backing up vms to usb drive possible?

wb2 · ‎05-29-2009

I have a remote office location with 2 servers that I'm planning to convert to a single server with esxi embedded(it will be licensed). I'll manage it from our main office remotely with Infrastructure(vcenter does behave over a WAN link nicely I hope). In order to backup the two vm's, would it be possible to script something to simply take a snap shot of the VM's folder and dump it on a usb drive, that could be swapped out every week?

AndreTheGiant · ‎05-29-2009

With ESXi I do not know the relative command (or if is possible).

In ESX is possible to mount USB into the service console for copy operation.

But you can also use other software (like Converter) to export the VM files.

Andre

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kjb007 · ‎05-29-2009

VCenter will work over a WAN, as long as there is not high latency over that WAN connection to the othe ESX host.

ESXi does not have usb storage support, as does ESX. You may be booting off of the usb/sd card, but you can't make it work within the busybox console as your can in the RedHat service console on ESX. You can attach a usb drive to ESX and copy it there.

-KjB

VMware vExpert

vExpert/VCP/VCAP vmwise.com / @vmwise -KjB

VladN · ‎05-29-2009

Is there a reason why you plan on using ESXi, not ESX? If you will run VMs from local storage and use licensed product it's more convenient to install ESX on that server and use service console to copy vm files to usb drive.

Chamon · ‎05-29-2009

What about USB over IP?

wb2 · ‎05-29-2009

Maybe my question stating "USB drive" is too restrictive in my thinking. I'm just trying to come up with a way, preferrably with esxi embedded, so back backup copies of the vm's, with a simple cheap drive I can swap out once a week. Maybe there's a better option, instead of USB?

Chamon · ‎05-29-2009

If you only need to copy the drives of the vm you can us vmkfstools -i with the -2gbsparse switch and copy it to an ftp site or mount an nfs share.

kjb007 · ‎05-29-2009

If you want to use USB, you'll need full esx. As chamon pointed out, there are external drives that support CIFS/NFS. If they support NFS, you could use that instead of USB and attach it to ESX directly over ethernet instead of USB.