TvSphere Data Protection is a disk-based backup and recovery solution that is fully integrated with vCenter Server and vSphere Web Client to enable centralized management of backup and restore tasks, while storing backups in deduplicated backup storage. Managing the backup and restore tasks is accomplished through the vSphere Data Protection UI, which is an add on plug-in to the vSphere Web Client.
vSphere Data Protection creates image-level backups, which are integrated with the VMware vSphere® vStorage APIs for Data Protection, a feature set within VMware vSphere used to offload the backup processing overhead from a virtual machine to the VDP appliance. The VDP appliance communicates with the vCenter Server to make a snapshot of the .vmdk files in a virtual machine. Deduplication takes place within the appliance, using a patented variable length deduplication technology.
vSphere Data Protection is distributed in a prepackaged OVA file. The vSphere Data Protection appliance is responsible for the backup and restore of the management components residing within the management cluster. vSphere Data Protection is configured so the appliance backs up the data to a deduplicated backup datastore, which is different from the datastore hosting management components.
vSphere Data Protection protects the management cluster through the vCenter Server management layer. Connectivity through vCenter Server provides vSphere Data Protection with visibility to all ESXi servers in the management clusters, and therefore to all management components that must be backed up.
The initial configuration of the vSphere Data Protection appliance should be set to 6 terabytes. The additional disk space required above the usable capacity of the appliance is for creating and managing checkpoints. Backups can be configured to protect required components from the management cluster. In a disaster recovery or data loss event, the protected components can be restored to resume normal services based on the RPO. The target location must meet the minimum performance requirements for mitigation.
RPO. vSphere Data Protection can perform daily backups at scheduled intervals for required components within the management cluster. The RPO value and the backup start time must be set as required based on the business needs. It is recommended to schedule backups during off-peak business hours.
Retention Policies. Retention policies are the properties of a backup job. It is important to group management components in a backup job by business priorities and by the retention requirements set based on the business needs.
Monitoring. CPU, memory, network, disk performance, and the capacity of the vSphere Data Protection appliance are monitored by vRealize Operations Manager, with syslog events sent to vRealize Log Insight. Capacity can be viewed through vSphere Data Protection reports.
For backup of vCenter components and NSX Manager data, respective inbuilt backup mechanisms can be leveraged.
