Step 3: Guest Processing

The second step in the backup process is to configure Application-Aware Settings. This feature provides data consistency for the applications (MS Exchange Server, MS SQL Server, MS SharePoint Server, MS Active Directory) that reside in the VM.
During the backup process, the writers that are available will be checked if they are stable or not. Only if they are in a stable state the backup will proceed. This ensures a consistent database snapshot. A consistent database snapshot will be created by quiescing the applications using Microsoft VSS API.

Note: By default, Application Aware settings will be disabled

Select the Enable Application Aware Processing option. You can customize Application-Aware configurations at the Host/VM Level. Select the Click here option to customize the global configuration settings at the Host/VM level. The Manage Application Aware Settings pop up window will be displayed.

Host/VM level entity - if you are configuring Application-Aware settings at the host level, the IP address of the host will be displayed. If you are configuring Application-Aware settings at the VM level, the name of the VM will be displayed.
VSS Writer Status - displays if the VSS writer status is required, ignored or disabled based on your selection.
Log Truncation Status - displays if the log truncation status is enabled or disabled. If Truncate the transaction log option is selected, the log status will be enabled. If the Disable Log Transactions are selected, log truncation status will be disabled.

You can configure Application-Aware rules for your entire ESXi host or the individual VMs residing in that ESXi host. Click the check-box next to the entity name option, this will select all the entities. If you want to select individual entities, select the required entity (Host/VM) and click the Edit option.

Note: Make sure VMware Tools are running in Guest OS

The Appaware Settings page will be displayed. You can configure the Application-aware processing configurations. Three options will be available:

Require successful application processing: Choosing this option lets Vembu BDR track the application consistency and trigger the backup process, only when all the VSS writers in the VM are in a stable state. You can stop the backup if any of the application writers say for Eg MS SQL writer is not in a stable state or if the VSS writers were not processed successfully after the snapshot.
Ignore application processing failures: This option, lets Vembu BDR trigger the backup job when it is scheduled, despite the success/failure of the application processed. It will not process the Application VSS writers and ignores the writer's status. By default, we do not recommend this option as it may lead to data inconsistency of the applications in the backup.
Disable Application processing: Application-Aware will be disabled for the selected entity.

Transaction log processing: You can configure two options from this section:

Truncate the transaction logs: This option will purge the transaction logs and saves the space consumed by the application transaction logs.
Disable Log Transactions: The log transactions will be disabled and truncation won't happen.

Note: If the Disable Application processing option is selected in Application-Aware processing section, then transaction log processing will not be applicable.

If you have selected a host for the backup process but want to set different Application aware rules for individual VMs, select the +Add option. This will open the Appaware settings page. Expand the host further by choosing the + option and select the VM to which different Application Aware rules must be set. Click the Add option. The selected VM will be added and displayed in the Customize settings page. Click the Edit option and edit the Application aware rules for the added VMs.

Note: Application-Aware backups are not supported for VM(s) with Desktop OS, 32 bit Guest OS

You can remove the VMs that you have added to the list by selecting the x Remove option. Click Save once you are done configuring the Application Aware Settings and click Next to proceed to the Credentials page.

Guest OS Credentials

You can select previously added guest OS credentials by choosing the Select Credentials drop-down list.