Virtual Machine Security and the Usage of VMware VM Backup

A VMware VM backup becomes a necessity when looking to enhance the security of your VMware virtual infrastructure. With data protection becoming an increasingly popular topic of debate, there is no better way to protect data than by performing a VMware backup.

There are several ways to perform a VMware VM backup, and this guide will outline the most popular and common methods. By the end of this guide, you will have a comprehensive understanding of data protection and what it means to perform a virtual machine backup.

With that said, let’s explain why VM backups are so important.

The Importance of Performing VMware Backups

VMware is a leader in cloud computing and virtualization technology, as it offers customers access to software that makes it possible to virtualize their IT infrastructure. Virtualization isn’t a new technology. But the benefits of virtualization make its usage unavoidable.

Both small businesses and large organizations can virtualize their IT infrastructure by creating virtual machines. However, even virtualization isn’t perfect. That’s because the same risks apply to virtual servers and systems as their physical counterparts.

Therefore, security becomes an issue that must be addressed. There’s no better way to protect your virtual machine than to perform a backup. There are several backup and recovery methods that enhance data protection. These methods are essential for disaster recovery and VM recovery.

Through backup management, you have more ways to protect your guest operating system. This guide will look at the ways to perform a VMware backup. Keep in mind that the backup process is a solution that protects entire guest operating systems in case of natural disasters, and external and internal actors. With that said, let’s look at the ways to backup your VMware virtual machines.

VMware Backup Methods for Enhanced Data Protection

Below we will tell you the most common backup and restore methods for VMware data protection. With these methods, you can create backup copies of your virtual machines and data. Before we start, we must mention that not all backup and recovery methods work the same. Some methods are capable of backing up your entire VMware infrastructure while others focus on certain aspects.

Regardless, implementing a backup solution for your VMware VMs will give you some form of instant recovery of data. So, let’s start.

Method 1: Backup and Recovery on VM-Level

The traditional backup and recovery method includes installing a backup software agent to each VM. However, not every backup and recovery software works the same.

Regardless, the traditional method makes it possible to perform incremental backups and full backups. An incremental backup is a backup copy that contains files altered from the last backup. This means you have an up-to-date backup of your VMware vSphere virtual machines.

The traditional method also allows file-level recovery and doesn’t require any backup knowledge to go over the process since you’re using dedicated backup software.

The downside to this method is that not every backup software solution is as powerful as the next. This means you’ll need to do your due diligence. In addition, this method can be quite taxing on your server, since each VM needs to have a separate backup agent installed.

Method 2: Backup and Recovery on Host-Level

The second method is also considered a traditional backup method, but there are several differences. For example, the biggest difference is that you’re supposed to install the backup agent on a host level. From there, you’re supposed to manage VMware backups for your virtual machines by backing up each VMs VMDK file.

The advantages of using this method include using only a single agent, being fast and reliable, and being capable of image-level recovery. On the other hand, the downsides include you must have scripting knowledge to automate the process and there are no file-level or incremental backups possible.

Method 3: Backup and Recovery Through VMware Consolidated Backup

The third and final method includes using VMware Consolidated Backup (VCB). VCB works by offloading VM backups to the host, thus eliminating backup traffic from the network. In addition, this method frees up necessary resources and doesn’t compromise VM performance during the backup process.

The advantages of this method include options for full and incremental backups, multiple ways to transfer backup files, and options for managing backups from a central point.

On the other hand, the disadvantages include having strong scripting knowledge and the need for a dedicated server and third-party tools.

Conclusion

Backup and recovery are essential when it comes to VMware infrastructure security. With a dedicated backup and recovery solution, you can backup multiple VMs and protect your virtual environment from natural disasters and threat actors (internal and external).

We hope this guide explains the method to perform VMware VM backup and gives you an understanding of the importance of performing regular backups.