You can back up NSX Manager data by performing an on-demand backup or a scheduled backup.

Procedure

  1. Log in to the NSX Manager Virtual Appliance.
  2. Click Backup & Restore.
  3. To specify the backup location, click Change next to FTP Server Settings.
    1. Enter the IP address or host name of the backup system.
    2. From the Transfer Protocol drop-down menu, select either SFTP or FTP, based on what the destination supports.
    3. Edit the default port if necessary.
    4. Enter the user name and password required to log in to the backup system.
    5. In the Backup Directory text box, enter the absolute path for storing the backups.
      Note: If you do not provide a backup directory, backup is stored to the default directory (home directory) of the FTP server.
      To determine the absolute path, log in to the FTP server, navigate to the directory that you want to use, and run the present working directory command ( pwd). For example: 
      PS C:\Users\Administrator> ftp 192.168.110.60
Connected to 192.168.110.60.
220 server-nfs FTP server ready.
User (192.168.110.60:(none)): admin
331 Password required for admin.
Password:
230 User admin logged in.
ftp> ls
200 PORT command successful.
150 Opening BINARY mode data connection for 'file list'.
datastore-01
226 Transfer complete.
ftp: 22 bytes received in 0.00Seconds 22000.00Kbytes/sec.
ftp> cd datastore-01
250 CWD command successful.
ftp> pwd
257 "/datastore-01" is current directory.
    6. Enter a text string in Filename Prefix.
      This text is prepended to each backup filename to help you easily recognize the file on the backup system. For example, if you enter ppdb, the resulting backup file is named as ppdbHH_MM_SS_YYYY_Mon_Day.
      Note: Files in the Backup Directory must be limited to 100. If the number of files in the directory exceeds this limit, a warning message is displayed.
    7. Enter a pass phrase to secure the backup.
      Pass phrase is required to restore the backup.
    8. Click OK.

    For example:

    Option Example
    IP/Host name 192.168.110.60
    Transfer Protocol FTP
    Port 21
    User name admin
    Password *****
    Backup Directory /datastore-01
    Filename Prefix nsxmgr-backup
    Pass Phrase *****
  4. For an on-demand backup, click Backup.
    A new file is added under Backup History.
  5. (Required) For scheduled backups, click Change next to Scheduling.
    1. From the Backup Frequency drop-down menu, select Hourly, Daily, or Weekly. The Day of Week, Hour of Day, and Minute drop-down menus are disabled based on the selected frequency. For example, if you select Daily, the Day of Week drop-down menu is disabled because this drop-down menu is not applicable to a daily frequency.
    2. For a weekly backup, select the day of the week the data should be backed up.
    3. For a weekly or daily backup, select the hour at which the backup should begin.
    4. Select the minute to begin and click Schedule.
    Option Example
    Backup Frequency Weekly
    Day of week Friday
    Hour of day 15
    Minute 45
  6. To exclude logs and flow data from being backed up, click Change next to Exclude.
    1. Select the items that you want to exclude from the backup.
    2. Click OK.
  7. Save your FTP server IP/hostname, credentials, directory details, and pass phrase. This information is required to restore the backup.