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VirtualTman
Contributor
Contributor

Presenting ESX LUNS to a Windows Backup Server

I have a Server 2008 R2 backup server that I have presented our ESX LUNS to in order for me to do image backups.

I was under the assumption that the LUN would appear as an "Unknown Partition" in Disk Management on the 2008 R2 Server, yet it appears as below (shows as a Primary Partition)

Do I need to be concerned with this?

Untitled.png

Is there any other config other than the two commands I've run below on the backup server?

I ran DiskPart and then issued these commands:

automount disable

automount scrub

Thanks very much.

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AureusStone
Expert
Expert

Windows does not support the VMFS (VMWare File System) that ESX uses.  It is not recommended to present an ESX LUN to windows.  Often windows will modify the partition table and mark it as ntfs.  I recommend removing the presentation to the Windows server.  Then make sure ESX can still see the LUN.

If the LUN does not show up in ESX, use fdisk on the service console.  Configure the partition table to have the same file system as your other LUNs.

There are plenty of ESX backup solutions.  From downloading the files from the datastore browser and PowerCLI scripts to dedicated backup software like Veem.

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VirtualTman
Contributor
Contributor

Hi,

Question is around confirmation of the steps required when presenting ESX LUNS to Windows Servers - because yes, although obviously not recommended, it is a practice that is done in many Production environments for SAN-attached backup servers very frequently. This is required for many solutions, such as using VMware VCB in SAN mode.

In my last company we had a Server 2003 backup server that we used for VCB and the presented LUNS showed as 'Unknown Partition" which is what I would have expected to see. So was wondering if anyone else has any info - perhaps its a Server 2008 R2 change.

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loneragang
Contributor
Contributor

You would also want to make the LUN as offline in Disk Manager. To backup the VM's the LUNS aren't requried to be online, this will only be needed when a restore is requested, and a lot safer for a restore to fail with something like "failed write" rather than someone accidently trying to write to the lun and destroying all the VM's.

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vmroyale
Immortal
Immortal

Hello.

Yes, this is a change in the way 2008 presents the disks.  What you are seeing is perfectly normal.

Good Luck!

Brian Atkinson | vExpert | VMTN Moderator | Author of "VCP5-DCV VMware Certified Professional-Data Center Virtualization on vSphere 5.5 Study Guide: VCP-550" | @vmroyale | http://vmroyale.com
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