How Global and Local Backup Options Work

Backing Up Data › Using Global and Local Backup Options › How Global and Local Backup Options Work

How Global and Local Backup Options Work

Backup options let you define how Arcserve Backup backs up data stored on VMs. Arcserve Backup lets you process backup data using the following backup options:

File mode--Lets you back up data that resides on a VM as individual files and directories. File mode backup lets you restore VM backup data at file level granularity. By default, the agent always uses VDDK for all backups and all versions of ESX Server.
Raw (full VM) mode--Lets you back up a full image of data that resides on a VM. Raw (full VM) mode lets you back up data that can be used for disaster recovery operations.
Mixed mode--Lets you perform full backups of data in raw (full VM) mode and incremental and differential backups in file mode. Mixed mode backup lets you perform scheduled backups and GFS rotation backups. In addition, Mixed mode backups are advantageous in that you can perform weekly, full backups at raw (full VM) efficiency and daily, incremental and differential backups at file level granularity.
Note: Mixed mode backup is the default backup mode.
Allow file level restore--Lets you restore raw (full VM) mode backups and mixed mode backups at file level granularity.
Note: To perform granular file level restores from raw (full VM) backups, you must specify the name of the Arcserve Backup server on your VMs. For more information, see Specify the Name of the Arcserve Backup Server.

The following dialog illustrates the VM backup modes that you can specify from the Global Options dialog:

Backup Manager Global Options dialog with the Agent Options tab selected and the Agent for Virtual Machines options display.

You can specify backup modes as either a global backup option or a local backup option.

Global backup option--Lets you apply Backup Modes globally to all backup jobs that relate to all VMs in VMware and Hyper-V systems in your environment. For more information, see Specify Backup Modes as a Global Backup Option.
Local backup option--Lets you apply a Backup Mode to individual VMware and Hyper-V VMs at the job level. For more information, see Specify Backup Modes as a Local Backup Option.

Note: When you specify backup modes at the global level and at the local level, Arcserve Backup always executes the backup job using the local backup options specified for the individual VM.

The table that follows describes how backup modes behave:

Backup Mode Specified	Global Incremental/Differential Method Specified	Outcome on VMware Systems	Outcome on Hyper-V Systems
Mixed (specified as a global or local option)	Use VDDK	Arcserve Backup processes the raw (full) VM backup data and the file mode backup data (incremental and differential backups) using VDDK. With mixed mode backups, by default, the agent processes raw (full) mode backups and file mode backups using VDDK.	Arcserve Backup processes the weekly, full backups in raw mode using the VSS Hyper-V writer and the subsequent daily, incremental and differential backups in file mode via the Agent for Virtual Machines that is running on the VM Note: The Use VDDK global option does not affect backups on Hyper-V systems.

Backup Mode Specified

Global Incremental/Differential Method Specified

Outcome on VMware Systems

Outcome on Hyper-V Systems

Mixed (specified as a global or local option)

Use VDDK

Arcserve Backup processes the raw (full) VM backup data and the file mode backup data (incremental and differential backups) using VDDK.

With mixed mode backups, by default, the agent processes raw (full) mode backups and file mode backups using VDDK.

Arcserve Backup processes the weekly, full backups in raw mode using the VSS Hyper-V writer and the subsequent daily, incremental and differential backups in file mode via the Agent for Virtual Machines that is running on the VM

Note: The Use VDDK global option does not affect backups on Hyper-V systems.

Examples: How to Apply Backup Options

To have the capability to back up data with raw (full VM) efficiency and to restore data at file level granularity, the best practice is accept the default backup mode options and apply them globally to all of your backups. To protect a single VM, such as a VM that is running a supported non-Windows operating system, you can specify the backup options for the individual VM, or, as a local backup option and retain the options specified globally for all backups.

Your backup environment consists of many servers with VMs installed. Most of your backups consist of VMs that require a rotation backup. The remaining servers require full backups in file level mode. To simplify the process of configuration, you can apply the mixed mode backup mode globally to all backups and then apply the file level backup mode locally to all servers where you want to perform file level backups.