VMware version

To access all VMware features, including advanced and LAN-free transport methods, Xopero ONE requires VMware version 6.7 or later.

License

Xopero ONE requires a commercial VMware license.

ESXi & vSphere

Xopero ONE works with both ESXi and vSphere.

If you use vSphere, connect Xopero ONE to the vSphere server rather than an individual ESXi host. Connecting directly to an ESXi host when a vSphere server is active may cause backup issues.

Virtual appliance

Installing a virtual appliance (VA) is optional-- you can protect your infrastructure without it, but deploying a VA is strongly recommended.

Account type

To connect VMware to Xopero ONE, you need a VMware administrative account. It is recommended to create a dedicated VMware user account for backup tasks.

macOS

MacOS devices are not supported for many VMware operations. You cannot use macOS devices to:

• Register the VMware host in Xopero ONE.

• Back up VMware virtual machines.

• Deploy virtual appliance machines on the VMware host.

For Xopero ONE to back up and restore VMware environments, the assigned permissions must cover all resources that need protection, ensuring your virtual machines and configurations can be securely accessed and managed.

VMware permissions

Below is a list of all permissions required by Xopero ONE to back up and protect your VMware environment. Click each section to expand it and view the full set of privileges.

Account type

To integrate VMware hosts with Xopero ONE, you need an administrator account (root is not required). You can use an existing account, but best practice is to create a dedicated VMware user with admin privileges for backup and restore tasks.

Transport methods

Adding VMware hosts is just the first step.

To fully integrate the VMware environment, you can install a virtual appliance (VA) on the VMware host — this enables faster backups using advanced transport methods like HotAdd. Installing the VA is not required for faster backups — you can also use a storage area network (SAN), though this requires proper configuration and a SAN datastore.

ESXi and vCenter servers

If a vCenter server exists in your infrastructure, connect Xopero ONE to the vCenter server rather than an individual ESXi host. Connecting directly to an ESXi host when a vCenter server is present may cause issues.

Xopero ONE automatically retries connecting to the virtual machine's disk in the event of network disconnections, ensuring that backup tasks complete successfully. Administrators can enable direct disk access via VMware datastore to shorten the data transfer path, reduce network issues, and improve backup performance.

Enabling datastore access mode

By default, the datastore access mode is disabled, and connections occur through the virtual machine. In on-premises deployment model, administrators can enable this mode globally by adding the following section to the Xopero ONE Management Service configuration (appsettings.json file):

Useful links and items

When performing a virtual machine backup (agentless), Xopero ONE relies on the hypervisor's snapshot mechanism to ensure data consistency. Certain disk types are architecturally excluded from snapshots by the hypervisor itself, which means they cannot be included in a standard VM-level backup.

Excluded VMware disks

The following disk modes do not support snapshots and cannot be backed up:

• Independent persistent — changes are written immediately to the disk, but the disk does not participate in snapshots.

• Independent non-persistent — changes are discarded when the VM is powered off or reset; these disks also do not support snapshots.

Recommended workaround

If you need to protect data on independent disks, you can use the following method:

1. Install the Xopero ONE Backup&Recovery Agent directly within the virtual machine’s guest operating system.

2. Configure a file or image-level backup task with the installed agent.

By using an in-guest agent, Xopero ONE utilizes the internal VSS (Windows) or live-read (Linux) mechanisms to capture the data, effectively bypassing the hypervisor's snapshot limitations.

General information

Xopero ONE offers several methods to restore virtual machines directly to VMware. Below you will find the available VM recovery methods for VMware environment — choose the option that best fits your needs.

Instant restore

This process involves restoring the machine’s configuration files to the VMware datastore, preparing a virtual machine, and mounting the disks to run directly from the storage. As a result, you can start your virtual machine within just a few minutes.

This method is not intended for production use. It serves as a disaster recovery feature. If you need to restore a virtual machine to VMware after a failure, run both the instant restore and whole VM recovery tasks simultaneously. This way, you can access the virtual machine within minutes using instant restore, and once the whole VM recovery task is completed, you can stop the instant restore process and switch to the fully restored, production-ready virtual machine.

Granular recovery (iSCSI)

The granular recovery feature allows you to restore individual files and folders from a VMware virtual machine backup. This makes the restoration process faster and more convenient in many unexpected situations. Using the iSCSI protocol, the Xopero ONE agent accesses files directly from the storage, enabling you to recover only the specific files you need without restoring unnecessary data.

Whole VM recovery

This feature allows you to create a new virtual machine either in its original location or in a different one. It is the most traditional method of restoring a virtual machine — Xopero ONE restores the virtual machine data directly from the storage to the VMware datastore.

Restoration process

1

Open the VMware tab (Virtual Machines > VMware) in XMS, then click the Manage & Restore button next to the host whose backup you want to restore.

2

Select the VM you want to restore and click the restore button.

3

After choosing the backup plan and VM version, click Restore under the backup copy you wish to recover and select the Whole machine option from the drop-down list.

4

Specify whether to restore the VM to its original location or a new one:

1. Original location — the original location option automatically applies all settings from the backup, restoring the virtual machine to the same ESXi/vCenter, datastore, compute resource, and VM folder, with the same virtual network configuration. The only setting you can modify is the VM name.

2. New location — this option allows you to manually choose the location to which the VM will be restored and adjust additional settings:

   1. VMware environment — this field allows you to select the ESXi host or vCenter where the data will be restored (the list displays only servers that are connected to Xopero ONE).

   2. Compute resource — lets you choose the compute resource infrastructure to process the recovered data.

   3. Datastore — the location where the virtual machine files will be stored. Xopero ONE operates within the selected VMware environment.

   4. VM folder — lets you select the specific directory on the datastore where the VM will be restored.

   5. Virtual network — allows you to select your virtual network resource.

5

After adjusting the VMware options, click Next to open the Restore data aside and configure the following settings:

1. VMware power state — lets you choose whether the virtual machine should start immediately after the restore or remain offline.

2. Transport method — allows you to choose one of the available transport methods:

   1. Automatic (recommended) — Xopero ONE will automatically determine the best available transport method for each worker and apply it accordingly.

   2. HotAdd — available only for virtual appliance workers (see this article for more details). This method creates a snapshot and a linked clone of the target virtual machine. The disk is then attached to the worker, which reads the linked clone’s virtual disks for backup.

   3. SAN — this mode requires the backup server to have access to the SAN storage containing the virtual disks. A SAN backup worker must be a physical machine. In this mode, data is read directly from the VMware LUN storage where the virtual disks are located.

   4. LAN — also called NBD/NBDSSL. In this mode, the ESXi host reads data from the storage and sends it over the network to the worker. This method is typically used when no other transport option is available.

3. Restore settings — allows you to limit the internet bandwidth.

4. Device used to restore the data — lets you choose the device (worker) directly responsible for restoring your virtual machine. You can have multiple workers and assign different ones to each backup plan or restore process. A worker can be either a physical or a virtual machine.

Devices running macOS are not supported for restoring VMware data.

6

Once configured, click Start now to begin the restoration process.

Overview

A virtual appliance (VA) is a virtual machine image running on a Linux-based system with the Xopero ONE application pre-installed. It can be deployed through the Xopero ONE Management Service (XMS).

The main purpose of a VA is to act as a backup proxy. It enables the use of SCSI HotAdd, one of the fastest transport methods, which allows attaching devices to a running virtual machine. This capability is especially useful for both backup and restore operations.

The default virtual appliance (VA) configuration parameters are:

• 2 CPUs

• 4 GB RAM

• 100 GB disk space

Deployment

1

Log in to XMS, open the Virtual Machines tab on the left side of the window, and select Deploy virtual appliance at the top.

You must have at least one VMware organization added for this option to appear.

2

The system will display the New VMware protection view, where you can select one of the VMware environments available in Xopero ONE.

3

The selected environment will be responsible for running the Xopero ONE virtual appliance. You can choose the specific host or cluster on which the machine will run, as well as the datastore that will store the virtual machine drives.

4

The next section is dedicated to the virtual network, where you can configure the network for your machine, guest OS username and password, as well as the Xopero ONE Management Service (XMS) address, which the application on the virtual appliance will use to establish a connection.

The password for the created virtual appliance on the host can be found in its description (notes). It is recommended to change it to a new, secure password after the machine is created.

Make sure the device used for deployment can communicate with your VMware host or cluster, as it will be responsible for the installation. If communication between the selected device and VMware is unavailable, the process will fail.

Devices with macOS are not supported as deployment devices for virtual appliances in Xopero ONE.

5

In Network settings you can also configure the IP settings by selecting Automatic assignment (DHCP) or Manual setup from the drop-down list. The first option automatically assigns network settings to the virtual machine adapter through the DHCP protocol, while the second option allows you to configure each parameter manually according to your preferences.

6

After making your selection and providing all the required details, click the Save button in Network settings, then click Next to install the virtual appliance. The system will display the progress of the deployment process.

7

Once the process completes successfully, the system will display a success message. You can now use the virtual appliance agent as a worker device in any VMware backup plan.

Xopero ONE provides secure, consistent protection for virtual machines by capturing entire VM data or selected disks according to defined backup policies. Data is collected directly from the VMware environment, then encrypted before transfer to the designated storage datastore. Backup jobs follow configured schedules and retention policies, ensuring data integrity, efficient storage usage, and rapid recovery in case of system failure or data loss.

General information

Using Xopero ONE, you can protect multiple components of your IT infrastructure, including VMware environments. Each environment can have its own specific backup configuration and may use either a virtual appliance or a local backup agent.

In VMware environments, efficient communication and data transfer to data stores are critical. Fast transport methods, like HotAdd, require a virtual appliance (VA). Without it, local devices acting as VMware backup agents (workers) transfer data over the LAN—first to the agent and then to storage—resulting in much longer transfer times. For improved backup efficiency, it is recommended to use a VA rather than a local agent.

To test VMware snapshots for Xopero ONE, create a snapshot as follows:

Backup snapshots

VMware backup copies are created using system snapshots. For machines running Windows, Xopero ONE uses file-system consistent backups by default. Application-aware backups can be enabled for machines running Windows Server.

Only crash-consistent backups are supported on Linux systems.

Application-aware backup

In Xopero ONE, when creating or editing a VMware backup plan, you can enable the application-aware backup option (available only for machines running Windows Server), which allows you to create transactionally consistent backups or replicas of virtual machines.

The functionality relies on Microsoft VSS (Volume Shadow Copy Service) technology, which temporarily silences the application, pauses write requests for up to 60 seconds, flushes the file system buffer, and freezes the file system. This ensures that file system metadata is recorded and data is saved in a consistent order.

File-system consistent backup

File-system consistent backups achieve consistency by capturing a snapshot of all data on the virtual disks simultaneously. These snapshots flush in-memory buffers to disk and synchronize file system metadata and open files, ensuring that the logical relationships among data on the disk are accurate and complete.

While a file-system consistent backup ensures that the file system itself will not be corrupted upon restore, it does not guarantee that running applications are in a consistent state. To create an application-consistent snapshot, the application should be paused or quiesced before taking the snapshot. This ensures that all in-memory operations are safely written to disk, allowing a reliable and consistent restore.

Crash-consistent backup

A crash-consistent backup captures all data on a disk at a single, precise moment, similar to abruptly powering off the system*. It ensures write-order consistency, meaning files are not corrupted, but it does not capture in-memory data or pending I/O transactions. As a result, crash-consistent backups are suitable for file servers but not for active databases or email servers. They are faster and simpler to perform, but less reliable for transactional workloads.

_{*The term "crash-consistent" indicates that the backup reflects the system state just before a server crash, power-off, or reset, effectively serving as a restore point.}

Full VSS backup

Xopero ONE relies on the Volume Shadow Copy Service (VSS) to create application-aware backups, coordinating with VSS-aware applications such as Microsoft Exchange and Microsoft SQL Server. This method ensures that both the file system and the running applications are captured in a consistent state, allowing reliable restoration of application data.

When the full VSS backup option is enabled, the backup captures all relevant data via shadow copy and notifies the application that the full backup has been completed. This allows transaction logs to be safely truncated, helping to manage storage and maintain application health.

Enabling full VSS backup is recommended in the following cases:

• When backing up Microsoft Exchange or Microsoft SQL Server and automatically truncating transaction logs.

• When performing a production-grade backup of any VSS-aware application with internal transaction logs.

• When ensuring the backup is recognized by the application as a complete and valid recovery point.

Backup resiliency

Xopero ONE ensures the resilience of VMware machine backups and restores against network issues. In the event of temporary disconnections, the system automatically retries connecting to the machine's disk, ensuring that backup tasks complete successfully.

Additionally, administrators can use direct disk access via the VMware datastore to shorten the data transfer path, minimize network issues, and improve backup performance.

Disk consolidation

Xopero ONE allows administrators to force disk consolidation of the source machine's disks on the VMware side before taking a snapshot, ensuring virtual disk consistency and optimizing I/O performance. The disk consolidation option can be enabled in the backup plan settings.

In scenarios where the virtual appliance (VA) fails, such as during a sudden service outage, VMware machine disks mounted to the VA may remain attached. This can block disk consolidation and leave behind unnecessary incremental VMDK files. To ensure proper disk consolidation and prevent disk space from filling up in the affected VMware environment, Xopero ONE uses a mechanism that, at the start of a backup task, identifies disks still attached to the VA and safely unmounts them, freeing the locked resources.

Useful links and items

Application aware

In Xopero ONE, when you're creating or editing a VMware backup plan, you can enable the application-aware backup option (available only for Windows Server versions). This allows you to create transactionally consistent backups or replicas of virtual machines.

This functionality relies on the Microsoft VSS (Volume Shadow Copy Service). VSS temporarily pauses the application and write requests (up to 60 seconds), flushes the file system buffer, and freezes the file system. This process ensures that file system metadata is written and that data is saved in a consistent order.

Changed Block Tracking (CBT)

The Changed Block Tracking (CBT) tool calculates and provides Xopero with the differences between full, differential, and incremental backups; it's a VMware-provided tool that Xopero ONE uses by default.

Configuration

The method for calculating changes can be selected from the drop-down list. When VMware CBT (recommended) is selected, you can configure two additional checkboxes:

1. Enable Change Blocks Tracking in VMware for all virtual machines selected for backup (recommended) — when this option is enabled, CBT will be used for all protected virtual machines.

2. Reset CBT every full copy — when enabled, CBT will be reset during each full backup. Since CBT leaves markers indicating where the last changes occurred, this option clears those markers to prevent potential issues.

Transport methods

Following are all transport methods available in VMware backup settings:

1. Automatic (recommended) — Xopero ONE will automatically determine the best available transport method for each worker and apply it accordingly.

2. HotAdd — available only for virtual appliance workers (see this article for more details). This method creates a snapshot and a linked clone of the target virtual machine. The disk is then attached to the worker, which reads the linked clone’s virtual disks for backup.

3. SAN — this mode requires the backup server to have access to the SAN storage containing the virtual disks. A SAN backup worker must be a physical machine. In this mode, data is read directly from the VMware LUN storage where the virtual disks are located.

4. LAN — also called NBD/NBDSSL. In this mode, the ESXi host reads data from the storage and sends it over the network to the worker. This method is typically used when no other transport option is available.

Skip SWAP and empty blocks

This feature skips SWAP partitions and files, as well as empty blocks. By using it, you can reduce the backup size and the time required to transfer the backup to storage.

This feature is enabled by default. Administrators can configure two additional settings:

1. Skip SWAP files, and partitions — SWAP files and partitions will be excluded from the backup.

2. Skip empty blocks — all empty blocks will be skipped during the backup.

Disk consolidation

Disk consolidation option forces consolidation of the source machine's disks on the VMware side before taking a snapshot to ensure virtual disk consistency and optimize I/O performance.

Useful links and items

Xopero ONE offers a granular recovery feature that allows you to restore individual files and folders from a VMware virtual machine backup. This makes the restore process faster and more efficient in many unexpected situations.

Restoration process

1

Open the VMware tab (Virtual Machines > VMware) in XMS, then click the Manage & Restore button next to the host whose backup you want to restore.

2

Select the VM you want to restore and click the restore button.

3

After choosing the backup plan and VM version, click Restore under the backup copy you wish to recover and select the iSCSI target option from the drop-down list.

4

In the next aside, XMS displays all disks included in your virtual machine backup. You can choose which drives to include in your iSCSI target by clicking the Restore all button or selecting specific disks using the checkboxes and clicking Restore selected.

5

Next, configure the following settings:

1. iSCSI worker — allows you to select the device that will host and share the iSCSI target. You can choose any device added to the system that supports iSCSI target creation.

2. iSCSI settings — allows you to select the network adapter through which the target will be shared, as well as the port to be used — by default, port 3260 (dedicated for iSCSI targets).

Devices running macOS are not supported for restoring VMware data.

6

Click the Run iSCSI button to start the process. If everything is configured correctly, a new entry will appear in the Tasks tab and will remain active until you stop it.

iSCSI initiator

Once the iSCSI target is running, you only need to access it. To do this, use an iSCSI initiator (on Windows).

1

Press Windows + R to open the Run dialog, then type iscsicpl and press Enter to open the iSCSI Initiator Properties.

2

Use the Quick Connect option to locate your iSCSI target — enter the address of your iSCSI worker into the Target field and click Quick Connect... button.

3

The system will display a report of the targets discovered at the specified address and indicate the connection status (whether it was successful or not).

4

Click the Done button to close the report. The target should now appear in your Discovered Targets list with a connected status.

Disk Management

At this point, the target is connected to your device. Now, you have to open Disk Management.

1

Press Windows + R to open the Run dialog, then type diskmgmt.msc and press Enter to open the Disk Management tool.

2

Look for a disk that is marked as Offline ℹ.

3

Right-click the offline disk and select the Online option to bring it online.

4

Once the disk is online, you will see the drive letters assigned to its partitions. You can now open File Explorer to access your files.

Instant restore provides a rapid virtual machine recovery. It restores the machine’s configuration files to the VMware datastore, prepares a virtual machine, and mounts the disks to run directly from the backup copy. This allows the Xopero ONE administrator to start using the virtual machine almost immediately, without waiting for the full restore to complete.

Restoration process

1

Open the Storages tab in XMS.

2

Select the browse button and choose the vault where the virtual machine backup is located.

When the backup of a virtual machine is stored in cloud storage, the instant restore feature may work slower because it requires random-access read operations.

3

Select the backup plan and the version of the virtual machine you want to restore.

4

After choosing the backup plan and VM version, click Restore under the backup copy you wish to recover and select the Instant restore option from the drop-down list.

5

Specify whether to restore the VM to its original location or a new one:

1. Original location — the original location option automatically applies all settings from the backup, restoring the virtual machine to the same ESXi/vCenter, datastore, compute resource, and VM folder, with the same virtual network configuration. The only setting you can modify is the VM name.

2. New location — this option allows you to manually choose the location to which the VM will be restored and adjust additional settings:

   1. VMware environment — this field allows you to select the ESXi host or vCenter where the data will be restored (the list displays only servers that are connected to Xopero ONE).

   2. Compute resource — lets you choose the compute resource infrastructure to process the recovered data.

   3. Datastore — the location where the virtual machine files will be stored. Xopero ONE operates within the selected VMware environment.

   4. VM folder — lets you select the specific directory on the datastore where the VM will be restored.

   5. Virtual network — allows you to select your virtual network resource.

6

Enter the VM's name, and click Next.

7

Decide whether the restored machine should start automatically and select the port to use.

8

Double-check your settings and start the restoration process by clicking the Start now button.

9

The machine will be available on your VMware server. If everything is configured correctly, a new entry will appear in the Tasks tab and will remain active until you stop it.

10

After you finish working with the machine, you can shut it down by canceling the current instant restore job. To do this, click the X button and confirm that you want to cancel the instant restore task.

Creating & running a test restore backup plan

1

Log in to XMS, go to the Restore tab (Plans > Restore) and click the + Add plan button in the top toolbar.

2

Define the name of the backup plan, then click Select storage and choose the storage containing the VMware backup.

3

In the Choose item section, select the resource to restore data from.

4

Next, choose a backup plan from the list (the system will automatically select the latest backup). Then, select one of the two restore type options:

1. Whole machine — this option restores the entire machine’s data to VMware from the backup. Selecting this option lets you choose the transport method: Automatic (recommended), HotAdd, or LAN. You can also reduce network bandwidth for the restore operation.

This method sends all data to the VMware host, so ensure there is enough space to perform the test restore.

1. Instant restore — restores the machine using mounted disks that run directly from the backup (via iSCSI). This method skips sending data, making it much faster. Specify the device and port to expose the resource through the iSCSI target.

5

Make sure the selected agent has access to the chosen storage. If it doesn’t, or you need to change it, click the Change button at the bottom.

6

After selecting the restore type, the restore options aside will appear. You can restore the virtual machine to its original location or connect it to a different one:

When defining the machine name, make sure it doesn’t duplicate an existing name, or check the Create copy if the machine already exists option.

1. Original location — the original location option automatically applies all settings from the backup, restoring the virtual machine to the same ESXi/vCenter, datastore, compute resource, and VM folder, with the same virtual network configuration. The only setting you can modify is the VM name.

2. New location — this option allows you to manually choose the location to which the VM will be restored and adjust additional settings:

   1. VMware environment — this field allows you to select the ESXi host or vCenter where the data will be restored (the list displays only servers that are connected to Xopero ONE).

   2. Compute resource — lets you choose the compute resource infrastructure to process the recovered data.

   3. Datastore — the location where the virtual machine files will be stored. Xopero ONE operates within the selected VMware environment.

   4. VM folder — lets you select the specific directory on the datastore where the VM will be restored.

   5. Virtual network — allows you to select your virtual network resource.

7

In the verification section, you can define how long the system should wait while restoring and booting the virtual machine (the process of starting the computer and loading the operating system after restoration). You can also enable options to power on the virtual machine, take a screenshot after startup for verification, and delete the machine after a successful restore.

8

Define when the plan should be executed. You can also exclude specific hours using the backup window and enable the option to not suspend the plan during the restore process.

9

In Advanced settings, you can configure error handling and set the number of task retries in case of an error.

10

Save the plan and wait for it to run on schedule, or click Save & run to start it immediately. You can monitor active test restore tasks in the Tasks tab.

Task results

You can verify the correctness of the completed test restore task in the Tasks tab.

Click the task details button on the right to view additional information, such as a screenshot of the restored machine.

Email notifications

In addition to the task summary, you can enable email notifications with the recovery task summary. To receive them, go to ⚙ Settings, open Email notifications, and then select the Restore verification summary option.

General information

One of the key features of Xopero ONE software is VMware backup. The system enables you to back up all or selected virtual machines hosted on your ESXi or vCenter server. This article focuses on creating a VMware backup plan.

Creating a backup plan