Vmware Vsphere 5 Essentials Plus

[nixtux]

Hi guys I have run in to a small business that has vmware vsphere 5 essentials on one server and the other server has vmware vsphere 5 essentials plus. They have 5 servers on one server at the moment.The way they are setup is vmware is installed on a usb dongle and the local hard drives in raid 10 are set to be LUN. How do I go about setting some type of redundancy if one of the servers go down? What is the best way to back this solution up? Currently they have a NAS device they want to use as a back up device. Thanks for your help.

[Samcer]

Since you are using Essential Plus you may want to use VMware Data Recovery, which is included (http://www.vmware.com/products/datacenter-virtualization/vsphere/small-business/essentials-kits.html)

If you don't like it you could use:

Veeam Backup & Replication (http://www.veeam.com/vm-backup-recovery-replication-software.html?ad=menu)

Acronis (http://www.acronis.com/enterprise/products/vmprotect/)

Sam

[nixtux]

How should I go about the current setup? Should I put some virtuals on one server and some on the other and do backup to nas? or will the data recovery feature allow me to backup to the second server? I will look at the data recovery feature you mentioned. Thanks for your help.

[Samcer]

VMware Data Recovery (VDR) is a virtual Appliance which has to be deployed by vCenter. Once installed you have to specify a storage for backup and retention.

This storage could be VMDK, RAW DISK, CIFS.

After storage configuration you can setup jobs.

VDR does not perform replication on a second ESX for DR purpose. The backup output has to be restored if you need to use it. If you need replication and backup I'd suggest Veeam software.

[Samcer]

for you conveninece: VDR documentation: http://www.vmware.com/support/pubs/vdr_pubs.html