Required vCenter or ESXi user permissions for backup, restore, and OVA deployment
Phoenix Editions: 
Business Enterprise Elite
Business Enterprise Elite
This article lists the supported backup and restore privileges. The user permissions can be viewed on the VMware vSphere Web Client. For more information, see vSphere Permissions and User Management Tasks and Managing Permissions for vCenter Components.
Users with the following backup and restore privileges are supported.
Backup and restore privileges for vCenter
| Category | Permission Name | Permission ID | Permission Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Datastore | Allocate space | Datastore.AllocateSpace | Allocate space. |
| Browse datastore | Datastore.Browse | Browse a datastore. |
|
| Low level file operations |
Datastore.FileManagement |
Perform low level file operations on a datastore. | |
| Update virtual machine files | Datastore.UpdateVirtualMachineFiles | Update virtual machine files on a datastore. | |
| Global | Disable methods | Global.DisableMethods | Operations are disabled in vCenter. |
| Enable methods | Global.EnableMethods | Operations are enabled in vCenter. | |
| Licenses | Global.Licenses | Manage licenses. | |
| Set custom attribute | Global.SetCustomField | Set the value of a custom attribute on an object. | |
| Manage custom attributes | Global.ManageCustomFields | Add, remove, and rename custom attribute definitions. | |
| Storage partition configuration | Host.Config.Storage | Storage, host datastore, and diagnostic partition configuration. | |
| Network | Assign network | Network.Assign | Assign network to virtual machine, host service console, VMkernel virtual NIC or physical NIC. |
| Resources | Assign virtual machine to resource pool | Resource.AssignVMToPool | Assign a virtual machine to a resource pool |
| Virtual Machine - Inventory | Create new | VirtualMachine.Inventory.Create | Create a new virtual machine or template |
| Register | VirtualMachine.Inventory.Register | Add an existing virtual machine to the inventory | |
| Remove | VirtualMachine.Inventory.Delete | Remove a virtual machine. | |
| Unregister | VirtualMachine.Inventory.Unregister | Unregister a virtual machine. | |
Virtual Machine - Provisioning |
Allow disk access | VirtualMachine.Provisioning.DiskRandomAccess | Allow random access to disk files through a separate NFC connection. |
| Allow read-only disk access | VirtualMachine.Provisioning.DiskRandomRead | Allow read-only random access to disk files through a separate NFC connection. | |
| Allow virtual machine download | VirtualMachine.Provisioning.GetVmFiles | Allow download of virtual machines (used by provisioning operations). | |
| Clone virtual machine | VirtualMachine.Provisioning.Clone | Clone a virtual machine. | |
| Virtual Machine - Guest Operations | Guest operation modifications | VirtualMachine.GuestOperations.Modify | Modifications in a virtual machine guest operating system. |
| Guest operation program execution | VirtualMachine.GuestOperations.Execute | Running processes in a virtual machine guest operating system. | |
| Guest operation queries | VirtualMachine.GuestOperations.Query | Queries in a virtual machine guest operating system. | |
| Virtual Machine - Interaction | Connect devices | VirtualMachine.Interact.DeviceConnection | Connect/disconnect media and network devices. |
| Power on | VirtualMachine.Interact.PowerOn | Power on or resume a virtual machine. | |
| Power off | VirtualMachine.Interact.PowerOff | Power off a virtual machine. | |
Virtual Machine - Configuration |
Add existing disk | VirtualMachine.Config.AddExistingDisk | Browse for and attach an existing virtual disk. |
| Add new disk | VirtualMachine.Config.AddNewDisk | Create and attach a new virtual disk. | |
| Add or remove device | VirtualMachine.Config.AddRemoveDevice | Add or remove virtual devices. | |
| Advanced configuration | VirtualMachine.Config.AdvancedConfig | Make advanced configuration changes. | |
| Change resource | VirtualMachine.Config.Resource | Change virtual machine resource allocations. | |
| Toggle disk change tracking | VirtualMachine.Config.ChangeTracking | Enable or disable change tracking for the virtual machine's disks. | |
| Acquire disk lease | VirtualMachine.Config.DiskLease | Lease disks for disk manager. | |
| Remove disk | VirtualMachine.Config.RemoveDisk | Detach and optionally remove a virtual disk. | |
| Configure Raw device | VirtualMachine.Config.RawDevice | Virtual machine raw device configuration. | |
| Change Settings | VirtualMachine.Config.Settings | Change virtual machine settings | |
| Update CPU | VirtualMachine.Config.CPUCount | Change CPU count | |
| Update RAM | VirtualMachine.Config.Memory | Update memory | |
| Upgrade virtual machine | VirtualMachine.Config.UpgradeVirtualHardware | Upgrade virtual machine compatibility | |
| Virtual Machine - Snapshot management | Create snapshot | VirtualMachine.State.CreateSnapshot | Create a snapshot. |
| Remove snapshot | VirtualMachine.State.RemoveSnapshot |
Remove a snapshot. |
|
| Revert to snapshot | VirtualMachine.State.RevertToSnapshot | Make a snapshot current | |
| Virtual Machine - Instant Restore and Migration | Storage partition configuration | Host.Config.Storage | Storage, host datastore, and diagnostic partition configuration. |
| Migrate powered off virtual machine | Resource.ColdMigrate | Migrate a powered off virtual machine. | |
| Migrate powered on virtual machine | Resource.HotMigrate | Migrate a powered on virtual machine. | |
| App Privileges | Import | vApp.Import | Import vApp. |
Backup and restore privileges for ESXi
The root user is required to set up the backup proxy for backup and restore operations.