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Assessment Title
Rule Text
The vCenter server configuration must be backed up on a regular basis.
Description
Discussion Text
vCenter server is the control plane for the vSphere infrastructure and all the workloads it hosts. As such, vCenter is usually a highly critical system in its own right. Backups of vCenter can now be made at a data and configuration level versus traditional storage/image-based backups. This reduces recovery time by letting the system administrator (SA) spin up a new vCenter while simultaneously importing the backed-up data.
For sites that implement the Native Key Provider (NKP), introduced in 7.0 Update 2, regular vCenter backups are critical. In a recovery scenario where the virtual machine files are intact but vCenter was lost, the encrypted virtual machines will not be able to boot as their private keys were stored in vCenter after it was last backed up. When using the NKP, vCenter becomes critical to the virtual machine workloads and ceases to be just the control plane.
For sites that implement the Native Key Provider (NKP), introduced in 7.0 Update 2, regular vCenter backups are critical. In a recovery scenario where the virtual machine files are intact but vCenter was lost, the encrypted virtual machines will not be able to boot as their private keys were stored in vCenter after it was last backed up. When using the NKP, vCenter becomes critical to the virtual machine workloads and ceases to be just the control plane.
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