VMware snapshot for on-demand backup with Veeam

Introduction to snapshot backups

The Abiquo snapshot backup feature can create VMware snapshots to enable an on-demand backups in Abiquo environments.

The snapshot functionality is supported with the following backup plugins in the corresponding Abiquo versions.

Each of these plugins requires a separate license.

Configure standalone VMware Snapshot feature

The standalone VMware snapshot plugin enables users to create VMware snapshots for their VMs through the Abiquo user interface without a dedicated backup system.

To use the standalone VMware snapshot plugin: 

1. Obtain a license for the plugin
2. Configure Abiquo VMware Snapshot Plugin
3. In Abiquo, go to Infrastructure → Backups and click Backup manager to create the Backup manager
   1. Select the VMware snapshot plugin 

   2. Enter your vCenter endpoint and credentials

      The vCenter endpoint supplied in the Backup manager must be exactly the same as the Manager IP of the Abiquo physical machine, even including the protocol.
      For example, ''vcenter01.example.com'' will not match ''https://vcenter01.example.com''

4. Edit the Backup properties, and select Enable backup now

Users can now edit their deployed VMs and go to the Backup tab to create snapshots.

The following sections of this page describe the Veeam+Snapshot feature.

Configure Veeam + VMware Snapshot feature

To use Veeam for scheduled backups and vCenter snapshots for on-demand backups, do these steps.

1. Obtain the appropriate license
2. Follow the instructions at: Configure Abiquo Veeam Backup Plugin for Veeam 9.5u4 or Veeam 10
3. Follow the instructions at: /wiki/spaces/ABI54/pages/310741112
4. Then in Abiquo, create a new backup manager and select the Veeam+Snapshot plugin for your Veeam version. 
5. Edit the backup policy properties and select the option to Enable backup now. 

On-demand backup functionality

To create an on-demand backup, edit a deployed VM and click the Backup now button on the Backup tabs.

The platform displays the snapshots with the regular backups on the Backup results tab. 

To use a VM snapshot for the VM, click the Restore link.

In the Restore requests section, the results are not valid for snapshots. When you select the a snapshot, the Restore requests section displays the details of this snapshot.

When you restore a snapshot, the VMware API powers off the VM to let you know that you need to restart the VM.

VMware provides information that a VM is running off a snapshot and which snapshot it is using. In future versions, Abiquo may make UI changes for snapshot backups.

The backup Events tab displays the snapshot actions. The VM Events tab and the main Events tab also display details of the backups.

After you restore a snapshot, the Backup restore event will display the name of the snapshot that you restored. So the most recent backup restore event will display the details of the snapshot that the VM is running off. 

Snapshot consolidation

You should perform snapshot consolidation in VMware as usual. Abiquo also offers a tool to make it snapshot consolidation easier. You can run this tool on a schedule to detect snapshots that require consolidation and to perform the consolidation.