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mag2sub
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esx5i backup best practise for remote locations

we ship certain rack servers running esx5i to remote locations and would want to have ability to restore to any new server shipped if our primary server fails

What would be considered a safe and best practise approach only for the esxi part

Thanks in advance !

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Ethan44
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dabson
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Hi mag2sub,

There's some information missing regarding your scenario in order to provide any advice. What we know from your post so far is that you are shipping rack-mounted servers running ESXi 5.x to remote locations. I'm assuming that these are the servers you refer to as the "primary server" as in each shipped server becomes the primary for that location. In addition you mention that you want to restore service using a newly shipped server, presumably sent to that same location.

The following questions will get us closer to understanding what you particular scenario is, and onto the path of identifying a direction for you to go with your backup strategy.

  1. Where do you store your VMs? On disk attached to the ESXi server, or on shared storage?
  2. Do you currently have a backup solution in place such as vSphere Data Protection or Veeam Backup?
  3. What do you require from your backup? Do you just need the VMs to be restored or is there anything else?
  4. Are your remote locations connected back to your centralized locations or are they isolated, as in do they have any network connection back to the main location?
  5. How do you currently provision your ESXi hosts? Manually, unattended install, stateful Auto Deploy, or other?

Those should get us started. Any additional information you can provide about your scenario will help paint a better picture and tell a better story.

PS - While helpful, the document Ethan44 pointed you to speaks to VMware Horizon View specifically. Your original post doesn't suggest to me that you're referring to a Horizon deployment, so you may not find that document suitable.


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Dee Abson
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mag2sub
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Thanks yes we do NOT  use vmware view ...this is a question for plain esx5i  backup from primary appliance to be restored to an appliance  which is shipped later

  1. Where do you store your VMs? On disk attached to the ESXi server, or on shared storage?

>>>Direct attach storage to esxi server

  1. Do you currently have a backup solution in place such as vSphere Data Protection or Veeam Backup?

>> no back up

  1. What do you require from your backup? Do you just need the VMs to be restored or is there anything else?

>> Objective of this query is to restore the esxi with all its networking and configs  firstly

  1. Are your remote locations connected back to your centralized locations or are they isolated, as in do they have any network connection back to the main location?

>>>They have connecitons back to centralized locations

  1. How do you currently provision your ESXi hosts? Manually, unattended install, stateful Auto Deploy, or other?

>>>>Manually ...

Thanks!

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vmroyale
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Note: Discussion successfully moved from VMware ESXi 5 to Backup & Recovery

Check out VMware KB: Backing up and restoring ESXi configuration using the vSphere Command-Line Interface and ...

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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mag2sub
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Hi Dee,

Appreciate any inputs !

Thanks

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dabson
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Hi mag2sub,

Thanks for answering the questions, that helps provide a picture of your scenario.

First you will need to make sure that you have a backup copy of the configuration for the ESXi hosts you're shipping to the remote locations. Here's is a VMware Knowledge Base article that provides examples of backing up and restoring ESXi configuration: VMware KB:    Backing up and restoring ESXi configuration using the vSphere Command-Line Interface a...

My impression is that all of your IT services are based out of the centralized location, so I would recommend that you backup the ESXi configuration for your system before you ship it, and store it securely in your central location. For example put it on a file server that has had the appropriate permissions established as well as making sure that it gets backed up to cloud, disk, tape, whatever your backup preference is. With these backup files safely stored, you can then follow the restore procedures using the existing backup file on new ESXi host hardware prior to sending out the replacement unit. Of course, you will have to take care that the existing host you are replacing is removed from the network before bringing the new host online as they will have identical networking configuration.

If you end up providing support at the remote location you can email the backup file or access it across your network connection in order to restore the existing server. For example if your disk drives crashed and you have them replaced at the remote location.

As you mentioned you are just looking for information on restoring your ESXi server configuration and not how to protect the VMs so we'll leave it at this point.

If you want to look into further enhancing this process or making it more efficient you could consider (semi-)automated deployment alternatives like unattended installs, PXE boot installs, or stateful vSphere Auto Deploy. Here are some resources if you're interested:


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Dee Abson
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