VMware Validated Design Backup and Restore provides guidance on the use of a vSphere Storage API - Data Protection (VADP) solution for performing backup and restore of the management components in the Software-Defined Data Center (SDDC).

After you deploy the VMware Validated Design™ for Software-Defined Data Center, backing up management components ensures that you can keep your environment operational if a data loss or failure occurs. You implement scheduled backups to prepare for:

  • A critical failure of any management component

  • An upgrade of any management component

  • Updating the certificate of any management component

Intended Audience

VMware Validated Design Backup and Restore is intended for cloud architects, infrastructure administrators, cloud administrators, and cloud operators who are familiar with and want to use VMware software to deploy and manage an SDDC that meets the requirements for capacity, scalability, backup and restore, and extensibility for disaster recovery support.

Required Software

In addition to the VMware Validated Design SDDC deployment, you must download and install a tool for backing up and restoring your SDDC. When choosing your backup tool, verify that the tool includes the following features:

  • vSphere Storage API - Data Protection (VADP) compliance

  • Availability of file-level backup agents

  • Availability of a SQL Server backup agent.

  • Ability to restore directly to a VMware ESXi™ host when the VMware vCenter Server® instance is unavailable

  • Compatibility with the software versions deployed in your SDDC. See VMware Validated Design Release Notes.

Before You Apply This Guidance

The sequence of the documentation of VMware Validated Design follows the stages for implementing and maintaining an SDDC. See the Guided Documentation Map.

To use VMware Validated Design Backup and Restore, you must be acquainted with the following guidance:

  • Introducing VMware Validated Designs

  • VMware Validated Design Architecture and Design

  • VMware Validated Design Planning and Preparation

  • If you perform a clean deployment:

    • VMware Validated Design Deployment of Region A

    • VMware Validated Design Deployment of Region B

    • Optionally VMware Validated Design Deployment of Multiple Availability Zones

  • If you upgrade from an older version of VMware Validated Design, VMware Validated Design Upgrade