vCloud vApp and VM Backups

Introduction

vCloudBackups provides a way to hot clone VMs and vApps running in a Virtual Datacenter for the purpose of local backups.

This release should work with any vCloud Provider running 1.5 or 5.1.

Description

vCloud Backups takes a running vApp or Virtual Machine and makes a hot clone of the source.

• VApp backups are cloned to another VApp named Backup-<VApp Name>-<Backup Date and Time>
• VM backups are cloned to a VApp called Backups and are named <Source VApp Name>-<VM Name>-<Backup Date and Time>

Restoring VMs and vApps must currently be done through the UI (or through the API if one was so inclined to automate restores)

Requirements

• Powershell 2 or higher
• VMware PowerCLI (for admins or tenants) 5.1 or higher downloadable for free here.

Usage

To use vCloudBackups, open Powershell (or PowerCLI) and import the module:

Import-Module vCloudBackups.psm1

The following (cmdlets) are now available:

• Backup-CIVM
• Backup-CIVApp
• Save-VCloudBackupConfig
• Import-VCloudBackupConfig

To backup a VM:

1. Connect to your vCloud Organization. This will prompt for credentials.

   Connect-CIServer vcloud.example.com -org MyOrganization

2. Get the VM, and pipe the object to Backup-CIVM and specify a number of backups to retain.

   Get-CIVM "MyVM" | Backup-CIVM -retain 3

Note: VM Backups are currently done in serial.

If you have multiple VMs of the same name in your Virtual Datacenter, you can specify which VM by first selecting the vApp

Get-CIVApp "MyVApp" | Get-CIVM "MyVM" | Backup-CIVM -retain 3

Windows Scheduled Task

Scheduling backups can be done using task scheduler on any Windows machine that meets the Powershell requirements and has Internet Access.

Files Required:

• MyBackups.ps1 (included in this Repo)
• vCloudBackupConfig.csv (generated by Save-VCloudBackupConfig)
• vCloudBackups.psm1 (The module itself)

Setup:

1. It is recommended you save all files in a single folder in this version.

2. Important: Login as the user who the scheduled task will be running as.

3. Open Powershell and change your folder to where the vCloudBackup files are located.

4. Run the following. (Note: You might have to Set your execution policy if this is your first time using Powershell.)

   Import-Module .\vCloudBackups.psm1
    Save-VCloudBackupConfig

5. Enter your username and password in the dialog box.

6. Enter the vCloud hostname and your Org in the Powershell console.

7. The configuration will be saved in a CSV file in the folder as vCloudBackupConfig.csv.

8. Open Windows Task Scheduler.

9. Create Basic Task.

10. Action to perform: Start a Program

11. Program/Script box:

    powershell -file "C:\path\to\vcloudBackups\MyBackups.ps1" -setexecutionpolicy unrestricted
    

12. You can fine tune the task as needed by editing the properties of the scheduled task.

Help

For help, find me on Twitter: @jakerobinson

Please report any issues using the Github issues for this project.