Robert LeBlanc wrote:
> On 6/18/08 7:22 AM, "Keith Sudbury" <keith AT netzensolutions DOT com> wrote:
>
>
>> I am just setting up a backup job for a CentOS box the runs a 2003sbs
>> server in a VM using VMWare. What is the best way to back this up? shut
>> the machine down and take a snapshot archive the image? then exclude the
>> image from the backup?
>>
>> The server it's self is backed up traditionally, has the windows
>> bacula-fd on there.
>>
>>
>> Cheers
>>
>
> There are three ways of doing this. First, file level back-up in the VM
> using the bacula-fd, the restore will have to rebuild the entire machine.
> The second is to shut down the VM and back-up as you specified in your
> e-mail. The advantage is that your VM is in a good state for restore and you
> don't have to rebuild the VM after restoring the vmdk and vmx files, you do
> have to power off the VM for the entire time the back-up is running (can
> easily be scripted using Bacula). The third option is to create a snapshot
> of the running VM, back-up all but the last vmdk file (when you try to back
> it up, Bacula can't read it). This offers the advantage of the previous
> method minus, the VM is restored in a crash state, but you didn't have to
> power down the VM for the back-up. You may have to edit the vmx files and do
> a little clean up during the restore process.
>
> We implement methods 1 and 3 in our area on ESX servers. It works pretty
> well. We finally got everything for #3 finished a few weeks ago, so it's
> only run once, at the first of next month we will see how it goes again.
>
>
Yes, I was thinking about shutting the VM down and doing the above,
after all the server is only needed 9-5 and some early evening stuff
for remote workers. Shutting it down and taking a backup would not be
the end of the world and would allow for complete recovery, I would
still run a standard backup as well (restoring a machine for a lost file
would be... erm, Hell?). On the Exchange front I think I will just have
ntbackup doing a file backup that gets picked up by the bacula-fd.
As far as backing up the VM image goes, is it a case of powering down
the VM copying the dir where the .vmdk images are located to tape?
Thanks
--
Keith Sudbury
Netzen Solution Ltd
Suite 5, Piccadilly House, London Rd, Bath, BA1 6PL, UK
Mobile: +44 (0)7921464106
Tel: +44 (0)1225 588 588
Fax: +44 (0)1225 580 061
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