TSM 4 VE and SQL and Exchange 2007/2010 VSS

[[email protected]]

Hi.
Having a q about TSM 4 VE and SQL/Exchange servers.

When backing up a vm with "backup vm "vmname"" it will do a full vm backup.
A vmwware snapshot is created and backup starts.

But most of the SQL and Mail admins says "Hello, we not support snapshot image backups"

But as other 3rd party backup apps (veeam, vRanger) TSM 4 VE use VSS OR? So all MS admins, three letters: VSS

Is there any configuration we need to do on vm's to use VSS or does vm "understand" that VSS will start when a vm backup is initiated?

Thanks in advance
/Bjorn

 

[moon-buddy]

Let's put things in the right perspective.

TSM for VE is file level restore and not a TDP for SQL.

The prudent way is to have both VM image backup (not to be confused with TSM for VE) with BA version 6.2.x and TDP for SQL for database backup/restore.

 

[zsoltesz]

Hi,
As I know, you don't have to configure anything. When a vm backup is initiated, the VMware Tools serve as the VSS requestor, instructing registered VSS Writers to perform pre and post backup actions as whatever backup solution on the ESX host begins a
backup of the virtual machine. For example, in case of SQL server, the VSS will ensure that the SQL databases will be in consistent state during the vm backup.

Zoli

 

[[email protected]]

zsoltesz: Thanks. That was the answer i needed.
I was/is a bit confused about VSS realy did the job.

If i use TDP for Exchange (for example) i see the vss request in Windows Event logs.
But when we use dsmc backup "vmname" OR the BA-GUI i can't see any vss request in event log

But i cant see in documentation or anywhere else that i need to configure vmbackup to use vss

 

[TykneeTym]

TSM 4 VE signals VMware to take a VMware snapshot. In doing this, the VMware tools inside the guest should be signaling the guest to use VSS to flush its cache and not let anything enter the cache until after the snapshot is complete. If this is not happening, it's a VMware issue, not a TSM issue. It also may not show up the same way a regular "in-guest" VSS backup would, but I can't say for certain (I havn't investigated it that deeply). Also make sure you're looking on the event log of the VM being backed up, not the VM/Proxy that's actually doing the backup.

However, getting back to the orginal point of your post, your organization has to decide if grabbing a VMware snapshot is enough protection for SQL and Exchange or if you still want to do some sort of application specific backup. Most people tend to still use the application specific backups for recovery considerations.