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2 Terminology reference
Agent for vCloud
The backup service infrastructure component that runs on a dedicated virtual machine within a
vCloud Director management cluster.
Backup (operation)
An operation that saves information about a virtual machine in a packaged form, for the purpose of
recovery.
Backup (recovery point)
The result of a single backup operation.
A backup represents a point in time to which a user can recover the virtual machine. The data that is
necessary for recovery is stored in two locations. The content of the virtual disks and the virtual
machine configuration are stored in the backup storage. The metadata that reflects the machine's
membership in vCloud (the virtual network adapters configuration, the computer name, the vApp
the machine is part of) is stored inside Agent for vCloud.
Backup plan
A set of rules that define how to protect virtual machines.
The rules include the backup schedule, retention rules and backup options such as protecting
backups with a password. For example: perform backup every day at midnight, delete backups that
are older than one month, and protect the backups with a password.
Backup plan owner
An organization user who created the backup plan.
The system backup plans have a special owner called System. The owner is also System for backup
plans created by the system administrator within the organization.
Backup storage
A folder allocated by a system administrator for storing an organization's backups.
Management cluster
An ESX(i) cluster that contains the vCloud Director infrastructure components.
Organization administrator
A user who has the Organization Administrator role in vCloud Director.
An organization administrator can back up and recover any virtual machine in the organization.
Protected machine
A virtual machine to which a backup plan is applied.
