How to use Transparent Snapshot Data Movers with PowerProtect Data Manager 19.9

Transparent Snapshot Data Mover (TSDM) is a protection mechanism that is introduced in PowerProtect Data Manager 19.9 for data movement during virtual machine protection operations. Previously, the only protection mechanism available in PowerProtect Data Manager for virtual machine protection was the VMware vStorage API for Data Protection (VADP).

The first step to using TSDM is the install of the vSphere Installation Bundle (VIB) included with the software installation and update packages for PowerProtect Data Manager 19.9 to facilitate the use of TSDM. The VIB installation occurs automatically at the cluster level when a virtual machine protection policy is created, with no requirement to restart the ESXi Server or put PowerProtect Data Manager into maintenance mode.

Any new virtual machine protection policies use TSDM as the default protection mechanism instead of VADP, provided the following conditions are met:

• The vCenter/ESXi Server that hosts the virtual machines is a minimum version of 7.0 U3.
• The VIB is enabled at the host level.
• The VIB is installed on the host virtual machine assets that you want to protect.
• The virtual machine protection policy is a crash-consistent policy that uses Performance optimization mode, with the options to exclude swap files and enable quiescing disabled.

The Transparent Snapshot Data Movers window provides a hierarchy view of the vCenter Server asset sources that were added in PowerProtect Data Manager. Use this view to determine if the vCenter/ESXi hosts of the virtual machines to be protected have the VIB enabled, and if the host virtual machine assets have the VIB installed or are eligible for VIB installation. 




How to install or update the VIB on an ESX host machine:

1. Hover over the icon to the right of the host. If the host is disabled, click Enable.
2. Verify that the status indicates Ready for install or for upgrade,
3. Select the checkbox next to this host and click Install. If one or more of the selections are not eligible or the VIB is already installed, a dialog appears. Click OK to proceed with the installation.

Creation of the Protection Policy to use TSDM protection of the Virtual Machines:
For the Policy creation, the following is used for the example:

• Policy Name: tsdm-policy
• Virtual Machine Names: 2EmptyDisks and Windows1

 

1. On the PPDM Console, go to Protection menu. 
2. Go to Protection Policies > Add Policy:

3. Select Purpose > Crash Consistent then click Next.

4. Select Assets, click the box next to the VMs to be in the policy, then click Next.

5. Select Objectives, add the Target and the Schedule for the policy, then click Save.

6. Select Options, only the default setting of Performance is allowed for TSDM, otherwise the policy completes a Full backup using VADP, then click Next.

7. Select Summary of the Policy, then click Finish.

 

Now that the required software and policy are installed and created, the final step is to run the Policy:

1. Under Protection > Protection Policies, select the new policy. In this example, it is called tsdm-policy.

2. Select Assets > All assets defined in the Protection Policy.
3. Select Configuration > Select type of backup > Full.  

4. Select Summary - with selected above details -> click "Protect Now."
5. Under Jobs > Protection Jobs, the status of the progress of the job is viewed and the job ID is assigned. Once completed, details are viewed under the job id.

6. Details of the Virtual Machine snapshots are viewedUnder Infrastructure > Assets.

When viewing the above three steps, the jobs that are created look similar under Jobs > System Jobs.

Please refer this video: