The PropertyCollector The PropertyCollector is used in this section to apply the above details to the backup task. PropertyCollector ArgumentsGetting the Data from the PropertyCollectorNow that we have defined ObjectSpec and PropertySpec (the where and what), we need to put them into a FilterSpec that combines the two. An array of FilterSpec elements is passed to the PropertyCollector (the minimum number of elements is one). Two mechanisms can retrieve data from PropertyCollector: Identifying Virtual Disks for Backup and RestoreTo back up a virtual machine, you first need to create a snapshot. Once the snapshot is created, you then need to identify the virtual disks associated with this snapshot. A virtual machine might have multiple snapshots associated with it. Each snapshot has a virtual “copy” of the virtual disks for the virtual machine. These copies are named with the base name of the disk, and a unique decimal number appended to the name. The format of the number is a hyphen character followed by a 6-digit zero-filled number. An example a disk copy name might be mydisk-NNNNNN.vmdk where NNNNNN would be some number like: 000032.Parent topic: Low Level Backup Procedures