Independent “computers” which includes Virtual Machines (VMs) and separate boot partitions like Boot Camp are best handled with a PRO Client installed directly into them. This provides real-time backup support and granularity at the file level within the VM or system. It also avoids backing up the OS data.
Considerations
- If a VM doesn’t need constant protection then it’s possible to snapshot occasionally and let CrashPlan PRO back up those files.
- If you choose to let CrashPlan PRO back up the VM image itself even while it’s running we advise changing the “New Version” setting to be longer than the default 15 minutes. Repeatedly scanning a large virtualvolume that’s in use will be prohibitively expensive for the host computer. Please note that the setting affects all of the files backed up by the host computer which reduces its level of protection for other data on themachine. Also note that just as with open databases you run the risk of the backup not being consistent if it was made while a large virtual volume was in use.
- You should also change the de-duplication setting from “Automatic” to “Full” which will better handle the way that VMs change as they work. This will cost additional CPU however.