Consolidated backup help

[jdwiz]

I have a 3 questions, I'm still weary of after reading several documents. Using consolidated backup proxy, netbackup, and fiber SAN.

I am to understand when backing up VMDK files, they are copied/snapshoted to the backup proxy.

When doing file level backups of virutal RDM devices, are the snapshots copied to the VCB proxy, or are they stored on the LUN? I ask this as for instance we have 2x 1,000GB RDM LUNS that are for a file server. Copying these to the backup proxy would mean it needs atleast 1,000GB of local storage.

Also these 2x RDM luns are still on a physical 2003 file share server. When I p2V the server, can I then import the RDM's in "virtual mode RDM" into VMWare, without any conversions, or having to move the data to a blank lun?

Are file level backups, capable of restoring only "system state" information, or IIS metadata, if I use a local netbackup agent in the VM, to do the restore?

Thanks

[jasonboche]

The snapshot would be on SAN storage and in turn mounted on the VCB Proxy, not "copied locally" to the VCB Proxy.

See attached diagram from esx3_backup_wp.pdf

Also see http://www.vmware.com/pdf/vi3_301_201_vm_backup.pdf

[76dragon]

Jasons post is correct looking at the picture and documentation provided, its not what my testing has shown though. I use Networker for vcb backups and it exports the snapshot to the mount point specified in the config.js file e.g. e:
mnt. If i kill the backup before its finished and reboot the vcb proxy, the exported data remains on the disk until i delete it, and of course before i run the backup again i have to remove the snapshot from the VM snapshot manager, or using vmware-cmd to remove. Ill do some more testing and update at a later date.

sorry cant help with the P2v/RDM question.

VCB file level backups do not capture system state, or IIS Metadata, only a client based backup will capture this, remember its the VCB Proxy that owns the data backed up in each Virtual Machine. e.g. If you have a vcb proxy called "TESTVCB" and a VM called "TESTVM" after performing a vcb file level backup, to restore the files you would browse the index's for "TESTVCB" and not "TESTVM".

Hope this helps.

[psharpley]

VCB is (only) about enabling a Windows server to see the vmfs and mount the vmdk files. The data is not copied- only mounted. This is why you have to be very[/u] careful to ensure that Windows does not try and 'see' the LUNs containing your VMs and write a disk signature to them.

File level backups are easy, restores are harder. The file restores would have to go from the backup server to a Windows server, via the LAN and to a server running with your netbackup agent (or back to a directory on the proxy server and then copied across). There is no mechanism for writing the data back from where it came from! it's basically a 'restore to alternate path'.

Image backups are more of an issue, but perhaps more useful IMHO. An O/S drive can be copied in its entirety to allow restore, re-registration of a failed/broken/lost VM for a DR recovery. This has to be performed from the service console! and needs space somewhere to restore this vmdk file from (and thi s can't be a vmfs LUN 'cause the Windows proxy can't see it).

I assume you're backing-up the physical file server already in which case you could P2V only the system drive and mount the data drive as a RDM. This will not copy the file share data anywhere but assumes that your Win2k3 file server data is already on th SAN! If not you will have to P2V the entire server. A 1TB LUN is a bit of a handful if you end up P2Ving the entire server.

The last part of your question leads me to suggest a combined approach may help. FullVM image level backups of the system drive only and occasionally. Then, file level backups every night as differential / incremental.

Or you could leave the backups just as they run now

[76dragon]

> The data is not copied- only mounted[/b]

Im still yet to complete my testing with file level backups, but the FULLVM image backups definitaly get exported out to the local disk on the VCB Proxy before the backup application does the backup, if you browse to the directory specified in the config.js file while the backup is in progress you can F5,F5,F5 and see the vmdk files increasing in size. If you run the VCBMOUNTER utility from the command line on the VCBProxy e.g.

vcbmounter -h esxserver.domain.com -u root -p ****** -a ipaddr:virtualmachine.domain.com -r D:\test -t fullvm -m san

You will see exactly the same process, the virtual machine gets exported out to D:\test\virtualmachine-FullVM

Below is some output from some testing.

***output from du * -h before i kick off the Full image backup***

256M vcbclient-cc2705e9.vswp

4.0G vcbclient-flat.vmdk

64K vcbclient.nvram

64K vcbclient.vmdk

64K vcbclient.vmsd

64K vcbclient.vmx

64K vcbclient.vmxf

***output from du * -h while the backup is in progress***

16M vcbclient-000001-delta.vmdk

64K vcbclient-000001.vmdk

256M vcbclient-cc2705e9.vswp

4.0G vcbclient-flat.vmdk

64K vcbclient.nvram

64K vcbclient-Snapshot56.vmsn

64K vcbclient.vmdk

64K vcbclient.vmsd

64K vcbclient.vmx

64K vcbclient.vmxf

Here you can see the delta files for all changes, and the .vmsn file which is the snapshot state file. but i cant see any snapshot being created. Do you have different results ?

Please dont interpret my post as being argumentative, there are so many opinions about how VCB works and maybe some of my testing is specific to my backup vendors module which intergrates into the framwork, i would like to get as much input from people who are using this.

[psharpley]

OK - cross purposes here. Thought you were looking at file level backups (of your RDM). Page 29 (as posted earlier by jasonboche) says files are not copied, images of vmdk's are, so we can both be right!

The -delta.vmdk is the redo log of the changes to vcbclient-flat.vmdk as it was at the point of Snapshot56.vmsn This could be seen listed in the contents of the .vmsd file.