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6 Replies Last post: Nov 5, 2009 2:09 PM by RoarkH  

How could I backup VMs posted: Nov 4, 2009 9:42 AM

Click to view Mohammed Khawaja's profile Lurker
Mohammed Khaw…
1 posts since
Oct 2, 2008

I have two ESXi servers where the storage assigned to each VM is 80 GB but only 10 GB is used. I need to backup the VMs as I need to reconfigure the SAN (delete the LUNs and create new LUNs) and I need to know what is the best way to backup the VMs to a Windows server/workstation. I know I could shutdown the VMs and copy each VM but I do not have enough store to copy two 80 GB files. Is there a way to backup the VMs and then restore it besides using something like ARCserve where I must backup each VM with a client agent.


Re: How could I backup VMs

1. Nov 4, 2009 9:55 AM in response to: Mohammed Khaw…
Click to view AndreTheGiant's profile Guru
AndreTheGiant
5,916 posts since
Aug 28, 2008
See: Backup solutions for VMware ESXi
You can use some way to put the VM files on the backup server and then use ARCserve.
Or, if you have a VCB license, you can try to find some integration scripts.

Andre

Re: How could I backup VMs

2. Nov 4, 2009 4:01 PM in response to: Mohammed Khaw…
Click to view KyNetGuy's profile Novice
KyNetGuy
6 posts since
Nov 4, 2009

You could spend $100 and get an external USB drive and copy them there. Antiquated, but it works. I recently bought a 500GB usb drive for $99 at OfficeMax to store Worksation VMs on. (I am always finding interesting ways to screw up VMs with Workstation, LOL)

You could use vConvert and do a V2V conversion and resize the drives during the conversion to decrease the size of the VMDK files.

You could do both.

Does ESXi allow for thin provisioning like vSphere? I am not certain off-hand. I only use ESX. I know thin provisioning wasn't available until 4.0.

There are 3rd Party utilities that will shrink them for you as well. (decrease the provisioned diskspace when you have over provisioned)

Just some thoughts.

Re: How could I backup VMs

3. Nov 4, 2009 4:24 PM in response to: KyNetGuy
Click to view DSTAVERT's profile Virtuoso
DSTAVERT
2,418 posts since
Nov 30, 2003
ESXi does not support USB attached drives as a datastore or for local access.

Re: How could I backup VMs

4. Nov 5, 2009 2:26 AM in response to: Mohammed Khaw…
Click to view AlbertWT's profile Expert
AlbertWT
456 posts since
Apr 7, 2009

Hi Mr. Khawaja,

Have you tried to copy the VMDK using Veeam FastSCP from your ESXi into your desktop ?

Kind Regards,
AWT

Re: How could I backup VMs

5. Nov 5, 2009 5:57 AM in response to: DSTAVERT
Click to view KyNetGuy's profile Novice
KyNetGuy
6 posts since
Nov 4, 2009
Why could you not export them and copy them to your drive through your PC?

At minimum you could use a free SCP client like WinSCP and do a raw copy.

Re: How could I backup VMs

6. Nov 5, 2009 2:10 PM in response to: Mohammed Khaw…
Click to view RoarkH's profile Lurker
RoarkH
1 posts since
Sep 25, 2009
My solution for backing up my ESXi volumes was to create a datastore on an eSATA drive and use the free GhettoVCB.sh script. You can edit the script to enable Thin provisioning which will significantly lower the amount of disk space you need. You could use an NFS datatstore as well if you have an NFS server available on your network but I found that the eSATA solution was much quicker.

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