According to best practices -
http://pubs.vmware.com/vsphere-51/topic/com.vmware.ICbase/PDF/vmware-data-protection-administration-guide-5120.pdf
"When planning for backups, make sure the disks are supported by VDP. Currently, VDP does not support
the following disk types:
Independent
RDM Independent - Virtual Compatibility Mode
RDM Physical Compatibility Mode
"
ok understood.
BUT
VDP does not let you select individual disks (vmdk files), so this proves problematic for a VM say with a second non-system disk that you do NOT want to back up with VDP as it is so large and is therefore being backed up elsewhere.
AHA but there is a solution -
Power down the VM, flag any disk you do not want included in a VDP backup as 'Independent/Persistent' and VDP will ignore it. So you can now just backup the VM system disk and leave alone any large data disks. I have tested this and it works. I can both backup and restore with VDP with this method.
BUT
This is not as far as I can see in any VMware documentation, and is also above declared as unsupported by VMware. Is this officially supported as a workaround?
ALSO
what about RDMs (Raw Device Mappings)? This is more of an issue.
According to this
http://www.vmware.com/support/vdr/doc/vdp_510_releasenotes.html
"vSphere Data Protection does not support backing up virtual machines that use independent or physical RDM disks.
If you back up a virtual machine that uses independent or RDM disks, vSphere Data Protection will not issue an error. vSphere Data Protection will skip backing up the unsupported disks, but the virtual machine backup may appear successful.
Similarly, if you attempt to restore a virtual machine with independent or RDM disks that was backed up with vSphere Data Protection, the restore operation will not succeed."
I have tested this and indeed you can backup, but NOT restore. We have lots of VMs with RDMs so this is proving to be a major issue. We are having to stick with VDR (VMware data recovery) for these VMs.
BUT
according to this
http://kb.vmware.com/selfservice/microsites/search.do?language=en_US&cmd=displayKC&externalId=2016565
"Q: Is VDP replacing VDR (VMware Data Recovery)?
Yes. VDR is not supported with vSphere 5.1 and higher. VDR is being deprecated, but will be supported as detailed in the VMware Life Cycle Policies."
So what am I do do?
The above issue(s) need clear guidance from VMware.
Any ideas/help from VMware people please...?