Acronis Backup & Recovery

VMware vCenter integration

This option defines whether to show virtual machines managed by a VMware vCenter Server in the management server and show the backup status of these machines in the vCenter.

Integration is available in all Acronis Backup & Recovery 10 advanced editions; a license for Virtual Edition is not required. No software installation is required on the vCenter Server.

  On the management server side  

When integration is enabled, the vCenter’s VMs and Templates inventory view appears in the management server’s GUI under Navigation > Virtual machines.

From the management server’s standpoint, this is a dynamic group of virtual machines. The group name matches the vCenter Server name or IP address, whatever was specified when configuring integration. The group content is synchronized with the vCenter Server and cannot be changed on the management server side. In case of an occasional inconsistency, right click the group and select Refresh.

The virtual machines managed by the vCenter Server also appear in the All virtual machines group. You can view virtual machine properties and power state; create groups of virtual machines and add virtual machines to existing groups.

Backup and recovery of a virtual machine is not possible, unless Acronis Backup & Recovery 10 Agent for ESX/ESXi is deployed to the virtual machine’s host. Such machines appear as not manageable (grayed out).

Once the agent is deployed to an ESX/ESXi host (this requires a license for Acronis Backup & Recovery 10 Advanced Server Virtual Edition), the virtual machines from this host are ready for applying a backup policy or individual backup. Such machines appear as manageable.

If Agent for Windows or Agent for Linux is installed in a guest system, but there is no Agent for ESX/ESXi on its host, the virtual machine appears as not manageable under Virtual machines. Such machine has to be managed as a physical one.

  On the vCenter Server side  

When integration is enabled, the vCenter Server will store and show information about when and how successful each virtual machine was backed up. The same information is displayed in the Status and the Last backup columns on the management server.

Backup status – the most severe status of all backup plans and backup policies on the machine. For more information, see “Backup plan statuses” and “Policy status on a machine“.

Last backup – how much time has passed since the last successful backup.

You can see this information in the virtual machine summary (Summary > Annotations) or on the Virtual Machines tab for every host, datacenter, folder or entire vCenter Server (for example, View > Inventory > Hosts and Clusters > select host > Virtual Machines).