Subclients - Virtual Server

Things to Consider when Creating and Configuring Virtual Server Subclients

Overview

The following table shows subclient creation and configuration details specific to the Virtual Server agent.

Agent	Type of Data	Default Subclient created during install of the Agent	Supports Default Subclient	Supports User Defined Subclient	Contents of the default subclient when user-defined subclient is present	Other Types of subclients supported by the Agent	Notes
Virtual Server iDataAgent	virtual servers, volumes, files, and folders	No	Yes	Yes	virtual server data objects configured for the default subclient upon installation of the agent.	None	During installation, a default instance, backup set, and subclient are created. All must be configured prior to using the Virtual Server iDataAgent. *See Caution Against Re-configuring Default Subclient Content.

Before you back up data, you must define the data that you want to back up and how this data should be backed up. This is done by creating and configuring a default subclient (or additional user-defined subclients) with the virtual server data objects that you are backing up. For the Virtual Server iDataAgent, a subclient defines:

Whether backups for the subclient will be disk-level backups, volume-level backups, or file-level backups (See Backup - Virtual Server for information on each backup level.)
The data to be backed up

Subclient Content

The Virtual Server iDataAgent is designed to back up and restore virtual server data objects at the disk, volume, or file level. After installing this iDataAgent, a default subclient is automatically created by the system. However, its content must be configured prior to running the first backup. Subclient content for this iDataAgent consists of the individual virtual servers to be backed up and configuration of the level at which the virtual server will be backed up. Note that a single subclient can be configured only for one backup level.

Filtering

Subclient-level backup filters are available for this iDataAgent at the file and volume level to exclude specified directories and files from being backed up. For example, suppose the Ops directory contains a file called Processing that you do not want backed up. You can add a subclient filter for the user-defined subclient OpsInfo to exclude the Processing file from being backed up. For more information, see Filters.

Wildcards and Regular Expressions

Wildcards and regular expressions are supported by this agent for all backups in the following function:

Subclient Filters/Global Filters Wildcards can be used in the Exclude these files/folders/patterns field when filtering data using subclient-level backup filters and/or CommCell-level Global Filters.
If any changes are made to an existing wildcard, the content of the subclient must be manually cleaned out and reassigned prior to running a backup with the newly modified wildcard. Otherwise, the backup operation will use both the previous wildcard and the new wildcard.

For a list of wildcards supported by this iDataAgent, see Wildcards.

Configurable Properties

Once installed, the agent's default, instance, backup set, and subclient must be created and configured prior to running the first backup. Once the subclient is created, you can change certain aspects of the subclient configuration to manage the data in the manner that best suits your needs. You can view or change the subclient configuration from the Subclient Properties dialog box.

The following information can be configured.

Activity Control

You can enable or disable all operations for this CommCell object and all objects below it. For more information, see Activity Control.

Backup Type

You can select the level at which backups for the subclient will occur. See Backup - Virtual Server for more information.

Content/Databases

You can define the content of the subclient. Most agents include a configure button that displays a dialog where you can add or modify the data included as subclient content. For step-by-step instructions, see Configure Subclient Content.

Data Transfer Options

Several configurable options to efficiently use available resources for transferring data secured by data protection operations are provided in the subclient. This includes the following:

Enable or disable Data Compression either on the client or the MediaAgent.
Configure the transfer of data in the network using the options for Network Bandwidth Throttling and Network Agents.

Data Paths

You can view the data paths associated with the primary storage policy copy of the selected storage policy or incremental storage policy. You can also modify the data paths for the subclient including their priority. For additional information, see Configuring Alternate Data Paths for Subclients.

Data Protection Filters

You can perform the following functions:

Define data protection filters to exclude specified subclient data from being backed up or archived. For more information, see Filters.
Use regular expressions (or wildcards) in subclient data protection exclusion filters. See Inclusions, Exclusions, and Exceptions to Exclusions for more information.
Perform in-place editing of subclient data protection filter exclusions and exceptions. See Editing Filters for more information.

Global Filters

You can enable or disable Global Filters. For more information, see Global Filters.

Multiple Data Readers within a Drive or Mount Point

Specify whether multiple data reads are allowed for a single physical drive (Windows or NetWare) or mount point (Unix) during backups on this subclient. This should be selected only for specialized hardware such as RAID. For more information, see Automatic File System Multi-Streaming.

Number of Data Readers

Specify the number of simultaneous backup data streams allowed for this subclient. For best performance, this should be set no higher than the number of physical drives that hold this subclient's data, except for specialized hardware such as RAID. For more information, see Automatic File System Multi-Streaming.

Pre/Post Processes

You can add, modify or view Pre/Post processes for the subclient. These are batch files or shell scripts that you can run before or after certain job phases. For more information, see Pre/Post Processes.

Storage Policies

You can associate the subclient to a storage policy. For more information, see Storage Policies.

Subclient Name

You can rename a user-defined subclient.

User Security

You can perform the following functions:

Identify the user groups to which this CommCell object is associated.
Associate this object with a user group.
Disassociate this object from a user group.

For more information, see User Administration and Security.

Things to Consider when Creating and Configuring Virtual Server Subclients

When creating and configuring subclients for the Virtual Server iDataAgent, keep in mind the following considerations:

Caution Against Re-configuring Default Subclient Content
We recommend that you do not re-configure the content of a default subclient because this would disable its capability to serve as "catch-all" entity for client data. As a result, the likelihood that some data will not get backed up or scanned for archiving would increase.
If the Automatically add new VMs that don't qualify for membership in any subclient option is selected, this option will override all other settings. For example, if the Do Not Backup option was selected, the subclient will still backup all configured virtual machines.
The Virtual Server iDataAgent does not support the Except for these files/folders: option located in the Filters tab of the Subclient Properties dialog box.