VMware Integration

To build the data protection and disaster recovery strategy, you can use the capabilities of native snapshots created on production storage systems that host VM disks.

Backup from Storage Snapshots. You can use storage snapshots to create backups and replicas of VMware vSphere VMs hosted on storage systems. Backup from Storage Snapshots speeds up backup and replication operations and reduces the impact of VMware vSphere snapshot removal on the production environment.
Data Recovery from Storage Snapshots. You can restore VM data directly from storage snapshots. Restore from Storage Snapshots automates the process of VM data recovery and reduces recovery time in 10 times or more.
Snapshot Orchestration. You can configure backup jobs to periodically create storage snapshots on primary or secondary storage arrays.
Backup from Storage Snapshots with Snapshot Retention. You can configure backup jobs to create backup files in the backup repository and, additionally, storage snapshots on the primary or secondary storage arrays.
On-Demand Sandbox for Storage Snapshots . You can start VMs whose disks are hosted on storage systems in the On-Demand Sandbox. On-Demand Sandbox can be used for testing, training, troubleshooting and so on.

To start working with storage systems, you must properly configure the backup infrastructure. For more information, see Backup Infrastructure for Storage Snapshots. After that, you can use storage snapshots for data protection and disaster recovery operations.

Depending on the storage system type, you can perform the following operations:

Operation/ Storage Type	Dell Unity XT/Unity, VNX(e)	HPE 3PAR StoreServ, HPE Primera, HPE Alletra 9000	HPE StoreVirtual / LeftHand / P4000 series	HPE Nimble, HPE Alletra 6000, HPE Alletra 5000	NetApp ONTAP, FAS/AFF/ASA, FlexArray (V-Series), Fujitsu ETERNUS HX/AX, IBM N series, Lenovo ThinkSystem DM Series	Cisco HyperFlex	IBM FlashSystem (StorWize), IBM SVC, Lenovo Storage V Series	Universal Storage API Integrated Systems
Backup from Storage Snapshots
Backup from primary storage arrays	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓
Backup from secondary storage arrays	✕	✓1	✕	✓1	✓1	✕	✓1	✓3
Data Recovery from Storage Snapshots
Restore from primary storage arrays	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓	✕	✓	✓
Restore from secondary storage arrays	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓	✕	✓	✓3
Snapshot Orchestration
Snapshot-only job for primary storage arrays	✕	✓	✕	✓	✓	✕	✓	✓
Snapshot-only job for secondary storage arrays	✕	✓1	✕	✓1	✓1	✕	✓1	✓3
Backup from Storage Snapshots with Snapshot Retention
Backup job with snapshot retention on primary storage arrays	✕	✓	✕	✓	✓	✕	✓	✓
Backup job with snapshot retention on secondary storage arrays	✕	✓1	✕	✓1	✓1	✕	✓1	✓3
Other Operations
Storage rescan	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓2	✓	✓
Snapshot creation and deletion (manual)	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓	✕	✓	✓
Data retrieval from achived snapshots	✕	✕	✕	✕	✕	✕	✕	✓3

1 Replication feature:

HPE 3PAR StoreServ, HPE Primera, HPE Alletra 9000 – Remote Copy Periodic (Asynchronous) and Remote Copy Peer Persistence. For Remote Copy Peer Persistence, snapshots are created on the target volume only.
HPE Nimble, HPE Alletra 6000, HPE Alletra 5000 – Snapshot Replication and synchronous replication (including Peer Persistence).
NetApp ONTAP, FAS, AFF, and ASA Series, FlexArray (V Series), Fujitsu ETERNUS HX/AX, IBM N series, and Lenovo ThinkSystem DM Series – snapshot replication with SnapMirror/SnapVault.
IBM FlashSystem (StorWize), IBM SVC, Lenovo Storage V Series – synchronous replication with MetroMirror or HyperSwap; snapshot transfer with Global Mirror.

2 Infrastructure only.

3 The following features are supported: Pure Storage FlashArray with ActiveCluster Replication, Replication (asynchronous) and Offload. To check compatibility and configuration of other storage systems, contact vendors.

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