Learn how to back up and restore with the Veeam Plug-in for VMware vCloud Director managed on OVHcloud.
Requirements
- an administrator vCloud Director account with a vCD Organization
- a user with the Organization Administrator role to connect to the Veeam Data Platform Self-Service Portal (the new admin user in a virtual data center has the default role)
- read the VCD guides:
VMware Cloud Director - The Fundamentals of vCD
VMware Cloud Director - Logging in to Your Organization
VMware Cloud Director - How to Use the vCD User Interface - be familiar with how Veeam Backup works
- an understanding of the financial impact following the various load factors that apply when setting up this solution with VCD (see the pricing grid for Veeam vCD on OVHcloud backups)
Instructions
Veeam Data Platform supports vCD. It uses the VMware Cloud Director API to back up the vApps and VMs and restore them directly in the VMware Cloud Director hierarchy.
The Veeam Data Platform service is available and ready to use for all three OVHcloud solutions (see the features catalog).
NOTE: For the image processing and guest file system indexing options (compatible with the Veeam application) to work with Windows® virtual machines, the latest VMware tools must be installed. Linux VMs do not support application recognition or guest file system indexing.
If you are using application-aware image processing for MS SQL or Oracle database backups, application-aware and item recovery options will not be supported. A full restore of the virtual machine must be performed, this implies a downtime window for all database users. You cannot manually restart an immutable backup failure. You must run an active full backup or wait for the next scheduled backup to run (see Veeam documentation for more information).
Step 1 - Backup with Veeam Data Platform
The Veeam Data Platform service has a VCD plugin to back up VMs and vApps from any Virtual Data Center (vDC) in the organization. It is available at the organization level for any VMware Cloud Director user with the organization administrator role.
Access the Veeam Data Platform administration console
When using VCD Data Protection integration with Veeam to create backup jobs, you can choose any VM instance from any virtual data center in the organization.
Click here for full instructions.
To access the Data Protection Portal with Veeam from Cloud Director, log in to the VCD Client Portal with a vCloud Director account with the appropriate rights.
In the menu of the top center bar, click More and select Data Protection with Veeam.
The Veeam VCD Plugin window will open with a gray/black header.
Backups and repositories
Backup jobs require four default settings:
- Job parameters: Name / Deposit or Quota (Bronze/Silver/Gold: 100TB) / Description / Retention (Days/Restore point)
- Virtual machines (VMs): Add or exclude virtual machines/vApp/vCloud Organization
- Guest Processing: Application-aware processing / Guest file system indexing / Guest operating system credentials
- Email notifications: Enabling email notifications
For virtual machines managed by VMware Cloud Director, Veeam Backup & Replication offers a special type of backup job: VMware Cloud Director backup jobs. VMware Cloud Director backup jobs process VMware Cloud Director objects, ensure their proper recovery, and support specific Cloud Director features.
By default, you have the following repositories:
- Bronze Repository: This repository is based on the OVHcloud Object Storage Standard class. We will be using a bucket closer to your VCD environment.
- Silver Repository: This repository is based on the OVHcloud Object Storage Standard class. We will be using a Veeam SOBR (Scale-out Backup Repository) with performance tier buckets closer to your VCD environment, and a capacity tier from buckets in another OVHcloud region. We also use the Veeam SOBR copy mode to add the backups from the "performance extents" to the "capacity extents" as soon as they're created.
- Gold Repository: This repository is based on the OVHcloud Object Storage High performance class and includes the previous options as well as OVHcloud Object Storage "High performance." This repository can be activated from the OVHcloud Control Panel.
All these repositories have a storage quota of 100TB. You can reach out to the support teams to increase this quota.
When Veeam Backup & Replication performs backups of vApp and VMs, it also captures vApp metadata.
The metadata for virtual applications (vApp) and VMs include:
- General information on the vApps (virtual applications) where the VMs reside, such as: Name of the vApps, descriptions, and description of the VMs.
- Information on the vApp networks and the organizational networks to which the vApp is connected.
- The startup options of the VM (VM Startup options).
- User information.
- Lease.
- The quota.
- Storage templates.
The vApp/VM metadata is stored with the virtual machine content. Capturing vApp/VM metadata is important for recovery: without it, you will not be able to restore vApps and VMs to VMware Cloud Director.
How do I create a backup job with the Veeam Data Platform?
You can create your first backup job using the Veeam Data Platform VCD plugin.
Click here for full instructions.
In the Veeam VCD console, click More and select Data Protection with Veeam.
Click Jobs then Create.
In the window that opens, specify the backup job name, description, and retention policy. Once you have defined the elements, click Next.
You then need to choose your virtual machine (VM). To do this, click + Add.
Expand the VMware Cloud Director organization menu and select your VM.
Click OK and then Next.
Your virtual machine will then appear in the list.
Click Next.
NOTE: The next step is vital, as it involves adding the credentials required for your VM. If you use the "Guest OS processing" settings, you must add your backup user ID and password according to your OS type.
If you have SSH keys to add for Linux, you can do so.
For Windows, you can choose a standard account or a managed service account.
Make your selections according to your OS type and click Next.
If necessary, you can add monitoring options for your backup tasks. Finally, click Finish.
How do I back up a virtual machine with Veeam?
Click here for full instructions.
In the VMware Cloud Director console, click Datacenter and then Virtual machines.
Choose a VM. Click Actions, Data Protection with Veeam, and finally Add to Veeam backup job.
Step 2 - Restore with Veeam Data Platform
Veeam Backup features
- Application Awareness
- The strategy per VM (Policies)
Data included in restores
Veeam Backup & Replication enables full recovery of VMs to VMware Cloud Director. You can restore separate VMs to vApps, as well as VM data.
Restore options
- Full restore for vApps and VMs: Full restore for vApps and VMs
- Restoration of VM disks: VM files
- Restoration of VM files: VM disks
Restoration of a VM
With the OVHcloud Managed Backup service, you can restore standard VMs that are part of vApps, and standalone VMs that have been created in your OVHcloud VMware Cloud Director portal.
When you restore normal or standalone VMs in the vCloud Director hierarchy, the restoration process includes the following steps:
- Veeam uses the captured vApp metadata to define the vApp settings and the original location of the virtual machine in the VMware Cloud Director hierarchy.
- Veeam restores the VMs in the backup file to their original location or another location. In addition, Veeam restores all VM settings.
How do I restore a VM using the Veeam Data Platform VCD plugin?
In this case, we will perform a Full (full/full) restore.
Click here for full instructions.
To perform a full restore, select the VMs tab and click Entire VM Restore.
In the window that pops up, click Restore to the original location to restore a full VM.
Then click Next.
In the final step, click Finish. If you wish, you can also launch the VM by ticking the Power on VM automatically box.
This process is simplified with VCD, Veeam, and OVHcloud.
How do I restore a file using the Veeam Data Platform VCD plugin?
- File-level restore: This option is not yet available.
Go further
For more information and tutorials, please see our other VMware Cloud Director support guides or explore the guides for other OVHcloud products and services.
If you need training or technical assistance to implement our solutions, contact your sales representative or click on this link to get a quote and ask our Professional Services experts for a custom analysis of your project.