To minimize vRealize Operations Manager downtime and data loss if a failure occurs, back up on a regular basis. If your system fails, you can recover it by restoring to the last full or incremental backup.

You can backup and restore vRealize Operations Manager single-node or multi-node clusters by using backup tools. You can perform full or incremental backups and restores of virtual machines.

Note: All nodes are backed up and restored at the same time. You cannot back up and restore individual nodes.

Guidelines for Planning Backups

Verify that the following prerequisites are met before you back up vRealize Operations Manager systems by using any tool.
  • Do not quiesce the file system if the cluster cannot be taken offline.
  • Use a resolvable host name and a static IP address for all nodes.
  • All nodes must be in the same power state and accessible during backup.
  • Back up the entire VM. You must back up all VMDK files that are part of the virtual appliance.
  • Do not change the state of the cluster while the backups are in progress.
Verify that the following prerequisites are met for the vCenter server where vRealize Operations Manager is deployed.
  • The vSphere Data Protection appliance is installed on the vCenter Server instance where the vRealize Operations Manager cluster is deployed.
  • You have sufficient disk space available for your vSphere Data Protection instance. This depends on the size of the multi-node cluster that you want to back up
  • Use the vSphere Web Client to log in as an administrator to the vCenter Server instance that manages your environment.
  • In the vSphere Web Client verify that the virtual machines have the latest version of VMware Tools installed.
Note: Do not perform a backup while dynamic threshold (DT) calculations are running because this backup might lead to performance problems or loss of nodes. DT calculations run at 2 a.m. by default. The initial backup might take longer to complete depending on the cluster size and number of nodes, so you should turn off the DT. Schedule the differential or incremental backups so that they end before the DT calculations begin.

If you are using backup tools, such as NetBackup and vSphere Data Protection, and have manually created vSphere snapshots of any of the VMs to be backed up, be aware that the tools delete all existing snapshots at the time of the backup or restore.

It is highly recommended to take a backup during quiet periods. Since a snapshot based backup happens at the block level, it is important that there are limited or no changes being performed by a user on the cluster configuration. This will ensure that you have a healthy backup.

It is best to take the cluster offline before you back up the vRealize Operations Manager nodes. This will ensure the data consistency across the nodes and internally in the node. You can either shut down the VM before the backup or enable quiescing.

If the cluster remains online, backup your vRealize Operations Manager multi-node cluster by using vSphere Data Protection or other backup tools, disable quiescing of the file system.

Common Backup Scenarios

The common backup scenarios for vRealize Operations Manager systems include a full backup of a single node virtual appliance system and a full backup of a multiple node virtual appliance cluster.

Single-Node Virtual Appliance

This scenario backs up a single-node system on the same host.
  1. Assign a static IP address.
  2. Ensure that the power is on for the entire backup process.
  3. If the system is a Linux or Windows installation, you need to prepare the system before you start the backup. For more information, see Preparing for vRealize Operations Manager Installation in the VMware vRealize Operations Manager Documentation Center.

Multiple-Node Virtual Appliance Clusters

This scenario backs up a multiple-node virtual appliance clusters.

  1. Assign a static IP address for each node.
  2. Ensure that all nodes that are configured with high availability are accessible and are enabled for high availability.
  3. Ensure that the power remains on during the entire backup process.
  4. If the system is a Linux or Windows installation, you must prepare the system before you start the backup. For more information, see Preparing for vRealize Operations Manager Installation in the VMware vRealize Operations Manager Documentation Center.