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Fulcrum72
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

Viable VI3backup options -- which path to pursue?

A quick description of my setup:

\- Three ESX servers (running Enterprise) connected to a SAN in one location

\- One ESX server (running Enterprise) -- but may be more in the future -- connected to a SAN in another location

What I need:

\- A way to reliably back-up my VM's and do restores \*without* installing backup agents in each VM's.

I've been trolling the forums to see what the various opinions are and checking out the various vender's websites. I \*believe* I've narrowed it down to three possible solutions:

Possible solutions:

1. Vizoncore's esxRanger leveraging VCB

2. Using PHD's esXpress VBA solution

3. Using in-house backup -- Symantec BackupExec 11d -- with VCB

The problem with option number 3 is a) it's Symantec BackupExec, and b) we're thinking of ripping it out and putting in a real Enterprise backup solution due to the number of performance problems. If I have to "fight" to get BackupExec to play nice with VCB, I really don't want to invest time in something that we could be getting rid of.

esxRanger and esXpress seem to be the solutions coming up again and again. I was hoping that by posting this in the forum that the various members can sing the virtues of their favourite product (I expect that both kix1979 and kharbin will respond) and explain why one would be better than the other.

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petedr
Virtuoso
Virtuoso

With the different products out there I think the best approach is to download them and try them out in your setup, see what fits best in your environment. Everyone has different needs and requirements which may led to one solution over another.

For us we use esXpress for our ESX backups. We have 5 hosts and no SAN so we send everything to a central backup server using FTP. However esXpress also support backups to your SAN. Their delta technology was the biggest selling point initially and I like their VBA approach, works great. Plus their support is really good.

www.thevirtualheadline.com www.liquidwarelabs.com
crazex
Hot Shot
Hot Shot

My experiences thus far, using VCB and BackupExec 11d, have been less than stellar. I've been attempting to use BE for my file-level backups, and I am getting horrible transfer rates, i.e. 450MB/min. I have been using esxRanger for my full-VM/vmdk backups, and it has worked great. Especially with the VCB plugin, as it provides a LAN free backup. I feel esxRanger and esXpress are pretty much on par with one another. I went with Ranger because I didn't need to install a copy on each of my ESX boxes. I have Ranger running on my backup server, along with VCB.

On a side note, if you figure out how to get BackupExec to get better backup speed for file-level jobs, I'd love to know how you did it.

-Jon-

-Jon- VMware Certified Professional
petedr
Virtuoso
Virtuoso

I like the fact that esXpress is installed on each of our hosts, its a simple install. Main reason is that each host runs autonomous of each other, no single point of failure.

www.thevirtualheadline.com www.liquidwarelabs.com
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