The backup process collects key files into a tar bundle and compresses the bundle to reduce network load. To minimize storage impact, the transmission is streamed without caching in the

vCenter Server

instance. To reduce total time required to complete the backup operation, the backup process handles the different components in parallel.

You have the option to encrypt the compressed file before transmission to the backup storage location. When you choose encryption, you must supply a password which can be used to decrypt the file during restoration.

The backup operation always includes the

vCenter Server

database and system configuration files, so that a restore operation has all the data needed to re-create an operational

vCenter Server

instance. Current Alarms are included as well. You also have the option to specify additional data sets, called parts. In this release, you can specify a data set that includes Statistics, Events, and Tasks.