Veritas-bu

Re: [Veritas-bu] Backing up ESX3

2008-03-23 08:11:29
Subject: Re: [Veritas-bu] Backing up ESX3
From: "Anas Kayal" <anas AT up.org DOT qa>
To: "Curtis Preston" <cpreston AT glasshouse DOT com>, "Martin, Jonathan" <JMARTI05 AT intersil DOT com>, <Veritas-bu AT mailman.eng.auburn DOT edu>
Date: Sun, 23 Mar 2008 14:50:07 +0300

Curtis you were right. I had to shut down the VM’s first before doing the backup. I put a direct link to the /volumes directory in the file list but I think it should also work with a full / backup if all the VM’s are down. Now does anyone have a script that I can run directly on ESX host that automatically shuts down the VM’s prior to backup and brings them back up after?

 

 

From: Curtis Preston [mailto:cpreston AT glasshouse DOT com]
Sent: Saturday, March 22, 2008 6:45 AM
To: Martin, Jonathan; Anas Kayal; Veritas-bu AT mailman.eng.auburn DOT edu
Subject: RE: [Veritas-bu] Backing up ESX3

 

You do not have to use VCB to back up VMware.  The way Anas is trying to do it is supported.  Each method has advantages and disadvantages.  This method will have all full backups and you have to figure out how to snapshot the vmdk files.

 

I believe the only problem is that the VMFS filesystem isn’t being auto-discovered.  

 

Anas, have you put the /volumes mount point in the file list?

 

Also, make sure that you snapshot the vmdk files first.  I found this preso that speaks to it:

 

http://download3.vmware.com/vmworld/2006/tac9912.pdf

 

 

---

W. Curtis Preston

Backup Blog @ www.backupcentral.com

VP Data Protection, GlassHouse Technologies


From: veritas-bu-bounces AT mailman.eng.auburn DOT edu [mailto:veritas-bu-bounces AT mailman.eng.auburn DOT edu] On Behalf Of Martin, Jonathan
Sent: Friday, March 21, 2008 1:05 PM
To: Anas Kayal; Veritas-bu AT mailman.eng.auburn DOT edu
Subject: Re: [Veritas-bu] Backing up ESX3

 

The Virtual Machines are stored on a VMFS (Virtual Machine File System) which Netbackup doesn't understand.  Its a proprietary format developed by VMWare for use in ESX Server (its got advanced capabilities like journaling.)  To backup Virtual Machines via the .vmdk you need to use their consolidated backup piece and be running 6.5 on a server which can mount the storage. (SAN only I think, I don't think Consolidated Backup supports iSCSI.)  Alternately (if you are not using shared storage) you can use the built in tools on the ESX server to "export" the virtual machines to an ext3 partition that the client can read.

 

-Jonathan

 


From: veritas-bu-bounces AT mailman.eng.auburn DOT edu [mailto:veritas-bu-bounces AT mailman.eng.auburn DOT edu] On Behalf Of Anas Kayal
Sent: Friday, March 21, 2008 3:52 PM
To: Veritas-bu AT mailman.eng.auburn DOT edu
Subject: [Veritas-bu] Backing up ESX3

I have a growing VMware ESX farm and have deployed NBU 6 agent on the COS of ESX. When I do a full backup I don’t seem to get the VMDK files of the Virtual Machines. What am I doing wrong?


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