NetBackup™ Web UI VMware Administrator's Guide

Last Published:
Product(s): NetBackup (8.1.2)

Create an intelligent VM group

You can create an intelligent VM group based on a set of filters called queries. NetBackup automatically selects virtual machines based on the queries and adds them to the group. You can then apply protection to the group. Note that an intelligent group automatically reflects changes in the VM environment and eliminates the need to manually revise the list of VMs in the group.

Note:

This procedure requires the backup administrator role.

To create an intelligent VM group

  1. On the left, click VMware.
  2. Click the Intelligent VM groups tab and then click + Add.
  3. Enter a name and description for the group.
  4. Click Add vCenter or standalone ESXi server.

    Note:

    The web UI lists the servers that you can access based on your role and permissions (RBAC).

  5. Select the appropriate server and click Save.
  6. Under Create query for virtual machines, you can do one of the following:

    • Select the default query: Include all VMs in this server.

      When the protection plan runs, all VMs that currently reside in the vCenter or ESXi are selected for backup.

    • Create your own query: Click Add condition.

  7. To add a condition, use the drop-downs to select a keyword and operator and then enter a value.

    The options are described after this procedure: Query options for creating intelligent VM groups.

    The following is an example query:

    In this example, the query adds to the group any VM that has prod in its display name.

    To change the effect of the query, click + Condition and click AND or OR, then select the keyword, operator, and value for the condition. For example:

    This example uses AND to narrow the scope of the query: it selects only the VMs that have prod in their display name and that also have a tag named eng. If a VM does not have prod in its display name as well as a tag named eng, that VM is not added to the group.

    To broaden the scope of the query, use OR:

    In this example, OR causes the query to add the following to the group:

    • The VMs that have prod in their display name (regardless of any tags).

    • The VMs that have a tag named eng (regardless of the display name).

  8. To test the query, click Preview.

    Note:

    The query-based selection process is dynamic. Changes in the virtual environment can affect which VMs the query selects when the protection plan runs. As a result, the VMs that the query selects later when the protection plan runs may not be identical to those currently listed in the preview.

    Note:

    The discovery of VMs in the VMware server occurs at set intervals according to the VMWARE_AUTODISCOVERY_INTERVAL option (the default is 8 hours). The web UI must discover the VMs on each server before the query can select from them. If a VMware server was recently added in the web UI, its VMs may not have been discovered. To discover the VMs immediately, restart the NetBackup discovery service as explained in the following topic:

    See Errors encountered when browsing VMware servers.

  9. To save the group without adding it to a protection plan, click Save. To save and add it to a protection plan, click Save and protect, select the plan, and click Protect.

    Note:

    When you click Preview or save the group, the query options are treated as case-sensitive when the VMs are selected for the group. Under Virtual machines, if you click on a VM that was not selected for the group, the Member of virtual machine groups field reads none.

    However, when you add the group to a protection plan, some of the query options are treated as case-insensitive when the protection plan's backup runs. As a result, the same VM may now be included in the group and is backed up.

    For the case behavior of each option, see Query options for creating intelligent VM groups.

Query options for creating intelligent VM groups

Table: Query keywords

Keyword

Description

cluster

The name of the cluster (group of ESXi servers) where the VMs reside.

Not case-sensitive when the protection plan runs.

datacenter

The name of the datacenter.

Not case-sensitive when the protection plan runs.

datastore

The name of the datastore.

Case-sensitive when the protection plan runs.

displayName

The VM's display name.

Case-sensitive when the protection plan runs.

host

The name of the ESXi server. The ESXi host name must match the name as defined in the vCenter server.

Not case-sensitive when the protection plan runs.

tag

The name of the VM's tag.

Case-sensitive when the protection plan runs.

dnsName

The VM's DNS name in vSphere Client.

Not case-sensitive when the protection plan runs.

hostName

The VM name that is derived from a reverse lookup of its IP address.

Not case-sensitive when the protection plan runs.

instanceUuid

The VM's instance UUID.

For example: 501b13c3-52de-9a06-cd9a-ecb23aa975d1

Not case-sensitive when the protection plan runs.

Table: Query operators

Operator

Description

Starts with

Matches the value when it occurs at the start of a string.

For example: If the value you enter is box, this option matches the string box_car but not flatbox.

Ends with

Matches the value when it occurs at the end of a string.

For example: If the value you enter is dev, this option matches the string 01dev but not 01dev99 or devOP.

Contains

Matches the value you enter wherever that value occurs in the string.

For example: If the value you enter is dev, this option matches strings such as 01dev, 01dev99, devOP, and development_machine.

=

Matches only the value that you enter.

For example: If the value you enter is VMtest27, this option matches VMTest27 (same case), but not vmtest27, vmTEST27, or VMtest28.

!=

Matches any value that is not equal to the value that you enter.