Creating Plans to Protect Data › How to Create a Host-Based Virtual Machine Backup Plan › Create a Host-Based Backup Plan › Specify the Source › Define a Transport Mode in the Registry for Host-Based Agentless Backup and Restore

Define a Transport Mode in the Registry for Host-Based Agentless Backup and Restore

You can define transport mode (transfer data) for UDP agent as proxy that executes host-based agentless backup or restore job for virtual machines residing on VMware ESX server. By default, host-based agentless backup and restore uses a mode that lets host-based agentless backup and restore to optimize the performance (increase the speed) of the data transfer. However, when you want to specify a particular transport mode for backup or restore, configure the registry key described in this topic.

Note: For backup, the transport mode defined in plan takes precedence over what is defined in registry.

Host-based VM backup can execute backups using the following transport modes:

• HOTADD transport mode
• NBD transport mode
• NBDSSL transport mode
• SAN transport mode

Be aware of the following considerations:

• This is an optional configuration task. By default, host-based VM backup executes backups using a transport mode that optimizes the performance of the backup operation.
• When you configure this registry key to use a specific transport mode and the mode is not available, the host-based VM backup uses an available default transport mode for the backup operation.
• You can define the transport mode for all VMs that are used for backup using the proxy server (proxy level) or define a specific VM (VM level). If you configure both the proxy server and the VM, the VM level registry takes precedence over the proxy level registry.

Follow these steps to define the transport mode at the proxy server level (applicable for both backup and restore):

1. Log in to the Arcserve UDP Agent (Windows) backup proxy server.
2. Open Windows Registry Editor and browse to the following key:

   [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Arcserve\Unified Data Protection\Engine]
   

3. Right-click VDDKEnforceTransport and click Modify on the pop-up menu to open the Edit String dialog.
4. In the Value Data field, specify the transport mode that you want to use during the backup job. Specify one or more of the following values separated by ":". (For example nbd or san:nbd:nbdssl:)

   hotadd

   HOTADD transport mode

   nbd

   NBD transport mode

   nbdssl

   NBDSSL transport mode

   san

   SAN transport mode

5. Click OK to apply the value and close the Edit String dialog.

The transport mode is defined and is used the next time when the job runs.

Note: To restore thin Virtual Machine Disks (VMDK), the non-advanced transport (LAN transport mode) mode is used by default. To enable the advanced transport mode for thin VMDK, update the registry key as shown in the following example:

1. Open Windows Registry Editor and browse to the following key:

   [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Arcserve\Unified Data Protection\Engine]
   

2. Create a key named AFRestoreDll.
3. Create a string value named EnforceTransportForRecovery within the AFRestoreDll key.
4. Specify the transport mode that you want to use during the recovery job. (For example: "san:nbd:nbdssl")

Example

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Arcserve\Unified Data Protection\Engine\AFRestoreDll]

"EnforceTransportForRecovery"="san:hotadd:nbd:nbdssl"

Follow these steps to define the transport mode at the VM level (applicable for backup only):

1. Log in to the Arcserve UDP Agent (Windows) backup proxy server for the virtual machines.
2. Open Windows Registry Editor and browse to the following key:

   [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Arcserve\Unified Data Protection\Engine\AFBackupDll\{VM-InstanceUUID}
   

3. Right-click VM-InstanceUUID and select New.
4. Click String Value on the pop-up menu.
5. Name the new string value as follows.

   EnforceTransport
   

6. Right-click EnforceTransport and click Modify on the pop-up menu to open the Edit String dialog.
7. In the Value Data field, specify the transport mode that you want to use during the backup job. Specify one of the following values:

   hotadd

   HOTADD transport mode

   nbd

   NBD transport mode

   nbdssl

   NBDSSL transport mode

   san

   SAN transport mode

8. Click OK to apply the value and close the Edit String dialog.

The transport mode is defined and is used the next time when the job runs.