NetBackup for VMware sizing and best practices
NetBackup for VMware provides backup and restore of VMware virtual machines (VMs) that run in a vSphere environment. It takes advantage of VMware vSphere Storage APIs - Data Protection (formerly known as VMware vStorage APIs for Data Protection or VADP). NetBackup primarily protects Virtual Machines, backup is configured using 'VMware' as policy type.
Backup operation comprises of different steps that depend on how virtual machines are selected for backup. If VMs are explicitly selected, then one snapshot and one backup job is used per VM to perform the backup. On the other hand, in the case of VMware Intelligent Policy (VIP), first, a discovery job is executed which identifies all the virtual machines matching the criteria set in the policy query, and then one snapshot and one backup job is executed per selected VM. There is only one discovery job for a policy. VIP policies are the recommended way to protect VMware VMs, as they allow use of resource limits to control and limit the load of backup operations on VMware infrastructure. Protection plans are aligned to VIP policies.
Backup host
A NetBackup client that performs backups on behalf of the virtual machines. The backup host is the only host on which NetBackup client software is installed. No NetBackup client software is required on the VMware virtual machines. Note that the backup host is referred to as the recovery host when it performs a restore. A NetBackup media server or primary server can also serve as a backup host.
Discovery host
Used for the automatic selection of virtual machines for backup via VMware Intelligent Policy (VIP). The discovery host can be on any platform that NetBackup supports for primary or media servers. It can also be the same host as the backup host. A discovery host is configured per policy and defaults to "Backup media server".
NetBackup media server
Performs the backups to storage on behalf of the NetBackup client.
NetBackup primary server
Manages the backups of virtual machines.
Virtual Machine setup
When creating virtual machines, use the same name for both hostname and display name. If the policy's Primary VM identifier option is changed, the existing entries on the policy Clients tab still work.
Simultaneous backups
VMware recommends that you run no more than four simultaneous backups of virtual machines that reside on the same datastore.
Backup Host Memory
Make sure that the VMware backup host has enough memory to handle the number of simultaneous backups that occur.
VMware backups and MSDP deduplication
VMware backup to a deduplication storage unit, select the Enable file recovery from VM backup option on the VMware policy tab. This option provides the best deduplication rates. Without the Enable file recovery from VM backup option, the result is a lower rate of deduplication.
Disabling Enable file recovery from VM backup
If you don't need file-level recoveries you can improve backup performance significantly. This can be especially helpful for a virtual machine with a very large number of small files.