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DevaDx
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

Vm Backup With snapshots

Hi Geeks,

Greetings,

we have 3 ESXI hosts configured in VCenter with essential license also.

Now we are looking to backup the VM's  including with snapshots.

can you please guide me is there any options are feasible tools to take the backup of VM's with snapshots.

Thanks & Regards

Devaraj Sankar.

9 Replies
dineshgoundar
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

Hi Devaraj,

I am sure you have been told this but snapshots should not be treated as backup. Snapshots are for short term purpose and I would not recommend keeping it longer than 48 hours.Coming back to your question, have you looked at Veeam?  Have a look at this link Backup solution for Small Businesses - Veeam Backup Essentials

This may be a suitable true backup solution. Its a simple but very effective solution.

vembutech1
Hot Shot
Hot Shot

Devaraj,

Try any VMWare aware backup software. Taking snapshot cannot be considered as backup. But many software Vendors offering backup solution for VMWare VMs through VStorage APIs. You can also consider Vembu VMBackup.

DevaDx
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

ThankYou

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DevaDx
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

Thank You

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cyberpaul
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

Hi Devaraj,

I successfully use VMcom Backup Appliance for my vSphere environments. It is super easy to use and pricing is also very competitive.

Furthermore, you don't need any MS licenses for it, which comes in handy at some situations.

Regards, Pavel

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ITaaP
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

Have you considered looking at Veeam's Service Provider solution? FREE Cloud Backup and DR Services – Get Started Today!

Depending on the Service Provider you use, the pricing might be very good. If you already have an onsite backup repository, then you would probably be looking at a per VM cost to use Veeam.

https://tactsol.com https://vmware.solutions
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cdc1
Expert
Expert

Forget about using snapshots as a backup. You're asking for a lot of pain and frustration down the road if you go that route, including but not limited to lost data.

NAKIVO Backup & Replication is another option. There is a free version available here: NAKIVO Backup and Replication Free Edition

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IvarHome
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Hot Shot

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There is only one backup software, as I know, that is able to backup together with snapshots and VM memory dump file. Its Ahsay, in special mode configured and still you must first take VM snapshot with vmware vCenter or ESXi. Without VM memory and snapshots backup you cant backup VM in application consistent state. All those backup software like Veeam, are crap. They produce crash consistent backups. You talk about VSS. Think once more. VSS dont know nothing about some 3rd party servers. Also VSS dont know nothing about Linux embedded servers boxes. Second - you talk about quiescene. How you do it? Using pre-post commands? No, you cant just disconnect working server offline. So, you cant use pre-post commands. Maybe some database agent? No, there is no database agents for 3rd party servers. Maybe some server own command to quiescene? Unfortunately todays most servers are "on the box" without any additional tool. You even dont know what is inside box. The only solution to make application consistent, quiescened backup from VM-s is to backup together with snapshots and VM memory dump file. After restore you must revert to vm snapshot and then you are in online state of that server. Server even dont know it was backed up. No any reboot. But Ahsay is not best solution, because its very slow - in this mode it dont use vmware API and CBT, but instead downloads all files through SSH and calculates deltas. Better solution is to use hardware storage SAN (like Qnap). Then you make snapshot in vmware environment, then snapshot in SAN environment, then replicate SAN snapshot to other SAN (its standard and integrated feature of SAN box), then delete SAN snapshot and then delete vmware snapshot. While restore, you just restore SAN snapshot and then restore vmware snapshot. SAN boxes also include automation that works together with vSphere and vCenter, to automatically take vmware snapshot. Also all VM disks must reside in the same LUN, through vmware datastore. And all VM disks must be configured as dependent.

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daphnissov
Immortal
Immortal

Quit spreading misinformation. See my response here.

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