For VMware backup operations, this option determines the total number of snapshot attempts to try for a VMware virtual machine that fails during backup processing due to snapshot failure.
Supported Clients
This option can be used with supported Linux clients that are configured to back up VMware virtual machines.
This option can be used with supported Windows clients that are configured to back up VMware virtual machines.
Options File
Set this option in the client options file.
Syntax
>>-INCLUDE.VMSNAPSHOTATTEMPTS--vmname--num_with_quiescing-------> >--num_without_quiescing---------------------------------------><
Parameters
- vmname
- This is a required positional parameter. It specifies the name of the virtual machine to attempt the total number of snapshots for, if a backup attempt fails due to snapshot failure.
- Only one virtual machine can be specified on each INCLUDE.VMSNAPSHOTATTEMPTS
statement. However, to configure the total snapshot attempts for other virtual machines, you can use
the following methods:
- Specify as many INCLUDE.VMSNAPSHOTATTEMPTS statements as you need to, to have failed snapshots reattempted, for each virtual machine that you want this option to apply to.
- Use wildcard characters in vmname to select virtual machine names that match the wildcard pattern. An asterisk (*) matches any character string. A question mark (?) matches a single character. If the virtual machine name contains a space character, enclose the name in double quotation marks (").
- Tip: If the virtual machine name contains special characters, type the question mark wildcard (?) in place of the special characters when you specify the virtual machine name.
- num_with_quiescing
- This is a positional parameter that specifies the following action:
- For Windows virtual machines with Tivoli Storage Manager application protection enabled, num_with_quiescing specifies the number of times to attempt the snapshot with Tivoli Storage Manager VSS quiescing. VSS quiescing applies only to Windows virtual machines.
- For Windows and Linux virtual machines without Tivoli Storage Manager application protection enabled, num_with_quiescing specifies the number of times to attempt the snapshot with VMware Tools file system quiescing.
- num_without_quiescing
- This is a positional parameter that specifies the number of times to attempt the snapshot with VMware Tools file system quiescing and application (VSS) quiescing disabled after the specified number of attempts with VSS quiescing (num_with_quiescing) completes. For example, you can specify this parameter for a virtual machine that is already protected by an IBM Data Protection agent installed in a guest virtual machine.
- The maximum value that you can specify is ten (10). The minimum value that you can specify is zero (0), which is the default value.
- Important: When this parameter is applied to a virtual machine backup, the backup is considered crash-consistent. As a result, operating system, file system, or application consistency is not guaranteed. An include.vmsnapshotattempts 0 0 entry is not valid. Backup operations require at least one snapshot.
Examples
- Example 1
- The following INCLUDE.VMSNAPSHOTATTEMPTS statement in the client options file
tries two total snapshot attempts (with VSS quiescing) for virtual machine
VM_a:
INCLUDE.VMSNAPSHOTATTEMPTS VM_a 2 0 - Example 2
- The following INCLUDE.VMSNAPSHOTATTEMPTS statement in the client options file
tries three total snapshot attempts for virtual machines that match the vmServer_Dept* string:
- First and second attempts to take a snapshot with VSS quiescing.
- Third snapshot attempt without VSS quiescing.
INCLUDE.VMSNAPSHOTATTEMPTS vmServer_Dept* 2 1 - Example 3
- The following INCLUDE.VMSNAPSHOTATTEMPTS statement in the client options file
tries one total snapshot attempt (with VSS quiescing) for virtual machines that match the vmDB_Dept*
string:
INCLUDE.VMSNAPSHOTATTEMPTS vmDB_Dept* 1 0 - Example 4
- The following INCLUDE.VMSNAPSHOTATTEMPTS statement in the client options file
tries two total snapshot attempts (with VSS quiescing) for all virtual
machines:
INCLUDE.VMSNAPSHOTATTEMPTS * 2 0 - Example 5
- In this example, the virtual machine DB15 has an IBM Data Protection agent installed in a guest
virtual machine and does not need an application-consistent snapshot. The following
INCLUDE.VMSNAPSHOTATTEMPTS statement in the client options file tries one total
snapshot attempt (without VSS quiescing) for virtual machine
DB15:
INCLUDE.VMSNAPSHOTATTEMPTS DB15 0 1