If an NSX Manager or a Global Manager appliance becomes inoperable, or if you want to restore your environment to a previous state, you can restore from a backup. While the appliance is inoperable, the data plane is not affected, but you cannot make configuration changes.

You can restore an NSX-T Data Center configuration back to the state that is captured in any of the backups.

When restoring a backup, you must restore to new appliances running the same version of NSX-T Data Center as the appliances that were backed up.

There are two backup methods:
  • Recurring: Recurring backups run based on a customizable schedule and ensure that you have up-to-date backups. You can also trigger a recurring backup for configuration changes.

    When you set up recurring backups, the system backs up the inventory every five minutes. Inventory backups provide the latest inventory updates, such as the addition or removal of a Transport Node, to the restore.

    Inventory backups do not get collected for Global Manager.

  • Manual: You manually run the backup at any time.

    Manual backups do not include inventory backups.

Important: Do not use snapshots to back up NSX-T Data Center appliances. See Disable Snapshots on NSX-T Data Center Appliances in the NSX-T Data Center Installation Guide for more information and instructions.