFlash-VM backup to a host without flash capacity
configured fails with the following error:

The available virtual flash resource '0' MB ('0' bytes) is not

sufficient for the requested operation

To workaround this issue, disable flash cache in VM before powering on.

Maximum number of NFS mounts with instant access issue

When using the instant access feature, if the following error message is displayed, the
maximum number of NFS mounts as configured in vSphere may be insufficient.

vmir Error <0000>: Mount NFS datastore failed to start with error:
Failed to create Data Domain

A related message may be displayed in vSphere as well:

vmir Error <0000>: NFS has reached the maximum number of supported
volumes.

The solution to this problem is to increase the number of NFS mountpoint configured
on vSphere. The VMware knowledge base article https://kb.vmware.com/selfservice/
microsites/search.do?language=en_US&cmd=displayKC&externalId=2239 contains
information and procedures to increase the number of mount points.

File-level restore on RHEL 5 requires the standard C++ library

When using HTTPS for enhanced FLR performance on RHEL 5.x, ACLs will be
incorrect after restore unless the standard C++ library is installed.

File-level restore of a folder or file name containing certain special characters

fails
The use of the backslash (\) or the double quote (") in folder or file names is not
supported with FLR.

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GLOSSARY

activation The process of passing the client ID (CID) back to the client, where it is stored in an
encrypted file on the client file system.

See also client activation

application-consistent The state of a virtual machine in which the virtual file system writes have been
completed and all running applications have been quiesced.

Avamar Administrator A graphical management console software application that is used to remotely
administer an Avamar system from a supported Windows or Linux client computer.

Avamar server The server component of the Avamar client/server system. Avamar server is a fault-
tolerant, high-availability system that efficiently stores the backups from all protected
clients. It also provides essential processes and services required for data restores,
client access, and remote system administration. Avamar server runs as a distributed
application across multiple networked storage nodes.

backup A point-in-time copy of client data that can be restored as individual files, selected data,
or as an entire backup.

changed block tracking A VMware feature that tracks which virtual machine file system blocks have changed
(CBT) between backups.

client activation The process of passing the client ID (CID) back to the client, where it is stored in an
encrypted file on the client file system.

See also activation

client registration The process of establishing an identity with the Avamar server. When Avamar
recognizes the client, it assigns a unique client ID (CID), which it passes back to the
client during client activation.

See also registration

crash-consistent The state of a virtual machine that is consistent with what would occur by interrupting
power to a physical computer. Because file system writes might or might not be in
progress when power is interrupted, there is always the possibility of some data loss
when backing up a crash-consistent file system.

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Glossary

datacenter In VMware vSphere environments, a datacenter comprises the basic physical building
blocks. These physical building blocks include virtualization servers, storage networks
and arrays, IP networks, and a management server. Each vSphere vCenter can manage
multiple datacenters.

Data Domain system Disk-based deduplication appliances and gateways that provide data protection and
disaster recovery (DR) in the enterprise environment.

dataset A policy that defines a set of files, directories, and file systems for each supported
platform that are included or excluded in backups across a group of clients. A dataset is
a persistent and reusable Avamar policy that can be named and attached to multiple
groups.

datastore In VMware vSphere environments, a datastore is the storage resources used by a

datacenter.

ESX/ESXi Server A virtualization layer run on physical servers that abstracts processor, memory, storage,
and resources into multiple virtual machines. ESX Servers provide an integrated service
console; ESXi Servers do not.

file system-consistent The state of a virtual machine in which the virtual file system has been quiesced (that
is, all file system writes have been completed).

group A level of organization in Avamar Administrator for one or more Avamar clients. All
clients in an Avamar group use the same group policies, which include the dataset,
schedule, and retention policy.

group policy The dataset, schedule, and retention policy for all clients in an Avamar group.

guest backup A method of protecting a virtual machine in which backup software is installed directly
in the guest operating system just as if it were a physical machine.

image backup A method for protecting virtual machines hosted in a vCenter in which a backup is taken
of entire virtual disk images. Avamar for VMware image backup is fully integrated with
vCenter Server to provide detection of virtual machine clients, and enable efficient
centralized management of backup jobs

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 Glossary

MCS Management console server. The server subsystem that provides centralized
administration (scheduling, monitoring, and management) for the Avamar server. The
MCS also runs the server-side processes used by Avamar Administrator.

plug-in Avamar client software that recognizes a particular kind of data resident on that client.

plug-in options Options that you specify during backup or restore to control backup or restore
functionality.

proxy A virtual machine that is used to perform image backups, image restores, and file-level
restores of other virtual machines. Proxies run Avamar software inside a Linux virtual
machine, and are deployed in a vCenter using an appliance template (.ova) file.

registration The process of establishing an identity with the Avamar server. When Avamar
recognizes the client, it assigns a unique client ID (CID), which it passes back to the
client during client activation.

See also client registration

restore An operation that retrieves one or more file systems, directories, files, or data objects
from a backup and writes the data to a designated location.

retention The time setting to automatically delete backups on an Avamar server. Retention can be
set to permanent for backups that should not be deleted from an Avamar server.
Retention is a persistent and reusable Avamar policy that can be named and attached to
multiple groups.

schedule The ability to control the frequency and the start and end time each day for backups of
clients in a group. A schedule is a persistent and reusable Avamar policy that can be
named and attached to multiple groups.

Storage vMotion A VMware feature the enables migration of a live virtual machine from one datastore to
another.

vCenter Server A centralized single point of management and control for one or more VMware
datacenters.

vSphere Client A VMware software application used to control and manage a vCenter. The vSphere
Client is also known as the "thick client."

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Glossary

vSphere Web Client A VMware web interface used to control and manage a vCenter.

142 Avamar 7.4 and Service Packs for VMware User Guide