NSX Backup and Restore

Proper backup of all NSX Data Center for vSphere components is crucial to restore the system to its working state in the event of a failure.

The NSX Manager backup contains all of the NSX Data Center for vSphere configuration, including controllers, logical switching and routing entities, security, firewall rules, and everything else that you configure within the NSX Manager UI or API. The vCenter database and related elements like the virtual switches need to be backed up separately.

At a minimum, we recommend taking regular backups of NSX Manager and vCenter. Your backup frequency and schedule might vary based on your business needs and operational procedures. We recommend taking NSX backups frequently during times of frequent configuration changes.

NSX Manager backups can be taken on demand or on an hourly, daily, or weekly basis. The backup checksum file is produced with the SHA256 algorithm.

We recommend taking backups in the following scenarios:

• Before an NSX Data Center for vSphere or vCenter upgrade.
• After an NSX Data Center for vSphere or vCenter upgrade.
• After Day Zero deployment and initial configuration of NSX Data Center for vSphere components, such as after the creation of the NSX Controller cluster, logical switches, logical routers, edge services gateways, security, and firewall policies.
• After infrastructure or topology changes.
• After any major Day 2 change.

To provide an entire system state at a given time to roll back to, we recommend synchronizing NSX Data Center for vSphere component backups (such as NSX Manager) with your backup schedule for other interacting components, such as vCenter, cloud management systems, operational tools, and so on.