Can someone help? How to position 3i into workflow/backup

[torontoguy]

Hello,

We are a shop that is using ESX/Infrastructure Server for our main production/data environment. Working quite nicely.

I've been playing with 3i on a small, standalone server and see some great potential for smaller sites, and for testing and dev environements.However, at this point (with my limited exposure to 3i), I'm unsure of how I would use 3i on small sites. While being able to throw 2 or 3 file servers onto the same box is great, how would I handle the backups?

We are mostly a file and print shop, so we dont need huge data crunching. But im just unclear on how the backup procedure would work.

can anyone help or send me a some kind of write up?

[Rodos]

What are you going to backup to? As this will drive the answer.

You current options for backup with 3i are

1. Agent in the VM

2. VCB, which can run in a VM

If you are going to backup to a external storage device these will work fine. The only tricky bit is if you want to backup to a tape drive and only have the 3i machine. You can have a tape drive attached to the host and run it through the VM however its not a good practice.

For a reference paper check out the VM backup guide at . It covers a lot of the scenarios. Just remember that not all things mentioned work with 3i.

Considering awarding points if this is of use

[torontoguy]

Hi,

Yes, essentially what we were hoping to do is to have one machine running 3i, have our different files servers on the machine and run the backups directly off that host with a tape library.

I'm guessing this is not "approved" way of doing things?

[mreferre]

I must admit I am not up to date with what's in the official documents (old and new) but if you ask me.... I think attaching directly tapes to the ESX host has never been seen by VMware as a good thing ..... I actually think it is unsupported/unsuggested....

Massimo.

[Rodos]

Tape drive off the host works, its listed in the list of options and is supported. However as I mentioned its not a great idea. However there are degrees of reality. For your typical install with reasonable load on the hosts, more than one host and lots of data, plus some other machines to do the backup on etc you really would have to be nuts to backup to tape off the host.

However a single server at a site, backing up a small amount of data its probably a good solution. Given the details one would do a sanity check and some testing though.

Thats why us consultants always say it depends, because it does. Just because its generally not a good idea to use local tape does not mean it is in every single case. I have talked lots of clients out of local tape, never had one do it. But there is always a first time.

Not that thats what you were suggesting Massimo, just explaining my rational a bit further.

Considering awarding points if this is of use

[Rodos]

I hope you are not saying library not because of the volume of data but rather because you want to load up a cycle of tapes.

The one thing you want to be careful of with local tape is the load. If all you are doing is running file servers then there is probably enough CPU to take the overhead of the backup software etc. Also test that all of your library functions work fine through the SCSI interface.

Considering awarding points if this is of use