backup strategy for VMs and fiber attached tape library

[huwy]

Hi,

I'm looking to backup a couple of win2003 VMs to a dell powervault tl2000 fiber-attached tape library. I was wondering what people would recommend? The data is mainly just files stored on a dell fibre channel SAN, although way are likely to expand the backup to cover exchange and various other data types. All devices are zoned together on the fiber switch.

From what I can see you can't connect a VM directly to a fiber-attached tape drive....? Therefore would VCB be the best option?

Thanks for any advice. Am more than happy to provide more info if needed - am still working out this technology!

-Al

[Sam33]

Hi

From another post here at VMware forums found today this tool i just some tests this morning and all worked fine. Really nice tool and it's free. One of the advantages is it works with the smallest editions of VMWare ESX. But I can't say if it works with your tape library, don't know how this is attached.

Sam

[dconvery]

Al-

You could present a (SCSI not FC) tape library to a VM provided it meets certain provisions.

"VMware supports attaching SCSI drives to the ESX Server using Adaptec SCSI

adapters. Using other adapters, such as LSI MPT‐Fusion SCSI, is not supported.

If you are using a tape drive library (versus using a stand‐alone tape drive), the

library must be multitarget, and not multi‐LUN.

Set the tape drive’s virtual target ID in the virtual machine’s configuration to be the

same as the physical target ID."

You may be better off using VCB, because it offloads all of the I/O from the ESX hosts.Check out the VM Backup guide for comparisons ->

Also, check out for specific "Proven Practice" guides dealing with whatever software you are using.

If you are going to VMworld, check out my breakout session: BC2497 VMware Consolidated Backup - Report from the Trenches

Dave

[huwy]

Thanks.

Sorry if I wasn't clear the tape library has a fiber HBA and connects to a fiber switch - as does the ESX box. Is there anyway of presenting the tape library to ESX i.e. to use with backupexec.

-A

[dconvery]

You won't be able to run backupexec on the ESX console OS. You would be better off using VCB.

[huwy]

again perhaps not that clear! I'm aware you can't run backupexec on the console os - it's be in a VM.

[riker82]

Have you tried NPIV capabilities? it's a esx 3.5 features, even if your fiber channel switch support this....

this option allow you to present your vWWN from your vm directly on your Fiber Channel switch

[dconvery]

Al -

Sorry, I didn't understand... You could try to use NPIV as riker82 says. You will need to do WWN zoning on the switch if the library doesn't allow you to do WWN mapping. I am not sure if it is supported. The only thing I saw in the backup guide was to use the adaptec scsi card for vm to vm backups.

Dave

[huwy]

Wow this is complicated!

I've looked into NPIV and can't find any instructions on setting it up with a FC tape library. I can see instructions on setting up NPIV with "hard disks" but that's not what I'm looking for. It seems that this is very cutting edge!

As I see it the problem with VCB is that I need to take a copy of the data before commiting it to a tape drive. Obviously this will double the storage requirements for our data. Likewise for vranger/vreplicator.

So I'm wondering if the best way to backup is via a physical server connected to the SAN. I'm not sure how to grant the physical box access to areas of the SAN assigned to VMs but that obviously isn't an ESX problem!

Thanks for your help guys.

-A

[riker82]

no problem with this....

check all vmware pdfs about setting your vcb proxy (windows) to access vmfs & RDM lun....

be carefull to diskpart option automount scrub and automount disable....

[dconvery]

Al -

You're right - it is not for the faint of heart! The trade offs for VCB are usually OK when you consider NOT using it. Depending on the backup software, backup clients will be somewhere around $500 (US) for an enterprise backup software. If you look at CPU performance over time, you will see a spike during the backup window while the client is processing files and sending them over the network to the backup server. You will also see a spike in network I/O.

With VCB, you save money because you don't need all of the client licenses. You also save CPU cycles and network bandwidth. With VCB, you get an actual "LAN-free" backup if you attach the VCB Proxy directly to the tape library. As for the disk, I usually recommend using lower tier disk for the "holding tank" disk, since it is just for staging and not really needed for production.

As for NPIV, you can try to follow the ideas presented for setting up disk and apply it to your tape library. Again, I don't believe it is supported, so you won't find specific instructions. Not being supported could meanyou have problems with backups or (worse) cannot recover from a disaster and cannot get help because of an unsupported configuration.

Dave

[huwy]

Thanks for your help.

[riker82]

Salve,

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