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Configure virtual machines for backup
Updated over 4 months ago

Enterprise Workloads Editions: ✅ Business | ✅ Enterprise | ✅ Elite

Druva lets administrators easily manage backups and restores of virtual machines that are hosted on Windows servers using Microsoft's Hyper-V technology and Microsoft Azure Stack HCI. After registering your Hyper-V host, Druva discovers all the virtual machines running on it. To let Druva back up your virtual machines, you have to:

  • Assign a storage where the virtual machine is stored

  • Attach the virtual machine to an administrative group

  • Apply a backup policy, that defines when Druva runs a backup

You can configure virtual machines for backup in any of the following scenarios:

  • A single virtual machine for scheduled backup

  • A group of virtual machines that follow the same backup schedule

Prerequisite

Ensure that your Hyper-V host is registered with Druva.

To configure virtual machines for backup

  1. Log in to the Management Console.

  2. select the workload from the Protect menu. Note that if the All Organizations menu is enabled, you have to first select an organization and then select the workload.

  3. In the left navigation pane, click All Virtual Machines. The All Virtual Machines page appears that lists all the registered VMs.

  4. Select the virtual machines under the Virtual Machine column and click Configure for Backup.



    📝 Note
    You can apply filters based on VM, Host, Cluster, or SCVMM.



    Configure for backup.png

  5. In the Configure VM for Backup page, enter the following details:

    Configure for backup Details.png

    • Administrative Group: Druva lets you create a group for better management of resources. For example, you can create an administrative group for all virtual machines with Windows 8 as the guest operating system. Later, you can directly access all servers using the administrative group page.

      In this field, you can:

      • Choose an existing administrative group, or

      • Create a new administrative group

      If you click New Administrative Group, the New Administrative Group window appears. Provide a name and description of the administrative group. For example,

      • In the Name field, enter Windows 8 VMs

      • In the Description field, enter an administrative group for all virtual machines with Windows 8 guest OS.


      After you provide a name and description for the administrative group, click Save. The configuration wizard reappears with the group you created as an option for you to select.

    • Backup Settings

      • Storage: A location in the cloud where you want to store the recovery points. You cannot change the storage later.

      • Backup Policy: Select a backup policy from the drop-down or click New Backup Policy from the drop-down. For more information, see Manage Backup Policies.

      • Local Storage (Optional):

        If you wish to use CloudCache as local storage, select Map to CloudCache. For details, see Set up CloudCache.


        If you select Map to CloudCache, you will see two new dropdowns:

        Local Storage.png

        CloudCache - Select the CloudCache device you want to use.

        Retain backups for - Select the days you want to retain the local backup on the CloudCache device.

      • Backup Content:

        You can leave the Backup Content section empty to include all virtual disks for backup.
        Or, in the Backup Content section, enter the virtual disks that you don't want Druva to backup. Druva does not list the virtual disks automatically.


        You can:

        • Manually enter the virtual disks you want to exclude. For example, if you want to exclude the disk with the name New Virtual Disk 2.vhdx, type New Virtual Disk 2.vhdx and then press enter.

        • Add multiple disks in exclusion for one virtual machine. For this, make sure you add disks one by one.
          For example, if you want to exclude the disk with the name New Virtual Disk 1.vhdx , New Virtual Disk 2.vhdx, and New Virtual Disk 3.vhdx for one virtual machine, then:

          • Enter New Virtual Disk 1.vhdx then press enter.

          • Enter New Virtual Disk 2.vhdx then press enter.

          • Enter New Virtual Disk 3.vhdx then press enter.



        📝 Note
        Pass through disks or physical disks cannot be excluded for Hyper-V workloads. Backup will always be successful with errors if the VM contains pass-through or physical disks.


  6. Click Save after you provide all the details. The selected virtual machines are configured for backup, and Druva backup virtual machines based on the schedule defined in the backup policy.

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Next step

If you have deployed CloudCache, you can attach virtual machines to the CloudCache. For more information, see Attach a new backup set to CloudCache.

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