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Getting started with the vSphere Recovery Agent

Getting started with the vSphere Recovery Agent

The vSphere Recovery Agent (VRA) is a Windows application, which can back up and restore VMDKs up to 10 TB. You can install the vSphere Recovery Agent on a physical or virtual machine that has local network access to the vCenter that you want to protect. For best performance, install the VRA on a server that is in the same subnet as the vCenter. To distribute the workload, up to five VRAs can protect VMs that are attached to a single vCenter.

In a vSAN stretched cluster, each VM has a preferred site. Ideally, one local VRA is installed in each site that backs up the preferred VMs of that site. If a VM is moved to a different site (because of maintenance or failures), backup performance can be degraded but remain acceptable.

Installing the plug-in

Ensure that power management is disabled on the server where you install the VRA.

  1. Download the installation kit from http://downloads.service.softlayer.com/evault/. Then, double-click the installation kit.
  2. On the confirmation message, click YES.
  3. On the welcome page, click Next.
  4. On the End-User-License Agreement page, read the license agreement. If you agree to the terms, click the checkbox, and then click Next.
  5. On the Destination Folder page, take one of the following actions.
    • To install the VRA in the default location, click Next.
    • To install the VRA in another location, click Change. In the Change the destination folder dialog box, browse to the new installation folder, or type it in the Folder name box. Click OK. On the Destination Folder page, click Next.
  6. On the Register Agent with Portal Page, specify the following information.

    • In the Network address field, type cloudbackupregister.service.softlayer.com.

    • In the Port field, type 8086.

    • In the username field, type the IBM Cloud Backup for Classic username for managing the VRA. For more information about viewing the username, see Managing the username and password for the Cloud Backup service.

    • In the Password field, type the password of the specified IBM Cloud Backup for Classic user.

  7. Click Next. When the installation is complete, click Finish.

Configuring the vSphere Recovery Agent

After VRA is installed, you need to configure it in the Cloud Backup Portal.

  1. Log in to the Portal. For more information about how to access the Portal, see the Getting started tutorial.

  2. On the Computers Tab, select the server that you want to back up.

  3. Configure your vault information.

    Vault information can be configured in two ways: Automatically or Manually. If the agent is being configured for the first time, then it can be configured by using the Automatic configuration option. If the computer was previously registered with a Vault, then the automatic configuration doesn't work and the vault needs to be configured manually.

  4. Configure the vCenter Settings.

Configuring the Vault Automatically

To configure the vault settings automatically, click Configure Automatically. The configuration wizard runs and configures the Vault settings for you. When it is completed, click Go To Agent to verify the information in the Vault Settings Tab.

Configuring the Vault Manually

To configure the vault settings manually, click Configure Manually.

  1. Click Vault Settings.

  2. Click Add Vault. The Vault Settings window appears. From the Vault Profile options, select the appropriate vault.

    If the computer was previously registered with an IBM Cloud Backup for Classic vault, then all information is auto-populated when the Vault is selected from the Vault Profile.

  3. Verify all the information in the Vault settings page, and click Save.

  4. When you save the vault settings, the vault information becomes visible in the Vault Settings Tab.

Configuring vCenter Agent settings

After the successful vault registration, the vCenter Settings need to be configured before you can create and run any backup jobs.

  1. Click the vCenter Settings Tab.

  2. Provide the vCenter IP address, domain name, and credentials for the vCenter that you want to protect.

    The user must have administrative access to the vCenter to perform this task successfully.

  3. Disable Change Block Tracking (CBT) by removing the checkmark. CBT is a VMware® feature that tracks changed disk sectors and improves the performance of VM backups, and it is automatically enabled by the vSphere Agent.

  4. Click Test vCenter Connection. A new window displays the results. If the provided login information is correct, a The vCenter credentials have been validated successfully message appears.

  5. Click Save to save the settings.

Configuring a vSphere backup job

For more information, see Configure, schedule, and run a backup job.

Restoring vSphere data

For more information, see Restore vSphere data.