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12 Replies Last post: Nov 14, 2007 1:29 AM by osde.info

Which backup method to use? posted: Oct 1, 2007 7:22 AM

jrj8541

26 posts since
Apr 5, 2007

Environment:

2 ESX servers running with DATASTORES on local disk (non clustered as we couldn't afford SAN yet)

1 VC Server

EMC Networker 7.3.X

T950 tape library

I pushed for VMWare and was given severely limited funds to do a proof of concept and trial run. Since then everything has gone well and we want to begin moving towards a VMWare production environment. I won't get any budget money for a SAN and HA DRS cluster until next year, but in the mean time I want to at least move forward. At this point I want to set up backups and pretend that the money for a SAN will never come. So I have some basic questions after reach the Virtual Machine Backup Guide..

1) Without a SAN, is VCB even possible? Can I use VCB to backup a LUN on local disks? If not, skip to the bottom.

2) If I have another device already doing backups in my environment is there a way that I can just copy the VMDK VMX files to a DFS folder to be backed up? I would of course want the server quiesced so the backup wasn't dirty, but can VCB backup to a folder instead of a tape device? I don't want to reinvent the wheel, so to speak, as I am not the backup person for the company and definitely don't want to assume that role.

3) Everything I will be backing up will be a DC on Server 2003, so file level backups are not important. Simply being able to restore the VMX and VMDK files in a DR environment would be all I need so image-level backups sound like what I am interested in.

So with all that said, I don't think I can even use VCB. If not, can someone explain to me if there is anything specific about backing up a VM via agent that I need to know about? If not I will just turn this cause over to the backup guy and let him run with it.

Thanks for everything, your help is always appreciated.

James

Re: Which backup method to use?

1. Oct 1, 2007 7:42 AM

in response to: jrj8541

ianmellor

50 posts since
Feb 19, 2007

Hi,

You need a fiber SAN to use VCB. VCB is LAN free and needs and Proxy Server to work. Your Proxy Server needs to be able to see all the LUN of your vm's. Your best bet would be to use a backup agent in your vm's and backup them up that way.

Hope this helps you.

Re: Which backup method to use?

2. Oct 1, 2007 8:01 AM

in response to: jrj8541

petedr

1,408 posts since
Mar 18, 2006

James,

If you want to look at an alternative to VCB try an evaluation of our product (esxpress http://www.esxpress.com). It can do the the image level backups ( file level as well although you indicated that is not needed ) you are looking for. Esxpress can send the backups to a network target ( ftp server for example ) or to your local vmfs ( or on a SAN if you get it ). If you just want Full image backups we give that away for free, other licensed versions bring in features such as Delta backups among others. We don't do any quiescing though, the backups are basically crash consistent backups.

Pete@esxpress

Re: Which backup method to use?

3. Oct 1, 2007 11:12 AM

in response to: jrj8541

EllettIT

85 posts since
Nov 17, 2006

Apparently VCB is compatible with iSCSI now however I'm not sure about your original question.

http://www.vmware.com/support/vi3/doc/releasenotes_vcb103.html

Re: Which backup method to use?

4. Oct 1, 2007 12:44 PM

in response to: petedr

Texiwill

10,236 posts since
Jan 13, 2004

Hello,

VCB requires iSCSI or SAN. THere are several attractive non VCB options.

vRanger is one as well as esxexpress. It is possible to use the VCB tools direct from the service console to backup running VMs over the network as well. Writing a script to do this is pretty straight forward. And will use existing tools where there is nothing to purchase.

If you do go the way of purchased software, consider that VCB will not be available to you. But you may also need to backup over the network.

Best regards,
Edward L. Haletky, author of the forthcoming 'VMWare ESX Server in the Enterprise: Planning and Securing Virtualization Servers', publishing January 2008, (c) 2008 Pearson Education.

Re: Which backup method to use?

5. Oct 1, 2007 6:01 PM

in response to: Texiwill

ejward

863 posts since
Sep 23, 2005

Check out Vizioncores ESX Ranger http://www.vizioncore.com/vRangerPro.html. It'll do image backups of VM's while they're running. You can even restore single files within a VM in s pinch if you need to. The best thing it that it's licensed per CPU (Socket, not core) not by VM.

Re: Which backup method to use?

6. Oct 2, 2007 1:51 PM

in response to: jrj8541

cmanucy

177 posts since
Jun 29, 2006

We use both ESXRanger and ESXpress in our infrastructure (FC w/VCB). We've found great uses for both, but ESXpress' ability to do deltas has been wonderful. We have over a month worth of backups taking up about 1TB of space - about 400GB of which would be a 'daily' snapshot of all data.

I have to say that being able to restore machines WITHOUT any additional software is a key ingredient in a DR plan where you don't have any kind of site-to-site replication, ESX HA or anything like that.

-Carter

Re: Which backup method to use?

7. Oct 4, 2007 10:40 AM

in response to: cmanucy

beckhamk

311 posts since
Aug 10, 2007

I thought that esxRange also did delta backups, is that not true?

Re: Which backup method to use?

8. Oct 4, 2007 10:48 AM

in response to: beckhamk

ejward

863 posts since
Sep 23, 2005

The latest version is supposed to do incremental backups. I've downloaded this version but haven't had a chance to test it yet.

Re: Which backup method to use?

9. Oct 5, 2007 1:59 AM

in response to: jrj8541

ZippyDaMCT

1,409 posts since
Jun 3, 2005

I have previously for a customer who had a tight budget provisioned a script that would backup over both smb and ftp to "remote storage" using vcb from the command line and tar balled the backups, vcb can be used without a SAN as I have done it.....if O was to use the VCB framework then that is a diffrenet question

Re: Which backup method to use?

10. Oct 5, 2007 5:25 AM

in response to: ZippyDaMCT

Texiwill

10,236 posts since
Jan 13, 2004

Hello,

vRanger does incremental backups as well as esxexpress.

Using VCB tools from the CLI is also one option available. The script is fairly straightforward as well.

Best regards,
Edward L. Haletky, author of the forthcoming 'VMWare ESX Server in the Enterprise: Planning and Securing Virtualization Servers', publishing January 2008, (c) 2008 Pearson Education.

Re: Which backup method to use?

11. Oct 5, 2007 6:15 AM

in response to: Texiwill

vmninja

6 posts since
Sep 10, 2006

Half right.

From: http://supportforums.vizioncore.com/forums/thread/5861.aspx

" With VCB we only do Full backups."

Otherwise have to run backups in the service console for differentials.

Re: Which backup method to use?

12. Nov 14, 2007 1:29 AM

in response to: vmninja

osde.info

829 posts since
Jan 25, 2005

VMware vcbMounter and vcbRestore can work without a SAN (if you configure them very carefully)

but we use vmbk.pl to backup our VMs

regards
clive
http://www.osde.info

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