Data to Back Up

Veeam Backup & Replication lets you back up the following types of VMware Cloud Director VMs:

Regular VMs that are part of vApps
Standalone VMs that were created in the VMware Cloud Director tenant portal
Linked clone VMs that are associated with vApps

Backup of Regular and Standalone VMs

When you back up regular or standalone VMs, Veeam Backup & Replication captures and stores to the backup file the following data:

VM disk content
vApp metadata
VM metadata

Data to Back Up

Backup of Linked Clone VMs

When you back up linked clone VMs, Veeam Backup & Replication captures and stores to the backup file the following data:

Content of the template to which the VM is linked
Content of the VM user disk — delta disk
vApp metadata
VM metadata

Data to Back Up

During full backup of linked clone VMs, Veeam Backup & Replication consolidates data of the VM template and delta disk and saves it as a regular VM disk in the backup file. Data merging guarantees proper VM restore: even if a VM template is lost by the time of recovery, you will still be able to restore the linked clone VM from the backup.

During incremental backup, Veeam Backup & Replication saves only changed data of the delta file.

Limitations for Backup of Linked Clone VMs

Before you back up linked clone VMs, consider the following:

[For vCenter 6.5 or later] If you back up a linked clone VM that has snapshots, Veeam Backup & Replication may fail to produce a valid restore point. To overcome this issue, do one of the following:

Disable CBT (Change Block Tracking) in the backup job settings.
Ensure that CBT is enabled on the VM template to which the VM is linked.

For details on how to enable CBT on the VM template, contact Veeam Customer Support.

Backup of linked clone VMs that were created by services other than VMware Cloud Director may cause snapshot-related problems. To overcome this issue, disable Veeam Snapshot Hunter. For details, see this Veeam KB article.