VCB with netbackup

[ronaldoxxx]

Question 1:

if my VCB is working with netbackup for backup all guest os.

is there any backup agent e.g vcb agent, installed on virtual machine?

Question 2:

My understanding of VCB, it is trying to take a snapshot of all VMs, and copy it to VCB server locally.

And the 3rd party backup software (Netbackup) will just backup those snapshot stored on VCB. right?

Thanks

[madda]

1) VCB doesn't isntall anything on the VM

2) VCB makes a snapshot of the VMs you specify and then mount that snapshot on the backup proxy (either via the SAN or via the LAN depending on your configuration). Then Netbackup (in your case) backs up that snapshot.

[ronaldoxxx]

where will those snapshot store at?

any downgrade of system performance during backup period?

thanks

[madda]

You specify where the snapshot is stored when you configure VCB

There will be a slight slowdown on the VM when the snapshot is taken, as all the memory and drives are quiesced so that you can get a proper backup of the whole virtual machine. But after that has happened, it will be back to full performance again

[depping]

euuhm the snapshot is actually placed in the same folder as your VM, it's not the snapshot that's mounted but the original vmdk when you do a file level backup. for a full image backup the original vmdk and vmx files get dumped to a location you specified.

Duncan

My virtualisation blog:

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[dconvery]

At a high level, the VCB framework will quiesce I/O and take a snapshot. As writes are being sent to a delta, the VMDK file (and all related VM files) are copied to a "holding tank" This is disk space on the VCB Proxy. It can be local SATA or SCSI or it can be SAN. This disk needs to be big enough to accomodate however many backup jobs you will be adding to a policy. Once the files are copied to the holding tank, the snapshot is committed back and deleted. For file level backups, the snapshot is taken and the VMDK is mounted, so no space is required on the VCB - only a mount point. Once files are backed up, the VMDK is unmounted and the snapshot is released.

Depending on the version of NBU, the process will either be scripted or done through the GUI. If GUI, I would not recommend ANYTHING previous to 6.5.2. I found previous versions to be fairly unstable when handling errors. You only need to install VCB, you don't really need to configure it because NBU just uses the Virtual Disk Driver and binaries.

If you are using something in th 6.0 or 5.0 range, it will use an integration kit and leverage bpstart_notify and bpend_notiy scripts to call VCB. This will require configuration of the VCB framework and the integration components.

If you are going to VMworld, check out my breakout session: BC2497 VMware Consolidated Backup - Report from the Trenches. I am speaking specifically about VCB and Netbackup. Also, check out http://viops.vmware.com under the "Availability" section there are a few "Proven Practice" docs to help you. I have posted a companion doc for my VMworld session there as well.

Dave

[ronaldoxxx]

During the VM backup process, it will quiesce I/O, does it mean i can't access any guess OS and all the application running on the VM will be out of services?

Thanks

[dconvery]

It will hold writes in cache until the snap is made. It is a VERY brief amount of time. It is usually transparent to the user.