4.2 Adding Containers (Protection Targets)

A container is a protection infrastructure that acts as the host of a protected workload’s regularly-updated replica. That infrastructure can be either a VMware ESX Server or a VMware DRS Cluster. PlateSpin Protect allows you to use containers for protection and Failback.

To be able to protect a workload, you must have a a workload and a container inventoried by (or added to) the PlateSpin Server.

To add a container:

  1. In your PlateSpin Protect Web Interface, click Settings > Containers > Add Container.

  2. Specify the following parameters:

    • Type: Select the type of the container:

      • VMware ESX Server

      • VMware DRS Cluster

      Ensure that the VM container is supported. See Supported VM Containers.

    • Hostname or IP: Type the container’s hostname or IP address.

    • vCenter Hostname or IP: (DRS clusters only) Type the vCenter server’s hostname or IP address.

    • Cluster Name: (DRS clusters only) Type the name of the required DRS cluster.

      When you attempt to add or refresh a DRS cluster, the underlying discovery operation might fail if:

      • A cluster contains no ESX hosts.

      • A cluster name is not unique across the vCenter server (even if it has a unique inventory path).

      • None of the cluster members are accessible (for example, because the vCenter server is in maintenance mode).

    • Username/Password: Provide administrator-level credentials for accessing the target host. See Guidelines for Workload and Container Credentials.

    • Purpose: (VM containers only) Select the required purpose for the VM container:

      • Protection

      • Failback

      • Protection and Failback

      Selecting both Protection and Failback results in that container being available for selection as a target in both protection and Failback operations.

  3. Click Add.

    PlateSpin Protect reloads the Containers page and displays a process indicator for the container being added . On completion, the process indicator icon turns into a Refresh icon .

To refresh a container:

  1. Click the Refresh icon next to the container you want to refresh.

    This performs a re-inventory of the container.

To remove a container:

  1. Click Remove next the container that you want to remove.