Knowledge Base

Backing up and restoring VMware vCloud Infrastructure

This article applies:

• Acronis Backup & Recovery 10 Advanced Server - Virtual Edition

Introduction

The vCloud infrastructure provides a powerful architecture. This results in new requirements on how backups should be performed. This article outlines methods of backing up the vCloud environments using Acronis Backup & Recovery 10.

Solution

Configuration and deployment

Acronis offers two different methods for backing up the cloud environment. Thus giving both the end user and cloud provider flexibility in their implementation. The first method will empower the organizations to manage the backups themselves, while the second method empowers the vCloud providers to set the backup policies.

Organization Level Setup

Setup

Two virtual machines are necessary for setup at this level.

The first virtual machine would serve as the management machine and would include the following Acronis components:

• Acronis Management Console
• Acronis Management Server
• Acronis License Server

The second virtual machine will be the destination of the backups. This machine can either be a simple machine running a network share (cifs/smbfs) or it can be a Windows machine if you want to take advantage of Acronis deduplication technology. To take advantage of this technology, you would need to install the Acronis Storage Node on the machine (for more information on the deduplication you can refer to Acronis Backup & Recovery 10: Deduplication Best Practices).

vCloud administrators should either provide templates that include Acronis Backup & Recovery 10 Agent installed on them or should let the end user install the agent components and configure the system manually. Alternatively, once the management machine is deployed, the administrator of the machine can deploy the Acronis Agents to the machine(s) he wants to back up. This can be done by launching the Acronis Management Console and going to Tools -> Install Acronis components and pointing the software to the deployed vApp in need of backup. For information on performing an install of these components, please refer to the product installation guide.

Performing a Backup

1. Remotely connect to the machine running the Acronis Management Server;
2. Launch Acronis Management Console (Start -> All Programs -> Acronis -> Acronis Backup & Recovery 10 Management Console -> Acronis Backup & Recovery 10);
3. Connect to the Acronis Management Server (Connect -> New connection -> Connect to a management server and enter localhost as the name of the server to connect to);
4. Create Policies:
   1. In the navigation panel, right-click on Backup policies and select Create backup policy;
   2. Name your policy and pick the partition to back up. Default will be system, in most cases, All Volumes will be more appropriate;
   3. Select a destination for the backup, CIFS, FTP, Acronis Storage Node;
   4. Schedule the policy and set a retention rule.
5. Click OK to apply and pick the machine(s) or group to which you want to deploy the backup policy.

Performing a Restore

When performing a recovery, make sure that you recover all the virtual machines that are part of the vApp. This will ensure that the vApp functions properly. For detailed instructions on how to restore using Acronis Bootable Media see Restoring to Dissimilar Hardware with Acronis Backup & Recovery 10 Universal Restore.

1. Deploy a new vApp;
2. Attach the Acronis Bootable Media to the virtual machines which include the vApp;
3. Boot the machine from the CD;
4. Point to the storage;
5. Launch the restore.

Note that by leveraging Acronis Universal Restore, you could also restore a backup of a physical machine into a virtual machine.

VMware vCloud Setup

Setup

One central management machine will be deployed on a per Datacenter basis. Deploy the virtual appliances to the VMware infrastructure either through the Acronis Management Server interface or by using the deploy OVF template option offered by the VI client when you connect to vCenter.

To set up a backup job, the vCloud provider will connect to the Acronis Management Server and create policy according to the needs of the Customer. The policy would then be applied to either the specific machines that need to be protected or to the groups associated with Organization(s):

Detailed steps:

1. Remotely connect to the machine running the Acronis Management Server;
2. Launch Acronis Management console (Start -> All Programs -> Acronis -> Acronis Backup & Recovery 10 Management Console -> Acronis Backup & Recovery 10);
3. Connect to the Acronis Management Server (Connect -> New connection -> Connect to a management server and enter localhost as the name of the server to connect to);
4. Enable vCenter Integration:
   1. Under the navigation panel, right-click on Virtual machines -> All virtual machines and select VMware vCenter integration.
   2. Enter the name of the vCenter server and the credentials required to connect to it.

      See also Acronis Backup & Recovery 10: vCenter Integration.

5. Deploy Appliance(s) to the clusters in the environment:
   1. Right-click on the vCenter icon below All virtual machines and select Deploy ESX agents. Select the datastore and network to be associated with the appliance, then point the license to the name or IP of the machine

      Note: if you do not have DHCP, you should deploy the appliance manually. The .ovf file is located in C:\Program Files\Acronis\ESXAppliance\ or in C:\Program Files (x86)\Acronis\ESXAppliance\ and can be added by connecting to the vCenter server and going to File -> Deploy OVF template. See also Installation of Acronis Backup & Recovery 10 Agent for ESX/ESXi.

Creating Backups

1. Create Policies:
   1. In the navigation panel, right-click on Backup policies and select Create backup policy;
   2. Name your policy and pick the partition to back up. Default will be system, in most cases, All Volumes will be more appropriate;
   3. Select a destination for the backup, CIFS, FTP, Acronis Storage Node;
   4. Schedule the policy and specify the retention rules;
   5. Optional: Set up a conversion job to have a standby copy of the virtual machine ready;
   6. Select OK.
2. Deploy Policy:
   1. Select the policy and select Apply;
   2. Under Virtual machines, you can apply the policy to individual machine(s) or to Resource Pools corresponding to vDC in the cloud.

Performing Restores

1. Connect to the Acronis Management Server;
2. Select Recover;
3. Select the appliance/cluster to which you want to recover;
4. Under What to recover, select the archive to restore;
5. Configure the virtual machine (new name, different RAM, vCPU etc) and click OK;
6. Once the recovery is done, the virtual machine needs to be imported into the vCloud catalog by using the Import from vSphere option.

More information

For more information on vCloud infrastructure see VMware vCloud.