Working with hypervisors - AWS Backup
Adding a hypervisorViewing virtual machines managed by a hypervisorViewing gateways connected to a hypervisorConnecting a hypervisor to additional gatewaysEditing a hypervisor configurationDeleting a hypervisor configurationUnderstanding hypervisor status

Working with hypervisors

After you finish Creating a gateway, you can connect it to a hypervisor to enable AWS Backup to work with the virtual machines managed by that hypervisor. For example, the hypervisor for VMware VMs is VMware vCenter Server. Ensure your hypervisor is configured with the necessary permissions for AWS Backup.

Adding a hypervisor

To add a hypervisor:

  1. In the left navigation pane, under the External resources section, choose Hypervisors.

  2. Choose Add hypervisor.

  3. In the Hypervisor settings section, type in a Hypervisor name.

  4. For vCenter server host, use the dropdown menu to select either IP address or FQDN (fully-qualified domain name). Type in the corresponding value.

  5. To allow AWS Backup to discover the virtual machines on the hypervisor, enter the hypervisor’s Username and Password.

  6. Encrypt your password. You can specify this encryption by selecting a specific service-managed KMS key or a customer-managed KMS key using the dropdown menu or choose Create KMS key. If you do not select a specific key, AWS Backup will encrypt your password using a service-owned key.

  7. In the Connecting gateway section, use the dropdown list to specify which Gateway to connect to your hypervisor.

  8. Choose Test gateway connection to verify your previous inputs.

  9. Optionally, in the Hypervisor tags section, you can assign tags to the hypervisor by choosing Add new tag.

  10. Optional VMware tag mapping: You can add up to 10 VMware tags you currently use on your virtual machines to generate AWS tags.

  11. In the Log group setting panel, you may choose to integrate with Amazon CloudWatch Logs to maintain logs of your hypervisor (standard CloudWatch Logs pricing will apply based on usage). Each hypervisor can belong to one log group.

    1. If you have not yet created a log group, select the Create a new log group radio button. The hypervisor you are editing will be associated with this log group.

    2. If you have previously created a log group for a different hypervisor, you can use that log group for this hypervisor. Select Use an existing log group.

    3. If you do not want CloudWatch logging, select Deactivate logging.

  12. Choose Add hypervisor, which takes you to its detail page.

Tip

You can use Amazon CloudWatch Logs (see step 11 above) to obtain information about your hypervisor, including error monitoring, network connection between the gateway and the hypervisor, and network configuration information. For information about CloudWatch log groups, see Working with Log Groups and Log Streams in the Amazon CloudWatch User Guide.

Viewing virtual machines managed by a hypervisor

To view virtual machines on a hypervisor:

  1. In the left navigation pane, under the External resources section, choose Hypervisors.

  2. In the Hypervisors section, choose a hypervisor by its Hypervisor name to go to its detail page.

  3. In the section under Hypervisor summary, choose the Virtual machines tab.

  4. In the Connected virtual machines section, a list of virtual machines populates automatically.

Viewing gateways connected to a hypervisor

To view gateways connected to the hypervisor:

  1. Choose the Gateways tab.

  2. In the Connected gateways section, a list of gateways populates automatically.

Connecting a hypervisor to additional gateways

Your backup and restore speeds might be limited by the bandwidth of the connection between your gateway and hypervisor. You can increase these speeds by connecting one or more additional gateways to your hypervisor. You can do this in the Connected gateways section as follows:

  1. Choose Connect.

  2. Select another gateway using the dropdown menu. Alternatively, choose Create gateway to create a new gateway.

  3. Choose Connect.

Editing a hypervisor configuration

If you do not use the Test gateway connection feature, you might add a hypervisor with an incorrect username or password. In that case, the hypervisor’s connection status is always Pending. Alternatively, you might rotate the username or password to access your hypervisor. Update this information using the following procedure:

To edit an already-added hypervisor:

  1. In the left navigation pane, under the External resources section, choose Hypervisors.

  2. In the Hypervisors section, choose a hypervisor by its Hypervisor name to go to its detail page.

  3. Choose Edit.

  4. The top panel is named Hypervisor settings.

    1. Under vCenter server host, you can also edit the FQDN (Fully-Qualified Domain Name) or the IP address.

    2. Optionally, enter the hypervisor’s Username and Password.

  5. In the Log group setting panel, you may choose to integrate with Amazon CloudWatch to maintain logs of your hypervisor (standard CloudWatch pricing will apply based on usage). Each hypervisor can belong to one log group.

    1. If you have not yet created a log group, select the Create a new log group radio button. The hypervisor you are editing will be associated with this log group.

    2. If you have previously created a log group for a different hypervisor, you can use that log group for this hypervisor. Select Use an existing log group.

    3. If you do not want CloudWatch logging, select Deactivate logging.

Tip

You can use Amazon CloudWatch Logs (see step 5 above) to obtain information about your hypervisor, including error monitoring, network connection between the gateway and the hypervisor, and network configuration information. For information about CloudWatch log groups, see Working with Log Groups and Log Streams in the Amazon CloudWatch User Guide.

To update a hypervisor programmatically, use the CLI command update-hypervisor and UpdateHypervisor API call.

Deleting a hypervisor configuration

If you need to remove an already-added hypervisor, remove the hypervisor configuration and add another. This remove operation applies to the configuration to connect to the hypervisor. It does not delete the hypervisor.

To delete the configuration to connect to an already-added hypervisor:

  1. In the left navigation pane, under the External resources section, choose Hypervisors.

  2. In the Hypervisors section, choose a hypervisor by its Hypervisor name to go to its detail page.

  3. Choose Remove, then choose Remove hypervisor.

  4. Optional: replace the removed hypervisor configuration using the procedure for Adding a hypervisor.

Understanding hypervisor status

The following describes each of the possible hypevisor statuses and, if applicable, remediation steps. The ONLINE status is the normal status of the hypervisor. A hypervisor should have this status all or most of the time it’s in use for backup and recovery of VMs managed by the hypervisor.

Hypervisor statuses
Status Meaning and remediation
ONLINE

You added a hypervisor to AWS Backup, associated with it a gateway, and can connect with that gateway over your network to perform backup and recovery of virtual machines managed by the hypervisor.

You can perform on-demand and scheduled backups of those virtual machines at any time.
PENDING

You added a hypervisor to AWS Backup but:

  • It is not associated with any gateway, or

  • It is associated with one or more gateways, but all those gateways were deleted or are otherwise not active.

To change a hypervisor status from PENDING to ONLINE, create a gateway and connect your hypervisor to that gateway.
OFFLINE

You added a hypervisor to AWS Backup and associated it with a gateway, but the gateway cannot connect to the hypervisor over your network.

To change a hypervisor status from OFFLINE to ONLINE, verify the correctness of your network configuration.

If the issue persists, verify that your hypervisor’s IP address or fully-qualified domain name is correct. If they are incorrect, add your hypervisor again using the correct information and test your gateway connection.

ERROR

You added a hypervisor to AWS Backup and associated it with a gateway, but the gateway cannot communicate with the hypervisor.

To change a hypervisor status from ERROR to ONLINE, verify that hypervisor’s username and password are correct. If they are incorrect, edit your hypervisor configuration.

Next steps

To back up virtual machines on your hypervisor, see Backing up virtual machines.