We installed ESX 3.5 and we moved our oracle cluster (AS 2.1) to VM.
The cluster was disabled. We'll use HA feature. So we have 2 nodes with redhat AS 2.1. (Application and DB)
For backup we are using VBC installed on the backup proxy server and Backup exec 11d.
On the proxy server were created 2 bat files: backup-machinename.bat and end-backup.bat
backup-machinename.bat contain the commands to crate a snapshot of the VM, and to copy the snapshot to a local folder on the backup proxy:
call "C:\Program Files (x86)\VMware\VMware Consolidated Backup Framework\backupexec\pre-backup.bat" VM machinename-FullVM
when this command runs the following 3 steps are executed:
1 on the linux box is executed (if exists) the script: /usr/sbin/pre-freeze-script here were put the commands to stop the DB
2 the a snapshot of machinename is created
3 and the /usr/bin/post-thaw-script is executed here is the restart of the DB
Here we have the DB running and it takes only a couple of minutes for shut/snapshot/restart
4 a copy of the snapshot is copied on the backup proxy server
this copy will be put on tape
when the copy to tape is completed the end-backup.bat is executed to remove the local copy of the VM and the snapshot
call "C:\Program Files (x86)\VMware\VMware Consolidated Backup Framework\backupexec\post-backup.bat" VM
The only drawback for linux machines is that all the VM is saved. there is no way to backup only the f.s. where datafiles are
Valter
