Workstation VM backup using snapshots

[70tas]

A long time ago, I read a post in the Communities about backing up Workstation VMs by using snapshots.  I run Workstation 9.02 under Windows 7 x64.  Here is how I do it (via script):

suspend less important VMs

take a snapshot called BACKUP for VMs which can't be shut down

robocopy the VM subdir to an external disc

delete the BACKUP snapshot on the running VMs

resume the suspended VMs

I've been looking through the entire Community and I don't see this method described anywhere.  I'm beginning to wonder if I'm doing it wrong?

[a_p_]

Don't rely on backups with suspended VM's. I'd suggest you cleanly shut down the VM, copy/backup the VM's folder and then power on the VM again. This ensures a consistent backup which will work even after e.g. updating VMware Workstation or using the backup on another host system.

André

[EdP2]

+1 for the previous reply.

The only problem is that quite large amounts of hdd space are consumed by the usual three++ backup copies. You may wish to consider just taking one or two master copy vm guest backups as mentioned previously, then backing up working folders from your vm guest into a Shared Folder on the host. You can then use your prefered host backup to preserve the contents of the shared folder.

Pursuing this route I have found that sbackup is perfectly adequate for debian guests. Backup software for Windows guests depends on the OS release, but for Win8 guests File History can be made to write into the Shared Folder area. Both these methods give you hands-free 'on-line' backup capability. I now tend to use 'snapshots' only when I suspect the need to perform a full rollback from (say) another buggy 'xorg' update.

[70tas]

You make a good point.  I suppose that for the hosts I suspend, I can just as well shut them down.  However, my concern is the hosts that I backup live by taking a snapshot.

I understand it will be a pain to recover, but if I lose my primary storage I have an updated crash consistent backup to restore from.  I just need to get rid of the snapshots, and modify the vmx file.

How come no one discusses this in the forums?

[DonD69]

you may want to check out backupchain which is what I use on Windows 7 and two Windows Servers with VMware Workstation on them.

The thing is you definitely want VSS integration for your guests. The tool I am using passes the VSS correctly to the Windows inside the VM so its services can prepare for backup properly.... I don't think this occurs using the snapshot feature in VMware
Hope this helps