{"id":516164,"date":"2024-06-05T17:35:48","date_gmt":"2024-06-05T21:35:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.commvault.com\/?post_type=cmv_glossary&p=516164"},"modified":"2024-06-05T17:35:49","modified_gmt":"2024-06-05T21:35:49","slug":"vm-backup","status":"publish","type":"cmv_glossary","link":"https:\/\/www.commvault.com\/glossary-library\/vm-backup","title":{"rendered":"Virtual Machine Backup"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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VM backup definition<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Virtual machine backup (VM backup) is the process of backing up the virtual machines (VMs) running in an enterprise environment. VMs usually run as guests on hypervisors that emulate a computer system, and allow multiple VMs to share a physical host hardware system. The most popular hypervisors are VMware vSphere and Microsoft Hyper-V, with other available hypervisors including cloud-based virtual machines.   <\/p>\n\n\n\n

As enterprises increasingly rely on virtualization, VMs have become a vital part of enterprise IT environments. Business applications databases, and even containerized workloads run on VMs and generate vast amounts of data that need to be protected using a robust data protection solution. The applications that enable companies to backup and restore all the files that comprise entire virtual machines are called VM backup software.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What is VM backup?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Virtual machine backup is a data protection solution for VMs that performs similar functions to traditional backup solutions that are used physical servers.  Virtual machine backup applications can perform a full backup of all files in a VM, an incremental backup, or differential backup. The vm backup software needs to run frequently and periodically to protect VM files, configurations, and continuously changing data.  Modern vm backup software will utilize enhancement capabilities available through the hypervisor that allow for quicker backups with less impact on the virtual machine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

VM backup concepts<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The following are essential concepts to understand the concepts of the vm backup procedures:<\/p>\n\n\n\n