Support for vCenter clusters

In a vCenter cluster, a single Agent for ESX/ESXi backs up virtual machines hosted on all the cluster’s hosts. 

  Deploying Agent for ESX/ESXi to a cluster

When configuring the agent deployment from a management server, you can select a cluster as a regular ESX host. The agent virtual appliance (VA) is deployed to a storage shared by all the cluster’s hosts. Normally, this is an NFS share or a SAN-LUN attached to each of the hosts.

Let’s assume that the cluster contains three servers.

  • Server 1 uses storages A, B, C, D
  • Server 2 uses storages C, D, E
  • Server 3 uses storages B, C, D

The VA can be deployed to either C or D. If there is no storage shared by all the servers, you can import the VA manually into any of the hosts. This will work, but backup performance will be far from optimal.

After deployment, the agent virtual appliance can appear on any of the hosts included in the cluster, depending on how the load balancing is configured. 

  Moving the agent VA around the cluster

The agent’s work is not affected when the Distributed Resource Scheduler (DRS) migrates the virtual appliance to another host. 

  Creating a cluster of servers that already have agents

It is recommended that you remove Agents for ESX/ESXi from all but one of the servers. Retain the agent whose VA resides on the shared storage. Restart the VA so that it becomes aware of the cluster.

Support for vCenter clusters