The Virtual Server Agent for Amazon creates crash-consistent backups of all instances that are selected for a subclient.
When multiple VSA proxies are available, then a proxy in the same zone is given priority. If no proxy is available in the same zone, then a proxy in the same region is given priority.
Note
When an instance is discovered during a backup operation, a client for the instance is created in the CommCell Console if one does not already exist. When an instance with spaces or special characters n its name is discovered during a backup operation, the spaces or special characters are replaced with underscores ('_') in the instance client name that is displayed in the CommCell Console. The instance name is still displayed with spaces or special characters on the Instance Status tab for the backup job, in the backup job summary, and in reports that include the instance name. The following special characters are replaced:
[ \ \ | ` ~ ! @ # $ % ^ & * + = < > ? , { } ( ) : ; ' \ " \ \ s / ]
What Gets Backed Up
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Active EC2 instances (whether they are turned on or turned off)
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Instance EBS volumes
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Volumes using default or custom encryption
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IAM role attached to the instance
What Does Not Get Backed Up
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AMIs
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Instance store volumes
HotAdd Backups
In HotAdd mode backups, the Virtual Server Agent is installed on an instance residing in AWS. The data volumes containing the virtual machines to be backed up are automatically mounted to the VSA access node, so they can be accessed by the VSA access node as a local disk.
For more information, see HotAdd Backups.
Changed Block Tracking (CBT) Based Backups
Commvault uses Amazon EBS direct APIs to perform Change Block Tracking (CBT) backups of Amazon EC2 instances and associated Amazon EBS volumes. Amazon EBS direct APIs accelerate back up activity by identifying changes between two Amazon EBS snapshots by using the API. You can use Amazon EBS direct APIs or Change Block Tracking with streaming backups, and with the backup copy operation of IntelliSnap backups. By default, CBT is enabled when you create a new AWS hypervisor VM group. You can also enable CBT for existing VM groups. For more information about CBT for Amazon, see Changed Block Tracking for Amazon.
Direct Read Backups
Backups run faster with AWS direct read backups because you can read data off the EBS snapshots directly without the need to create and attach volumes to the VSA access node.
For more information about direct read backups, see Direct Read Backups.