Backup Soltuions for ESXi 3.5 and ESXi 4.1

[jwagdy]

Hi all,

I have a 2 ESXi servers running a total of 10 VMs. One is running ESXi 3.5, and the other is running ESXi4.1. Each server has it is own storage (no shared storage). I need to come up with automated solution to backup the VMs without the need to stop them (0 down time). After some search, I came accross the solutions below

Veeam Backup & Replication
Quest vRanger
Symantech Backup Exec 12.5 Vmware Agent

Please let me know your feedback on the solutions above and any suggestions.

Thank you

[Nikhil_Patwa]

Where are you planning to backup your VMs?

Suggestion: Upgrade your VMware ESXi 3.5 to VMware ESXi 4.1 so that both your host servers are on the same ESXi version, might help you in the backup solutions you opt for.

Nikhil

[idle-jam]

i would advise upgrading to be on ESXi and then you can download a trial copy and see which fits your needs more ..

[jwagdy]

The plan is to backup them to a NAS.

Upgrading the VMware ESXi 3.5 to VMware ESXi 4.1 may not be easy as it sounds. I read many people are having problems upgrading.

[chriswahl]

I've used Veeam B&R 5 and was very happy with the product. The layout is very straight forward, and it supports being installed on a VM or a physical server. I will admit that I have not used it in an environment where the VMs are on the local storage, only with shared storage.

Are you running on a fully licensed copy of vSphere, or using an evaluation? I believe that without a licensed copy you will not be able to take advantage of the VMware vStorage APIs and any backup solution will either not work or be limited in what it can do.