According to the officialVMware Cloud Foundation 5.2 Administration GuideandVMware NSX Data Center documentation, the required and recommended steps to enable proper backup and recovery for the SDDC Manager and NSX Manager components are as follows:
Option B: Configure the backup settings in SDDC Manager.Exact Extract from official documentation:
"You must configure backup settings in SDDC Manager to ensure scheduled, automated backups of critical SDDC Manager configuration and inventory data. Backups are stored as files that can be used to restore SDDC Manager in case of a failure or disaster." (VMware Cloud Foundation Administration Guide - Backing Up SDDC Manager) Option D: Prepare an external SFTP server to store file-based backups.Exact Extract from official documentation:
"Configure an external SFTP server to store SDDC Manager backup files. SDDC Manager supports only file- based backups using SFTP as the storage protocol." (VMware Cloud Foundation Administration Guide - Configuring Backup Destinations) Why Not the Other Options?
Option A:Exporting an archive file from NSX Manager is a manual method and does not constitute a complete, restorable backup suitable for full site failure recovery.
Option C:Image-based backups for NSX Manager arenot supportedand can cause issues with the integrity and recoverability of NSX appliances, as per VMware best practices.
Option E:Snapshots of the NSX Edge cluster arenot supportedfor backup and recovery; VMware specifically advises against using snapshots for backup purposes of NSX appliances.
Summary:
The administrator mustconfigure the backup settings in SDDC Manager (B)andprepare an external SFTP server (D)to enable secure, automated, and restorable backups of SDDC Manager and NSX components, as recommended and required by the official VMware Cloud Foundation 5.2 documentation.