Backup from vmfs-3 to tape

[shanson30]

We have several immutable (relatively) systems that we need to maintain for historical purposes. We have successfully virutualized several systems and would like to archive the VMs to a SDLT drive locally attached to the service console. We have backed up and restored files from ext3 file systems, but cannot write to tape from the vmfs-3 filesystem. Is it possible to backup powered off VMs in this manner? If so, what is a viable procedure (tar, cpio)?

Thanks,

Scott

[Lightbulb]

You can backup you SC to an attached SCSI tape drive, but not objects in the VMFS datastores. There are so many better ways to do this. You can SCP the VM files to another system and archive to tape . You can export the VMs off using Vmware converter.

[dconvery]

If a combination of tar and mt commands don't work with VMFS (I've never tried it, so I don't know), you could use VCB. If this is a temporary thing and you do not want to go through all of the hassle of connecting the vcb server to the san, you could use it in "NBD" mode to do a fullvm backup over the SC network.

Dave

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If the automobile had followed the same development cycle as the computer, a Rolls-Royce would today cost $100, get a million miles per gallon, and explode once a year, killing everyone inside.

Robert X. Cringely, InfoWorld magazine

[Texiwill · Accepted solution]

Hello,

Tar and mt commands do work from the SC. So a direct attached tape device will work but be very slow. I attach my tape device to a physical backup server and then using another tool backup from ESX to Disk, then from Disk to Tape.

Best regards,

Edward L. Haletky

VMware Communities User Moderator

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