VMware Communities: Message List - Backup vbscript for VMWare Server: Only ~1min downtime

Re: Backup vbscript for VMWare Server: Only ~1min downtime

solsie — Tue, 30 Dec 2008 13:06:46 GMT

First off I want to say this is a great looking script.

I downloaded this script but am having some issues. The script runs through and all seems ok however the shadow drive is not made even though it says it is made. I am attaching my log file.

thanks in advance for any assistance

Re: Backup vbscript for VMWare Server: Only ~1min downtime

TJWood — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 21:49:06 GMT

I just want to post a thank you for this script! Fantastic work.

I have set this up on 2x 2003 hosts and have it scripted to backup 3-4 VM's on each. It seems to be working quite well but I have occassionally found that after shutting down the relevant VM that the O:\ drive isn't created (although the log file indicates it was, it never appears (watching in explorer)) and the VM fires backup but of course the zip file fails to be created (lack of source data of course). Running exactly the same kick off script again it goes through the process again but this time the O:\ drive is made available before the zip file is attempted to be created and it runs perfectly.

Any suggestions? I wondered if I wasn't using the correct version of the vshadow.exe (located in the same directory as the scripts) but it hasn't made any difference. I would love to set this script up automatically but with it being a bit sporadic I'm not sure if I can do it as yet.

Regards,

Re: Backup vbscript for VMWare Server: Only ~1min downtime

bobstothard — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 05:36:20 GMT

is there anyway to backup more than 1 vm at a time? basically i have around 7 or 8 vm's to backup and they are pretty big in size, about 750gb in the virtual machines directory. i've tried running scripts at the same time and have tried waiting for one script to start zipping the folder in the backup directory and then kicking off the backup of another vm but keep getting the message "The Backup Script for VMware Server couldn't create a volume shadow or couldn't copy the files from the volume shadow."

is there anyway i can edit the script so that it will allow simultaneous backups of vm's?

Re: Backup vbscript for VMWare Server: Only ~1min downtime

Nummagumma — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 00:11:54 GMT

I finally figured out all my syntax issues, and why Gigaguy's version wasn't working on XP even after I found it.

(The statement 'This should be identical to "DefaultCopyPath" but with a different drive letter. This is the drive letter where VShadow will be mounted (O: in this case) is actually incorrect and should be identical to DefaultVMPath.)

So I honestly have a need to have this set of code work both ways (XP/2003) as I use XP as a staging/testing area for some VMs rather than blowing $$ on a server license to host it.

I'm gonna take a shot at melding the code but I am totally NOT a vb programmer so it will be ugly I'm sure.

Re: Backup vbscript for VMWare Server: Only ~1min downtime

Nummagumma — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 00:28:00 GMT

I've tried a few different paths for vShadowCopyPath and I get the same error no matter what I use:

2008-03-31_17:24:46 Files will be copied to O:\BLV99TEST-VM
2008-03-31_17:24:46 The VM is approximately 10.39 GB.
2008-03-31_17:24:46 **ERROR**: There is not enough free space to copy files
2008-03-31_17:24:46 Successfully deleted VShadow Drive

VShadowCopyPath = "c:\backups\virtual machines"

What am I missing about this syntax here?

Re: Backup vbscript for VMWare Server: Only ~1min downtime

Nummagumma — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 23:45:18 GMT

For other newbs like me who scratch their heads around the VShadow pieces, you need to download from here:

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=0b4f56e4-0ccc-4626-826a-ed2c4c95c871&displaylang=en&Hash=MOGBEU0c5e9GVX12ekypMBoMEtcvWUdnVmQhtY2zYvhUvwFasNB5TDqJpfuuiW2P6mtO7p9DAWlkkw%2b%2b34z9bw%3d%3d

And then once installed make sure you get the right .exe for your version of windows out of C:\program files\Microsoft\VSSSDK72\TestApps\vshadow\bin since C:\program files\Microsoft\VSSSDK72\Tools\VSSReports contains a version that doesn't work in XP.

(Below is the error I saw when using that version, in case it helps anyone else reach this answer)

C:\Program Files\Microsoft\VSSSDK72\Tools\VSSReports>vshadow -q

VSHADOW.EXE 2.2 - Volume Shadow Copy sample client
Copyright (C) 2005 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

(Option: Query all shadow copies)

Setting the VSS context to: 0xffffffff

ERROR: COM call "m_pVssObject->SetContext(dwContext)" failed.

Returned HRESULT = 0xc0000005
Error text:
Please re-run VSHADOW.EXE with the /tracing option to get more details

Re: Backup vbscript for VMWare Server: Only ~1min downtime

Gigaguy — Wed, 06 Feb 2008 17:37:28 GMT

Ktlevy,

I backup 6 VM's every other night. I just added them to the .bat file. Then I use scheduled task to run the bat file. They will backup in the order specified in the .bat and not all at once.

Ex:
VM_Backup.bat

@echo off
echo "Backing up VM1"
wscript VM-Backup.vbs VM1

echo "Backing up VM2"
wscript VM-Backup.vbs VM2

echo "Backing up VM3"
wscript VM-Backup.vbs VM3

Re: Backup vbscript for VMWare Server: Only ~1min downtime

ktlevy — Wed, 06 Feb 2008 17:33:23 GMT

Has anyone figured out a good way to backup multiple VMs? Currently, I have separate scheduled tasks, one for each VM.

Re: Backup vbscript for VMWare Server: Only ~1min downtime

Ben Rayner — Fri, 01 Feb 2008 23:09:00 GMT

Thanks for the updated script Gigaguy.

I now have this working - hope the below helps a 64bit OS user somewhere. I was running this script with the below batch file to run the script in a 32bit cmd.exe:

@echo off
echo "Backing up W2k3 sample"
c:
cd\
cd WINDOWS\SysWOW64
cmd /C wscript.exe c:\vmbackup\VM-Backup.vbs sample

This batch file works on a 64bit 2003 server OS with saxa's script (http://communities.vmware.com/thread/54782) but not on this one. You get the following error below:

2008-02-01_17:46:02 Running "C:\Program Files (x86)\7-Zip\7z.exe" a -tzip "E:\VMBackup\Backup test-2008-02-01_174426.zip" "O:\Virtual Machines\Backup test\*"
2008-02-01_17:46:02 The zip command returned result code 1
2008-02-01_17:46:02 **ERROR**: The zip command failed, no zip file was created

This error also occurs if you do not have vshadow.exe in the same folder as the script.

To make this work I have to manually run the 32bit cmd.exe from the WINDOWS\SysWOW64 folder, navigate to the scipt folder and run the script from here e.g.VM-Backup.vbs sample.

Any other 64bit Windows OS users care to share how they run their script from a batch file? (I would like to add this as a scheduled task) - (EDIT) SOLUTION IS TO PUT VSHADOW.EXE IN WINDOWS\SysWOW64 folder

Message was edited by: Ben Rayner

Re: Backup vbscript for VMWare Server: Only ~1min downtime

Ben Rayner — Tue, 05 Feb 2008 12:10:30 GMT

The solution to my problem was to put vshadow.exe in the WINDOWS\SysWOW64 folder.

vshadow.exe does not need to be in the same directory as the script, but it needs to be in the directory you are in when you execute the script (if that makes sense).

In my batch file below I am 'in' the WINDOWS\SysWOW64 folder when I execute the script from c:\vmbackup

@echo off
echo "Backing up W2k3 sample"
c:
cd\
cd WINDOWS\SysWOW64
cmd /C wscript.exe c:\vmbackup\VM-Backup.vbs sample

Ben

Re: Backup vbscript for VMWare Server: Only ~1min downtime

Gigaguy — Mon, 04 Feb 2008 17:46:40 GMT

Reattaching ZIP.

Re: Backup vbscript for VMWare Server: Only ~1min downtime

ktlevy — Mon, 04 Feb 2008 17:06:34 GMT

Gigaguy,

I am unable to download your latest update of the backup script - basically nothing gets saved to my local drive. Can you try to reupload the script again?

Thanks,

Kevin

Re: Backup vbscript for VMWare Server: Only ~1min downtime

Gigaguy — Thu, 31 Jan 2008 17:20:16 GMT

Here is the updated script, with the statistics showing correctly. Hopefully, that will correct some of the issues.

Re: Backup vbscript for VMWare Server: Only ~1min downtime

ktlevy — Wed, 30 Jan 2008 23:25:38 GMT

I'm seeing a similar issue with the statistics. Everything works ok for me with the backup and zip creation, however the VM size and disk space statistics are not getting valid information for some reason:

{size:2}

THERE IS NOT ENOUGH FREE DISK SPACE TO BACKUP AGAIN! ***

The VMware Backup Script backed up the virtual machine 'OSIRIS' successfully.

Backup saved as W:\IT\virtual-machines\Backups\VMware\OSIRIS-2008-01-30_135646.zip.
VM was offline 3 minutes between 13:56:48 and 13:59:59.
The script operation was paused for 0 minutes.
The compress operation took 75 minutes.

The VM is approximately GB.
The zip file is approximately 5.64 GB.
There is approximately GB free on the backup location.

Total run time was 78 minutes.
Start Time: 2008-01-30_13:56:48.
End Time: 2008-01-30_15:14:01.

THERE IS NOT ENOUGH FREE DISK SPACE TO BACKUP AGAIN! ***

{size}

Re: Backup vbscript for VMWare Server: Only ~1min downtime

SLMHC — Wed, 30 Jan 2008 16:16:53 GMT

I agree that copying from the VSS drive is not needed. The VM is only down for a few moments, 2 min max.

I just tried it with VShadowCopyPath = "O:\Virtual Machines\" and got a new 7zip error.

The zip command, , failed with code 2. The VMware Backup Script couldn't create F:\VMBackup\PRTG-2008-01-30_100157.zip. Please check if you have enough disk space on F:\VMBackup and run the backup script again.

Note: The uncompressed virtual machine files were NOT deleted from F:\VMBackup.

Error 2 is a Fatal Error. There currently is 62GB free space on the F: drive.

Message was edited by: SLMHC

Re: Backup vbscript for VMWare Server: Only ~1min downtime

Ben Rayner — Wed, 30 Jan 2008 08:38:55 GMT

Further to the above...The e-mail alert informs:

The zip command, , failed with code 1. The VMware Backup Script couldn't create E:\VMBackup\Backup test-2008-01-30_014239.zip. Please check if you have enough disk space on E:\VMBackup and run the backup script again.

There is 254GB free space and the VM is only 3.5GB.

Turning off Zip file creation (by making MakeZippedFile = False) also fails, so it's not a zip file creation issue.

The backup says it completes successfully, but a backup is not actually produced. The resulting e-mail alert is below:

THERE IS NOT ENOUGH FREE DISK SPACE TO BACKUP AGAIN! ***

The VMware Backup Script backed up the virtual machine 'Backup test' successfully.

Backup saved as .
VM was offline 2 minutes between 08:00:59 and 08:02:36.
The script operation was paused for 0 minutes.
The compress operation took 0 minutes.

The VM is approximately GB.
The zip file is approximately GB.
There is approximately GB free on the backup location.

Total run time was 2 minutes.
Start Time: 2008-01-30_08:00:59.
End Time: 2008-01-30_08:02:36.

Re: Backup vbscript for VMWare Server: Only ~1min downtime

Ben Rayner — Wed, 30 Jan 2008 01:57:52 GMT

Thanks for the prompt reply!

Checked paths and Tested again - still same issue.

My paths are:

DefaultVMPath = "E:\Virtual Machines\"
DefaultCopyPath = "E:\VMBackupTemp\"
DefaultBackupPath = "E:\VMBackup\"
UseVShadow = True
VShadowCopyPath = "O:\Virtual Machines\"

The error in the log is:

2008-01-30_01:44:18 Starting the Zip process
2008-01-30_01:44:18 Running "C:\Program Files (x86)\7-Zip\7z.exe" a -tzip "E:\VMBackup\Backup test-2008-01-30_014239.zip" "O:\Virtual Machines\Backup test\*"
2008-01-30_01:44:18 The zip command returned result code 1
2008-01-30_01:44:18 **ERROR**: The zip command failed, no zip file was created

Using the exact same setup, but with a non-vss script (v3.6) works fine.

Any ideas?

Re: Backup vbscript for VMWare Server: Only ~1min downtime

Gigaguy — Wed, 30 Jan 2008 00:39:49 GMT

The VShadowCopyPath should be the same as your original VM path. So if you VMs are located in E:\storage\VMs the VShadowCopyPath would be O:\storage\VMs.

It sound like you already have the VShadow part working but getting a zip error. May just be a path error.

Re: Backup vbscript for VMWare Server: Only ~1min downtime

Ben Rayner — Wed, 30 Jan 2008 00:31:15 GMT

Hello 1st post!

After some initial issues getting this to run on a 64bit host I am about there. I can happily run the non-vss script (v3.6) but when I run this one i get the same error as SLMHC:

+ 2008-01-29_11:38:40 The zip command returned result code 1+
+ 2008-01-29_11:38:40 **ERROR**: The zip command failed, no zip file was created+

An empty zip file is created before the error is logged.

Can SLMHC provide a bit more info on what he did to get this to work? From your post it appears that you just set the VShadowCopyPath setting to "O:\Virtual Machines". I have tried this, but no go.

The minimal VM downtime is great in this script!

Re: Backup vbscript for VMWare Server: Only ~1min downtime

Gigaguy — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 22:54:50 GMT

Ok, so the ZIP file is getting created in the correct place now. And, this should happen after the VM is started and running. Correct? If so, then the script is working as it should. I didnt see a point in copying the file and then zipping it when it didnt affect downtime. So I set it up to zip up the files directly from the Shadow Drive.

VM shouldnt be down more than 1 min or so, correct? The zipping process itself does take a while, even longer if accross the network.

My goal was to minimize downtime of the VM.

Re: Backup vbscript for VMWare Server: Only ~1min downtime

SLMHC — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 19:49:20 GMT

Ok, I'm daft. I now have the vshadow SDK installed. BUT...the script still isn't working. I next tried the commands you gave above. Each worked until ""C:\Program Files\7-Zip\7z.exe" a -tzip "F:\VMBackup\PRTG-2008-01-29_113653.zip" "O:\vmbackuptemp\PRTG\*". The VM wasnt copied to the vmbackuptemp dir, so I pointed it to "C:\Program Files\7-Zip\7z.exe" a -tzip "F:\VMBackup\PRTG-2008-01-29_113653.zip" "O:\Virtual Machines\PRTG\*" and it is now zipping. Although very slowly. It seems to take some time on the.lck file...

I guess this leads to an error in the config.

Re: Backup vbscript for VMWare Server: Only ~1min downtime

Gigaguy — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 19:27:55 GMT

Try creating a shadow copy and running the Zip command by itself from the prompt.

1. vshadow.exe -nw -p -script=GeneratedVarsTempScript.cmd SOURCEDRIVE
2. call GeneratedVarsTempScript.cmd
3. vshadow.exe -el=%SHADOW_ID_1%,O:
4. "C:\Program Files\7-Zip\7z.exe" a -tzip "F:\VMBackup\PRTG-2008-01-29_113653.zip" "O:\vmbackuptemp\PRTG\*"

Sounds like it may be trying to zip up the running VM, which shouldnt be the case, since its a shadow copy.

Re: Backup vbscript for VMWare Server: Only ~1min downtime

SLMHC — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 18:03:17 GMT

Gigaguy, Everything works great until the zip file is made. Here is the log entry:

2008-01-29_11:38:40 Starting the Zip process
+ 2008-01-29_11:38:40 Running "C:\Program Files\7-Zip\7z.exe" a -tzip "F:\VMBackup\PRTG-2008-01-29_113653.zip" "O:\vmbackuptemp\PRTG\*"+
+ 2008-01-29_11:38:40 The zip command returned result code 1+
+ 2008-01-29_11:38:40 **ERROR**: The zip command failed, no zip file was created+

The 7zip exit codes state that code 1 means "Warning (Non fatal error(s)). For example, one or more files were locked by some other application, so they were not compressed."

Any ideas on how to track down and fix this issue?

-Dave

Re: Backup vbscript for VMWare Server: Only ~1min downtime

Gigaguy — Wed, 19 Dec 2007 19:24:19 GMT

I was able to get it integrated. I modified the original script VM-Backup.vbs, not yours. Your script was very helpful as a reference though. I needed some of the features from the original script and it was easier to add vshadow to that script the to add the needed functionality to you script.

This script includes all the orginal functionality, and adds VShadow for minimal downtime. VShadow will mount as a drive letter. And then un-mount when the script is finished.

I did not add Zack's original VShadow code to copy without mounting a drive (Honestly, didnt see a point in having it both ways)

You will need vshadow.exe in the same directory as the script.
7-Zip must be "installed", regkeys are used to get the 7-zip path.
You CAN use the VM-Backup.ini file to pass most of the parameters you can set in the script

To use VShadow:
DefaultVMPath = "E:\Virtual Machines\" 'Relative to VMware host. Need read permissions
DefaultCopyPath = "D:\VMBackupTemp\" 'Relative to the machine running the script, UNC is OK. Need write permissions. Not used for VShadow
DefaultBackupPath = "G:\VMBackup\" 'Relative to the machine running the script, UNC is OK. Need write permissions
UseVShadow = True 'Set True to use VShadow
VShadowCopyPath = "O:\Virtual Machines\" 'This should be identical to "DefaultCopyPath" but with a different drive letter. This is the drive letter where VShadow will be mounted (O: in this case)

Re: Backup vbscript for VMWare Server: Only ~1min downtime

zgn667 — Mon, 10 Dec 2007 00:25:08 GMT

If you do get it integrated, I'll be happy to put it up. As I said before, I don't have Windows Server on my home machine, so I can't use the vshadow drive mapping, as Microsoft disabled it in the XP version of vshadow. The script would definitely run a lot faster with it, which would be nice. I'd have some trouble debugging peoples problems, so if you do get it up be prepared to get some questions (the first draft always has some bugs...).
-Zack

Re: Backup vbscript for VMWare Server: Only ~1min downtime

Gigaguy — Fri, 07 Dec 2007 17:14:11 GMT

Sorry, Posted twice.

Re: Backup vbscript for VMWare Server: Only ~1min downtime

Gigaguy — Fri, 07 Dec 2007 17:13:43 GMT

I found out that we dont even need dosdev. Vshadow.exe can mount a drive.

Run the script below by typing scriptname.cmd shadowdrive targetdrive (scriptname.cmd e: o:). Found Here (http://blogs.msdn.com/adioltean/archive/2005/01/20/357836.aspx)

I have been trying to integrate it into your script, but have not been very sucessfull yet.

Here is a sample script:
setlocal
if NOT "%CALLBACK_SCRIPT%"=="" goto :IS_CALLBACK
set SOURCE_VOLUME=%1
set DESTINATION_VOLUME=%2
set CALLBACK_SCRIPT=%~dpnx0
set TEMP_GENERATED_SCRIPT=GeneratedVarsTempScript.cmd
%~dp0\vshadow.exe -nw -p -script=%TEMP_GENERATED_SCRIPT% -exec=%CALLBACK_SCRIPT% %SOURCE_VOLUME%
del /f %EMP_GENERATED_SCRIPT%
@goto :EOF
:IS_CALLBACK
setlocal
call %TEMP_GENERATED_SCRIPT% %~dp0\vshadow.exe -el=%SHADOW_ID_1%,%DESTINATION_VOLUME%
@echo.
@echo *******************************************
@echo To delete the shadow copy, run the command:
@echo VSHADOW.EXE -ds=%SHADOW_ID_1%
@echo *******************************************
@echo.

Re: Backup vbscript for VMWare Server: Only ~1min downtime

mpierce — Fri, 07 Dec 2007 14:54:06 GMT

Try putting the 7za files in the same directory as the script. That fixed it for me.

Re: Backup vbscript for VMWare Server: Only ~1min downtime

walter81 — Fri, 07 Dec 2007 14:33:32 GMT

still no success '( '( '(

in the temp folder a copy of the machine's file do appear, but that's it. :'(

Re: Backup vbscript for VMWare Server: Only ~1min downtime

Gigaguy — Fri, 07 Dec 2007 10:32:56 GMT

DosDev can be found in "MPSRPT_Exchange.EXE"

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=cebf3c7c-7ca5-408f-88b7-f9c79b7306c0&DisplayLang=en

I just kicked off the exe and went to, "C:\WINDOWS\MPSReports\Exchange\bin" and there it was.

Re: Backup vbscript for VMWare Server: Only ~1min downtime

zgn667 — Fri, 07 Dec 2007 07:27:39 GMT

Good; 7za is supposed to be in a %PATH%, just like vshadow. Out of curiosity, are you running the new version of the script I put up? I'd like to know if the new version will work if its run on your computer like you were trying to run it at first (from the directory with cscript, with 7za and vshadow in %PATH% or the same directory as cscript). It'd be great if you could test it for me.
Thanks,
Zack

Re: Backup vbscript for VMWare Server: Only ~1min downtime

mpierce — Fri, 07 Dec 2007 05:38:31 GMT

I copied the 7za executable into the same directory and it is working now.

Re: Backup vbscript for VMWare Server: Only ~1min downtime

mpierce — Fri, 07 Dec 2007 05:18:11 GMT

It is running from the location now and copies the files - but it errors when it tries to run the 7za command. I have echoed the backup_string so I can see what it is trying to pass and if I type that string into the command line it works fine. Here is the screen dump -

C:\VM-BackupScript>cscript vm-vss-backup.vbs "e:\Virtual Machines\VM-FFTEST1\Windows XP Professional.vmx"
Microsoft (R) Windows Script Host Version 5.6
Copyright (C) Microsoft Corporation 1996-2001. All rights reserved.

trying to compress
7za a -tzip "E:\backups\VM-FFTEST1-2007-12-06-215836.zip" "E:\temp\\VM-FFTEST1\*" (This is the echoed backup_string)
C:\VM-BackupScript\vm-vss-backup.vbs(689, 1) (null): The system cannot find the file specified.

Thanks

Re: Backup vbscript for VMWare Server: Only ~1min downtime

zgn667 — Fri, 07 Dec 2007 03:39:04 GMT

It looks like it would work, but where can I find dosdev for xp? In Server, you can actually assign drive letters with vshadow, but stupid Microsoft decided XP shouldn't have that functionality. Dosdev is apparently available in some SDK's, but I don't know which ones. I also don't want to include it from a site other than Microsoft.com, because it might make people nervous to use an executable from some random site. I could just make the script for Server that uses the vshadow drive letter assignment then zip directly from that, but my home machine is XP, so I can't test it. Anyways, if you know somewhere from Microsoft that I can get dosdev, I'll look into including it.
-Zack

Backup vbscript for VMWare Server: Only ~1min downtime

zgn667 — Sat, 27 Oct 2007 06:40:31 GMT

I've been working on this script for the last week for my school's admission office. I'm no vbscript expert, but I know enough to get things to work. The script is able to achieve minimal downtime by using Microsoft's volume shadow copy service (the script will work only for Windows XP and Windows Server 2003; it may work for Vista as well, if you can find vshadow.exe for it), which you'll have to download (search vss sdk at http://www.microsoft.com/). This script is and adaptation of a script previously posted in this forum by saxa which can be found here: http://communities.vmware.com/thread/54782. Make sure to read all the comments in the beginning and follow any instructions. I haven't tested very thoroughly, so if you find problems, tell me and I can try to fix them. Enjoy! (The script is attached) Do not just run it; save it then right click edit it to read the comments in notepad.

-Zack Nicolaou

Re: Backup vbscript for VMWare Server: Only ~1min downtime

zgn667 — Fri, 07 Dec 2007 03:22:13 GMT

I've put a new version of the script up which should run from anywhere. Hopefully there won't be anymore problems, but things are never that easy...

Re: Backup vbscript for VMWare Server: Only ~1min downtime

Gigaguy — Fri, 07 Dec 2007 02:49:07 GMT

zgn,

There is a tool called dosdev.exe Which may allow skipping of the "copy" step. I tried it manually and it worked perfectly.

(Usage Ex: "dosdev X: %SHADOW_DEVICE_1%")

Just a thought to maybe add to your script, may make it even faster.

Re: Backup vbscript for VMWare Server: Only ~1min downtime

zgn667 — Fri, 07 Dec 2007 01:35:21 GMT

I found that the script does not run correctly unless it is called from the directory that it is contained in, so cd to the directory that contains vm-vss-backup.vbs then run the script. Now, the script makes the batch files in the current directory, so the script can't find them because it only looks in its parent directory. I'll try to fix this, but for now just run it from the directory with vm-vss-backup.vbs. This may be the cause of your problem.

Re: Backup vbscript for VMWare Server: Only ~1min downtime

mpierce — Fri, 07 Dec 2007 00:31:00 GMT

I am having problems getting the script to run - it shuts down the virtual machine but doesn't seem to do anything else. I commented the On Error Resume Next and this is the error I am getting:

C:\WINDOWS\SysWOW64>cscript c:\vm-backupscript\vm-vss-backup.vbs "e:\Virtual Machines\VM-FFTEST1\Windows XP Professional.vmx"
Microsoft (R) Windows Script Host Version 5.6
Copyright (C) Microsoft Corporation 1996-2001. All rights reserved.

c:\vm-backupscript\vm-vss-backup.vbs(659, 1) (null): The system cannot find the file specified.

I am running Win 2003 Server x64 so I am running the script from the SysWOW64 folder to use the appropriate version of csript as mentioned earlier. I can run vshadow and 7za from the command line and I have commented the FileObject.Delete statements and am not finding copyfiles.bat anywhere so I would assume it is not creating the batch files correctly.

Thanks for your help - this script looks like a great solution for minimizing downtime.

Matt

Re: Backup vbscript for VMWare Server: Only ~1min downtime

zgn667 — Fri, 07 Dec 2007 00:11:35 GMT

See if the script successfully creates the two batch files (copyfiles and callback) but commenting out the FileObject.Delete () statements (lines 647+). If so, try the vshadow statements that creates the volume shadow and runs the callback:
vshadow.exe -script=copyfiles.bat -exec=callback.bat E:

I don't know of anyother script that uses volume shadows, but there are plenty of other scripts that backup vm's (they just have a lot of downtime). If you don't care about downtime, I suggest Alex Kaufman's script, (http://communities.vmware.com/thread/54782) the script that mine is based on.

Re: Backup vbscript for VMWare Server: Only ~1min downtime

walter81 — Thu, 06 Dec 2007 14:59:26 GMT

nope, as you can see in my post I've included the full path

I've rebooted the server (didn't do that yesterday),but that doesn't make a difference. I've been playing with the script, but I can't find any errors.

Vshadow -q tells me that there are no shadow copies on the system, so that isn't the problem either.

Any other suggestions (or another way to make backups of my virtual servers ?)

Re: Backup vbscript for VMWare Server: Only ~1min downtime

zgn667 — Thu, 06 Dec 2007 00:25:07 GMT

just realized, its also possible that you put the full path to your vmx as \virtual machines\something.vmx without including the drive letter. The script depends on the c: in the start of the path to know which drive to create the volume shadow on, so include it if you haven't.

Re: Backup vbscript for VMWare Server: Only ~1min downtime

zgn667 — Thu, 06 Dec 2007 00:22:06 GMT

try from the command line
vshadow c:(or any drive you want)
to see if it has some problem
you can also try vshadow -q to see if there are any existing volume shadows. If there are some and you dont know what they are, they might have been created and then failed to delete. Then you can do vshadow -da to delete any that exists.

Re: Backup vbscript for VMWare Server: Only ~1min downtime

walter81 — Wed, 05 Dec 2007 08:26:13 GMT

okay, now I get this output:

C:\scripts>cscript.exe vm-vss-backup.vbs "e:\Virtual Machines\PPS_SR_WSUS\Window
s Server 2003 Standard Edition.vmx"
Microsoft (R) Windows Script Host Version 5.6
Copyright (C) Microsoft Corporation 1996-2001. All rights reserved.

The Backup Script for VMware Server couldn't create a volume shadow or couldn't
copy the files from the volume shadow.

I did install the Volume Shadow client, and I added the path %programfiles%\....\release-server directory to the %path% variable And I've placed shadow.exe in the script directory.

Re: Backup vbscript for VMWare Server: Only ~1min downtime

zgn667 — Wed, 05 Dec 2007 05:19:36 GMT

If commenting the on error resume next still gives you an indescript the server cannot be shut down, it might be because there is something running on your vm that is preventing it from being shut down. You can try the script on another vm, if possible, or you can make a test script that only tries to shut down the server to see if thats the problem.

Re: Backup vbscript for VMWare Server: Only ~1min downtime

Gigaguy — Tue, 04 Dec 2007 17:39:34 GMT

Make sure you have VMTools installed on the Virtual Machine. Also, the suggestion above, to comment out line 64 "On Error Resume Next", will give you a more informative error.

Re: Backup vbscript for VMWare Server: Only ~1min downtime

walter81 — Tue, 04 Dec 2007 12:56:12 GMT

I'm trying to get this to work, but the Virtual Machine won't shut down. What could be the cause (and are there alternative ways to automaticall shut it off?). We use VMWare Server 1.04 (for as much as that matters)

thanks in advance for any help!

Re: Backup vbscript for VMWare Server: Only ~1min downtime

ktlevy — Mon, 03 Dec 2007 15:17:25 GMT

I figured out what my problem was. I'm running Windows 2003 R2 Enterprise Edition 64-bit and things were not working properly because the default cscript.exe in c:\windows\system32 was the 64-bit version. Once I made the 32-bit version in c:\windows\syswow64 the default version, the script ran properly. I had also discovered the hardcoded C: issue and changed that to D:

Re: Backup vbscript for VMWare Server: Only ~1min downtime

zgn667 — Mon, 03 Dec 2007 02:56:18 GMT

I've updated the script to fix the problem, it now uses the first two letters from the path to the vmx file as the volume shadow drive

Re: Backup vbscript for VMWare Server: Only ~1min downtime

zgn667 — Mon, 03 Dec 2007 02:35:27 GMT

Good job debugging, I should have noticed the drive thing when I wrote it.
Anyways, the only problems that I can really think of with the mailing stuff
is maybe you forgot to fill in the smtp variable near the top of the script
(line 72). Whats the specific error you get when you run?

Re: Backup vbscript for VMWare Server: Only ~1min downtime

Gigaguy — Sun, 02 Dec 2007 22:22:09 GMT

Ok, still having CDO mail issues, but I figured out the issue. My VM drive is E: not C:, the script line 657 is hard-coded to C:. Any idea on how to get email working? I checked google and done all the reinstall, and re-registering of dlls already.

Thanks, Great script !!!!!!

Re: Backup vbscript for VMWare Server: Only ~1min downtime

Gigaguy — Sun, 02 Dec 2007 21:56:46 GMT

Ok, I had an error with CDO, so I just commented out all the "mailing" references. Now I am getting a VShadow error. The VM does actually shut down, but never restarts (im guessing because the script errors). The Vshadow error is "The backup script couldn't create a valume shadow or couldn't copy the files from the volume shadow". vshadow.exe is both in my path and the directory I am running the script from. And is enabled for the source drive (Where the VM's are).

Thanks.

Re: Backup vbscript for VMWare Server: Only ~1min downtime

zgn667 — Sun, 02 Dec 2007 20:25:24 GMT

What arguments are you calling with the script, or are using the interactive
mode (just double clicking it)? The script is failing to connect to vmware,
but I have the exact same code from the original script, which seems to
work. Try commenting the line "On Error Resume Next" from the script (by
opening it with notepad then edit->go to: Line 64 and adding a ' in front of
it, like the other comments above it) and running it again to see if it will
give you a more detailed message. Tell me what it says then.

Re: Backup vbscript for VMWare Server: Only ~1min downtime

zgn667 — Sun, 02 Dec 2007 20:25:24 GMT

copyfiles and callback are created by the script and then deleted after it
runs. What arguments are you calling with the script, or are using the
interactive mode (just double clicking it)? The script is failing to
connect to vmware, but I have the exact same code from the original script.
Try commenting the line "On Error Resume Next" from the script (by opening
it with notepad then edit->go to: Line 64 and adding a ' in front of it,
like the other comments above it) and running it again to see if it will
give you a more detailed message. Tell me what it says then.

Re: Backup vbscript for VMWare Server: Only ~1min downtime

Gigaguy — Sun, 02 Dec 2007 14:27:16 GMT

Where do I get the copyfiles.bat and callback.bat? Can I create them myself? Also, I keep getting the same error as ktlevy when trying to run the script. The script from the original post works fine.

Thanks.

Re: Backup vbscript for VMWare Server: Only ~1min downtime

ktlevy — Thu, 29 Nov 2007 00:46:27 GMT

I can't seem to get the script to run properly. Whenever I run it, I get the following error:

The Backup Script for VMware Server couldn't create an appropriate connection.
Please check if all of the VMWare Services are up and running.
Please keep in mind, you can run this script on the local host only.

I am running VMware 1.04 and have VMware tools installed on my virtual machine.

Any ideas?