Backup recommendations

[seamus19]

we are currently using CA Arcserve 12.5 to backup 90 VM's. All these VM's running are servers running windows 2003 or 2008. We are running vsphere 4.0, hosted by 12 ESX 4.0 blades.

Backup is running to LT04 tapes on MSL tape library. Backup needs to be run to tapes for offsite locations. All VM's are attached to EVA4400.

My problem is this current configuration of recovery for a DR is very time consuming and not user friendly, many steps to edit config files.

I have looked into both VCB and VDR. The problem with VCB was disk space, since we needed disk space for snapshots.

Does VDR still use snapshots? I was thinking of snapshots to a share then backup to tape. However I have limited disk space. My conern is the recovery of these VM's in case of a DR situation.

I don't have any problem using CA Arcserve to backup VM's, the problem is when I need to do a full DR recovery of a VM.

Any suggestion or thoughts

thanks

[DSTAVERT]

VDR is a reasonable choice today. Not perfect.

Here are a couple of documents by Andre the Giant that have proven helpful.

http://communities.vmware.com/docs/DOC-11443

http://communities.vmware.com/docs/DOC-10780

[beckhamk]

I would suggest looking into using Veeam Backup, it is a fantastic product and just works. You can do full vm image level backups/restore or even file level restores. It also have replication if you needed that. You can actually let VB backup to disk, then use your CA to backup the VB backupfiles to tape and then import them at the other location.

[golddiggie]

In my experience, the VizionCore vRanger Pro product kick's Veeam's ass all over the playground... I've used both and always had issues with Veeam NOT backing up VM's that vRanger Pro simply did... I am talking about the latest releases of both products too, not a mismatch... I've seen vDR do a better job than Veeam in fact...

I would suggest making tripple sure that you have everything configured properly, no matter what product you end up using... Not just look at the cost of the product... VizionCore has deep pockets for developing their product now (since being purchased by Quest), which is showing in what they release. Also make sure you properly plan out where your backups will reside...

VMware VCP4

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[kac2]

not to harp, but golddiggie, seriously? You really think vRanger is better than Veeam? Veeam is almost the first to support the latest release and incorporate alot of vSphere features into it's product. vRanger doesn't even have De-Dup, likewise doesn't use CBT. just saying that vRanger is always a bit late to the game.

Also, lets go into the mechanics of backups. All these vendors use the same API to talk to vCenter or the ESX server. They take snapshots and offload that snapshot somewhere. How can you say one can take backups and the other cant?