Four simple steps to backup VMware VMs using SC DPM

[System-Center-Team]

First published on TECHNET on Aug 26, 2016
System Center Data Protection Manager (SCDPM) is well recognized in the industry for protection of Microsoft workloads and environments. It protects key Microsoft workloads such as SQL, SharePoint and Exchange as well as virtual machines running on Hyper-V.  Today, we are announcing support for protection of VMware virtual machines . This will allow enterprise customers to have a single backup solution across their heterogeneous IT environment.

Here are the four simple steps to configure VMware server and DPM to protect VMware VMs.

1. Enable a secure SSL communication between DPM and VMware server

2.Add a new user with certain minimum privileges

The set of privileges described in the above video are applicable for a vCenter 5.5 user account. If you are creating a vCenter 6.0 user account, the following table captures the privileges that you need to assign to the user account that you create:

Privileges for vCenter 6.5 and above user account	Privileges for vCenter 6.0 user account	Privileges for vCenter 5.5 user account
Datastore cluster.Configure a datatstore cluster
Datastore.AllocateSpace	Datastore.AllocateSpace	Network.Assign
Datastore.Browse datastore	Global.Manage custom attributes	Datastore.AllocateSpace
Datastore.Low-level file operations	Global.Set custom attribute	VirtualMachine.Config.ChangeTracking
Global.Disable methods	Host.Local operations.Create virtual machine	VirtualMachine.State.RemoveSnapshot
Global.Enable methods	Network. Assign network	VirtualMachine.State.CreateSnapshot
Global.Licenses	Resource. Assign virtual machine to resource pool	VirtualMachine.Provisioning.DiskRandomRead
Global.Log event	Virtual machine.Configuration.Add new disk	VirtualMachine.Interact.PowerOff
Global.Manage custom attributes	Virtual machine.Configuration.Advanced	VirtualMachine.Inventory.Create
Global.Set custom attribute	Virtual machine.Configuration.Disk change tracking	VirtualMachine.Config.AddNewDisk
Host.Local operations.Create virtual machine	Virtual machine.Configuration.Host USB device	VirtualMachine.Config.HostUSBDevice
Network.Assign network	Virtual machine.Configuration.Query unowned files	VirtualMachine.Config.AdvancedConfig
Resource. Assign virtual machine to resource pool	Virtual machine.Configuration.Swapfile placement	VirtualMachine.Config.SwapPlacement
vApp.Add virtual machine	Virtual machine.Interaction.Power Off	Global.ManageCustomFields
vApp.Assign resource pool	Virtual machine.Inventory. Create new
vApp.Unregister	Virtual machine.Provisioning.Allow disk access
VirtualMachine.Configuration. Add Or Remove Device	Virtual machine.Provisioning. Allow read-only disk access
Virtual machine.Configuration.Disk lease	Virtual machine.Snapshot management.Create snapshot
Virtual machine.Configuration.Add new disk	Virtual machine.Snapshot management.Remove Snapshot
Virtual machine.Configuration.Advanced
Virtual machine.Configuration.Disk change tracking
Virtual machine.Configuration.Host USB device
Virtual machine.Configuration.Extend virtual disk
Virtual machine.Configuration.Query unowned files
Virtual machine.Configuration.Swapfile placement
Virtual machine.Guest Operations.Guest Operation Program Execution
Virtual machine.Guest Operations.Guest Operation Modifications
Virtual machine.Guest Operations.Guest Operation Queries
Virtual machine .Interaction .Device connection
Virtual machine .Interaction .Guest operating system management by VIX API
Virtual machine .Interaction .Power Off
Virtual machine .Inventory.Create new
Virtual machine .Inventory.Remove
Virtual machine .Inventory.Register
Virtual machine .Provisioning.Allow disk access
Virtual machine .Provisioning.Allow file access
Virtual machine .Provisioning.Allow read-only disk access
Virtual machine .Provisioning.Allow virtual machine download
Virtual machine .Snapshot management. Create snapshot
Virtual machine .Snapshot management.Remove Snapshot
Virtual machine .Snapshot management.Revert to snapshot

3.Add VMware Server to DPM

4.Protect VMware VMs with DPM

If you are new to Azure Backup and want to enable Azure Backup for longterm retention, refer to Preparing to backup workloads to Azure with DPM . Click for a free Azure trial subscription

Here are some additional resources:

• Browse documentation or reach out to DPM forum for support

• Tell us how we can improve DPM and Azure Backup : Contribute new ideas and vote on existing ones

• Follow us on Twitter and Channel9

Update (March 16, 2020) : Updated privileges table for vCenter 6.5 and above user account

Key words: Announcement, VMware VM Backup, DPM, DPM 2012 R2, SC DPM, Microsoft Azure Backup Server, MABS, Azure Backup, Backup & Recovery, OMS, Cloud Backup, Virtual Machines, VMware, vCenter, ESXi