Documentation Index
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Overview
In addition to the Xloud Native Backup for block storage volumes, the Xloud Platform is fully open to enterprise third-party backup solutions. Customers who need application-aware protection, long-term off-site retention, regulatory archive depths, or a single backup pane across multi-cloud and on-premises infrastructure can plug in the backup vendor of their choice. Third-party backup tools integrate with Xloud through standard APIs and snapshot mechanisms — no proprietary backend changes are required.Xloud Native Backup is the recommended starting point for most workloads. Adopt a
third-party solution when you need capabilities Xloud Native Backup doesn’t cover —
such as application-consistent quiescing for databases, indexed file-level recovery
across thousands of guests, or cross-cluster / cross-cloud lifecycle policies.
Native vs Third-Party Backup
| Concern | Xloud Native Backup | Third-Party Backup |
|---|---|---|
| Volume-level full + incremental backup | Yes | Yes |
| Restore to original or new volume | Yes | Yes |
| Off-cluster retention | Yes (S3/NFS/SMB targets) | Yes (vendor-managed) |
| Application-aware backup (DB quiesce) | No | Yes (with agent) |
| Indexed file-level search across many VMs | Limited | Yes |
| Multi-cluster / multi-cloud catalog | No | Yes |
| Long-term archive (years, tape, glacier) | Limited | Yes |
| Per-VM auto-enrollment via tags / policies | Manual scheduling | Yes (most vendors) |
| Compliance certifications (SOC2, HIPAA archive) | Underlying storage | Vendor-supplied |
Two Integration Approaches
Third-party backup tools integrate with Xloud in one of two architectural patterns.Agentless
The backup tool talks to Xloud APIs (Block Storage, Image, Compute) and reads VM
disks via snapshots. No software is installed inside the guest. Best for
standardized fleets and snapshot-consistent backups.
With Agent
A small agent runs inside each guest VM. The backup tool coordinates with the agent
to quiesce applications, capture file-level metadata, and stream changed data.
Best for application-aware and granular file-level recovery.
Agentless Backup
Agentless backup uses Xloud’s snapshot APIs to read VM disks. The backup tool calls Xloud, asks for a snapshot, reads the snapshot’s data through standard storage APIs, and stores it in its own catalog.How agentless backup works
Discovery
The backup tool authenticates with Xloud Identity and lists projects, instances,
and volumes the backup user can see.
Snapshot
The tool calls Xloud Block Storage to take a snapshot of the target volume. The
snapshot is crash-consistent (the same as a power-off + power-on).
Read snapshot
The tool streams the snapshot data through the storage API and stores it in its
own backup repository (object storage, NAS, dedup appliance, tape, etc.).
Strengths of agentless
No guest footprint
Nothing runs inside the VM — no extra package to install, patch, or troubleshoot.
Works for any guest OS, including hardened or appliance images.
Fleet-wide auto-discovery
The backup tool sees every VM through the Xloud API. New VMs are picked up
automatically by tag-based or project-based policies.
Lower operational overhead
No agent rollouts, no agent-version drift across the fleet. Upgrades happen on
the backup-tool side only.
Snapshot-fast
Backup windows are short — the snapshot takes seconds, and reading happens
asynchronously without locking the running VM.
Limitations of agentless
- Crash-consistent only by default — a snapshot captures disk state without flushing application buffers. Databases may need replay on restore.
- Limited application awareness — without an agent, the backup tool cannot quiesce Microsoft SQL, Oracle, Exchange, or similar transactional applications cleanly.
- File-level restore needs extra work — the backup tool must mount and parse the guest filesystem to expose individual files (most agentless tools do support this).
Vendors that integrate with Xloud APIs (agentless)
Recommended — Commvault has explicit, link-backed documentation for the four
capabilities most commonly required of a third-party backup integration:
deep VM-provisioning integration, rule-based auto-enrollment of newly created VMs,
schedule + retention count, and on-demand backup. The full per-capability matrix
is below the table.
| Vendor | Xloud-native | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Commvault IntelliSnap | Yes | VM Groups with rule-based selection (project, name pattern, power state); schedule + retention on assigned Server Backup Plan; on-demand backup per VM Group |
| Trilio | Yes | Workload Manager dashboard plugin, policy-based protection (hourly / daily / weekly / monthly / yearly), workload-level restores |
| Storware vProtect | Yes | Dashboard plugin, SLA Policy with schedule + retention per policy, full and incremental |
| Veeam | Yes | Cluster-level API integration, image-based backup, GFS retention schemes |
| Cohesity | Partial | Protection Policy with min 12 h interval + retention; Extended Retention for longer cycles |
Commvault capability matrix (with dedicated URLs)
| # | Capability | Commvault feature | Reference |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Third-party backup software named with OEM documentation | Commvault IntelliSnap (agentless) and Commvault (with-agent) | Commvault for Xloud — overview |
| 2 | Deeply integrated into VM provisioning so newly created VMs are protected automatically | VM Group with rule-based content (Project / Instance name pattern / Power state) — every new VM matching the rule is picked up on the next backup cycle | Adding a VM Group for Xloud |
| 3a | Backup scheduling | Server Backup Plan controls the schedule (granularity from minutes to weekly / monthly / yearly via secondary copies) | Performing Backups |
| 3b | Backup retention counts | Days-Based Retention (keep N days) or count-based for IntelliSnap; secondary copies have separate counts for monthly-full / yearly-full | Days-Based Retention |
| 3c | On-demand backup from the same workflow | Manual backup action triggered against any VM Group or instance, independent of the schedule | Performing Backups (on-demand) |
Schedule + retention reference docs (agentless)
Commvault — VM Group + Server Backup Plan (recommended)
Commvault — VM Group + Server Backup Plan (recommended)
Commvault organizes Xloud VMs into VM Groups with rule-based content selection.
The schedule + retention live on the Server Backup Plan assigned to the group.Available VM-Group rule types:
- Project — every VM in a chosen project
- Instance name or pattern — name
Containsoperator - Power state — On / Off / Other
- Browse / Instance — explicit single-VM selection
Trilio — Workload Policies, Schedulers, Workloads
Trilio — Workload Policies, Schedulers, Workloads
Trilio’s protection model has two parts:
- Workload Policies — admins define schedule + retention and assign policies to projects.
- Workloads — group VMs to be backed up together with one of those policies.
retention parameter on the policy
(e.g. --hourly interval=1,retention=30,snapshot_type=incremental keeps 30
snapshots; default for hourly is 30, incremental). For one-off jobs the syntax is
--manual retention=<count>,retention_days_to_keep=<days>.On-demand backup — yes. From the Workloads page in the dashboard, you can
trigger a snapshot manually for any workload at any time, independent of the
scheduled policy.For fully automatic discovery of newly created VMs, confirm the exact behavior in
the current Trilio release notes — public docs describe policy-driven workload
backup, not turnkey auto-enrollment of every new VM.Storware vProtect — SLA Policy
Storware vProtect — SLA Policy
Storware’s SLA Policy combines schedule (daily / weekly / etc.) and retention
in one policy. New VMs matching the policy’s project / tag selector are picked up
on the next protection cycle. Full and incremental backups both supported.Retention count — configured per policy as a count of backups to keep, or as
a time window. Storware moved retention from backup destination to the policy
itself, so different policies can have different retention without changing the
backup target.On-demand backup — yes. The Storware OpenStack plugin dashboard exposes a
direct backup action per VM, independent of the SLA Policy schedule.
Veeam — Backup Retention + GFS Schedules
Veeam — Backup Retention + GFS Schedules
Veeam uses a job-level schedule combined with retention policies; GFS
(Grandfather-Father-Son) schemes give you long-term tiered retention.
Cohesity — Protection Policies + Extended Retention
Cohesity — Protection Policies + Extended Retention
Cohesity Protection Policies define backup interval (minimum 12 h) and primary
retention; Extended Retention adds longer hourly / daily / weekly / monthly /
yearly snapshots beyond the primary policy.
With-Agent Backup
Agent-based backup runs a small piece of software inside each guest VM. The agent coordinates with the backup tool over the network to capture data with application-aware consistency and full file-level granularity.How agent-based backup works
Install the agent
A backup agent package is installed inside the guest OS (Linux .deb / .rpm,
Windows .msi). The agent registers with the backup server.
Quiesce the application
Before each backup, the agent calls application hooks (VSS on Windows, scripts on
Linux) to flush database buffers, lock log writers, and ensure the on-disk state
is consistent.
Stream changed data
The agent identifies changed blocks or files since the last backup and streams
them to the backup server over the network.
Strengths of with-agent
Application-consistent backup
Microsoft SQL, Oracle, MySQL, PostgreSQL, Exchange, Active Directory, SAP, and
other transactional apps are backed up cleanly with no replay needed at restore.
Granular file-level restore
Recover a single email, table row, registry key, or document from a backup —
without restoring the whole volume.
Cross-platform consistency
The same backup tool protects VMs on Xloud, on-prem hypervisors, public clouds,
and physical machines — one console, one policy framework.
In-guest encryption + dedup
Source-side deduplication and encryption reduce network traffic and protect
backup data in transit and at rest.
Limitations of with-agent
- Operational overhead — agent installation, version upgrades, and patching across the fleet require lifecycle management.
- Guest OS coupling — agents are OS-specific (Linux distro, Windows version) and may not be available for some appliance images or hardened guests.
- In-guest resource use — the agent consumes a small amount of guest CPU, memory, and network capacity during backup windows.
- Doesn’t protect non-running VMs — if the VM is powered off, the agent isn’t running, so the backup tool falls back to agentless or snapshot mode.
Vendors that support agent-based backup on Xloud guests
| Vendor | Notes |
|---|---|
| Veritas NetBackup | Comprehensive enterprise agent suite; very strong app-aware coverage (SQL, Oracle, Exchange, SAP). Schedule + retention live on the policy |
| Commvault | Agent-based or agentless. Schedule + retention managed on the assigned Server Backup Plan |
| Veeam | Veeam Agent for Linux / Windows. Often paired with the agentless plugin |
| Acronis Cyber Protect | Agent + cloud catalog. Strong endpoint + workload protection. Backup Plan defines schedule and retention together |
| Bacula Enterprise | Open-source-rooted agent, Xloud-aware module available. Per-Job File/Job Retention + per-Pool Volume Retention |
| IBM Storage Protect | Enterprise agent for large heterogeneous fleets (formerly IBM Spectrum Protect). Retention defined in Management Class within a Policy Domain |
Schedule + retention reference docs (with-agent)
Veritas NetBackup — Policy schedules + Retention Periods
Veritas NetBackup — Policy schedules + Retention Periods
Schedule + retention live on the NetBackup policy.
Commvault — Server Backup Plan + Days-Based Retention
Commvault — Server Backup Plan + Days-Based Retention
Schedule + retention are managed on the Server Backup Plan assigned to a VM Group.
Veeam — Backup Retention + Retention Policies
Veeam — Backup Retention + Retention Policies
Acronis Cyber Protect — Backup Plan schedule + retention
Acronis Cyber Protect — Backup Plan schedule + retention
Schedule and retention live in the Backup Plan together.
Bacula Enterprise — Schedules + Retentions
Bacula Enterprise — Schedules + Retentions
Bacula uses per-Job File/Job Retention and per-Pool Volume Retention.
IBM Storage Protect — Policy Domain + Management Class
IBM Storage Protect — Policy Domain + Management Class
Retention is defined in a Management Class within a Policy Domain.
Hybrid: Agentless + Agent
Many production environments use both approaches together:- Agentless for the bulk of the fleet — fast snapshot-based backups of stateless workloads, web tiers, and standard application servers.
- With-agent for specific high-value VMs — databases, mail servers, ERP/SAP, domain controllers, and any workload where a few minutes of replay-on-restore is unacceptable.
Choosing the Right Approach
Standard application servers and web tiers
Standard application servers and web tiers
Pick agentless. Snapshot-based backups are fast, fleet-wide, and good enough
for stateless or session-replicated workloads.
Database VMs (SQL, Oracle, MySQL, PostgreSQL)
Database VMs (SQL, Oracle, MySQL, PostgreSQL)
Pick with-agent. Application-aware quiescing prevents database replay or
corruption on restore. Trilio also offers app-aware workload types for databases
via in-guest helper scripts.
Microsoft Exchange / SharePoint / SQL Always-On
Microsoft Exchange / SharePoint / SQL Always-On
Hardened or appliance VMs (no shell access)
Hardened or appliance VMs (no shell access)
Pick agentless. You cannot install an agent into a sealed appliance image.
Snapshot-based backup is the only viable option.
Long-term compliance archive (HIPAA, SOC2, financial)
Long-term compliance archive (HIPAA, SOC2, financial)
Pick whatever your audit framework prefers — most enterprise backup vendors
offer immutable retention, write-once tiers, and audit reporting designed for
these frameworks.
Multi-cluster, multi-cloud fleet under one console
Multi-cluster, multi-cloud fleet under one console
Pick agentless for the Xloud side and use the same vendor’s connectors
for AWS / Azure / GCP / on-prem. Veeam, Commvault, Cohesity, Trilio, and Veritas
all support multi-cloud.
How to Integrate a Third-Party Backup Tool
Provision a backup service account
Create a dedicated user in Xloud Identity with read access to all projects you
want backed up. Grant the minimum roles required by the vendor (typically
member plus volume:create_snapshot on Block Storage).Open Xloud APIs to the backup server
Ensure the backup tool can reach Xloud’s Identity, Compute, Block Storage, and
Image API endpoints. Open required network paths, configure TLS trust, and (for
agent-based mode) ensure guest VMs can reach the backup server on its data port.
Configure the vendor's Xloud connector
Each vendor ships an Xloud connector module. Point it at your Xloud Identity
endpoint, supply the service account credentials, and select the projects to
discover.
For Trilio, this is the Workload Manager Dashboard panel. For Veeam and
Commvault, it’s a connector wizard inside the vendor console.
Define protection policies
Create backup policies — typically by tag, project, or VM list. Most vendors
let you specify schedule, retention, target repository, and (for agent-based)
application-quiesce settings.
What Xloud Provides for Backup Vendors
Xloud exposes the standard cloud APIs that every modern backup vendor expects:| API | Used for |
|---|---|
| Identity | Authentication, project scoping, role-based access for the backup service account |
| Compute | List instances, query state, attach/detach volumes, snapshot instances |
| Block Storage | Create/list/delete volume snapshots, mount snapshots for backup reads |
| Image | List images, create/delete snapshot-type images |
| Object Storage | Direct backup target for native and many third-party tools |
- File-level read of snapshots through the File-Level Restore service — useful for backup tools that want to verify snapshot contents or build a file index.
- Standard storage protocols — RBD for storage running on XSDS, NFS, iSCSI, and Fibre Channel for external arrays — so backup tools that prefer direct storage access can also integrate.
Related Topics
Xloud Native Backup
Volume backup with full + incremental modes — the built-in option
File-Level Restore
Recover individual files from a snapshot without a full restore
Disaster Recovery (XDR)
Replication, failover, and continuous protection beyond backup