The Online Backup Client offers backup and recovery service for VMware vSphere (ESXi) virtual machines. This is done by creating an identical virtual machine with the same operating system, hardware device settings (drivers for modems, network adapters, printers), the same documents and so on. The machine is created automatically at the location you specify (it can be on the same server as the original machine or on a different one).
The following ESXi versions are supported: 5.1, 5.5, 6.0 and 6.5.
VMware backup and recovery is available on Windows devices. Here is the list of supported Windows versions:
- Windows 7 and 8 – 64-bit versions only
- Windows Server 2008 – 64-bit versions only
- Windows Server 2008 R2, SBS 2011, 2012 and 2012 R2
Recommended pre-backup settings
Before you start backups, it can be a good idea to enable Changed Block Tracking (CBT) on your virtual machines. It is a highly effective feature that reduces the duration of subsequent backups.
Note that the CBT feature doesn't influence statistics in the Size of processed files and Transferred size columns in backup reports.
Backup options
You can back up any of the following:
- the whole server (its configuration will not be backed up)
- a particular virtual machine
- one of its disks
When you edit your backup selection for VMware, you can enable log truncation for MS SQL and MS Exchange.
- Click Manage logs > Enable log truncation.
- Enter your access credentials (an administrator account is required).
More on MS SQL and MS Exchange log truncation
If your VMware machine has MS SQL or MS Exchange installed, you can enable automatic log truncation for these applications. The operation involves unneeded logs only and is performed strictly after successfully completed backup sessions.
Log truncation works on the US English versions of MS Windows Server. See the table below for other software compatibility details.
| Guest systems | VMware versions | MS Exchange versions | MS SQL versions |
|---|---|---|---|
| Windows Server 2008 and greater (US English versions) | 5.1, 5.5, 6.0 and 6.5 | Exchange Server 2010, 2013 and 2016 | SQL Server 2008, 2008 R2, 2012, 2014 and 2016 |
To enable log truncation, make sure the following conditions are met:
- The target virtual machine has VMware and PowerShell Tools installed.
- The target virtual machine is started.
- VMware Tools are running.
Note: Online Backup (Datashield) is a legacy product only available to older Atera accounts. For newer backup solutions, check this page.
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