Backing Up Data › Global Backup Options › Backup Manager Agent Options › Agent for Virtual Machines Options

Agent for Virtual Machines Options

The options that follow affect all VM backups in your environment at the job level.

Backup Mode Options

The options that follow determine the backup method used for the backup.

• File Mode--Lets you protect individual files and directories. File mode backup lets you perform the tasks that follow:
  • Back up files and directories at file level granularity contained in VM.
  • Perform full, incremental, and differential backups.
  • Restore data at file level granularity.
  • Process multiple streams of data simultaneously using the Multistreaming option.
  • Filter data using the Filter option.

  Note: The elapsed time required to perform a file level backup of a full VM is greater than the elapsed time required to perform a raw (full VM) level backup of the same volume.

• Raw Mode--Lets you protect entire systems for disaster recovery. Raw mode backup lets you perform the tasks that follow:
  • Perform full backups of full VM images only.
  • Process multiple streams of data simultaneously using the multistreaming option.

  Note: Raw mode does not let you restore data at file level granularity or filter raw (full VM) data. Filters applied to raw mode (full VM) backups are ignored at runtime.

• Mixed Mode--Mixed mode is the default backup mode. Mixed mode lets you perform the tasks that follow:
  • Perform GFS and rotation backup jobs that consist of weekly full backups in full VM (raw) mode and daily incremental and differential backups in file mode in a single backup job.

  Note: Rotation and GFS rotation jobs are advantageous in that they contain backup data that provides you with daily protection (file level backups) and disaster recovery protection (raw, full VM backups) in a single backup job.

• Allow file level restore--Lets you back up data using Raw Mode efficiency and restore data with File level granularity. 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.

  Allow file level restore lets you perform the tasks that follow:

  • Restore data at file level granularity from Raw Mode (full VM) backups.
  • Restore data at file level granularity from Mixed Mode backups.

  With the Allow file level restore option, Arcserve Backup demonstrates the following behavior:

You can use the Allow file level restore option with all types of backups, including custom backups, rotation backups, and GFS rotations that consist of full, incremental, and differential backups. The full backups are captured in raw (full VM) mode and the incremental and differential backups are captured in file level backup mode. If you do not specify Allow file level restore, Arcserve Backup restores only the incremental and differential backups. The full backup, which is captured in Raw mode, is not included with the restore.

Transport Mode for VMware VM Options

The options that follow determine the transport method used for backup for VMware virtual machines.

• Dynamic--(default) This option lets VMware Virtual Disk Development Kit (VDDK) select the available transport mode.
• SAN--(Storage Area Network) This option lets you transfer backup data from proxy systems connected to the SAN to storage devices using Fibre Channel communication.
• HOTADD--This option lets you back up virtual machines configured with SCSI disks.
• NBDSSL--(Network Block Device Secure Sockets Layer) This option lets you use the Network File Copy (NFC) protocol to communicate. NBDSSL transfers encrypted data using TCP/IP communication networks.
• NBD--(Network Block Device, also referred to as LAN transport mode) This option lets you use the Network File Copy (NFC) protocol to communicate. Various VDDK and VCB operations use one connection for each virtual disk that it accesses on each ESX/ESXi Server host when using NBD.

Note: If the specified transport mode is not available, the transport mode defaults back to the Dynamic option.

Incremental / Differential Method for VMware VM Options

Lets you specify the communication method that Arcserve Backup will use to transfer incremental and differential backup data on VMware VMs to the backup proxy system.

• Use VDDK--Lets Arcserve Backup use VMware Virtual Disk Development Kit to transfer incremental and differential backup data to backup proxy systems. Use this option when you want to reduce the load on your network.

  Note: Use VDDK is the default setting.

• Use Client Agent--Lets Arcserve Backup use Client Agent for Windows communication to transfer incremental and differential backup data to backup proxy systems. With this option specified, Arcserve Backup transfers data via your network.