VCB - Can I use Microsoft Backup?

[tosodj]

Hi

Can i use Microsoft Backup available on Windows 2003 to backup VM using VCB?

I am interested on saving vmdk and vmx files.

Thanks,

Happy new year!

ciao

[Beerfloat]

Maybe someone else has a better answer, but as far as I can see there isn't a way to use Microsoft Backup directly.

However, what you can do for sure is use VCB to make a backup of your VMs to a fileshare (or FTP server) on your Windows 2003 server, and then use Microsoft Backup to make archives of those directories. Or just include them in your regular backup schedule for that server.

For example, I use this extremely simple script to occassionally backup one of my VMs (called 'Cerberus XP 64-bit') to a server called Hera:

# To see list of local VMs use command: vcbVmName -u root -h localhost -s "Any":

# Script assumes there's a fileshare called 'shared' on server Hera, that user "Mike Denie" has write access on,

# and a directory called /root/hera locally.

/etc/init.d/firewall stop

mount -t smbfs -o username="Mike Denie",password="XXX" //hera/shared /root/hera/

vcbMounter -u root -h localhost -a name:"Cerberus XP 64-bit" -r /root/hera/cerberus1

umount /root/hera

/etc/init.d/firewall start

After running that script I get a directory called cerberus1 on my Windows fileshare, which contains a complete backup of my VM (about 400 .vmdk, .log and other files).

Of course, a script like that could be scheduled to run automatically every once in a while using the cron facility on your ESX server.

Hope it helps a little.

[dconvery]

You could certainly install VCB and use Windows Backup to back up the VMs. You will just need a script that call vcbmounter to mount the VMDK or VMFS and the call ntbackup to back up the files. Finally it must call vcbmounter again to unmount the VMDK or VMFS.

Dave

[tosodj]

dconvery, do you have some scripts to use?

thanks

bye

[dconvery]

I have not created scripts for this. I usually implement Netbackup, but you can try these. If you run "vcbmounter /?" and "ntbackup /?" you can get the proper syntax. You could also use the system scheduler to run the bactch files. If you want a GUI front end, try Vizioncore vRanger Pro.

Hope these help:

To mount a full VM:

vcbmounter -h VC_Server.FQDN.com -u vcbuser -p password -a ipaddr:VM_Hostname.FQDN.com -r E:\mnt\VM_Hostname -t fullvm -m san -M 1

To mount the VM file system:

vcbmounter -h VC_Server.FQDN.com -u vcbuser -p password -a ipaddr:VM_Hostname.FQDN.com -r E:\mnt\VM_Hostname -t file -m san

NTBackup:

ntbackup backup "//server/share/vmbackups.bks" /J "VM_Backup" /F "e:\mnt\*.*" /D "Virtual Machine Backups" /V:yes

To unmount:

vcbmounter -h VC_Server.FQDN.com -u vcbuser -p password -U E:\mnt\VM_Hostname

[tosodj]

thanks dconvery...I try that.

ciao

[capilano]

Here are couple of scripts I created. I take fullbackup of VM and copy locally "fullbackup.bat" and other one is for taking file backup which copy selective file/directories using NTBACKUP.

Hope it helps.