Backup and restore ov Vms

[Nautilus]

Hello vmtn Community,

we are talking about backup and restore of VMs but didnt get the best result for this way.

So we want to hear some other ideas.

We are using Vi3 with round about 30 VMs. there are Domain Controllers, SQL Servers, Exchange Servers and some other Servers.

Does anyone is making "hot backups" with tools such as, esxreplicator, vmbk, or something else and what is your experience.

Its possible to make a "hot backup" from an exchange server, will the databe consistence, can i use a database server without problems from a hot-backup.

We want to install a "small VI3" server for very important VMs and want to replicate this server to small Server, for worth case. But we are a little bit uncertainly about hot backups.

Thansk for any idea.

[sthistle]

We use a backup client within the VMs. I have heard a lot of good reviews about the third party backup applications. On VMware server, I use the snapshot method and have had no problems with reverting back to the snapshot on a Domain Controller. However, our Exchange farm is not virtualized.. yet..

[acr]

esxRanger or esXpress are good products.

You will always have to take care of any Database, i.e qieicse etc to make sure its consistent..

May be this can be done with third party tools, but none the less its would need doing to guarantee consistency..

[acr]

Found a thread on esxRanger and esXpress..

http://www.vmware.com/community/thread.jspa?threadID=63112&tstart=0

[kix1979]

For Exchange you still need an agent if you want true consistency. While any hot backup tool can backup/restore the VM, they cannot properly quiesce the database. Hot backup tools for VMware leverage the built-in tools that VMware gives us with snapshots. These can quiesce the file system, but that is a BIG no-no for databases. Basically, it drops the dbase, so again very very bad. You can turn that off so it doesn't do it, but then you have no quiescing at all.

Bottom line for any database product for today, use agents period. Everything else and even the OS for a database VM, use hot backup tools.

Kix

[Nautilus]

Thanks for all Answers,

so i think i have to use a combination of 2 backup, hotbackup for OS and an Agent for Database inside the VM.

Another question, it is possible to stop or start services from outside the VM. i think its better when i write what i want to do

When i start my backup, so i want to stop for exampel the Exchange Servervice with a command from ESx Server and after the backup i want to start this services. When i stop the Services, so my Database is in a consitency status, OR ?

Thanks for All

[kix1979]

Another question, it is possible to stop or start

services from outside the VM. i think its better when

i write what i want to do

If you use the VMware snapshot process you definitely can. You can use a pre-freeze-script.bat and a post-thaw-script.bat and place them in your C:\Windows folder. When VMware's snapshot process starts and ends it looks for those and can run whatever you have in them.

When i start my backup, so i want to stop for exampel

the Exchange Servervice with a command from ESx

Server and after the backup i want to start this

services. When i stop the Services, so my Database is

in a consitency status, OR ?

If you stop the service it will commit all outstanding transactions and be in a consistent state. Of course it will be unavailable to users while the service is stopped.

[MattG]

Is there a way in Exchange 2003 to pause/commit the Exchange transactions without having to bring down the Exchange Services?

-MattG

[HBBC]

Shouldn't Volume Shadow Copy be able to kick in here somewhere for Exchange DBs?

[asatoran]

Take a look at this KB article from Symantec. It's for Backup Exec System Recover (a.k.a LiveState) which images Windows similar to what a snapshot would do. It says that although VSS should work to quiesce Exchange, if Exchange is heavily loaded, Exchange may ignore the quiesce request. So as stated above by Kix, it's best to have a backup agent. Or manually stop/start the Exchange service.

http://entsupport.symantec.com/docs/n2004111916582360