Comment on my proposed backup solution

[cookieme]

I have been thinking about how to best implement a backup solution for my standalone server and this is what I am thinking at the moment.

It has two internal 72.8GB UltraSCSI320 hot plug drives connected to a SmartArray 642 hardware RAID configured as RAID 1. I also have an HP StorageWorks DAT 72 SCSI internal tape drive which allows approx. 36GB per tape.

Now I was going to install ESXi 4 on the internal RAID1 and have my 3 VMs running on the internal RAID. The VMs are 2x Windows XP Pro and 1x Windows 2003 Server. The Win2k3 Server VM would have two VMDKs, 1 for OS and 1 for data.

Nightly tape backup from the WIn2k3 server VM of the data VMDK (less than 1GB).

Use William Lam's ghettoVCB script to backup the three VMs. I haven't decided on frequency.

My question is if I backup the VMs to the data store on the RAID1, then my Win2k3 VM will not see these so that I can backup to tape. Therefore, I was thinking of getting either more internal drives, but this will not resolve this issue. I then thought about getting external storage like a cheap NAS that supports NFS and if I use the ghetto script to backup to this, then my WIn2K3 VM should be able to see the VMs and then I can backup to tape for offsite storage.

One point to note is that the amount of data that will reside on the second VMDK of the Win2k3 VM is pretty much text data only and is less than 1GB. Also the three VMs themselves will not take up that much space maybe 10GB per WinXP and maybe 8GB for Win2k3 so in total around 30-40GB.

I have looked at a number of different cheap NAS drives and to be honest I know that today 1TB is commonplace, but I really don't need that much space it won't be used.

Any suggestions?

[DSTAVERT]

NFS is pretty simple. It is a part of every linux distribution. Configuration is a single line in the exports file.

[RParker]

I have looked at a number of different cheap NAS drives and to be honest I know that today 1TB is commonplace, but I really don't need that much space it won't be used.

Well new NAS devices are probably SATA, SATA drives are pretty standard 1.2 TB some 1.5TB, so 1TB is probably about the smallest you will get anyway. Besides it just means you can retain your backups longer and keep more of them, so you can't go wrong with MORE space.

[cookieme]

You mean I would use a separate physical server and install a tool like Openfiler? If so I'd rather just purchase something like a NAS rather than invest in an additional server.

[cookieme]

Yeah, I guess you're right. Any comments on my actual backup process?

[cookieme]

I am thinking of having an Iomega StorCenter ix2 in a remote location, i.e. not on the same LAN as my ESX "i" host. I would like the ESX "i" host to have access to the NFS shares over WAN. The idea is that I will use ghettoscriptVCB locally on the ESXi host to backup my running VMs nightly to the ix2 residing at the remote location.

Is this possible?

How secure is this implementation?

Thanks

[DSTAVERT]

It may be possible but will it be practical. Unless you have very small vmdks to move you will be unhappy. People complain about speed across 1GB networks. You would probably need to do it in stages. Script to local and then to your remote location. It doesn't take much to break a copy or ftp connection.

[cookieme]

Ah, I see. I was searching online, but couldn't find any answers to mounting NFS at a remote location to an ESXi host.

So, although it is possible the problem is with the reliability and speed of the internet connection, correct?

Stupid question, but is this type of setup done with dedicated internet connections, i.e. large companies with their own connection to their ISPs backbone?

If I'm not mistaken I think that I have read somewhere that it is possible to even run VMs that are on offsite storage, and the ESXi host is in another location. How is this done if copying a VM is a problem?

Should I abandon this idea since I only have 24mbit connections on both ends?

I thought I had figured out a perfect offsite DR for my standalone ESXi host

[DSTAVERT]

Look at OS and Data separately. It is easy to replicate files. How often does the OS partition change. You can replicate as often as necessary and do system state and disk based backups. What do you have to protect? Files can be replicated with rsysnc (Windows versions exist). You will need to see what you can move across your internet connection. I assume VPN or ssh tunnel between sites.

[cookieme]

You make an interesting point.

I will put the Iomega ix2 on the same LAN as my ESXi host. Put ISOs and backup VMs to it nightly with ghettoscript. In addition, I will perform nightly tape backup during the weekdays of the data residing on a separate VMDK from within my Windows 2003 Server.

So, I will always have one tape offsite with the previous nights data.

I will have RAID1 redundancy of my VMs locally on my server where they run and RAID1 redundancy of my backup VMs on the Iomega ix2.

Possibly I will try and backup the VMs to tape, but as I can only fit ca 36GB per tape this might be tough.

Thanks for the help