Questions:

1. The version of the TSM server and client you're working with.
2. Are you at version 2.5 of ESX, or 2.5.1?
3. When you say "several backups", can you give us an idea of how many
backups you run, and how many restore properly and improperly?
4. Have you talked to VMWare support about this issue?
5. Have you attempted backups and restores using cp or dd, instead of
TSM?

--
Mark Stapleton (stapleton AT berbee DOT com)
IBM Certified Advanced Deployment Professional
  Tivoli Storage Management Solutions 2005
IBM Certified Advanced Technical Expert (CATE) AIX
Office 262.521.5627

 

>-----Original Message-----
>From: ADSM: Dist Stor Manager [mailto:ADSM-L AT VM.MARIST DOT EDU] On 
>Behalf Of Steve Schaub
>Sent: Wednesday, May 25, 2005 1:55 PM
>To: ADSM-L AT VM.MARIST DOT EDU
>Subject: Re: Vmware guest "hot" backups
>
>We have had several backups fail, but worse, we have had some 
>restores bomb
>out (like 300mb away from the end of a 15gb restore), and even 
>worse yet, we
>have had some restores work, but the .vmdk came back corrupted 
>and vmware
>couldn't even mount it.  We are planning on using this method to do DR
>recovery of our AD environment, so a reliable backup/restore 
>is *fairly*
>important.
>
>We have seen this in the dsmerror.log on the vmhost after a 
>failed restore:
>06/24/04 14:21:44 The 299579424th code was found to be out of sequence.
>The code (424) was greater than (262), the next available slot 
>in the string
>table.
>06/24/04 14:21:44 The 299579425th code was found to be out of sequence.
>The code (288) was greater than (263), the next available slot 
>in the string
>table.
>06/24/04 14:21:44 The 299579446th code was found to be out of sequence.
>The code (384) was greater than (267), the next available slot 
>in the string
>table.
>
>We have a call in to Tivoli, but nothing in the way of a 
>concrete fix yet...
>
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: ADSM: Dist Stor Manager [mailto:ADSM-L AT VM.MARIST DOT EDU] On 
>Behalf Of
>Stapleton, Mark
>Sent: Wednesday, May 25, 2005 11:32 AM
>To: ADSM-L AT VM.MARIST DOT EDU
>Subject: Re: [ADSM-L] Vmware guest "hot" backups
>
>From: ADSM: Dist Stor Manager [mailto:ADSM-L AT VM.MARIST DOT EDU] On 
>Behalf Of
>Steve Schaub
>>My team & I would be interested in speaking with anyone who has been
>>successful in using TSM to backup/restore what the database 
>folks would
>>call a "hot" backup of VMWare guest machines (i.e. backing up 
>the .vmdk
>>files while the guest is in redo mode).
>>
>>We have run several test backup/restores, some less successful than
>>others.
>>We are using ESX 2.5 currently.
>>
>>If you have gotten this to work consistantly and would be willing to
>>share your experience, please email me directly: 
>steve_schaub AT bcbst DOT com
>><mailto:steve_schaub AT bcbst DOT com>
>
>Yep, as long as we're talking VMWare ESX. The GSX 
>documentation explicitly
>says that the only supported backups of VM occur only when the 
>VM is shut
>down prior to backup.
>
>The ESX software allows for a "freeze" of a VM (with the use of a REDO
>log) as you describe; while the VM is frozen, the .vmdk file 
>can be backed
>up reliably. Once the backup is complete, the log is 
>committed, and you're
>done.
>
>What problems are you having?
>
>--
>Mark Stapleton (stapleton AT berbee DOT com)
>IBM Certified Advanced Deployment Professional
>  Tivoli Storage Management Solutions 2005 IBM Certified 
>Advanced Technical
>Expert (CATE) AIX Office 262.521.5627
>
>
>Please see the following link for the BlueCross BlueShield of 
>Tennessee E-mail disclaimer:  
>http://www.bcbst.com/email_disclaimer.shtm
>