---
title: "How-to Create a Protection Job for VMs"
slug: "how-to-create-a-protection-job-for-vms"
updated: 2023-03-23T17:26:39Z
published: 2023-03-23T17:26:39Z
canonical: "kb.expedient.com/how-to-create-a-protection-job-for-vms"
---

> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://kb.expedient.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# How-to Create a Protection Job for VMs

### Introduction

Expedient Service Delivery staff will perform a base configuration of a Protection Job inside the Cloud Data Protection platform. To create your own Protection Job for VMs, follow the below procedure.

### Prerequisite

If the standard protection policies don’t match your needs, open a ticket with the OSC and a customized policy will be created to your specifications.

### Procedure

1. [Log in](/v1/docs/how-to-access-cloud-data-protection) to the Cloud Data Protection system.
2. You should be directed to the **Protection** page upon logging into the cluster.
3. If you are not automatically directed to this page or are on a different page, from the navigation bar at the left of the page, select the **DataProtection** → **Protection** tab  
  
![](https://cdn.document360.io/69e9f9c7-5da8-45e7-a671-4b8287f36122/Images/Documentation/image-1612982772469.png)
4. In the top right corner, click the **+ Symbol**, then select **Virtual Server**.
5. Select the required **Source**. The Source will typically be the only selection in the drop-down menu and be the EEC VCSA for your locale. If this is a dedicated cluster, this will be the name of your vCenter.  
  
![](https://cdn.document360.io/69e9f9c7-5da8-45e7-a671-4b8287f36122/Images/Documentation/image-1656534367710.png)
6. Select the **Folder Hierarchy View ()** and expand the folder structure to show your VMs/Folders  
![](https://cdn.document360.io/69e9f9c7-5da8-45e7-a671-4b8287f36122/Images/Documentation/image-1612982772591.png)
7. Utilize the menu to select the VMs to add to the protection job
  1. Select the **Auto-Protect Shield** to auto-protect a folder
    1. This is the recommended protection configuration. Auto-Protect will dynamically add and remove VMs from the backup policy based on their existence in EEC or vCenter. This drastically lowers the management overhead of removing or adding backups and can protect against forgetting to start backups on a new VM.
    2. If you need to exclude a VM in a particular folder that is auto-protected, select the **Auto-Protect Shield** next to the VM
  2. Select the **Check Box** next to the VM to select the VM manually
    1. As previously mentioned, manually picking VMs for protection should be avoided. This creates a more significant management overhead for you and your team
  3. Select **Add** to add the VMs to the Protection Job
  4. To **Exclude Disks** or enable **Exchange Log Truncation** select the **Pencil Icon** next to the server.
  5. **Toggle** either selection based upon your use case and select **Save**   
**![](https://cdn.document360.io/69e9f9c7-5da8-45e7-a671-4b8287f36122/Images/Documentation/image-1656534367779.png)** Save your selection.  
  
![](https://cdn.document360.io/69e9f9c7-5da8-45e7-a671-4b8287f36122/Images/Documentation/image-1656534367846.png)
8. Provide a name for the Protection Job and utilize the drop-down menu to specify the Protection Policy
  1. Note that Expedient manages Protection Policies. If you need to modify a Protection Policy, please open a ticket with the **OSC**.
9. Utilize the drop-down menu to specify the **Storage Domain**. If there are multiple options, always select the one that ends in **_DP** to ensure you are utilizing the correct space.![](https://cdn.document360.io/69e9f9c7-5da8-45e7-a671-4b8287f36122/Images/Documentation/image-1656534367924.png)
10. The **Additional Settings** section allows you to modify additional Protection Job settings.

| **End Date** | Utilize this option to set an end date for the Protection Policy |
| --- | --- |
| **QoS Policy** | Backup HDD is the QoS policy best suited for backups, do not modify this selection |
| **Leverage Storage Policy Snapshot** | Utilize this option to leverage storage array-based snapshots. This option can minimize the persistence time of VADP snapshots for incremental backups with large deltas |
| **Exclusions** | Utilize this option to set any desired exclusions |
| **App Consistent Backups** | Utilize this setting to enable or disable App Consistent Backups (Guest Quiesce) |
| **Indexing** | Utilize this setting to modify indexing settings. Leave this enabled for optimal search capabilities |
| **Cloud Migration** | This setting can be ignored; functionality is not supported at this time |
| **Abort in Blackouts** | Available only if the selected policy has at least one blackout period. Toggle it on to specify that all currently executing job runs should abort if a blackout period specified for the protection job starts |
| **Alerts & Priority** | Utilize this setting to set an email address for backup failure alerts, do not disable alerts if you wish to trigger alerts through the Expedient SMC |
| **SLA** | This setting can be ignored. |

1. Select **Protect** to save your configurations.![](https://cdn.document360.io/69e9f9c7-5da8-45e7-a671-4b8287f36122/Images/Documentation/image-1656534367997.png)