VCB 1.5 / NetBackup 6.5.3 Backup Size

khodd · ‎03-02-2009

Everyone,

Using VCB 1.5 and Netbackup 6.5.3 with the "file" option as opposed to fullvm (NetBackup option 0).

We assumed that the file option would only backup "real files" on the guest OS but for some reason the backup software appears to be backing up the entire LUN.

For example we have a VM with a 100 GB virtual disk and as far as the guest OS is concerned, only 9GB of space is in use. In this case the backup image size is 100GB and not 9GB as we would expect.

Can someone explain this behavior?

Thanks for your help!

bradley4681 · ‎03-02-2009

What you describe sounds like its doing image level backups of the guests

Cheers,

Bradley Sessions

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Cheers! If you found this or other information useful, please consider awarding points for "Correct" or "Helpful".

dconvery · ‎03-02-2009

Option 0 is indeed a file level backup. Where are you getting this size? Is it actually taking up 100GB of tape? Just a word of caution also, file level backups do not include system state.

Dave Convery - VMware vExpert 2009

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khodd · ‎03-02-2009

Brad - No we are not doing image backups.

The Netbackup Policy is a flashbackup with option 0 (file level) through the VCB proxy. I get correct results when I use a FullVM type backup, just not a file level one.

dcon - The size we are getting is from the details of the actual backup job. I can only assume it is taking up that much space on the tape as I am unsure if there is any way to tell otherwise. And thanks for the reminder about the system state

The funny thing here is I thought perhaps it may be some kind of sparse file thing (vcb is maintaining deleted files perhaps) but this behavior happens with a brand new VM that has just been OS'd.

dconvery · ‎03-02-2009

It will maintain deleted files on the FullVM or Mapped FullVM backup, but not file level. Maybe it is reporting the allocated disk size. Did you try restoring the files to the proxy and checking the size?