Categorizing VMs

In this article

Note

This section does not apply to storage plans — these plans include VM groups created using the native VAO grouping algorithm. This algorithm runs under the hood to retrieve the list of all datastores and VMs that are managed by vCenter Servers connected to VAO, and then to group the VMs by these datastores. All VM groups created this way are added to the list of VAO components. After you include a VM group into the list of plan components available for a specific scope, you will become able to use the VM group in storage plans for this scope.

VM groups are the building blocks of orchestration plans, and are created and populated using the embedded Veeam ONE server and its Business View engine. By default, VMs are categorized into VM groups based on both vCenter Server tags and custom categories configured in Veeam ONE Client. You can also group VMs based on categorization data imported from 3rd party software.

Important

Out of the box, Veeam ONE Client comes with the predefined category named B&R Job. This category includes groups of VMs protected by Veeam backup jobs, Veeam replication jobs and Veeam CDP policies that are managed by Veeam Backup & Replication servers connected to VAO. Note that vCenter Servers where these VMs belong must also be connected to VAO to allow Veeam ONE Client to categorize the VMs.

DO NOT rename or edit the B&R Job category in Veeam ONE Client — this may cause errors when trying to use VM groups from the category in orchestration plans. You can delete this category if you no longer need it. To learn how to delete categories, see the Veeam Availability Orchestrator Group Management Guide, section Deleting Categories.

Tag-Based Categorization

You can group VMs based on vCenter Server tags that dynamically categorize objects by metadata attached in the vSphere inventory. VM membership in these groups cannot be edited in the VAO UI — you must modify group properties in Veeam ONE Client or modify tags in the vSphere environment.

To learn how to group VMs using tags collected from the vCenter Server, see the Veeam Availability Orchestrator Group Management Guide, section Tag-Based Categorization. To learn how to create tag categories and assign tags to infrastructure objects in the vSphere inventory, see VMware Docs.

Tip

After you create a tag category, edit a tag category or assign a tag to an object in the vSphere inventory, the changes may not appear in the VAO UI immediately — the data synchronization process between VAO and Veeam ONE may take more than 3 hours to complete.

You can speed up the data synchronization process using Veeam ONE Reporter installed as part of the embedded Veeam ONE server. To do that:

In a web browser, navigate to the Veeam ONE Reporter web address.

The address consists of a FQDN of the VAO server and the website port specified during installation (by default, 1239). Note that Veeam ONE Reporter is available over HTTPS.

https://hostname:1239/

Navigate to Servers.
Select the Object properties collection task item and click Run now.

Custom Categorization

You can create your own categories and VM groups using the functionality of Veeam ONE Client. VM membership in these groups cannot be edited in the VAO UI — you must modify group properties in Veeam ONE Client. You can group VMs using the following methods:

Single-parameter categorization creates a group for each unique value of the selected property.
Multiple-condition categorization allows you to combine multiple conditions that evaluate VM properties for creating groups.
Categorization with grouping expressions creates a set of groups and includes VMs with matching attributes into these groups.

To learn how to group VMs in Veeam ONE Client, see the Veeam Availability Orchestrator Group Management Guide, sections Single-Parameter Categorization, Multiple-Condition Categorization and Categorization with Grouping Expressions.

Import-Based Categorization

You can synchronize Business View categorization data with categorization data from 3rd party software. If you have already categorized VMs outside Veeam ONE Client, you can describe the categorization model using a CSV file and then import this file to Veeam ONE Client. VM membership in these groups cannot be edited in the VAO UI — you must modify categorization data in the CSV file and then import the file again.

To learn how to import categorization data using CSV files, see the Veeam Availability Orchestrator Group Management Guide, section Import-Based Categorization.