VMware Communities : Document List - Backup & Recovery

VMware Data Recovery step-by-step for Newbie's

Wed, 30 Sep 2009 05:49:26 GMT

Backup solutions for VMware ESXi

Wed, 16 Sep 2009 05:44:17 GMT

Free solutions

ghettoVCB
ghettoVCB.sh - Free alternative for backing up VM's for ESX(i) 3.5 and 4.0+
ghettoVCBg2 - Free alternative for backing up VMs in ESX(i) 3.5 and 4.x (no SSH console required!)
This script performs backups of virtual machines residing on ESX(i) 3.5/4.0+ servers using methodology similar to VMware's VCB tool.
It's created and well maintained by lamw

Other script based solutions
Another ESXi backup script
http://communities.vmware.com/blogs/gabrielmaciel/2008/12/08/free-vm-backup-alternative-for-esx-35-and-esxi
Re: Free ESXi Backup Solution for Windows
Any new backup VM Solutions - ESX 3.5

VMware Converter Standalone
http://www.vmware.com/products/converter/
Is not designed as a backup solution, but could be used also for this purpose.

File copy solutions
For a powered off VM is possible to simple copy all the files in the VM folder.
To use also with a powered on VM you need to do create a VMware snapshot to unlock the *-flat.vmdk files
To make this copy several tools could be used:

Datastore browser (directly from VIC or vSphere Client)
SCP / Veeam fastSCP (need to enable SSH access: http://www.yellow-bricks.com/2008/08/10/howto-esxi-and-ssh/)

VMware solutions (need license)

VMware Consolidated Backup (VCB)

VMware Data Recovery (VDR)
http://www.vmware.com/products/vcenter-data-recovery/

Commercial solutions that may support ESXi in the future releases

esXpress
http://phdvirtual.com/products/esxpress-virtual-backup
esXpress radically alters the notion of how to protect data in virtual infrastructures in one simple way: we use the virtual infrastructure to backup and restore itself!
esXpress v3.6 is Compatible with VMware ESX v3, v3.5 and vSphere4.

Vizioncore vRanger Pro 4.0
http://www.vizioncore.com/products/vRangerPro/
http://www.vizioncore.com/products/vRangerPro/documents/vRangerPro-DPP-FAQ.pdf
vRanger Pro Data Protection Platform (DPP) is the market-leading backup, recovery and backup management solution for virtual environments. The 4.0 release is the next generation of vRanger Pro which features a completely redesigned architecture, including plug-n-play modularity and a service-based architecture. VMware ESX3.x and VMware ESX 4.x upon initial release. Future releases include support for: VMware ESXi 3.x, VMware ESX & ESXi 3.x VCB, VMware ESXi 4.x, VMware ESX & ESXi 4.x VCB.

The free ESXi "problem"

With the free version of ESXi then you cannot actually use a third party tool to perform any backups. This is against your EULA. If it is the paid version of ESXi go for it.
So be sure which you are using to be sure you do not violate the EULA.

As for other mechanisms, you can snapshot the VM and then copy the data via the vSphere Client/VIC as well. There is also VMware Converter. These tools do not violate the EULA.

See also: http://www.virtualizationpractice.com/blog/?p=274 - VMware Forcing Third Parties to NOT Sell Products for Free ESXi

Storage based solutions

If you have a stora NFS base, then file copy could be simple...
For other shared storage you can use storage snapshots.

Backup ESXi configuration

You can use the RCLI to make a backup configuration of your ESXi host using
esxcfg-cfgbackup
You can find more information for the RCLI documentation here: http://www.vmware.com/pdf/vi3_35/esx_3/r35u2/vi3_35_25_u2_rcli.pdf

There are also other ways to do a backup of ESXi configuration, see:
http://www.r71.nl/index.php/kb/technical/212-vmware-esxi-configuration-backup
http://support.dell.com/support/edocs/software/eslvmwre/DG/ESXi_3_5_U4/HTML/app_c.htm

VDR

Tue, 01 Sep 2009 13:23:34 GMT

Simple VCB Script for Scheduled Tasks

Wed, 08 Jul 2009 19:01:21 GMT

I wrote this because of weak TSM controls:

servers.txt should have this format:

day fqdn
Mon server.domain.com
Tue server2.domain.com

REM #Set the path to include cygwin and TSM
path=%path%;D:\UserApps\VMware\VMWARE~1\Batch;D:\SystemApps\Tivoli\TSM\cygwin\

REM #Remove previous backups
rm -rf e:\mnt
mkdir e:\mnt
rm -f d:\userapps\TSM\PreScript.bat

REM #Get todays day of the week
date /t | gawk '{print $1}' > %temp%\day.txt
set /p day= < %temp%\day.txt
del %temp%\day.txt

REM #Output the backup script
echo path=%path%;D:\UserApps\VMware\VMWARE~1\Batch;D:\SystemApps\Tivoli\TSM\cygwin\ >d:\userapps\TSM\PreScript.bat

type d:\userapps\TSM\servers.txt | grep %day% | grep -v # | gawk '{print "cmd.exe /c pre-command.bat " $1 " " $2 "-FullVM" "\r"}' >> d:\userapps\TSM\PreScript.bat

REM #Start the backup process
D:\UserApps\TSM\PreScript.bat

VCB Backup Script written in VBS

samspade@u.washington.edu — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 18:54:38 GMT

This is a script that will use VMWare Consolidated Backups (VCB) to backup all of the VMs being managed by Virtual Center. It does afew things. First it pulls a list of all VM machines from Virtual Center. Then it loops through them and does either a full image backup or it will mount the file system (depending on how your VCB config is setup). This script will log to the Big Brother format and has a production and debug mode. Edit the first few lines first to meet your environment.

Backup DOS script for VCB and ntbackup

Thu, 25 Jun 2009 16:29:47 GMT

A Simple DOS script to backup all guests on a specified host using VCB and ntbackup

Hopefully someone will find this useful!
I tired of looking for a reasonably priced backup solution to go with VCB (which I think is great!) so got down to pulling together a lot of googling to create a reasonable batch script for a simple manual backup rotation.

This is effectively a disk-disk-tape solution, although by 'tape' any storage device available to ntbackup could be used. You could also modify the script to omit the ntbackup parts and keep the vcb backup files

The calls the ntbackup are specifically dewsigned to avoid any tape management. The tape currently in the drive is erased, and the backup is written. It is ejected at the end of the operation so that it can be manually rotated.

Hell you can modify if however you like - just share it back to the community if you make it do something nice!

Pre-Requisites for Use

Essentials

Read the 'Terms of Use' for Community sample code! No warranty is offered on this script, it is for your own reference. If you choose to use it for production use, I cannot guarantee your backup. .. Use entirely at your own risk
No really - go and read the terms of use
A Windows OS VCB Backup proxy machine, with VCB fully installed
Enough disk space on this server to backup your largest guest
A valid license for VCB on your ESX host
A working backup device that can be used for backup by ntbackup

Nice to Haves

I use TrapGen (http://www.ncomtech.com/trapgen.html) to fire an SNMP trap to my network management station when the backup fails. You could replace this with any other command to make an alert, it just so happens my NMS like SNMP.

Watching the logs is made easy by use of baretail (http://www.baremetalsoft.com/baretail) - just associate this useful proggy with .log files and double-click the log.

Installation

Add a user 'backup' to your ESX host with appropriate rights, set a nasty obfuscated password
Add the environment variable vmpwd to your VCB backup proxy machine, setting it's
value to the password
Make a working directory on your VCB backup proxy machine. For example C:\Backup
Make a subdirectory script
Make a subdirectory vcbmount (your temporary backup storage before going to tape)
Create a script file backup.cmd and paste in the code
Use Task Scheduler or similar to make a job, redirecting output to a backup.log file in your backup directory
You can test by doing a run now on your task
Change the parameters at the top of the script to appropriate values for your system
Find LTO Ultrium and Quantum LTO - change these to your tape library name. For some reason I haven't managed to parameterise these
If you're not using network based disk method, change the -m nbd parameter appropriately

If you want to use TrapGen.exe then put the executable in your script subfolder, and create another command file backup_failed.cmd to send the trap according

to your requirements. Alternatively make this script take whatever alert action you require.

The Script

::back up all guests on a specified ESX host listed in a control file populated by listing guests on
the host
@echo off
set debug=OFF
for /f "Tokens=1-4 Delims=/ " %%i in ('date /t') do set dt=%%i-%%j-%%k-%%l
for /f "Tokens=1" %%i in ('time /t') do set tm=-%%i
set tm=%tm::=-%
set dtt=%dt%%tm%
set skipguest=:
rem -- SET YOUR VALUES FOR THE FOLLOWING
set bd=C:\Backup
set esxhost=myesxhost
echo --%date% %time% - Starting Backup script for ESX host %esxhost% at %dtt%
IF "%debug%"=="ON" (echo DEBUG MODE ACTIVE - NO ACTIONS WILL BE TAKEN)
echo   Refreshing RSM library
IF "%debug%"=="OFF" (rsm.exe refresh /LF"Quantum LTO 2 Tape Drive")
echo --%date% %time% - Discovering Guest list for ESX host %esxhost%
"C:\Program Files\VMware\VMware Consolidated Backup Framework\vcbvmname" -h %esxhost% -u backup -p
%vmpwd% -s Any -L 0 > %bd%\script\%esxhost%_vm_list.txt
echo   Making initial backup of scripts and RSM database
::the next command is REALLY fussy don't fiddle with it if possible!
IF "%debug%"=="OFF" (ntbackup.exe backup "@%bd%\script\InitialLocal.bks" /n "TAPE-%esxhost%-%dtt%"
/d "SET-%esxhost%-%dtt%" /snap:on /v:no /r:no /rs:no /hc:on /m normal /j "JOB" /l:f /p "LTO Ultrium"
/um)
if ERRORLEVEL 1 GOTO :errexit
echo   Entering VM Backup loop
for /F "skip=10 tokens=1,2 delims=:" %%i IN (%bd%\script\%esxhost%_vm_list.txt) DO (
IF "%%i%"=="name" (
echo     %date% %time% - Starting VCB backup of guest %%j
IF "%debug%"=="OFF" (
IF EXIST %bd%\vcbmount\%%j (RD /S /Q %bd%\vcbmount\%%j)
"C:\Program Files\VMware\VMware Consolidated Backup Framework\vcbMounter" -h %esxhost% -u backup
-p %vmpwd% -a name:%%j -r %bd%\vcbmount\%%j -t fullvm -m nbd
)
if NOT ERRORLEVEL 1 (
echo     %date% %time% - Starting backup to tape of guest %%j
IF "%debug%"=="OFF" (ntbackup.exe backup %bd%\vcbmount\%%j /a /t "TAPE-%esxhost%-%dtt%" /snap
:off /v:no /r:no /hc:on /m normal /l:f )
if NOT ERRORLEVEL 1 (
echo     %date% %time% - successful tape backup of guest %%j
) ELSE (
echo     %date% %time% - failed tape backup of guest %%j
set skipguest=%skipguest%,%%j
)
) ELSE (
echo     %date% %time% - Failed VCB snapshot of guest %%j
set skipguest=%skipguest%,%%j
)
IF "%debug%"=="OFF" (IF EXIST %bd%\vcbmount\%%j (RD /S /Q %bd%\vcbmount\%%j))
)
)
echo   %date% %time% - Ended VM Backup loop
IF "%skipguest%"=="" (
echo --%date% %time% - Generating SNMP trap due to skipped guest
CALL backup_failed.cmd
)
IF "%debug%"=="ON" (
echo IN DEBUG MODE - FORCING SNMP TRAP
CALL backup_failed.cmd
)
echo   Ejecting tape
IF "%debug%"=="OFF" (rsm.exe eject /PF"TAPE-%esxhost%-%dtt% - 1" /astart)
echo   Guests not backup up or skipped%skipguest%
echo --%date% %time% - Ending Backup script for ESX host %esxhost%
goto :finish

:errexit
echo There was an error existstatus returned from the initial backup command
echo --%date% %time% - Generating SNMP trap due to skipped guest
CALL backup_failed.cmd

:finish

Known Issues

The timestamp written to the logs doesn't update - really need to make a function call for this

Couldn't parameterise the tape library name and similar parameter for the RSM refresh for some reason - I blame the ntbackup command as this is very fussy!

NBD method not parameterised