Application validation for VMware vSphere VMs

Validation helps you confirm that VMware vSphere VM backups are usable before you need them for recovery. During validation, Commvault mounts a VM from a recovery point, starts the VM, and can optionally run an application check.

Use cases

• Prove that critical VMs can start from a recovery point.

• Validate recovery readiness as part of cyber resilience planning.

• Verify that VMs running applications are usable after backup.

Requirements

• VMware Tools (or open-vm-tools) is installed on the VM.

• If you run application checks (scripts), use a Windows access node.

• Live mount operations can use a local cache on the component that performs the mount

  • The cache is circular. Unused data is pruned as needed.

  • For each live mount job, plan free cache space of at least the larger of:

    • 20 GB

    • 15% of the total VM size (sum of all VM disk sizes)

How validation works

Commvault manages application validation or backup validation with this general flow:

1. Mounts the VM from the selected recovery point by using a live mount operation.

2. Powers on the VM.

3. If applications are detected and you configured application checks, a script runs to validate the application.

4. When validation completes, either removes the VM or keeps it running, based on the validation options you selected.

Validation can run scripts to confirm that an application is usable after the VM starts. Commvault provides example scripts for common applications (such as SQL Server and Oracle), and you can create your own scripts for other applications. If you use custom scripts, store them in a location the access node can reach and provide any required credentials in the validation configuration.

Validation source and mounting options

The options that are available for validation might vary based on the type of backup copy you validate.

• If you validate from a snapshot copy, some validation options might not be available.

• If your environment allows it and you have the required permissions, you can mount using the source ESXi host.

• Otherwise, use a recovery target to mount VMs for validation.

Enable validation

1. From the Command Center navigation pane, go to Protect > Virtual machines.

2. On the VM groups tab, click the VM group.

3. On the Configuration tab, enable the Validate VM backups toggle key.

4. In the validation settings, specify how to mount VMs for validation:

   • If you’re an administrator and your environment supports it, you can mount on the source ESXi host.

   • Otherwise, select a recovery target to mount VMs for validation.

5. To keep validated VMs running after validation completes, enable the option to keep the VMs running on the recovery target.

6. To run a custom validation script, provide the script path and the required VM credentials.

7. Click Save.

Validate a VM group or a VM

Use this task to run validation on demand.

1. From the Command Center navigation pane, go to Protect > Virtual machines.

2. Click the VM or VM group to validate.

3. On the Overview tab, in the recovery point area, select the date and time to validate.

4. Click Validate backup.

A job runs to validate the selected VM group or VM.

Monitor validation status

1. From the Command Center navigation pane, go to Jobs.

2. Find the validation job and review the status and events.

3. If validation fails, review the job details and rerun validation from a full backup if your environment requires it.