VMware Compute

The VMware integration allows Plakar Control Plane to discover, back up, and restore virtual machines managed by VMware vSphere. VMware integration supports multiple protocols.

The vmware protocol transfers virtual machine disk data over HTTPS using the vSphere API. It supports both backup and restore operations without requiring any additional infrastructure.

This is the simplest protocol to deploy, but throughput is typically limited to around 30 MB/s.

flowchart TD
  subgraph VMware["VMware vSphere"]
    VCenter["vCenter / ESXi"]
    VM["Virtual Machine"]
  end

  subgraph Plakar["Plakar Control Plane"]
    Source["VMware Compute
Source app"]
    Backup["Backup process
Encrypt & deduplicate"]
  end

  Store["Kloset Store"]

  Source -->|"vSphere API over HTTPS"| VCenter
  VCenter --> VM
  VM -->|"disk data transfer"| Source
  Source --> Backup
  Backup --> Store

flowchart TD
  Store["Kloset Store"]

  subgraph Plakar["Plakar Control Plane"]
    Destination["VMware Compute
Destination app"]
    Restore["Restore process"]
  end

  subgraph VMware["VMware vSphere"]
    VCenter["vCenter / ESXi"]
    VM["Restored Virtual Machine"]
  end

  Store --> Restore
  Destination --> Restore

  Restore -->|"disk data transfer"| Destination
  Destination -->|"vSphere API over HTTPS"| VCenter
  VCenter --> VM

The following settings are available when configuring both source and destination apps using the vmware protocol.

• vSphere Password: Required. The password for the vSphere account.
• vSphere TLS CA Bundle: The CA certificate bundle used to verify the vCenter Server or ESXi TLS certificate.
• vSphere TLS Skip Verify: Skip TLS certificate verification when connecting to the vCenter Server or ESXi host.
• vSphere Username: Required. The username used to authenticate with the vCenter Server or ESXi host.

The following extra settings are available when configuring a destination app using the vmware protocol.

• Tmp Dir: The temporary directory used by VDDK and NBDKit during restore operations. Defaults to /home/plakar/tmp.

The vmware+nbd protocol transfers virtual machine disk data through a dedicated NBD server running nbdkit with the VDDK plugin, connected to over TLS. It supports both backup and restore operations, and is significantly faster than the vmware protocol, but requires setting up an NBD server first. See Setting up an NBD Server for VMware Backups for instructions.

flowchart TD
  subgraph VMware["VMware vSphere"]
    VCenter["vCenter / ESXi"]
    VM["Virtual Machine"]
  end

  subgraph NBDServer["NBD Server"]
    Nbdkit["nbdkit + VDDK plugin"]
  end

  subgraph Plakar["Plakar Control Plane"]
    Source["VMware Compute
Source app"]
    Backup["Backup process
Encrypt & deduplicate"]
  end

  Store["Kloset Store"]

  Source -->|"SSH: orchestration"| Nbdkit
  Nbdkit -->|"VDDK API"| VCenter
  VCenter --> VM
  Nbdkit -->|"NBD over TLS: disk bytes"| Source
  Source --> Backup
  Backup --> Store

flowchart TD
  Store["Kloset Store"]

  subgraph Plakar["Plakar Control Plane"]
    Destination["VMware Compute
Destination app"]
    Restore["Restore process"]
  end

  subgraph NBDServer["NBD Server"]
    Nbdkit["nbdkit + VDDK plugin"]
  end

  subgraph VMware["VMware vSphere"]
    VCenter["vCenter / ESXi"]
    VM["Restored Virtual Machine"]
  end

  Store --> Restore
  Destination --> Restore

  Destination -->|"SSH: orchestration"| Nbdkit
  Destination -->|"NBD over TLS: disk bytes"| Nbdkit
  Nbdkit -->|"VDDK API"| VCenter
  VCenter --> VM

The following settings are available when configuring both source and destination apps using the vmware+nbd protocol.

• Vsphere Username: Required. The username used to authenticate with the vCenter Server or ESXi host.
• Vsphere Password: Required. The password for the vSphere account.
• Vsphere Tls Skip Verify: Skip TLS certificate verification when connecting to the vCenter Server or ESXi host.
• Vsphere Tls Ca Bundle: The CA certificate bundle used to verify the vCenter Server or ESXi TLS certificate.
• Nbd Ssh Url: Required. The SSH URL used to reach the NBD server for orchestration, e.g. ssh://<user>@<host>:<port>.
• Nbd Ssh Private Key: Required. The private key used to authenticate over SSH with the NBD server.
• Nbd Uri: The TLS NBD URI used for direct disk data transfer, e.g. nbds://[<user>:<password>@]<host>:<port>. Defaults to the host of Nbd Ssh Url when omitted. Credentials in the URI default to Vsphere Username / Vsphere Password when omitted.
• Nbd Tls Ca Bundle: Required. The PEM CA bundle used by the client to verify the NBD server’s TLS certificate.
• Nbd Tls Certificates Dir: The remote directory on the NBD server containing the TLS certificate files (ca-cert.pem, server-cert.pem, and server-key.pem).
• Nbd Tls Client Cert: The PEM client certificate used for mutual TLS authentication with the NBD server, if required.
• Nbd Tls Client Key: The PEM client private key used for mutual TLS authentication with the NBD server, if required.
• Nbd Tls Server Name: Overrides the TLS server name used to verify the NBD server’s certificate.
• Nbd Tls Skip Verify: Skip TLS certificate verification for the direct NBD connection.
• Nbd Username: The username used to authenticate with the NBD server. Defaults to Vsphere Username when omitted.
• Nbd Password: The password used to authenticate with the NBD server. Defaults to Vsphere Password when omitted.
• Nbd Listen Address: The address nbdkit binds for TLS NBD. Defaults to the host of Nbd Uri when omitted.
• Nbd Remote Runtime Dir: The remote runtime directory used by nbdkit on the NBD server.
• Nbd Vix Library Path: The path to the VDDK libraries on the NBD server, e.g. /usr/lib/vmware-vix-disklib.

The following extra settings are available when configuring a source app using the vmware+nbd protocol.

• Nbd Verbose: Enable verbose nbdkit logging.

The following extra settings are available when configuring a destination app using the vmware+nbd protocol.

• Tmp Dir: The temporary directory (local file copy) used during restore operations. Defaults to /var/lib/plakman/pkgs