vCSA 6.7 Backup Schedule & Folder Structure

In vSphere 6.7, we finally have the vCSA 6.7 Backup Schedule which I think was one of the most requested features for this release. Schedule can be set up using either the API, CLI or through the UI. I will not cover this step-by-step as the process is quite self-explanatory. Instead, once you create a couple of manual and automatic backups, you may discover that the backup files have different naming structure as depicted below.

vCSA 6.7 Backup Schedule Folder Structure

The folders on a remote backup location are structured in a particular way for easy query and retrieval of metadata of all the backups. The folder structure is common for both manual and scheduled backups. In my case, the structure looks like this:

<FTP_ROOT>/vCenter/sn_vcsa.dr-lab-b.local/S_6.7.0.10000_20180523-130004_

This means the following:

• vCenter Server name: sn_vcsa.dr-lab-b.local
• Job type: M = Manual, S = Scheduled
• Version: vCenter Server version
• Date & time: date and time when the backup was created
• Comment: Comment string (if any) associated with the backup. It is base64 encoded so it will not be readable.

Troubleshooting Backup Jobs

If you need to troubleshoot, the backup schedule log files are located in the /var/log/vmware/applmgmt folder on the vCSA. The following log files are used:

• backupSchedulerCron.log – Logs related to scheduler job
• backupScheduler.log – Logs related to the scheduler script
• applmgmt.log – Logs related to setting up of the schedule
• backup.log – Logs related to the backup job

The Backup Scheduler configuration file is located in the /storage/applmgmt/backup_restore/backup_schedule.json file.

Also, all the log files are captured in vc-support when you create one. Keep in mind that the vCSA 6.7 Backup Schedule cannot check if there is sufficient free disk space on the backup location.

Cheers!

– Marek.Z