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).

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 6.0 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 VMware Data Recovery, Symantec NetBackup 7.0, Symantec Backup Exec 2010, CA ArcServe 12.5, CommVault 8.0 with post-SP4 update, Arkeia Network Backup - Version 8.2, EMC Avamar 5.0, EMC NetWorker 7.6 SP2, IBM TSM 6.2, Veeam 4.0, HP Data Protector 6.11, and 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.
    
8. Where can I learn more about VMware vSphere Storage APIs – Data Protection?
   
   For more information about VMware vSphere Storage APIs – Data Protection and integration with backup products, see:

• VMware SDK Support Program for vSphere APIs, SDKs, PowerCLI
• Designing backup solutions using vStorage APIs for Data Protection
• Veritas NetBackup 7.7.2 Guide
• vSphere Purchase Advisor
• Compare VMware vSphere Editions