Vmware Datarecivery appliance and backup agent

[christg]

Hi, it is possible to install a backup agent on the vmware datarecovery appliance  to perform file base backup of the backup virtuel machine  ? thank Chist ? 

[jamesbowling]

You are wanting to actually backup the vDR appliance?  If so, is there any specific reason why you want to do this?

[DSTAVERT]

vDR doesn't use a file based store so it wouldn't be possible to do what you want. It is possible to backup the complete vDR destination vmdk. http://xtravirt.com/xd10131

[DSTAVERT]

Depending on your backup software and version you may be able to use VMware storage API for virtual machine backup directly.

[christg]

I use local storage for backup , i wan to know if it is possible to install a linux based backup agent in the Vdr appliance ? i want to backup to tape the local disk i used to backup vm

[DSTAVERT]

I use local storage for backup , i wan to know if it is possible to install a linux based backup agent in the Vdr appliance ? i want to backup to tape the local disk i used to backup vm

No. You would need to copy the VMDK that is used as the destination disk to another location and back up from there. You would also want to shut down the vDR appliance to make sure the vmdk wasn't in use.

[DSTAVERT]

I would suggest that you set up a Linux NFS share that you can add to your ESXi servers as a datastore. Use that datastore to store the vDR destination disk rather than using local storage. You would then be able to use your backup software to copy the vmdk to tape. There isn't an "incremental" backup option here. You can only capture the whole vmdk and again you would need to shut down vDR appliance to make sure the disk wasn't used before copying.

[AndreTheGiant]

For more info see also:

http://communities.vmware.com/docs/DOC-16579