FAQ: VMware vSphere Storage APIs – Data Protection (formerly known as VMware vStorage APIs for Data Protection or VADP)
search cancel

FAQ: VMware vSphere Storage APIs – Data Protection (formerly known as VMware vStorage APIs for Data Protection or VADP)

book

Article ID: 311197

calendar_today

Updated On:

Products

VMware vCenter Server VMware vSphere ESXi

Issue/Introduction

This article provides answers to frequently asked questions about VMware vSphere Storage APIs – Data Protection (formerly known as vStorage APIs for Data Protection or VADP).

Environment

  • VMware vCenter Server 8.0
  • VMware vSphere ESXi 6.7
  • VMware vSphere ESXi 5.5
  • VMware vSphere ESXi 7.0.0
  • VMware vSphere ESXi 6.5
  • VMware vCenter Server 5.0.x
  • VMware vCenter Server 5.5.x
  • VMware vCenter Server 5.1.x
  • VMware vCenter Server 6.0.x
  • VMware vSphere ESXi 5.1
  • VMware vSphere ESXi 8.0
  • VMware vCenter Server 6.5.x
  • VMware vSphere ESXi 5.0
  • VMware vCenter Server 7.0.x
  • VMware vSphere ESXi 6.0
  • VMware vCenter Server 6.7.x

Resolution

  1. What is VMware vSphere Storage APIs – Data Protection?

    • VMware vSphere Storage APIs – Data Protection is the next generation of VMware’s data protection framework originally introduced in vSphere 4.0 that enables backup products to do centralized, efficient, off-host LAN free backup of vSphere virtual machines.
    • A backup product using VMware vSphere Storage APIs – Data Protection can backup vSphere virtual machines from a central backup server or virtual machine without requiring backup agents or requiring backup processing to be done inside each guest virtual machine on the ESX host. This offloads backup processing from ESX hosts and reduces costs by allowing each ESX host to run more virtual machines.
    • VMware vSphere Storage APIs – Data Protection leverages the snapshot capabilities of VMware vSphere to enable backup across SAN without requiring downtime for virtual machines. As a result, backups can be performed non-disruptively at any time of the day without requiring extended backup windows and the downtime to applications and users associated with backup windows.

  2. What are the benefits of VMware vSphere Storage APIs – Data Protection?
    VMware vSphere Storage APIs – Data Protection enables centralized, off-host LAN free backup of vSphere virtual machines, reduces ESX host resources to do backup processing, and enables flexible backup windows.

  3. Does VMware vSphere Storage APIs – Data Protection replace the VMware Consolidated Backup (VCB) framework?
    Yes.

  4. How does VMware vSphere Storage APIs – Data Protection compare with VCB?

    Unlike VCB, which requires customers to download and install a separate component on VCB proxy server, VMware vSphere Storage APIs – Data Protection is built-in as a part of the backup product. This table summarizes the key differences between VMware vSphere Storage APIs – Data Protection and VCB.

     
    VMware vSphere Storage APIs – Data Protection
    VCB
    Requires additional download & install
    No, built into the data protection software
    Yes
    Full virtual machine image backup
    Yes, single step copy – source to target
    Yes, with two step copy – source to VCB proxy and VCB proxy to the target
    Incremental virtual machine image backup
    Yes – using change block tracking
    No
    File level backup
    Yes, both Windows and Linux
    Yes, Windows only
    Full virtual machine image restore
    Yes
    Yes, by using VMware Converter
    Incremental virtual machine image restore
    Yes
    No
    File level restore
    Yes, using restore agents
    Yes, using restore agents
    CLI for image backup
    No
    Yes
    CLI for file backup
    Yes
    Yes


  5. What VMware vSphere Storage APIs – Data Protection solutions support backup of vSphere FT protected virtual machines?

    VMware vSphere Storage APIs – Data Protection can now be used with virtual machines protected by vSphere FT 6.0. Check with the backup vendor directly to see if they support VADP-FT protected backups. To backup FT protected virtual machines using templates or storage snapshots, see Backing Up Fault Tolerance virtual machines.

    Note: VMware vSphere Data Protection 6.x (VDP) does not currently support backup of FT protected virtual machines. The backup will fail if the virtual machine has fault tolerance enabled. See Backup Jobs Limitations (pp 112) and Backup fails if VM is enabled with VMware Fault Tolerance (pp 195) in the VDP 6.1 Administration Guide.

  6. What VMware vSphere Storage APIs – Data Protection based backup solutions are available in the market today?

    Several backup vendors have released VMware vSphere Storage APIs – Data Protection based backup solutions. These include:
    1. VMware Data Recovery, Symantec NetBackup 7.0
    2. Symantec Backup Exec 2010
    3. CA ArcServe 12.5
    4. CommVault 8.0 with post-SP4 update
    5. Arkeia Network Backup - Version 8.2E
    6. MC Avamar 5.0
    7. EMC NetWorker 7.6 SP2
    8. IBM TSM 6.2, Veeam 4.0
    9. HP Data Protector 6.11
    10. VizionCore vRanger Pro 4.2.

      Note: This list is not exhaustive. If your backup vendor is not listed, check with them directly as to whether they support VMware vSphere Storage APIs – Data Protection based backup solutions. Please consult your backup software vendor for more information about their integration with the VMware vSphere Storage APIs – Data Protection.

  7. What licensing is required to use VMware vSphere Storage APIs – Data Protection?

    Data Protection APIs are included with all licensed vSphere editions.

Additional Information