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GabriMWare
Contributor
Contributor

Veeam Vs VMWare-FT

Hi everyone!

I'm using veeam Backup (5.0 version) in my vSphere 4 infrastructure. It's composed by two hosts (there will be three in the future) with ESX (4.1) using Veeam to make replication of the VM's running on the hosts. So, my question is: Can I enable FT using veeam?. As I've read in other discussions and articles the answer is NO, but if FT creates a second "replica" of a VM running in a standby mode in the second host, I think that it must let you to take snapshots of your VM.

I've got other idea, that is, if the FT could be available or not depending on the difference between a Backup or Replica mode (in Veeam) or it doesn't matter...

Ummm, the problem is that I need to keep my system running 24 hours per day without stopping (FT is perfect), and I need to create backup of every VM's in other location for disaster preventing (Veeam is perfect).

Must I select only one solution or can I combine both of them?

Thanks for all!! :smileygrin:

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4 Replies
idle-jam
Immortal
Immortal

it's being a while since i last used a veeam for implementation. what i've read is that vspehre 4.1 allows snapshot to be created in FT and that you can have two products to co-exist. better still if you can get a trial version of veeam and test it out.

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Nick_F
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

A Veeam replica is off-line and requires manual failover to use whereas FT is essentially on-line and automated (and faster) failover so they don't directly compare. For your requirements you would need both products. I'm not certain but I also think the Veeam backup & replication would need to work against the live FT VM rather than the standby one (although we use Veeam I haven't tried out FT yet due to a lack of NICs!).

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NuggetGTR
VMware Employee
VMware Employee

Sorry ive never used veeam for backup but does it take a snapshot of the virtual machine to make the backup or replica?

if so then i would have a guess as NO you could not use veeam to take a replica of an FT enabled VM. you loose snapshot ability once FT is enabled

and here is a nice snipped from the vmware vSphere Availability Guide for 4.1

VMware Consolidated Backup (VCB).You cannot back up an FT-enabled virtual machine using VCB, vStorage API for Data Protection, VMware Data Recovery or similar backup products that require the use of a virtual machine snapshot, as performed by ESX/ESXi. To back up a fault tolerant virtual machine in this manner, you must first disable FT, then re-enable FT after performing the backup. Storage array-based snapshots do not affect FT
Cheers
________________________________________ Blog: http://virtualiseme.net.au VCDX #201 Author of Mastering vRealize Operations Manager
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aparis
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

At the moment, veeam solution does not supports fault tolerance.

I hope this information was usefull to you.

Andre Paris

andre.paris.sica@gmail.com

skype:andre.paris

Andre Paris andre.paris.sica@gmail.com Megaweb skype: andre.paris twitter: megaweb_uy Por favor, no olviden de calificar las respuestas que resultaron de su ayuda o fueron correctas. Please, don't forget the awarding points for "helpful" and/or "correct" answers. Regards/Saludos
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