This script performs backups of virtual machines residing on ESX(i) 3.5/4.x/5.x/6.x/7.x servers using methodology similar to VMware's VCB tool. The script takes snapshots of live running virtual machines, backs up the master VMDK(s) and then upon completion, deletes the snapshot until the next backup. The only caveat is that it utilizes resources available to the Service Console of the ESX server or Busybox Console (Tech Support Mode) of the ESXi server running the backups as opposed to following the traditional method of offloading virtual machine backups through a VCB proxy.
This script has been tested on ESX 3.5/4.x/5.x and ESXi 3.5/4.x/5.x/6.x/7.x and supports the following backup mediums: LOCAL STORAGE, SAN and NFS. The script is non-interactive and can be setup to run via cron. Currently, this script accepts a text file that lists the display names of virtual machine(s) that are to be backed up. Additionally, one can specify a folder containing configuration files on a per VM basis for granular control over backup policies.
Additionally, for ESX(i) environments that don't have persistent NFS datastores designated for backups, the script offers the ability to automatically connect the ESX(i) server to a NFS exported folder and then upon backup completion, disconnect it from the ESX(i) server. The connection is established by creating an NFS datastore link which enables monolithic (or thick) VMDK backups as opposed to using the usual *nix mount command which necessitates breaking VMDK files into the 2gbsparse format for backup. Enabling this mode is self-explanatory and will evidently be so when editing the script (Note: VM_BACKUP_VOLUME variable is ignored if ENABLE_NON_PERSISTENT_NFS=1 ).
In its current configuration, the script will allow up to 3 unique backups of the Virtual Machine before it will overwrite the previous backups; this however, can be modified to fit procedures if need be. Please be diligent in running the script in a test or staging environment before using it on production live Virtual Machines; this script functions well within our environment but there is a chance that it may not fit well into other environments.
If you have any questions, you may post in the dedicated ghettoVCB VMTN community group.
If you have found this script to be useful and would like to contribute back, please click here to donate.
Please read ALL documentation + FAQ's before posting a question about an issue or problem. Thank You
1) Download ghettoVCB from github by clicking on the ZIP button at the top and upload to either your ESX or ESXi system (use scp or WinSCP to transfer the file)
2) Extract the contents of the zip file (filename will vary):
# unzip ghettoVCB-master.zip
Archive: ghettoVCB-master.zip
creating: ghettoVCB-master/
inflating: ghettoVCB-master/README
inflating: ghettoVCB-master/ghettoVCB-restore.sh
inflating: ghettoVCB-master/ghettoVCB-restore_vm_restore_configuration_template
inflating: ghettoVCB-master/ghettoVCB-vm_backup_configuration_template
inflating: ghettoVCB-master/ghettoVCB.conf
inflating: ghettoVCB-master/ghettoVCB.sh
3) The script is now ready to be used and is located in a directory named ghettoVCB-master
# ls -l
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 281 Jan 6 03:58 README
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 16024 Jan 6 03:58 ghettoVCB-restore.sh
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 309 Jan 6 03:58 ghettoVCB-restore_vm_restore_configuration_template
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 356 Jan 6 03:58 ghettoVCB-vm_backup_configuration_template
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 631 Jan 6 03:58 ghettoVCB.conf
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 49375 Jan 6 03:58 ghettoVCB.sh
4) Before using the scripts, you will need to enable the execute permission on both ghettoVCB.sh and ghettoVCB-restore.sh by running the following:
chmod +x ghettoVCB.shchmod +x ghettoVCB-restore.sh
The following variables need to be defined within the script or in VM backup policy prior to execution.
Defining the backup datastore and folder in which the backups are stored (if folder does not exist, it will automatically be created):
VM_BACKUP_VOLUME=/vmfs/volumes/dlgCore-NFS-bigboi.VM-Backups/WILLIAM_BACKUPS
Defining the backup disk format (zeroedthick, eagerzeroedthick, thin, and 2gbsparse are available):
DISK_BACKUP_FORMAT=thin
Note: If you are using the 2gbsparse on an ESXi 5.1 host, backups may fail. Please download the latest version of the ghettoVCB script which automatically resolves this or take a look at this article for the details.
Defining the backup rotation per VM:
VM_BACKUP_ROTATION_COUNT=3
Defining whether the VM is powered down or not prior to backup (1 = enable, 0 = disable):
Note: VM(s) that are powered off will not require snapshoting
POWER_VM_DOWN_BEFORE_BACKUP=0
Defining whether the VM can be hard powered off when "POWER_VM_DOWN_BEFORE_BACKUP" is enabled and VM does not have VMware Tools installed
ENABLE_HARD_POWER_OFF=0
If "ENABLE_HARD_POWER_OFF" is enabled, then this defines the number of (60sec) iterations the script will before executing a hard power off when:
ITER_TO_WAIT_SHUTDOWN=3
The number (60sec) iterations the script will wait when powering off the VM and will give up and ignore the particular VM for backup:
POWER_DOWN_TIMEOUT=5
The number (60sec) iterations the script will wait when taking a snapshot of a VM and will give up and ignore the particular VM for backup:
Note: Default value should suffice
SNAPSHOT_TIMEOUT=15
Defining whether or not to enable compression (1 = enable, 0 = disable):
ENABLE_COMPRESSION=0
NOTE: With ESXi 3.x/4.x/5.x, there is a limitation of the maximum size of a VM for compression within the unsupported Busybox Console which should not affect backups running classic ESX 3.x,4.x or 5.x. On ESXi 3.x the largest supported VM is 4GB for compression and on ESXi 4.x the largest supported VM is 8GB. If you try to compress a larger VM, you may run into issues when trying to extract upon a restore. PLEASE TEST THE RESTORE PROCESS BEFORE MOVING TO PRODUCTION SYSTEMS!
Defining the adapter type for backed up VMDK (DEPERCATED - NO LONGER NEEDED😞
ADAPTER_FORMAT=buslogic
Defining whether virtual machine memory is snapped and if quiescing is enabled (1 = enable, 0 = disable):
Note: By default both are disabled
VM_SNAPSHOT_MEMORY=0
VM_SNAPSHOT_QUIESCE=0
NOTE: VM_SNAPSHOT_MEMORY is only used to ensure when the snapshot is taken, it's memory contents are also captured. This is only relevant to the actual snapshot and it's not used in any shape/way/form in regards to the backup. All backups taken whether your VM is running or offline will result in an offline VM backup when you restore. This was originally added for debugging purposes and in generally should be left disabled
Defining VMDK(s) to backup from a particular VM either a list of vmdks or "all"
VMDK_FILES_TO_BACKUP="myvmdk.vmdk"
Defining whether or not VM(s) with existing snapshots can be backed up. This flag means it will CONSOLIDATE ALL EXISTING SNAPSHOTS for a VM prior to starting the backup (1 = yes, 0 = no):
ALLOW_VMS_WITH_SNAPSHOTS_TO_BE_BACKEDUP=0
Defining the order of which VM(s) should be shutdown first, especially if there is a dependency between multiple VM(s). This should be a comma seperate list of VM(s)
VM_SHUTDOWN_ORDER=vm1,vm2,vm3
Defining the order of VM(s) that should be started up first after backups have completed, especially if there is a dependency between multiple VM(s). This should be a comma seperate list of VM(s)
VM_STARTUP_ORDER=vm3,vm2,vm1
Defining NON-PERSISTENT NFS Backup Volume (1 = yes, 0 = no):
ENABLE_NON_PERSISTENT_NFS=0
NOTE: This is meant for environments that do not want a persisted connection to their NFS backup volume and allows the NFS volume to only be mounted during backups. The script expects the following 5 variables to be defined if this is to be used: UNMOUNT_NFS, NFS_SERVER, NFS_MOUNT, NFS_LOCAL_NAME and NFS_VM_BACKUP_DIR
Defining whether or not to unmount the NFS backup volume (1 = yes, 0 = no):
UNMOUNT_NFS=0
Defining the NFS server address (IP/hostname):
NFS_SERVER=172.51.0.192
Defining the NFS export path:
NFS_MOUNT=/upload
Defining the NFS datastore name:
NFS_LOCAL_NAME=backup
Defining the NFS backup directory for VMs:
NFS_VM_BACKUP_DIR=mybackups
NOTE: Only supported if you are running vSphere 4.1 and this feature is experimental. If you are having issues with sending mail, please take a look at Email Backup Log section
Defining whether or not to email backup logs (1 = yes, 0 = no):
EMAIL_LOG=1
Defining whether or not to email message will be deleted off the host whether it is successful in sending, this is used for debugging purposes. (1 = yes, 0 = no):
EMAIL_DEBUG=1
Defining email server:
EMAIL_SERVER=auroa.primp-industries.com
Defining email server port:
EMAIL_SERVER_PORT=25
Defining email delay interval (useful if you have slow SMTP server and would like to include a delay in netcat using -i param, default is 1second):
EMAIL_DELAY_INTERVAL=1
Defining recipient of the email:
EMAIL_TO=auroa@primp-industries.com
Defining from user which may require specific domain entry depending on email server configurations:
EMAIL_FROM=root@ghettoVCB
Defining to support RSYNC symbolic link creation (1 = yes, 0 = no):
RSYNC_LINK=0
Note: This enables an automatic creation of a generic symbolic link (both a relative & absolution path) in which users can refer to run replication backups using rsync from a remote host. This does not actually support rsync backups with ghettoVCB. Please take a look at the Rsync Section of the documentation for more details.
# cat ghettoVCB.conf
VM_BACKUP_VOLUME=/vmfs/volumes/dlgCore-NFS-bigboi.VM-Backups/WILLIAM_BACKUPS
DISK_BACKUP_FORMAT=thin
VM_BACKUP_ROTATION_COUNT=3
POWER_VM_DOWN_BEFORE_BACKUP=0
ENABLE_HARD_POWER_OFF=0
ITER_TO_WAIT_SHUTDOWN=3
POWER_DOWN_TIMEOUT=5
ENABLE_COMPRESSION=0
VM_SNAPSHOT_MEMORY=0
VM_SNAPSHOT_QUIESCE=0
ALLOW_VMS_WITH_SNAPSHOTS_TO_BE_BACKEDUP=0
ENABLE_NON_PERSISTENT_NFS=0
UNMOUNT_NFS=0
NFS_SERVER=172.30.0.195
NFS_MOUNT=/nfsshare
NFS_LOCAL_NAME=nfs_storage_backup
NFS_VM_BACKUP_DIR=mybackups
SNAPSHOT_TIMEOUT=15
EMAIL_LOG=0
EMAIL_SERVER=auroa.primp-industries.com
EMAIL_SERVER_PORT=25
EMAIL_DELAY_INTERVAL=1
EMAIL_TO=auroa@primp-industries.com
EMAIL_FROM=root@ghettoVCB
WORKDIR_DEBUG=0
VM_SHUTDOWN_ORDER=
VM_STARTUP_ORDER=
To override any existing configurations within the ghettoVCB.sh script and to use a global configuration file, user just needs to specify the new flag -g and path to global configuration file (For an example, please refer to the sample execution section of the documenation)
Running multiple instances of ghettoVCB is now supported with the latest release by specifying the working directory (-w) flag.
By default, the working directory of the ghettoVCB instance is /tmp/ghettoVCB.work and you can run another instance by providing an alternate working directory. You should try to minimize the number of ghettoVCB instances running on your ESXi host as it does consume some amount of resources when running in the ESXi Shell. This is considered an experimental feature, so please test in a development environment to ensure everything is working prior to moving to production system.
Ensure that you do not edit past this section:
########################## DO NOT MODIFY PAST THIS LINE ##########################
# ./ghettoVCB.sh
###############################################################################
#
# ghettoVCB for ESX/ESXi 3.5, 4.x+ and 5.x
# Author: William Lam
# http://www.virtuallyghetto.com/
# Documentation: http://communities.vmware.com/docs/DOC-8760
# Created: 11/17/2008
# Last modified: 2012_12_17 Version 0
#
###############################################################################
Usage: ghettoVCB.sh [options]
OPTIONS:
-a Backup all VMs on host
-f List of VMs to backup
-m Name of VM to backup (overrides -f)
-c VM configuration directory for VM backups
-g Path to global ghettoVCB configuration file
-l File to output logging
-w ghettoVCB work directory (default: )
-d Debug level [info|debug|dryrun] (default: info)
(e.g.)
Backup VMs stored in a list
./ghettoVCB.sh -f vms_to_backup
Backup a single VM
./ghettoVCB.sh -m vm_to_backup
Backup all VMs residing on this host
./ghettoVCB.sh -a
Backup all VMs residing on this host except for the VMs in the exclusion list
./ghettoVCB.sh -a -e vm_exclusion_list
Backup VMs based on specific configuration located in directory
./ghettoVCB.sh -f vms_to_backup -c vm_backup_configs
Backup VMs using global ghettoVCB configuration file
./ghettoVCB.sh -f vms_to_backup -g /global/ghettoVCB.conf
Output will log to /tmp/ghettoVCB.log (consider logging to local or remote datastore to persist logs)
./ghettoVCB.sh -f vms_to_backup -l /vmfs/volume/local-storage/ghettoVCB.log
Dry run (no backup will take place)
./ghettoVCB.sh -f vms_to_backup -d dryrun
The input to this script is a file that contains the display name of the virtual machine(s) separated by a newline. When creating this file on a non-Linux/UNIX system, you may introduce ^M character which can cause the script to miss-behave. To ensure this does not occur, plesae create the file on the ESX/ESXi host.
Here is a sample of what the file would look like:
[root@himalaya ~]# cat vms_to_backup
vCOPS
vMA
vCloudConnector
Debug Mode
Note: This execution mode provides a qucik summary of details on whether a given set of VM(s)/VMDK(s) will be backed up. It provides additional information such as VMs that may have snapshots, VMDK(s) that are configured as independent disks, or other issues that may cause a VM or VMDK to not backed up.
[root@himalaya ghettoVCB]# ./ghettoVCB.sh -f vms_to_backup -d dryrun
Logging output to "/tmp/ghettoVCB-2011-03-13_15-19-57.log" ...
2011-03-13 15:19:57 -- info: ============================== ghettoVCB LOG START ==============================
2011-03-13 15:19:57 -- info: CONFIG - VERSION = 2011_03_13_1
2011-03-13 15:19:57 -- info: CONFIG - GHETTOVCB_PID = 30157
2011-03-13 15:19:57 -- info: CONFIG - VM_BACKUP_VOLUME = /vmfs/volumes/dlgCore-NFS-bigboi.VM-Backups/WILLIAM_BACKUPS
2011-03-13 15:19:57 -- info: CONFIG - VM_BACKUP_ROTATION_COUNT = 3
2011-03-13 15:19:57 -- info: CONFIG - VM_BACKUP_DIR_NAMING_CONVENTION = 2011-03-13_15-19-57
2011-03-13 15:19:57 -- info: CONFIG - DISK_BACKUP_FORMAT = thin
2011-03-13 15:19:57 -- info: CONFIG - POWER_VM_DOWN_BEFORE_BACKUP = 0
2011-03-13 15:19:57 -- info: CONFIG - ENABLE_HARD_POWER_OFF = 0
2011-03-13 15:19:57 -- info: CONFIG - ITER_TO_WAIT_SHUTDOWN = 3
2011-03-13 15:19:57 -- info: CONFIG - POWER_DOWN_TIMEOUT = 5
2011-03-13 15:19:57 -- info: CONFIG - SNAPSHOT_TIMEOUT = 15
2011-03-13 15:19:57 -- info: CONFIG - LOG_LEVEL = dryrun
2011-03-13 15:19:57 -- info: CONFIG - BACKUP_LOG_OUTPUT = /tmp/ghettoVCB-2011-03-13_15-19-57.log
2011-03-13 15:19:57 -- info: CONFIG - VM_SNAPSHOT_MEMORY = 0
2011-03-13 15:19:57 -- info: CONFIG - VM_SNAPSHOT_QUIESCE = 0
2011-03-13 15:19:57 -- info: CONFIG - VMDK_FILES_TO_BACKUP = all
2011-03-13 15:19:57 -- info: CONFIG - EMAIL_LOG = 0
2011-03-13 15:19:57 -- info:
2011-03-13 15:19:57 -- dryrun: ###############################################
2011-03-13 15:19:57 -- dryrun: Virtual Machine: scofield
2011-03-13 15:19:57 -- dryrun: VM_ID: 704
2011-03-13 15:19:57 -- dryrun: VMX_PATH: /vmfs/volumes/himalaya-local-SATA.RE4-GP:Storage/scofield/scofield.vmx
2011-03-13 15:19:57 -- dryrun: VMX_DIR: /vmfs/volumes/himalaya-local-SATA.RE4-GP:Storage/scofield
2011-03-13 15:19:57 -- dryrun: VMX_CONF: scofield/scofield.vmx
2011-03-13 15:19:57 -- dryrun: VMFS_VOLUME: himalaya-local-SATA.RE4-GP:Storage
2011-03-13 15:19:57 -- dryrun: VMDK(s):
2011-03-13 15:19:58 -- dryrun: scofield_3.vmdk 3 GB
2011-03-13 15:19:58 -- dryrun: scofield_2.vmdk 2 GB
2011-03-13 15:19:58 -- dryrun: scofield_1.vmdk 1 GB
2011-03-13 15:19:58 -- dryrun: scofield.vmdk 5 GB
2011-03-13 15:19:58 -- dryrun: INDEPENDENT VMDK(s):
2011-03-13 15:19:58 -- dryrun: TOTAL_VM_SIZE_TO_BACKUP: 11 GB
2011-03-13 15:19:58 -- dryrun: ###############################################
2011-03-13 15:19:58 -- dryrun: ###############################################
2011-03-13 15:19:58 -- dryrun: Virtual Machine: vMA
2011-03-13 15:19:58 -- dryrun: VM_ID: 1440
2011-03-13 15:19:58 -- dryrun: VMX_PATH: /vmfs/volumes/himalaya-local-SATA.RE4-GP:Storage/vMA/vMA.vmx
2011-03-13 15:19:58 -- dryrun: VMX_DIR: /vmfs/volumes/himalaya-local-SATA.RE4-GP:Storage/vMA
2011-03-13 15:19:58 -- dryrun: VMX_CONF: vMA/vMA.vmx
2011-03-13 15:19:58 -- dryrun: VMFS_VOLUME: himalaya-local-SATA.RE4-GP:Storage
2011-03-13 15:19:58 -- dryrun: VMDK(s):
2011-03-13 15:19:58 -- dryrun: vMA-000002.vmdk 5 GB
2011-03-13 15:19:58 -- dryrun: INDEPENDENT VMDK(s):
2011-03-13 15:19:58 -- dryrun: TOTAL_VM_SIZE_TO_BACKUP: 5 GB
2011-03-13 15:19:58 -- dryrun: Snapshots found for this VM, please commit all snapshots before continuing!
2011-03-13 15:19:58 -- dryrun: THIS VIRTUAL MACHINE WILL NOT BE BACKED UP DUE TO EXISTING SNAPSHOTS!
2011-03-13 15:19:58 -- dryrun: ###############################################
2011-03-13 15:19:58 -- dryrun: ###############################################
2011-03-13 15:19:58 -- dryrun: Virtual Machine: vCloudConnector
2011-03-13 15:19:58 -- dryrun: VM_ID: 2064
2011-03-13 15:19:58 -- dryrun: VMX_PATH: /vmfs/volumes/himalaya-local-SATA.RE4-GP:Storage/vCloudConnector/vCloudConnector.vmx
2011-03-13 15:19:58 -- dryrun: VMX_DIR: /vmfs/volumes/himalaya-local-SATA.RE4-GP:Storage/vCloudConnector
2011-03-13 15:19:58 -- dryrun: VMX_CONF: vCloudConnector/vCloudConnector.vmx
2011-03-13 15:19:58 -- dryrun: VMFS_VOLUME: himalaya-local-SATA.RE4-GP:Storage
2011-03-13 15:19:58 -- dryrun: VMDK(s):
2011-03-13 15:19:59 -- dryrun: vCloudConnector.vmdk 3 GB
2011-03-13 15:19:59 -- dryrun: INDEPENDENT VMDK(s):
2011-03-13 15:19:59 -- dryrun: vCloudConnector_1.vmdk 40 GB
2011-03-13 15:19:59 -- dryrun: TOTAL_VM_SIZE_TO_BACKUP: 3 GB
2011-03-13 15:19:59 -- dryrun: Snapshots can not be taken for indepdenent disks!
2011-03-13 15:19:59 -- dryrun: THIS VIRTUAL MACHINE WILL NOT HAVE ALL ITS VMDKS BACKED UP!
2011-03-13 15:19:59 -- dryrun: ###############################################
2011-03-13 15:19:59 -- info: ###### Final status: OK, only a dryrun. ######
2011-03-13 15:19:59 -- info: ============================== ghettoVCB LOG END ================================
In the example above, we have 3 VMs to be backed up:
Note: This execution modes provides more in-depth information about environment/backup process including additional storage debugging information which provides information about both the source/destination datastore pre and post backups. This can be very useful in troubleshooting backups
[root@himalaya ghettoVCB]# ./ghettoVCB.sh -f vms_to_backup -d debug
Logging output to "/tmp/ghettoVCB-2011-03-13_15-27-59.log" ...
2011-03-13 15:27:59 -- info: ============================== ghettoVCB LOG START ==============================
2011-03-13 15:27:59 -- debug: Succesfully acquired lock directory - /tmp/ghettoVCB.lock
2011-03-13 15:27:59 -- debug: HOST VERSION: VMware ESX 4.1.0 build-260247
2011-03-13 15:27:59 -- debug: HOST LEVEL: VMware ESX 4.1.0 GA
2011-03-13 15:27:59 -- debug: HOSTNAME: himalaya.primp-industries.com
2011-03-13 15:27:59 -- info: CONFIG - VERSION = 2011_03_13_1
2011-03-13 15:27:59 -- info: CONFIG - GHETTOVCB_PID = 31074
2011-03-13 15:27:59 -- info: CONFIG - VM_BACKUP_VOLUME = /vmfs/volumes/dlgCore-NFS-bigboi.VM-Backups/WILLIAM_BACKUPS
2011-03-13 15:27:59 -- info: CONFIG - VM_BACKUP_ROTATION_COUNT = 3
2011-03-13 15:27:59 -- info: CONFIG - VM_BACKUP_DIR_NAMING_CONVENTION = 2011-03-13_15-27-59
2011-03-13 15:27:59 -- info: CONFIG - DISK_BACKUP_FORMAT = thin
2011-03-13 15:27:59 -- info: CONFIG - POWER_VM_DOWN_BEFORE_BACKUP = 0
2011-03-13 15:27:59 -- info: CONFIG - ENABLE_HARD_POWER_OFF = 0
2011-03-13 15:27:59 -- info: CONFIG - ITER_TO_WAIT_SHUTDOWN = 3
2011-03-13 15:27:59 -- info: CONFIG - POWER_DOWN_TIMEOUT = 5
2011-03-13 15:27:59 -- info: CONFIG - SNAPSHOT_TIMEOUT = 15
2011-03-13 15:27:59 -- info: CONFIG - LOG_LEVEL = debug
2011-03-13 15:27:59 -- info: CONFIG - BACKUP_LOG_OUTPUT = /tmp/ghettoVCB-2011-03-13_15-27-59.log
2011-03-13 15:27:59 -- info: CONFIG - VM_SNAPSHOT_MEMORY = 0
2011-03-13 15:27:59 -- info: CONFIG - VM_SNAPSHOT_QUIESCE = 0
2011-03-13 15:27:59 -- info: CONFIG - VMDK_FILES_TO_BACKUP = all
2011-03-13 15:27:59 -- info: CONFIG - EMAIL_LOG = 0
2011-03-13 15:27:59 -- info:
2011-03-13 15:28:01 -- debug: Storage Information before backup:
2011-03-13 15:28:01 -- debug: SRC_DATASTORE: himalaya-local-SATA.RE4-GP:Storage
2011-03-13 15:28:01 -- debug: SRC_DATASTORE_CAPACITY: 1830.5 GB
2011-03-13 15:28:01 -- debug: SRC_DATASTORE_FREE: 539.4 GB
2011-03-13 15:28:01 -- debug: SRC_DATASTORE_BLOCKSIZE: 4
2011-03-13 15:28:01 -- debug: SRC_DATASTORE_MAX_FILE_SIZE: 1024 GB
2011-03-13 15:28:01 -- debug:
2011-03-13 15:28:01 -- debug: DST_DATASTORE: dlgCore-NFS-bigboi.VM-Backups
2011-03-13 15:28:01 -- debug: DST_DATASTORE_CAPACITY: 1348.4 GB
2011-03-13 15:28:01 -- debug: DST_DATASTORE_FREE: 296.8 GB
2011-03-13 15:28:01 -- debug: DST_DATASTORE_BLOCKSIZE: NA
2011-03-13 15:28:01 -- debug: DST_DATASTORE_MAX_FILE_SIZE: NA
2011-03-13 15:28:01 -- debug:
2011-03-13 15:28:02 -- info: Initiate backup for scofield
2011-03-13 15:28:02 -- debug: /usr/sbin/vmkfstools -i "/vmfs/volumes/himalaya-local-SATA.RE4-GP:Storage/scofield/scofield_3.vmdk" -a "buslogic" -d "thin" "/vmfs/volumes/dlgCore-NFS-bigboi.VM-Backups/WILLIAM_BACKUPS/scofield/scofield-2011-03-13_15-27-59/scofield_3.vmdk"
Destination disk format: VMFS thin-provisioned
Cloning disk '/vmfs/volumes/himalaya-local-SATA.RE4-GP:Storage/scofield/scofield_3.vmdk'...
Clone: 37% done.
2011-03-13 15:28:04 -- debug: /usr/sbin/vmkfstools -i "/vmfs/volumes/himalaya-local-SATA.RE4-GP:Storage/scofield/scofield_2.vmdk" -a "buslogic" -d "thin" "/vmfs/volumes/dlgCore-NFS-bigboi.VM-Backups/WILLIAM_BACKUPS/scofield/scofield-2011-03-13_15-27-59/scofield_2.vmdk"
Destination disk format: VMFS thin-provisioned
Cloning disk '/vmfs/volumes/himalaya-local-SATA.RE4-GP:Storage/scofield/scofield_2.vmdk'...
Clone: 85% done.
2011-03-13 15:28:05 -- debug: /usr/sbin/vmkfstools -i "/vmfs/volumes/himalaya-local-SATA.RE4-GP:Storage/scofield/scofield_1.vmdk" -a "buslogic" -d "thin" "/vmfs/volumes/dlgCore-NFS-bigboi.VM-Backups/WILLIAM_BACKUPS/scofield/scofield-2011-03-13_15-27-59/scofield_1.vmdk"
2011-03-13 15:28:06 -- debug: /usr/sbin/vmkfstools -i "/vmfs/volumes/himalaya-local-SATA.RE4-GP:Storage/scofield/scofield.vmdk" -a "buslogic" -d "thin" "/vmfs/volumes/dlgCore-NFS-bigboi.VM-Backups/WILLIAM_BACKUPS/scofield/scofield-2011-03-13_15-27-59/scofield.vmdk"
Destination disk format: VMFS thin-provisioned
Cloning disk '/vmfs/volumes/himalaya-local-SATA.RE4-GP:Storage/scofield/scofield.vmdk'...
Clone: 78% done.
2011-03-13 15:29:52 -- info: Backup Duration: 1.83 Minutes
2011-03-13 15:29:52 -- info: Successfully completed backup for scofield!
2011-03-13 15:29:54 -- debug: Storage Information after backup:
2011-03-13 15:29:54 -- debug: SRC_DATASTORE: himalaya-local-SATA.RE4-GP:Storage
2011-03-13 15:29:54 -- debug: SRC_DATASTORE_CAPACITY: 1830.5 GB
2011-03-13 15:29:54 -- debug: SRC_DATASTORE_FREE: 539.4 GB
2011-03-13 15:29:54 -- debug: SRC_DATASTORE_BLOCKSIZE: 4
2011-03-13 15:29:54 -- debug: SRC_DATASTORE_MAX_FILE_SIZE: 1024 GB
2011-03-13 15:29:54 -- debug:
2011-03-13 15:29:54 -- debug: DST_DATASTORE: dlgCore-NFS-bigboi.VM-Backups
2011-03-13 15:29:54 -- debug: DST_DATASTORE_CAPACITY: 1348.4 GB
2011-03-13 15:29:54 -- debug: DST_DATASTORE_FREE: 296.8 GB
2011-03-13 15:29:54 -- debug: DST_DATASTORE_BLOCKSIZE: NA
2011-03-13 15:29:54 -- debug: DST_DATASTORE_MAX_FILE_SIZE: NA
2011-03-13 15:29:54 -- debug:
2011-03-13 15:29:55 -- debug: Storage Information before backup:
2011-03-13 15:29:55 -- debug: SRC_DATASTORE: himalaya-local-SATA.RE4-GP:Storage
2011-03-13 15:29:55 -- debug: SRC_DATASTORE_CAPACITY: 1830.5 GB
2011-03-13 15:29:55 -- debug: SRC_DATASTORE_FREE: 539.4 GB
2011-03-13 15:29:55 -- debug: SRC_DATASTORE_BLOCKSIZE: 4
2011-03-13 15:29:55 -- debug: SRC_DATASTORE_MAX_FILE_SIZE: 1024 GB
2011-03-13 15:29:55 -- debug:
2011-03-13 15:29:55 -- debug: DST_DATASTORE: dlgCore-NFS-bigboi.VM-Backups
2011-03-13 15:29:55 -- debug: DST_DATASTORE_CAPACITY: 1348.4 GB
2011-03-13 15:29:55 -- debug: DST_DATASTORE_FREE: 296.8 GB
2011-03-13 15:29:55 -- debug: DST_DATASTORE_BLOCKSIZE: NA
2011-03-13 15:29:55 -- debug: DST_DATASTORE_MAX_FILE_SIZE: NA
2011-03-13 15:29:55 -- debug:
2011-03-13 15:29:55 -- info: Snapshot found for vMA, backup will not take place
2011-03-13 15:29:57 -- debug: Storage Information before backup:
2011-03-13 15:29:57 -- debug: SRC_DATASTORE: himalaya-local-SATA.RE4-GP:Storage
2011-03-13 15:29:57 -- debug: SRC_DATASTORE_CAPACITY: 1830.5 GB
2011-03-13 15:29:57 -- debug: SRC_DATASTORE_FREE: 539.4 GB
2011-03-13 15:29:57 -- debug: SRC_DATASTORE_BLOCKSIZE: 4
2011-03-13 15:29:57 -- debug: SRC_DATASTORE_MAX_FILE_SIZE: 1024 GB
2011-03-13 15:29:57 -- debug:
2011-03-13 15:29:57 -- debug: DST_DATASTORE: dlgCore-NFS-bigboi.VM-Backups
2011-03-13 15:29:57 -- debug: DST_DATASTORE_CAPACITY: 1348.4 GB
2011-03-13 15:29:57 -- debug: DST_DATASTORE_FREE: 296.8 GB
2011-03-13 15:29:57 -- debug: DST_DATASTORE_BLOCKSIZE: NA
2011-03-13 15:29:57 -- debug: DST_DATASTORE_MAX_FILE_SIZE: NA
2011-03-13 15:29:57 -- debug:
2011-03-13 15:29:58 -- info: Initiate backup for vCloudConnector
2011-03-13 15:29:58 -- debug: /usr/sbin/vmkfstools -i "/vmfs/volumes/himalaya-local-SATA.RE4-GP:Storage/vCloudConnector/vCloudConnector.vmdk" -a "buslogic" -d "thin" "/vmfs/volumes/dlgCore-NFS-bigboi.VM-Backups/WILLIAM_BACKUPS/vCloudConnector/vCloudConnector-2011-03-13_15-27-59/vCloudConnector.vmdk"
Destination disk format: VMFS thin-provisioned
Cloning disk '/vmfs/volumes/himalaya-local-SATA.RE4-GP:Storage/vCloudConnector/vCloudConnector.vmdk'...
Clone: 97% done.
2011-03-13 15:30:45 -- info: Backup Duration: 47 Seconds
2011-03-13 15:30:45 -- info: WARN: vCloudConnector has some Independent VMDKs that can not be backed up!
2011-03-13 15:30:45 -- info: ###### Final status: ERROR: Only some of the VMs backed up, and some disk(s) failed! ######
2011-03-13 15:30:45 -- debug: Succesfully removed lock directory - /tmp/ghettoVCB.lock
2011-03-13 15:30:45 -- info: ============================== ghettoVCB LOG END ================================
[root@himalaya ~]# ./ghettoVCB.sh -f vms_to_backup
# ./ghettoVCB.sh -m MyVM
/ghettoVCB # ./ghettoVCB.sh -a
/ghettoVCB # ./ghettoVCB.sh -a -e vm_exclusion_list
1. Create folder to hold individual VM backup policies (can be named anything):
[root@himalaya ~]# mkdir backup_config
2. Create individual VM backup policies for each VM that ensure each file is named exactly as the display name of the VM being backed up (use provided template to create duplicates):
[root@himalaya backup_config]# cp ghettoVCB-vm_backup_configuration_template scofield
[root@himalaya backup_config]# cp ghettoVCB-vm_backup_configuration_template vCloudConnector
Listing of VM backup policy within backup configuration directory
[root@himalaya backup_config]# ls
scofield vCloudConnector
ghettoVCB-vm_backup_configuration_template
Backup policy for "scofield" (backup only 2 specific VMDKs)
[root@himalaya backup_config]# cat scofield
scofield_2.vmdk,scofield_1.vmdk
VM_BACKUP_VOLUME=/vmfs/volumes/dlgCore-NFS-bigboi.VM-Backups/WILLIAM_BACKUPS
DISK_BACKUP_FORMAT=thin
VM_BACKUP_ROTATION_COUNT=3
POWER_VM_DOWN_BEFORE_BACKUP=0
ENABLE_HARD_POWER_OFF=0
ITER_TO_WAIT_SHUTDOWN=4
POWER_DOWN_TIMEOUT=5
SNAPSHOT_TIMEOUT=15
ENABLE_COMPRESSION=0
VM_SNAPSHOT_MEMORY=0
VM_SNAPSHOT_QUIESCE=0
VMDK_FILES_TO_BACKUP=""
Backup policy for VM "vCloudConnector" (backup all VMDKs found)
[root@himalaya backup_config]# cat
vCloudConnectorVM_BACKUP_VOLUME=/vmfs/volumes/dlgCore-NFS-bigboi.VM-Backups/WILLIAM_BACKUPS
vCloudConnector.vmdk
DISK_BACKUP_FORMAT=thin
VM_BACKUP_ROTATION_COUNT=3
POWER_VM_DOWN_BEFORE_BACKUP=0
ENABLE_HARD_POWER_OFF=0
ITER_TO_WAIT_SHUTDOWN=4
POWER_DOWN_TIMEOUT=5
SNAPSHOT_TIMEOUT=15
ENABLE_COMPRESSION=0
VM_SNAPSHOT_MEMORY=0
VM_SNAPSHOT_QUIESCE=0
VMDK_FILES_TO_BACKUP=""
Note: When specifying -c option (individual VM backup policy mode) if a VM is listed in the backup list but DOES NOT have a corresponding backup policy, the VM will be backed up using the default configuration found within the ghettoVCB.sh script.
Execution of backup
[root@himalaya ~]# ./ghettoVCB.sh -f vms_to_backup -c backup_config -l /tmp/ghettoVCB.log
2011-03-13 15:40:50 -- info: ============================== ghettoVCB LOG START ==============================
2011-03-13 15:40:51 -- info: CONFIG - USING CONFIGURATION FILE = backup_config//scofield
2011-03-13 15:40:51 -- info: CONFIG - VERSION = 2011_03_13_1
2011-03-13 15:40:51 -- info: CONFIG - GHETTOVCB_PID = 2967
2011-03-13 15:40:51 -- info: CONFIG - VM_BACKUP_VOLUME = /vmfs/volumes/dlgCore-NFS-bigboi.VM-Backups/WILLIAM_BACKUPS
2011-03-13 15:40:51 -- info: CONFIG - VM_BACKUP_ROTATION_COUNT = 3
2011-03-13 15:40:51 -- info: CONFIG - VM_BACKUP_DIR_NAMING_CONVENTION = 2011-03-13_15-40-50
2011-03-13 15:40:51 -- info: CONFIG - DISK_BACKUP_FORMAT = thin
2011-03-13 15:40:51 -- info: CONFIG - POWER_VM_DOWN_BEFORE_BACKUP = 0
2011-03-13 15:40:51 -- info: CONFIG - ENABLE_HARD_POWER_OFF = 0
2011-03-13 15:40:51 -- info: CONFIG - ITER_TO_WAIT_SHUTDOWN = 4
2011-03-13 15:40:51 -- info: CONFIG - POWER_DOWN_TIMEOUT = 5
2011-03-13 15:40:51 -- info: CONFIG - SNAPSHOT_TIMEOUT = 15
2011-03-13 15:40:51 -- info: CONFIG - LOG_LEVEL = info
2011-03-13 15:40:51 -- info: CONFIG - BACKUP_LOG_OUTPUT = /tmp/ghettoVCB.log
2011-03-13 15:40:51 -- info: CONFIG - VM_SNAPSHOT_MEMORY = 0
2011-03-13 15:40:51 -- info: CONFIG - VM_SNAPSHOT_QUIESCE = 0
2011-03-13 15:40:51 -- info: CONFIG - VMDK_FILES_TO_BACKUP = scofield_2.vmdk,scofield_1.vmdk
2011-03-13 15:40:51 -- info: CONFIG - EMAIL_LOG = 0
2011-03-13 15:40:51 -- info:
2011-03-13 15:40:53 -- info: Initiate backup for scofield
Destination disk format: VMFS thin-provisioned
Cloning disk '/vmfs/volumes/himalaya-local-SATA.RE4-GP:Storage/scofield/scofield_2.vmdk'...
Clone: 100% done.
Destination disk format: VMFS thin-provisioned
Cloning disk '/vmfs/volumes/himalaya-local-SATA.RE4-GP:Storage/scofield/scofield_1.vmdk'...
Clone: 100% done.
2011-03-13 15:40:55 -- info: Backup Duration: 2 Seconds
2011-03-13 15:40:55 -- info: Successfully completed backup for scofield!
2011-03-13 15:40:57 -- info: CONFIG - VERSION = 2011_03_13_1
2011-03-13 15:40:57 -- info: CONFIG - GHETTOVCB_PID = 2967
2011-03-13 15:40:57 -- info: CONFIG - VM_BACKUP_VOLUME = /vmfs/volumes/dlgCore-NFS-bigboi.VM-Backups/WILLIAM_BACKUPS
2011-03-13 15:40:57 -- info: CONFIG - VM_BACKUP_ROTATION_COUNT = 3
2011-03-13 15:40:57 -- info: CONFIG - VM_BACKUP_DIR_NAMING_CONVENTION = 2011-03-13_15-40-50
2011-03-13 15:40:57 -- info: CONFIG - DISK_BACKUP_FORMAT = thin
2011-03-13 15:40:57 -- info: CONFIG - POWER_VM_DOWN_BEFORE_BACKUP = 0
2011-03-13 15:40:57 -- info: CONFIG - ENABLE_HARD_POWER_OFF = 0
2011-03-13 15:40:57 -- info: CONFIG - ITER_TO_WAIT_SHUTDOWN = 3
2011-03-13 15:40:57 -- info: CONFIG - POWER_DOWN_TIMEOUT = 5
2011-03-13 15:40:57 -- info: CONFIG - SNAPSHOT_TIMEOUT = 15
2011-03-13 15:40:57 -- info: CONFIG - LOG_LEVEL = info
2011-03-13 15:40:57 -- info: CONFIG - BACKUP_LOG_OUTPUT = /tmp/ghettoVCB.log
2011-03-13 15:40:57 -- info: CONFIG - VM_SNAPSHOT_MEMORY = 0
2011-03-13 15:40:57 -- info: CONFIG - VM_SNAPSHOT_QUIESCE = 0
2011-03-13 15:40:57 -- info: CONFIG - VMDK_FILES_TO_BACKUP = all
2011-03-13 15:40:57 -- info: CONFIG - EMAIL_LOG = 0
2011-03-13 15:40:57 -- info:
2011-03-13 15:40:59 -- info: Snapshot found for vMA, backup will not take place
2011-03-13 15:40:59 -- info: CONFIG - USING CONFIGURATION FILE = backup_config//vCloudConnector
2011-03-13 15:40:59 -- info: CONFIG - VERSION = 2011_03_13_1
2011-03-13 15:40:59 -- info: CONFIG - GHETTOVCB_PID = 2967
2011-03-13 15:40:59 -- info: CONFIG - VM_BACKUP_VOLUME = /vmfs/volumes/dlgCore-NFS-bigboi.VM-Backups/WILLIAM_BACKUPS
2011-03-13 15:40:59 -- info: CONFIG - VM_BACKUP_ROTATION_COUNT = 3
2011-03-13 15:40:59 -- info: CONFIG - VM_BACKUP_DIR_NAMING_CONVENTION = 2011-03-13_15-40-50
2011-03-13 15:40:59 -- info: CONFIG - DISK_BACKUP_FORMAT = thin
2011-03-13 15:40:59 -- info: CONFIG - POWER_VM_DOWN_BEFORE_BACKUP = 0
2011-03-13 15:40:59 -- info: CONFIG - ENABLE_HARD_POWER_OFF = 0
2011-03-13 15:40:59 -- info: CONFIG - ITER_TO_WAIT_SHUTDOWN = 4
2011-03-13 15:40:59 -- info: CONFIG - POWER_DOWN_TIMEOUT = 5
2011-03-13 15:40:59 -- info: CONFIG - SNAPSHOT_TIMEOUT = 15
2011-03-13 15:40:59 -- info: CONFIG - LOG_LEVEL = info
2011-03-13 15:40:59 -- info: CONFIG - BACKUP_LOG_OUTPUT = /tmp/ghettoVCB.log
2011-03-13 15:40:59 -- info: CONFIG - VM_SNAPSHOT_MEMORY = 0
2011-03-13 15:40:59 -- info: CONFIG - VM_SNAPSHOT_QUIESCE = 0
2011-03-13 15:40:59 -- info: CONFIG - VMDK_FILES_TO_BACKUP = vCloudConnector.vmdk
2011-03-13 15:40:59 -- info: CONFIG - EMAIL_LOG = 0
2011-03-13 15:40:59 -- info:
2011-03-13 15:41:01 -- info: Initiate backup for vCloudConnector
Destination disk format: VMFS thin-provisioned
Cloning disk '/vmfs/volumes/himalaya-local-SATA.RE4-GP:Storage/vCloudConnector/vCloudConnector.vmdk'...
Clone: 100% done.
2011-03-13 15:41:51 -- info: Backup Duration: 50 Seconds
2011-03-13 15:41:51 -- info: WARN: vCloudConnector has some Independent VMDKs that can not be backed up!
2011-03-13 15:41:51 -- info: ###### Final status: ERROR: Only some of the VMs backed up, and some disk(s) failed! ######
2011-03-13 15:41:51 -- info: ============================== ghettoVCB LOG END ================================
Please take a look at FAQ #25 for more details before continuing
To make use of this feature, modify the variable ENABLE_COMPRESSION from 0 to 1. Please note, do not mix uncompressed backups with compressed backups. Ensure that directories selected for backups do not contain any backups with previous versions of ghettoVCB before enabling and implementing the compressed backups feature.
nc (netcat) utility must be present for email support to function, this utility is a now a default with the release of vSphere 4.1 or greater, previous releases of VI 3.5 and/or vSphere 4.0 does not contain this utility. The reason this is listed as experimental is it may not be compatible with all email servers as the script utlizes nc (netcat) utility to communicate to an email server. This feature is provided as-is with no guarantees. If you enable this feature, a separate log will be generated along side any normal logging which will be used to email recipient. If for whatever reason, the email fails to send, an entry will appear per the normal logging mechanism.
Users should also make note due to limited functionality of netcat, it uses SMTP pipelining which is not the most ideal method of communicating with an SMTP server. Email from ghettoVCB may not work if your email server does not support this feature.
You can define an email recipient in the following two ways:
EMAIL_TO=william@virtuallyghetto.com
OR
EMAIL_TO=william@virtuallyghetto.com,tuan@virtuallyghetto.com
If you are running ESXi 5.1, you will need to create a custom firewall rule to allow your email traffic to go out which I will assume is default port 25. Here are the steps for creating a custom email rule.
Step 1 - Create a file called /etc/vmware/firewall/email.xml with contains the following:
<ConfigRoot>
<service>
<id>email</id>
<rule id="0000">
<direction>outbound</direction>
<protocol>tcp</protocol>
<porttype>dst</porttype>
<port>25</port>
</rule>
<enabled>true</enabled>
<required>false</required>
</service>
</ConfigRoot>
Step 2 - Reload the ESXi firewall by running the following ESXCLI command:
~ #
esxcli network firewall refresh
Step 3 - Confirm that your email rule has been loaded by running the following ESXCLI command:
~ # esxcli network firewall ruleset list | grep email
email true
Step 4 - Connect to your email server by usingn nc (netcat) by running the following command and specifying the IP Address/Port of your email server:
~ # nc 172.30.0.107 25
220 mail.primp-industries.com ESMTP Postfix
You should recieve a response from your email server and you can enter Ctrl+C to exit. This custom ESXi firewall rule will not persist after a reboot, so you should create a custom VIB to ensure it persists after a system reboot. Please take a look at this article for the details.
To make use of this feature, modify the variable RSYNC_LINK from 0 to 1. Please note, this is an experimental feature request from users that rely on rsync to replicate changes from one datastore volume to another datastore volume. The premise of this feature is to have a standardized folder that rsync can monitor for changes to replicate to another backup datastore. When this feature is enabled, a symbolic link will be generated with the format of "<VMNAME>-symlink" and will reference the latest successful VM backup. You can then rely on this symbolic link to watch for changes and replicate to your backup datastore.
Here is an example of what this would look like:
[root@himalaya ghettoVCB]# ls -la /vmfs/volumes/dlgCore-NFS-bigboi.VM-Backups/WILLIAM_BACKUPS/vcma/
total 0
drwxr-xr-x 1 nobody nobody 110 Sep 27 08:08 .
drwxr-xr-x 1 nobody nobody 17 Sep 16 14:01 ..
lrwxrwxrwx 1 nobody nobody 89 Sep 27 08:08 vcma-symlink -> /vmfs/volumes/dlgCore-NFS-bigboi.VM-Backups/WILLIAM_BACKUPS/vcma/vcma-2010-09-27_08-07-37
drwxr-xr-x 1 nobody nobody 58 Sep 27 08:04 vcma-2010-09-27_08-04-26
drwxr-xr-x 1 nobody nobody 58 Sep 27 08:06 vcma-2010-09-27_08-05-55
drwxr-xr-x 1 nobody nobody 58 Sep 27 08:08 vcma-2010-09-27_08-07-37
FYI - This feature has not been tested, please provide feedback if this does not work as expected.
To recover a VM that has been processed by ghettoVCB, please take a look at this document: Ghetto Tech Preview - ghettoVCB-restore.sh - Restoring VM's backed up from ghettoVCB to ESX(i) 3.5, ...
There may be a situation where you need to stop the ghettoVCB process and entering Ctrl+C will only kill off the main ghettoVCB process, however there may still be other spawn processes that you may need to identify and stop. Below are two scenarios you may encounter and the process to completely stop all processes related to ghettoVCB.
Step 1 - Press Ctrl+C which will kill off the main ghettoVCB instance
Step 2 - Search for any existing ghettoVCB process by running the following:
# ps -c | grep ghettoVCB | grep -v grep
3360136 3360136 tail tail -f /tmp/ghettoVCB.work/ghettovcb.Cs1M1x
Step 3 - Here we can see there is a tail command that was used in the script. We need to stop this process by using the kill command which accepts the PID (Process ID) which is identified by the first value on the far left hand side of the command. In this example, it is 3360136.
# kill -9 3360136
Note: Make sure you identify the correct PID, else you could accidently impact a running VM or worse your ESXi host.
Step 4 - Depending on where you stopped the ghettoVCB process, you may need to consolidate or remove any existing snapshots that may exist on the VM that was being backed up. You can easily do so by using the vSphere Client.
Step 1 - Search for the ghettoVCB process (you can also validate the PID from the logs)
~ # ps -c | grep ghettoVCB | grep -v grep
3360393 3360393 busybox ash ./ghettoVCB.sh -f list -d debug
3360790 3360790 tail tail -f /tmp/ghettoVCB.work/ghettovcb.deGeB7
Step 2 - Stop both the main ghettoVCB instance & tail command by using the kill command and specifying their respective PID IDs:
kill -9 3360393
kill -9 3360790
Step 3 - If a VM was in the process of being backed up, there is an additional process for the actual vmkfstools copy. You will need to identify the process for that and kill that as well. We will again use ps -c command and search for any vmkfstools that are running:
# ps -c | grep vmkfstools | grep -v grep
3360796 3360796 vmkfstools /sbin/vmkfstools -i /vmfs/volumes/himalaya-temporary/VC-Windows/VC-Windows.vmdk -a lsilogic -d thin /vmfs/volumes/test-dont-use-this-volume/backups/VC-Windows/VC-Windows-2013-01-26_16-45-35/VC-Windows.vmdk
Step 4 - In case there is someone manually running a vmkfstools, make sure you take a look at the command itself and that it maps back to the current VM that was being backed up before kill the process. Once you have identified the proper PID, go ahead and use the kill command:
# kill -9 3360796
Step 5 - Depending on where you stopped the ghettoVCB process, you may need to consolidate or remove any existing snapshots that may exist on the VM that was being backed up. You can easily do so by using the vSphere Client.
Please take a moment to read over what is a cronjob and how to set one up, before continuing
The task of configuring cronjobs on classic ESX servers (with Service Console) is no different than traditional cronjobs on *nix operating systems (this procedure is outlined in the link above). With ESXi on the other hand, additional factors need to be taken into account when setting up cronjobs in the limited shell console called Busybox because changes made do not persist through a system reboot. The following document will outline steps to ensure that cronjob configurations are saved and present upon a reboot.
Important Note: Always redirect the ghettoVCB output to /dev/null and/or to a log when automating via cron, this becomes very important as one user has identified a limited amount of buffer capacity in which once filled, may cause ghettoVCB to stop in the middle of a backup. This primarily only affects users on ESXi, but it is good practice to always redirect the output. Also ensure you are specifying the FULL PATH when referencing the ghettoVCB script, input or log files.
e.g.
0 0 * * 1-5 /vmfs/volumes/dlgCore-NFS-bigboi.VM-Backups/ghettoVCB.sh -f /vmfs/volumes/dlgCore-NFS-bigboi.VM-Backups/backuplist > /dev/null
or
0 0 * * 1-5 /vmfs/volumes/dlgCore-NFS-bigboi.VM-Backups/ghettoVCB.sh -f /vmfs/volumes/dlgCore-NFS-bigboi.VM-Backups/backuplist > /tmp/ghettoVCB.log
Task: Configure ghettoVCB.sh to execute a backup five days a week (M-F) at 12AM (midnight) everyday and send output to a unique log file
Configure on ESX:
1. As root, you'll install your cronjob by issuing:
[root@himalaya ~]# crontab -e
2. Append the following entry:
0 0 * * 1-5 /vmfs/volumes/dlgCore-NFS-bigboi.VM-Backups/ghettoVCB.sh -f /vmfs/volumes/dlgCore-NFS-bigboi.VM-Backups/backuplist > /vmfs/volumes/dlgCore-NFS-bigboi.VM-Backups/ghettoVCB-backup-$(date +\%s).log
3. Save and exit
[root@himalaya dlgCore-NFS-bigboi.VM-Backups]# crontab -e
no crontab for root - using an empty one
crontab: installing new crontab
4. List out and verify the cronjob that was just created:
[root@himalaya dlgCore-NFS-bigboi.VM-Backups]# crontab -l
0 0 * * 1-5 /vmfs/volumes/dlgCore-NFS-bigboi.VM-Backups/ghettoVCB.sh -f /vmfs/volumes/dlgCore-NFS-bigboi.VM-Backups/backuplist > /vmfs/volumes/dlgCore-NFS-bigboi.VM-Backups/ghettoVCB-backup-$(date +\%s).log
You're ready to go!
Configure on ESXi:
1. Setup the cronjob by appending the following line to /var/spool/cron/crontabs/root:
0 0 * * 1-5 /vmfs/volumes/simplejack-local-storage/ghettoVCB.sh -f /vmfs/volumes/simplejack-local-storage/backuplist > /vmfs/volumes/simplejack-local-storage/ghettoVCB-backup-$(date +\%s).log
If you are unable to edit/modify /var/spool/cron/crontabs/root, please make a copy and then edit the copy with the changes
cp /var/spool/cron/crontabs/root /var/spool/cron/crontabs/root.backup
Once your changes have been made, then "mv" the backup to the original file. This may occur on ESXi 4.x or 5.x hosts
mv /var/spool/cron/crontabs/root.backup /var/spool/cron/crontabs/root
You can now verify the crontab entry has been updated by using "cat" utility.
2. Kill the current crond (cron daemon) and then restart the crond for the changes to take affect:
On ESXi < 3.5u3
kill $(ps | grep crond | cut -f 1 -d ' ')
On ESXi 3.5u3+
~ # kill $(pidof crond)
~ # crond
On ESXi 4.x/5.0
~ # kill $(cat /var/run/crond.pid)
~ # busybox crond
On ESXi 5.1 to 6.x
~ # kill $(cat /var/run/crond.pid)
~ # crond
On ESXi 7.x
~ # kill $(cat /var/run/crond.pid)
~ # /usr/lib/vmware/busybox/bin/busybox crond
3. Now that the cronjob is ready to go, you need to ensure that this cronjob will persist through a reboot. You'll need to add the following two lines to /etc/rc.local (ensure that the cron entry matches what was defined above). In ESXi 5.1, you will need to edit /etc/rc.local.d/local.sh instead of /etc/rc.local as that is no longer valid.
On ESXi 3.5
/bin/kill $(pidof crond)
/bin/echo "0 0 * * 1-5 /vmfs/volumes/simplejack-local-storage/ghettoVCB.sh -f /vmfs/volumes/simplejack-local-storage/backuplist > /vmfs/volumes/simplejack-local-storage/ghettoVCB-backup-\$(date +\\%s).log" >> /var/spool/cron/crontabs/root
crond
On ESXi 4.x/5.0
/bin/kill $(cat /var/run/crond.pid)
/bin/echo "0 0 * * 1-5 /vmfs/volumes/simplejack-local-storage/ghettoVCB.sh -f /vmfs/volumes/simplejack-local-storage/backuplist > /vmfs/volumes/simplejack-local-storage/ghettoVCB-backup-\$(date +\\%s).log" >> /var/spool/cron/crontabs/root
/bin/busybox crond
On ESXi 5.1 to 6.x
/bin/kill $(cat /var/run/crond.pid)
/bin/echo "0 0 * * 1-5 /vmfs/volumes/simplejack-local-storage/ghettoVCB.sh -f /vmfs/volumes/simplejack-local-storage/backuplist > /vmfs/volumes/simplejack-local-storage/ghettoVCB-backup-\$(date +\\%s).log" >> /var/spool/cron/crontabs/root
crond
On ESXi 7.x
/bin/kill $(cat /var/run/crond.pid) > /dev/null 2>&1
/bin/echo "0 0 * * 1-5 /vmfs/volumes/simplejack-local-storage/ghettoVCB.sh -f /vmfs/volumes/simplejack-local-storage/backuplist > /vmfs/volumes/simplejack-local-storage/ghettoVCB-backup-\$(date +\\%s).log" >> /var/spool/cron/crontabs/root
/usr/lib/vmware/busybox/bin/busybox crond
Afterwards the file should look like the following:
~ # cat /etc/rc.local
#! /bin/ash
export PATH=/sbin:/bin
log() {
echo "$1"
logger init "$1"
}
#execute all service retgistered in /etc/rc.local.d
if [http:// -d /etc/rc.local.d |http:// -d /etc/rc.local.d ]; then
for filename in `find /etc/rc.local.d/ | sort`
do
if [ -f $filename ] && [ -x $filename ]; then
log "running $filename"
$filename
fi
done
fi
/bin/kill $(cat /var/run/crond.pid)
/bin/echo "0 0 * * 1-5 /vmfs/volumes/simplejack-local-storage/ghettoVCB.sh -f /vmfs/volumes/simplejack-local-storage/backuplist > /vmfs/volumes/simplejack-local-storage/ghettoVCB-backup-\$(date +\\%s).log" >> /var/spool/cron/crontabs/root
/bin/busybox crond
This will ensure that the cronjob is re-created upon a reboot of the system through a startup script
2. To ensure that this is saved in the ESXi configuration, we need to manually initiate an ESXi backup by running:
~ # /sbin/auto-backup.sh
config implicitly loaded
local.tgz
etc/vmware/vmkiscsid/vmkiscsid.db
etc/dropbear/dropbear_dss_host_key
etc/dropbear/dropbear_rsa_host_key
etc/opt/vmware/vpxa/vpxa.cfg
etc/opt/vmware/vpxa/dasConfig.xml
etc/sysconfig/network
etc/vmware/hostd/authorization.xml
etc/vmware/hostd/hostsvc.xml
etc/vmware/hostd/pools.xml
etc/vmware/hostd/vmAutoStart.xml
etc/vmware/hostd/vmInventory.xml
etc/vmware/hostd/proxy.xml
etc/vmware/ssl/rui.crt
etc/vmware/ssl/rui.key
etc/vmware/vmkiscsid/initiatorname.iscsi
etc/vmware/vmkiscsid/iscsid.conf
etc/vmware/vmware.lic
etc/vmware/config
etc/vmware/dvsdata.db
etc/vmware/esx.conf
etc/vmware/license.cfg
etc/vmware/locker.conf
etc/vmware/snmp.xml
etc/group
etc/hosts
etc/inetd.conf
etc/rc.local
etc/chkconfig.db
etc/ntp.conf
etc/passwd
etc/random-seed
etc/resolv.conf
etc/shadow
etc/sfcb/repository/root/interop/cim_indicationfilter.idx
etc/sfcb/repository/root/interop/cim_indicationhandlercimxml.idx
etc/sfcb/repository/root/interop/cim_listenerdestinationcimxml.idx
etc/sfcb/repository/root/interop/cim_indicationsubscription.idx
Binary files /etc/vmware/dvsdata.db and /tmp/auto-backup.31345.dir/etc/vmware/dvsdata.db differ
config implicitly loaded
Saving current state in /bootbank
Clock updated.
Time: 20:40:36 Date: 08/14/2009 UTC
Now you're really done!
If you're still having trouble getting the cronjob to work, ensure that you've specified the correct parameters and there aren’t any typos in any part of the syntax.
Ensure crond (cron daemon) is running:
ESX 3.x/4.0:
[root@himalaya dlgCore-NFS-bigboi.VM-Backups]# ps -ef | grep crond | grep -v grep
root 2625 1 0 Aug13 ? 00:00:00 crond
ESXi 3.x/4.x/5.x:
~ # ps | grep crond | grep -v grep
5196 5196 busybox crond
Ensure that the date/time on your ESX(i) host is setup correctly:
ESX(i):
[root@himalaya dlgCore-NFS-bigboi.VM-Backups]# date
Fri Aug 14 23:44:47 PDT 2009
Note: Careful attention must be noted if more than one backup is performed per day. Backup windows should be staggered to avoid contention or saturation of resources during these periods.
0Q: I'm getting error X when using the script or I'm not getting any errors, the backup didn’t even take place. What can I do?
0A: First off, before posting a comment/question, please thoroughly read through the ENTIRE documentation including the FAQs to see if your question has already been ansered.
1Q: I've read through the entire documentation + FAQs and still have not found my answer to the problem I'm seeing. What can I do?
1A: Please join the ghettoVCB Group to post your question/comment.
2Q: I've sent you private message or email but I haven't received a response? What gives?
2A: I do not accept issues/bugs reported via PM or email, I will reply back, directing you to post on the appropriate VMTN forum (that's what it's for). If the data/results you're providing is truely senstive to your environment I will hear you out, but 99.99% it is not, so please do not messsage/email me directly. I do monitor all forums that contain my script including the normal VMTN forums and will try to get back to your question as soon as I can and as time permits. Please do be patient as you're not the only person using the script (600,000+ views), thank you.
3Q: Can I schedule backups to take place hourly, daily, monthly, yearly?
3A: Yes, do a search online for crontab.
4Q: I would like to setup cronjob for ESX(i) 3.5 or 4.0?
4A: Take a look at the Cronjob FAQ section in this document.
5Q: I want to schedule my backup on Windows, how do I do this?
5A: Do a search for plink. Make sure you have paired SSH keys setup between your Windows system and ESX/ESXi host.
6Q: I only have a single ESXi host. I want to take backups and store them somewhere else. The problem is: I don't have NFS, iSCSI nor FC SAN. What can I do?
6A: You can use local storage to store your backups assuming that you have enough space on the destination datastore. Afterwards, you can use scp (WinSCP/FastSCP) to transfer the backups from the ESXi host to your local desktop.
7Q: I’m pissed; the backup is taking too long. My datastore is of type X?
7A: YMMV, take a look at your storage configuration and make sure it is optimized.
8Q: I noticed that the backup rotation is occurring after a backup. I don't have enough local storage space, can the process be changed?
8A: This is primarily done to ensure that you have at least one good backup in case the new backup fails. If you would like to modify the script, you're more than welcome to do so.
9Q: What is the best storage configuration for datastore type X?
9A: Search the VMTN forums; there are various configurations for the different type of storage/etc.
10Q: I want to setup an NFS server to run my backups. Which is the best and should it be virtual or physical?
10A: Please refer to answer 7A. From experience, we’ve seen physical instances of NFS servers to be faster than their virtual counterparts. As always, YMMV.
11Q: I have VMs that have snapshots. I want to back these things up but the script doesn’t let me do it. How do I fix that?
11A: VM snapshots are not meant to be kept for long durations. When backing up a VM that contains a snapshot, you should ensure all snapshots have been committed prior to running a backup. No exceptions will be made…ever.
12Q: I would like to restore from backup, what is the best method?
12A: The restore process will be unique for each environment and should be determined by your backup/recovery plans. At a high level you have the option of mounting the backup datastore and registering the VM in question or copy the VM from the backup datastore to the ESX/ESXi host. The latter is recommended so that you're not running a VM living on the backup datastore or inadvertently modifying your backup VM(s). You can also take a look at ghettoVCB-restore which is experimentally supported.
13Q: When I try to run the script I get: "-bash: ./ghettoVCB.sh: Permission denied", what is wrong?
13A: You need to change the permission on the script to be executable, chmod +x ghettoVCB.sh
14Q: Where can I download the latest version of the script?
14A: The latest version is available on on github - https://github.com/lamw/ghettoVCB/downloads
15Q: I would like to suggest/recommend feature X, can I get it? When can I get it? Why isn't it here, what gives?
15A: The general purpose of this script is to provide a backup solution around VMware VMs. Any additional features outside of that process will be taken into consideration depending on the amount of time, number of requests and actual usefulness as a whole to the community rather than to an individual.
16Q: I have found this script to be very useful and would like to contribute back, what can I do?
16A: To continue to develop and share new scripts and resources with the community, we need your support. You can donate here Thank You!
17Q: What are the different type of backup uses cases that are supported with ghettoVCB?
17A: 1) Live backup of VM with the use of a snapshot and 2) Offline backup of a VM without a snapshot. These are the only two use cases supported by the script.
18Q: When I execute the script on ESX(i) I get some funky errors such as ": not found.sh" or "command not found". What is this?
18A: Most likely you have some ^M characters within the script which may have come from either editing the script using Windows editor, uploading the script using the datastore browser OR using wget. The best option is to either using WinSCP on Windows to upload the script and edit using vi editor on ESX(i) host OR Linux/UNIX scp to copy the script into the host. If you still continue to have the issue, do a search online on various methods of removing this Windows return carriage from the script
19Q: My backup works fine OR it works for a single backup but I get an error message "Input/output error" or "-ash: YYYY-MM-DD: not found" during the snapshot removal process. What is this?
19A: The issue has been recently identified by few users as a problem with user's NFS server in which it reports an error when deleting large files that take longer than 10seconds. VMware has recently released a KB article http://kb.vmware.com/kb/1035332 explaining the details and starting with vSphere 4.1 Update 2 or vSphere 5.0, a new advanced ESX(i) parameter has been introduced to increase the timeout. This has resolved the problem for several users and maybe something to consider if you are running into this issue, specifically with NFS based backups.
20Q: Will this script function with vCenter and DRS enabled?
20Q: No, if the ESX(i) hosts are in a DRS enabled cluster, VMs that are to be backed up could potentially be backed up twice or never get backed up. The script is executed on a per host basis and one would need to come up a way of tracking backups on all hosts and perhaps write out to external file to ensure that all VMs are backed up. The main use case for this script are for standalone ESX(i) host
21Q: I'm trying to use WinSCP to manually copy VM files but it's very slow or never completes on huge files, why is that?
21A: WinSCP was not designed for copying VM files out of your ESX(i) host, take a look at Veeam's FastSCP which is designed for moving VM files and is a free utility.
22Q: Can I use setup NFS Server using Windows Services for UNIX (WSFU) and will it work?
22A: I've only heard a handful of users that have successfully implemented WSFU and got it working, YMMV. VMware also has a KB article decribing the setup process here: http://kb.vmware.com/kb/1004490 for those that are interested. Here is a thread on a user's experience between Windows Vs. Linux NFS that maybe helpful.
23Q: How do VMware Snapshots work?
23A: http://kb.vmware.com/kb/1015180
24Q: What files make up a Virtual Machine?
24A: http://virtualisedreality.wordpress.com/2009/09/16/quick-reminder-of-what-files-make-up-a-virtual-ma...
25Q: I'm having some issues restoring a compressed VM backup?
25A: There is a limitation in the size of the VM for compression under ESXi 3.x & 4.x, this limitation is in the unsupported Busybox console and should not affect classic ESX 3.x/4.x. On ESXi 3.x, the maximum largest supported VM is 4GB for compression and on ESXi 4.x the largest supported VM is 8GB. If you try to compress a larger VM, you may run into issues when trying to extract upon a restore. PLEASE TEST THE RESTORE PROCESS BEFORE MOVING TO PRODUCTION SYSTEMS!
26Q: I'm backing up my VM as "thin" format but I'm still not noticing any size reduction in the backup? What gives?
2bA: Please refer to this blog post which explains what's going on: http://www.yellow-bricks.com/2009/07/31/storage-vmotion-and-moving-to-a-thin-provisioned-disk/
27Q: I've enabled VM_SNAPSHOT_MEMORY and when I restore my VM it's still offline, I thought this would keep it's memory state?
27A: VM_SNAPSHOT_MEMORY is only used to ensure when the snapshot is taken, it's memory contents are also captured. This is only relavent to the actual snapshot itself and it's not used in any shape/way/form in regards to the backup. All backups taken whether your VM is running or offline will result in an offline VM backup when you restore. This was originally added for debugging purposes and in generally should be left disabled
28Q: Can I rename the directories and the VMs after a VM has been backed up?
28A: The answer yes, you can ... but you may run into all sorts of issues which may break the backup process. The script expects a certain layout and specific naming scheme for it to maintain the proper rotation count. If you need to move or rename a VM, please take it out of the directory and place it in another location
29Q: Can ghettoVCB support CBT (Change Block Tracking)?
29A: No, that is a functionality of the vSphere API + VDDK API (vSphere Disk Development Kit). You will need to look at paid solutions such as VMware vDR, Veeam Backup & Recovery, PHD Virtual Backups, etc. to leverage that functionailty.
30Q: Does ghettoVCB support rsync backups?
30A: Currently ghettoVCB does not support rsync backups, you either obtain or compile your own static rsync binary and run on ESXi, but this is an unsupported configuration. You may take a look at this blog post for some details.
31Q: How can I contribute back?
31A: You can provide feedback/comments on the ghettoVCB Group. If you have found this script to be useful and would like to contribute back, please click here to donate.
32Q: How can select individual VMDKs to backup from a VM?
32A: Ideally you would use the "-c" option which requires you to create individual VM configuration file, this is where you would select specific VMDKs to backup. Note, that if you do not need to define all properties, anything not defined will adhere from the default global properties whether you're editing the ghettoVCB.sh script or using ghettoVCB global configuration file. It is not recommended that you edit the ghettoVCB.sh script and modify the VMDK_FILES_TO_BACKUP variable, but if you would like to keep everything in one script, you may add the extensive list of VMDKs to backup but do know this can get error prone as script may be edited frequently and lose some flexibility to support multiple environments.
33Q: Why is email not working when I'm using ESXi 5.x but it worked in ESXi 4.x?
33A: ESXi 5.x has implemented a new firewall which requires the email port that is being used to be opened. Please refer to the following articles on creating a custom firewall rule for email:
http://www.virtuallyghetto.com/2012/09/creating-custom-vibs-for-esxi-50-51.html
How to Create Custom Firewall Rules in ESXi 50
How to Persist Configuration Changes in ESXi 4.x/5.x Part 1
How to Persist Configuration Changes in ESXi 4.x/5.x Part 2
34Q: How do I stop the ghettoVCB process?
34A: Take a look at the Stopping ghettoVCB Process section of the documentation for more details.
Many have asked what is the best configuration and recommendation for setting up a cheap NFS Server to run backups for VMs. This has been a question we've tried to stay away from just because the possiblities and solutions are endless. One can go with physical vs. virtual, use VSA (Virtual Storage Appliances) such as OpenFiler or Lefthand Networks, Windows vs. Linux/UNIX. We've not personally tested and verify all these solutions and it all comes down to "it depends" type of answer. Though from our experience, we've had much better success with a physical server than a virtual.
It is also well known that some users are experiencing backup issues when running specifically against NFS, primarily around the rotation and purging of previous backups. The theory from what we can tell by talking to various users is that when the rotation is occuring, the request to delete the file(s) may take awhile and does not return within a certain time frame and causes the script to error out with unexpected messages. Though the backups were successful, it will cause unexpected results with directory structures on the NFS target. We've not been able to isolate why this is occuring and maybe due to NFS configuration/exports or hardware or connection not being able to support this process.
We'll continue to help where we can in diagonising this issus but we wanted to share our current NFS configuration, perhaps it may help some users who are new or trying to setup their system. ( Disclaimer: These configurations are not recommendations nor endorsement for any of the components being used)
UPDATE: Please also read FAQ #19 for details + resolution
Server Type: Physical
Model: HP DL320 G2
OS: Arch linux 2.6.28
Disks: 2 x 1.5TB
RAID: Software RAID1
Source Host Backups: ESX 3.5u4 and ESX 4.0u1 (We don't run any ESXi hosts)
uname -a output
Linux XXXXX.XXXXX.ucsb.edu 2.6.28-ARCH #1 SMP PREEMPT Sun Jan 18 20:17:17 UTC 2009 i686 Intel(R) Pentium(R) 4 CPU 3.06GHz GenuineIntel GNU/Linux
NICs:
00:05.0 Ethernet controller: Broadcom Corporation NetXtreme BCM5702X Gigabit Ethernet (rev 02)
00:06.0 Ethernet controller: Broadcom Corporation NetXtreme BCM5702X Gigabit Ethernet (rev 02)
NFS Export Options:
/exports/vm-backups XXX.XXX.XXX.XXX/24(rw,async,all_squash,anonuid=99,anongid=99)
*One important thing to check is to verify that your NFS exportion options are setup correctly, "async" should be configured to ensure that all IO requests are processed and reply back to the client before waiting for the data to be written to the storage.
*Recently VMware released a KB article describing the various "Advanced NFS Options" and their meanings and recommendations: http://kb.vmware.com/kb/1007909 We've not personally had to touch any of these, but for other vendors such as EMC and NetApp, there are some best practices around configuring some of these values depending on the number of NFS volumes or number of ESX(i) host connecting to a volume. You may want to take a look to see if any of these options may help with NFS issue that some are seeing
*Users should also try to look at their ESX(i) host logs during the time interval when they're noticing these issues and see if they can find any correlation along with monitoring the performance on their NFS Server.
*Lastly, there are probably other things that can be done to improve NFS performance or further optimization, a simple search online will also yield many resources.
Windows utility to email ghettoVCB Backup Logs - http://www.waldrondigital.com/2010/05/11/ghettovcb-e-mail-rotate-logs-batch-file-for-vmware/
Windows front-end utility to ghettoVCB - http://www.magikmon.com/mkbackup/ghettovcb.en.html
Note: Neither of these tools are supported, for questions or comments regarding these utilities please refer to the author's pages.
Enhancements:
Fixes:
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Big thanks to Alain Spineux and his contributions to the ghettoVCB script and helping with debugging and testing.
Enhancements:
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Big thanks goes out to the community for the suggested features and to those that submitted snippet of their modifications.
Updated FAQ #20-24 for common issues/questions. Also included a new section about our "personal" NFS configuration and setup.
Fix the crontab section to reflect the correct syntax + updated FAQ #17,#18 and #19 for common issues.
The following enhancements and fixes have been implemented in this release of ghettoVCB. Special thanks goes out to all the ghettoVCB BETA testers for providing time and their environments to test features/fixes of the new script!
Enhancements:
Fixes:
Thanks for the info, I can take a look into this but having the extra "echo" statement should not make a difference. If this was an issue, there probably would have been more reports.
=========================================================================
William Lam
VMware vExpert 2009,2010
VMware scripts and resources at:
Getting Started with the vMA (tips/tricks)
Getting Started with the vSphere SDK for Perl
VMware Code Central - Scripts/Sample code for Developers and Administrators
If you find this information useful, please award points for "correct" or "helpful".
Due to size constraints, how can I modify the ghettoVCB script to delete the old backup first?
This is something you'll need to investigate and modify in the script, I can't provide any details else I would be performing the work myself. I would recommend that you have sufficient space for your backups meaning that you can hold at least 2 copies for any given VM. If you have 2 separate NFS servers, you can easily set policies to only keep 1 backup per device and use a cronjob to alternate the configurations based on the days. This would allow you to keep 1 copy on each NFS server and overall have at least 2 copies.
=========================================================================
William Lam
VMware vExpert 2009,2010
VMware scripts and resources at:
Getting Started with the vMA (tips/tricks)
Getting Started with the vSphere SDK for Perl
VMware Code Central - Scripts/Sample code for Developers and Administrators
If you find this information useful, please award points for "correct" or "helpful".
If you take a look at your earlier log posts from the script:
Cloning disk '/vmfs/volumes/VMDataStore1/Rainier-2010-06-22_18-58-43/Rainier-0.vmdk'... ...^MClone: 84% done.Failed to clone disk : Insufficient permission to access file (38).
you'll notice the issue had nothing to do with the script but more of a permission issue on your NFS server. This most likely prevent your backups to go though. I would bet that something changed with regards to the permissions on your NFS server that allowed the backups to complete properly.
=========================================================================
William Lam
VMware vExpert 2009,2010
VMware scripts and resources at:
Getting Started with the vMA (tips/tricks)
Getting Started with the vSphere SDK for Perl
VMware Code Central - Scripts/Sample code for Developers and Administrators
If you find this information useful, please award points for "correct" or "helpful".
Thanks for addressing this, so let me clarify..
1) Although the error says "permission" I believe it's actually because the disk is full (it happens at the same point in the copy every time and the first 83 files all are occupying the full 2GB.
2) I am the only one with access to the NFS server (Windows Box) and its WSFU NFS configuration and nothing changed over the weekend while I was away to make it suddenly work. (I know - that's weird).
I realize this is not an issue with the script, but rather with either the NFS server or VMWare itself. I am mostly interested to see if anyone has ever experienced the same problem with 2gbsparse file copies so that I might get some insight into what is happening...
Thanks!
/ghettoVCB # vmware -v
VMware ESXi 4.0.0 build-208167
==========================================================================================
Running this command...
/ghettoVCB # ./ghettoVCB.sh -f vms_to_backup
where vms_to_backup has 1 host in it to test
==========================================================================================
Here is the output...
==========================================================================================
./ghettoVCB.sh: line 15: SNAPSHOT_TIMEOUT: not found
./ghettoVCB.sh: line 16: LOG_LEVEL: not found
./ghettoVCB.sh: line 17: BACKUP_LOG_OUTPUT: not found
sh: 1: unknown operand
2010-07-15 19:36:24 -- info: ============================== ghettoVCB LOG START ==============================
2010-07-15 19:36:24 -- info: CONFIG - VM_BACKUP_VOLUME = /vmfs/volumes/datastore1/backups/
2010-07-15 19:36:24 -- info: CONFIG - VM_BACKUP_ROTATION_COUNT = 2
2010-07-15 19:36:24 -- info: CONFIG - VM_BACKUP_DIR_NAMING_CONVENTION = 2010-07-15_19-36-24
2010-07-15 19:36:24 -- info: CONFIG - DISK_BACKUP_FORMAT =
2010-07-15 19:36:24 -- info: CONFIG - ADAPTER_FORMAT =
2010-07-15 19:36:24 -- info: CONFIG - POWER_VM_DOWN_BEFORE_BACKUP = 0
2010-07-15 19:36:24 -- info: CONFIG - ENABLE_HARD_POWER_OFF = 0
2010-07-15 19:36:24 -- info: CONFIG - ITER_TO_WAIT_SHUTDOWN = 3
2010-07-15 19:36:24 -- info: CONFIG - POWER_DOWN_TIMEOUT = 5
2010-07-15 19:36:24 -- info: CONFIG - SNAPSHOT_TIMEOUT = 15
2010-07-15 19:36:24 -- info: CONFIG - LOG_LEVEL = info
2010-07-15 19:36:24 -- info: CONFIG - BACKUP_LOG_OUTPUT = stdout
2010-07-15 19:36:24 -- info: CONFIG - VM_SNAPSHOT_MEMORY = 0
2010-07-15 19:36:24 -- info: CONFIG - VM_SNAPSHOT_QUIESCE = 0
2010-07-15 19:36:24 -- info: CONFIG - VMDK_FILES_TO_BACKUP = all
sh: 1: unknown operand
2010-07-15 19:36:27 -- info: Initiate backup for sync.domain.local
2010-07-15 19:36:27 -- info: Creating Snapshot "ghettoVCB-snapshot-2010-07-15" for sync.domain.local
2010-07-15 19:36:31 -- info: Removing snapshot from sync.domain.local ...
2010-07-15 19:36:37 -- info: Backup Duration: 10 Seconds
2010-07-15 19:36:37 -- info: Successfully completed backup for sync.domain.local!
sh: 1: unknown operand
2010-07-15 19:36:37 -- info: ###### Final status: All VMs backed up OK! ######
2010-07-15 19:36:37 -- info: ============================== ghettoVCB LOG END ================================
==========================================================================================
Check the location... All I see is the vmx - where's the beef?
ls -alh /vmfs/volumes/datastore1/backups/sync.domain.local/sync.domain.local-2010-07-15_19-24-31/
drwxr-xr-x 1 root root 420 Jul 15 19:24 .
drwxr-xr-x 1 root root 560 Jul 15 19:36 ..
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 2.9k Jul 15 19:24 sync.domain.local.vmx
==========================================================================================
I see the "sh: 1: unknown operand" errors... Am i missing something? my guess is it is looking for a command that does not exist?
-R
Looks like the script was either edited incorrectly or there's some syntax errors as you should not be seeing those "unknown operand". Try to re-download the script and extract the contents on the ESXi host if you are not doing that already.
Please take a look at FAQ #0 and #1
=========================================================================
William Lam
VMware vExpert 2009,2010
VMware scripts and resources at:
Getting Started with the vMA (tips/tricks)
Getting Started with the vSphere SDK for Perl
VMware Code Central - Scripts/Sample code for Developers and Administrators
If you find this information useful, please award points for "correct" or "helpful".
Hi,
i just tried to backup and then restore some of my VMs. I have ESXi 4.0 installed and after a restart all my backup scripts and configs were gone! I asked google and it told me:
"Because the in-memory file system does not persist when the power is shut down, log files do not survive a reboot. ESXi has the ability to configure a remote syslog server, enabling you to save all log information on an external system."
My Question: Is it even possible to use GhettoVCB if all the files are deleted after a reboot?
Thank you for your answers!
Dear Jan
If you search through this page for rc.local you'll see a reference explaining what you need to do. So long as you put the backup script somewhere under /vmfs/volumes/datastore1 then it won't get deleted (this is where the vm's are also stored in a standard local setup).
Dear hyperguru,
thank you for your answer but I already figured it out myself.
FYI, I figured out a way to start the backups and restores from a windows server with scheduled tasks and WinSCP. WinSCP has a quite good way to get this done, if someone's interested heres the link:
Hi there,
I am having trouble backing up some machines on ESXi 4.0.
The message I get is
2010-07-23 07:31:11 -- info: Backup Duration: 0 Seconds
and really there is nothing done.
Other machines on the same host get backed up normally.
Anyone any idea?
found a solution (workaround) myself.
This problem is caused by the "Independent" setting of the HDD of the VM.
Looks like an "undocumented feature" or do I miss any parameter in the configuration?
I am using the latest version of the script and it surprises me that there is a comment like this
"Fixes: Independent disk aware " in the changelog for 11/17/09
Anyone any idea?
I would like to know whether it is possible to have two configuration file for both online snapshot or powered off vm because I have a configuration which will take snapshot if the VMs are power on. However sometimes if we shutdown the VM accidentally and we use the online configuration. The snapshot of powered off vm will fail and the backup of that vm fails too. I wonder if we can check the power status of a VM and switch to suitable settings. Eg. there are 5 vms and 4 are powered on and one is powered off. when we run the backup, it will snapshot those 4 vms and skip snapshot of powered off one. Thanks
Hi lamw
I tested your new feature: email backup logs
I cannot help remarking that usage netcat is briliant idea.
However I identified that it has problem with my SMTP server (Lotus Domino)
I analyzed it and I think that I found reason and solution.
It will work correctly after adding of characters for new line and carriage return in command echo,
i.e.
echo -n -e "HELO $(hostname -s)\r\n" >> "$" echo -n -e "MAIL FROM: <$>\r\n" >> "$"
etc.
For more information:
http://fixunix.com/security/17957-telnet-vs-netcat.html
Please, will you do adequate changes in your ghetto script in your free time?
Thanks
P.S.
Can you extend global configuration for definition log file?
If yes and if it supports variables, your script will be perfect...
Hi all,
Does anyone know where I can view
Detail instructions on how to configure/schedule ghettoVCB on Windows (Raj Perumal's The World Runs on Technology Blog):
The inserted hyperlinks go to site that doesn't compliment whats stated. Thanks
What about the use of MKBackup ? http://www.magikmon.com/mkbackup/ghettovcb.html
Hm, it looks like Raj's blog no longer exists. He did have a very nice write up, perhaps you can find it via Google Cache
In the meantime, if you know how to execute the script using plink, then you can just setup a normal schedule task in Windows. I'm not a Windows expert, so can't provide all the details but I'm sure you find plenty of information about plink & windows scheduler online
=========================================================================
William Lam
VMware vExpert 2009,2010
VMware scripts and resources at:
Getting Started with the vMA (tips/tricks)
Getting Started with the vSphere SDK for Perl
VMware Code Central - Scripts/Sample code for Developers and Administrators
If you find this information useful, please award points for "correct" or "helpful".
Hi,
I am testing this script atm. I am currently running it from datastore1. My vms are in datastore3. My dry run works fine along with other conf like exclusion list etc. I will want to try global -g, I configured the the sample conf and put the path to it but no work. I am using a netapp box and conf with nfs as backup destination. I think i setup the nfs share wrong, I made it only at the vol level (vol/vol1), I didn't associate a qtree to compliment nfs path. None of the less nfs is enabled and with root privilige read write access and I put the share path in the script conf. I will re try with a qtree. During the backup I checked connections on the netapp box and didn't see any from the esxi host to the box nor did I see calls. My real question is that I ran a backup and it ran successful. Where did the backups go?; the logs don't output destination. I didn't get chance to check a couple things but what do you think or adivce, see log below:
/vmfs/volumes/4ba20621-11d5b991-3893-001b2150a7fe/ghettoVCB # ./ghettoVCB.sh -a -e vm_exclusion_list
2002-02-14 01:46:04 -- info: ============================== ghettoVCB LOG START ==============================
2002-02-14 01:46:04 -- info: CONFIG - VM_BACKUP_VOLUME = /vmfs/volumes/datastore3/RYANS_BACKUPS
2002-02-14 01:46:04 -- info: CONFIG - VM_BACKUP_ROTATION_COUNT = 5
2002-02-14 01:46:04 -- info: CONFIG - VM_BACKUP_DIR_NAMING_CONVENTION = 2002-02-14_01-46-04
2002-02-14 01:46:04 -- info: CONFIG - DISK_BACKUP_FORMAT = thin
2002-02-14 01:46:04 -- info: CONFIG - ADAPTER_FORMAT = buslogic
2002-02-14 01:46:04 -- info: CONFIG - POWER_VM_DOWN_BEFORE_BACKUP = 0
2002-02-14 01:46:04 -- info: CONFIG - ENABLE_HARD_POWER_OFF = 0
2002-02-14 01:46:04 -- info: CONFIG - ITER_TO_WAIT_SHUTDOWN = 3
2002-02-14 01:46:04 -- info: CONFIG - POWER_DOWN_TIMEOUT = 5
2002-02-14 01:46:04 -- info: CONFIG - SNAPSHOT_TIMEOUT = 15
2002-02-14 01:46:04 -- info: CONFIG - LOG_LEVEL = info
2002-02-14 01:46:04 -- info: CONFIG - BACKUP_LOG_OUTPUT = stdout
2002-02-14 01:46:04 -- info: CONFIG - VM_SNAPSHOT_MEMORY = 0
2002-02-14 01:46:04 -- info: CONFIG - VM_SNAPSHOT_QUIESCE = 0
2002-02-14 01:46:04 -- info: CONFIG - VMDK_FILES_TO_BACKUP = all
2002-02-14 01:46:04 -- info: CONFIG - EMAIL_LOG = 0
2002-02-14 01:46:04 -- info:
2002-02-14 01:46:07 -- info: Initiate backup for Windows Server 2003 Lab DNS
Destination disk format: VMFS thin-provisioned
Cloning disk '/vmfs/volumes/datastore3/Windows Server 2003 Lab DNS/Windows Server 2003 Lab DNS.vmdk'...
Clone: 43% done.#exclusion list
Clone: 49% done.T=vm_exclusion_list
2002-02-14 01:48:55 -- info: Backup Duration: 2.80 Minutes
2002-02-14 01:48:55 -- info: Successfully completed backup for Windows Server 2003 Lab DNS!
2002-02-14 01:48:56 -- info: Initiate backup for XP Client1
Destination disk format: VMFS thin-provisioned
Cloning disk '/vmfs/volumes/datastore3/XP Client1/XP Client1.vmdk'...
Clone: 85% done.
2002-02-14 01:52:17 -- info: Backup Duration: 3.35 Minutes
2002-02-14 01:52:17 -- info: Successfully completed backup for XP Client1!
2002-02-14 01:52:17 -- info: ###### Final status: All VMs backed up OK! ######
2002-02-14 01:52:17 -- info: ============================== ghettoVCB LOG END ==
Hi lamw,
read you my post form 30.7.2010 12:58 ?
Can you tell me your opinion ?
Thanks.
Please take a look at FAQ #0 and #1 before posting.
=========================================================================
William Lam
VMware vExpert 2009,2010
VMware scripts and resources at:
Getting Started with the vMA (tips/tricks)
Getting Started with the vSphere SDK for Perl
VMware Code Central - Scripts/Sample code for Developers and Administrators
If you find this information useful, please award points for "correct" or "helpful".
William,
Thanks for all of your hard work on this.
I actually did take the time to read all the posts here (it took 3 days... no joke). Several people asked how to kill this script if needed. If I remember right the prescribed way was to kill crond. And I found that if you were running it manually you would need to kill ash. Even though killing the script just leaves a mess that you have to go back and clean up, I would still feel better if there was a more specific way to kill the script.
I have added this to your script:
echo $$ > /var/run/ghetto.pid
This way I can find the process ID for the script and kill it off if necessary.
Is there any possibility something like this could find its way into your script?
I'm working with ESXi 4.1 so I don't know if this syntax would work for all of the supported versions or not... Although I suspect it would.
Hello William,
I am running your script since about 2 years now. Thanks a lot. Yesterday I updated the script to latest version to fix this NFS IO error while rotating the name, which sometimes oc. So config files etc. nothing changed. About 12 VMs are backuped well but two had a problem. Dryrun is ok and real backup is also starting. At about 70% it stops. No error , nothing. Also nothing to find in esx logs at this time. I did a backup with shutdown the VM. The only difference to other VMs is the size (about 200GB ). Source and dest. are both NFS and with your older script it worked without problems.
Anything what I could do ?
Hello shechtl
I have similar problem as you. Backup stop randomly without error, sometimes it finish in 89%, another time or other VM in 99%, never in 100%.
What do you use version? ESX classic or ESXi? 4.0 or 4.1?
Hi lamw,
excuse me, but I don't see the reason why I have to take look at FAQ. I know that netcat (nc) have problem send email on any SMTP servers.
You try read over this link: http://fixunix.com/security/17957-telnet-vs-netcat.html
Thanks.
I use esxi 4.0 build 261974, both problematic VMs are the last VMs in my backup vmlist (maybe thats a problem)
I guees that problem lies in the use of command vmkfstools.
New version of script have different definition for log file...
Perhaps in combination with NFS destination it not working well...
Please take a look at FAQ #0 and #1 before posting.
=========================================================================
William Lam
VMware vExpert 2009,2010
VMware scripts and resources at:
Getting Started with the vMA (tips/tricks)
Getting Started with the vSphere SDK for Perl
VMware Code Central - Scripts/Sample code for Developers and Administrators
If you find this information useful, please award points for "correct" or "helpful".
@vlho, my apologies, the comment was meant for @w1ll1ng
I thought I had replied to you but perhaps I might have gotten that mixed up with another thread. In any case, I've taken a look at your suggestions and is still testing the changes out. As mentioned in the documentation this is an experimental feature and provided as-is. Hopefully the fix will work for your email server along with others but it was expected that a few users will not be able to get this working depending on how their mail servers were configured. Also as an FYI, this was tested on generic Postfix installation and it works and I've also gotten confirmation from other users for the feature working on their mail servers.
I just want to make sure users are aware that this is not the only script I manage, I have more than 100+ and this is all done out of my free time.
I probably won't have the time to release an update before VMworld, this may probably come after. There are a few other things I wanted to add as well.
Thanks
=========================================================================
William Lam
VMware vExpert 2009,2010
VMware scripts and resources at:
Getting Started with the vMA (tips/tricks)
Getting Started with the vSphere SDK for Perl
VMware Code Central - Scripts/Sample code for Developers and Administrators
If you find this information useful, please award points for "correct" or "helpful".
Hi lamw,
thanks for your response, I'd like to remark that I did not want to push you, I was just asking.
And now about problem with unfinished backup.
I think that I know where's error.
In script is this row:
$ -i ... > "$" $2>&1
Redirect to $2>&1 ? $2 ?
I'd say that correctly is only 2>&1 without symbol "$" which indicates variable ($2 means second command line parameter)
Right?
@vlho
Yep, that looks like a problem but should not affect the actual backup. I'll get that fix in the next release.
=========================================================================
William Lam
VMware vExpert 2009,2010
VMware scripts and resources at:
Getting Started with the vMA (tips/tricks)
Getting Started with the vSphere SDK for Perl
VMware Code Central - Scripts/Sample code for Developers and Administrators
If you find this information useful, please award points for "correct" or "helpful".
@JonWeatherhead
Yep, that's a fair request. Though I don't want to rely on the actual filesystem to store the pid as it potentially could be removed by some other process (unlikely) but what I can do is capture and output the PID within the logs or stdout, depending on how you have your logging setup. This should help you identify the PID that is running and allow you to kill it
I'll add this to the backlog along with the other fixes/features
=========================================================================
William Lam
VMware vExpert 2009,2010
VMware scripts and resources at:
Getting Started with the vMA (tips/tricks)
Getting Started with the vSphere SDK for Perl
VMware Code Central - Scripts/Sample code for Developers and Administrators
If you find this information useful, please award points for "correct" or "helpful".
Hi lamw,
you had the right, I tested script with removed $ a clone finished in 99% again.
I tried remove complete string for redirection, i.e. > "$" 2>&1 and now backup work well.
However I do not know why.
Note:
I run script manualy with parameters: -f ... and -g ... without -l ...
Hi,
I am testing the script with nfs share as destination. The script works fine so with regard to backing up but can someone please explain why the dry run and log output of the backup went smooth and I can also verify the vm at the destination but i keep getting this duplicate name error even though it works see below:
(vim.fault.DuplicateName) {
dynamicType = ,
faultCause = (vmodl.MethodFault) null,
name = "metnetapp",
object = 'vim.Datastore:192.168.10.31:/vol/vol1/VMBACKUP',
msg = "The name 'metnetapp' already exists."
metnetapp is the name of my NFS server and I used it for the NFS_LOCAL_NAME in configs. One thing to note, on the first run of the script it did not show error. Does anyone have solution to this, thanks
Update, i realize that I am now seeing this error
2010-08-05 19:15:57 -- info: Initiate backup for XP Client1
2010-08-05 19:15:57 -- info: Creating Snapshot "ghettoVCB-snapshot-2010-08-05" for XP Client1
DISKLIB-LIB : Unable to get file system ID for filename "/vol/vol1/VMBACKUP/XP Client1/XP Client1-2010-08-05_19-15-55/XP Client1.vmdk"
Failed to clone disk : File too large (1769481)
I realize that this does not happen at all when using vmfs local storage as destination backup it works gr8, only with nfs, I really want to use the nfs to function properly
Advice plz!!
Hi lamw,
the following BUG / ERROR occurs when trying to backup VMware machines which names contain letters I've put in parentheses, here:
2010-08-06 03:26:33 -- info: Successfully completed backup for Debian NS3 Name Server!
--> this one works containing "only" blanks and letters.
2010-08-06 03:26:33 -- info: ERROR: failed to locate and extract VM_ID for Debian BROADCAST Server 1 (libamentum)!
--> this one fails, containing parantheses.
Do you have an idea how to fix this issue?
Thanks for your feedback,
-Florian
Ok lamw,
I got the your scripts to work stable. I was getting those intermittent issues mentioned above with name already exists and file too large sometimes.
That was whilst going direct to the nfs store using the NFS option in the script. I realized when using local stores it worked perfect. So instead of using nfs direct I mounted the nfs as a store so I could backup similar to vmfs. Works excellent along with cron as well.
I also used your ghetto restore script and it works excellent as well. I really appreciate your scripts m8
Is it possible to restore to a resource pool directly instead of manually sliding it back?
Hi Hackie
You can easily rename your VM from inside your VSphere client.
Remove parenthesis and avoid spaces !
I already did it myself without any issue.
Alain
Hi Alain,
thanks for your advice:
Renaming the VM from inside the VSphere client by replacing parenthesis by underscores did the trick here, too
Spaces/Blanks seem to work without any issue or do you know of any further trouble using spaces/blanks for the VM name?
-Florian
Thank you so much for such a great resource!
Your script works wonderfully; what I'm having issues with is starting and stopping the cron daemon in ESXi 4.1.0. Logged in as root, I'm using:
kill $(cat /var/run/crond.pid)
which returns:
"ash: cannot kill pid 438824: No such process"
The command is obviously pulling the process ID from the location, but I am unable to kill the process. This effectively eliminates my ability to run the script on a schedule, from the server itself. I wondered if perhaps VMware changed the user cron runs under, disallowing the root (?!) from being able to kill the process. I tried running the "su" command first, and was able to kill the process once. However, the service appeared to automatically restart with a different PID, and could not be killed subsequently, even after issuing the "su" command.
Any advise you could give would be mucho appreciated.
Thanks, again!
Hi,
I usually find the process by using the same command you used
'#cat /var/run/crond.pid'
which shows the process id e.g '12345'
then I kill it
'kill 12345'
then restart it
'busybox crond'
which should give you a new id, hope this helps
smcsupport,
Would killing the PID (aka ghettovcbg2 process) cleanly stop the backup job and remove snapshot created, etc...?
We use a pre script that executes backup at 6pm and ONLY if previous job is completed. It would be nice to specify a backup window and ghettovcbg2 know to stop/cleanup and end task at 7am. Only VDR 1.2 from vmWare has this that I know of.
That is exactly what "kill $(cat /var/run/crond.pid)" does. If I break it out into two separate commands, I get the same results. It does give me the PID; but when I try to kill that PID, it tells me there is no such process.
because its probably killed already, check the processes running after u re enable the busy box (ps), should be new id
There's a possibility that the pid file may still exists but the actual cron daemon is no longer running.
Can you run "ps | grep -i crond" and see if anything returns?
If it does not, then you can start cron by running "crond".
As FYI - In the next release, I'll be providing the PID of the ghettoVCB script in the logs if users need to stop the script for whatever reason.
=========================================================================
William Lam
VMware vExpert 2009,2010
VMware scripts and resources at:
Getting Started with the vMA (tips/tricks)
Getting Started with the vSphere SDK for Perl
VMware Code Central - Scripts/Sample code for Developers and Administrators
If you find this information useful, please award points for "correct" or "helpful".
hi,
a backup on the local disk works fine
i get an error if i backup on a nfs share: Failed to clone disk : The called function cannot be performed on partial chains. Please open the parent virtual disk (5).
my config:
VM_BACKUP_VOLUME=/vmfs/volumes/test/
DISK_BACKUP_FORMAT=zeroedthick
VM_BACKUP_ROTATION_COUNT=1
POWER_VM_DOWN_BEFORE_BACKUP=0
ENABLE_HARD_POWER_OFF=0
ITER_TO_WAIT_SHUTDOWN=3
POWER_DOWN_TIMEOUT=5
ENABLE_COMPRESSION=0
ADAPTER_FORMAT=lsilogic
VM_SNAPSHOT_MEMORY=0
VM_SNAPSHOT_QUIESCE=0
ENABLE_NON_PERSISTENT_NFS=1
UNMOUNT_NFS=0
NFS_SERVER=x.x.x.x
NFS_MOUNT=/vmfs/volumes/vmnpvstore/backup/
NFS_LOCAL_NAME=backup
NFS_VM_BACKUP_DIR=backups
my NFS config:
/vmfs/volumes/vmnpvstore/backup/ x.x.x.x(rw,async,all_squash,anonuid=99,anongid=99)
thx
This is an issue with the VMDK(s) for this specific VM - Here is a thread that may help -
I suggest you take a look at the VM to see if it had any snapshots in the past, generally chains are referring to snapshot chains.
=========================================================================
William Lam
VMware vExpert 2009,2010
VMware scripts and resources at:
Getting Started with the vMA (tips/tricks)
Getting Started with the vSphere SDK for Perl
VMware Code Central - Scripts/Sample code for Developers and Administrators
If you find this information useful, please award points for "correct" or "helpful".
Firstly, thanks for an excellent piece of code. I do have an issue with it not being fully rsync friendly due to the directory name changing, even with a rotation of 1. This directory name change forces a complete recopy of what rsync sees as a new directory with new files in it and of course deletes the previous directory on the destination.
What I would desperately like is a code change that does the following:
Suggest the following changes:
Variables
- VM_Backup_Rotation_count =1
- RSYNC_Friendly = 1
Script logic change.
-
Objective: Backs up to the same name directory (full path) each and every time. No Date or time stamp in the path. eg. Propose VM_BACKUP_VOLUM/VM_NAME/RSYNC/... This path is the only path that you would normally see except for the duration that the script runs... as per below.
How
-
- When creating the script it creates new backup in
/VM_BACKUP_VOLUM/VM_NAME/YYYY_MM_DD HH:MM:SS/.........
- When new backup is complete.
- Remove RSYNC dir.
- Rename YYYY_MM__DD HH:MM:SS directory to be RSYNC
Thanks in advance for any guidance/changes.
hi,
there is no snapshot on the vm. i only get the error if i backup to a nfs (the nfs is on another ESX4 host)
when i backup on local disk everything works fine.
thx
Hi
If you have only one directory in the "backup" directory, you can use the "shell wildcard " expansion.
I mean , instead of using this command
rsync -av /source/backup/ /target/
use instead :
rsync -av /source/backup/*/ /target/
If their is only one directory in /source/backup/, then whatever its name, its content will be synced into /target
You dont need to change the script.
Anyway William could create a symbolic name called "last" pointing always to the last backup.
This is easy and would help a lot.
Regards.
Appreciate the quick response to my query.
Being useless at Unix, I'm using a NAS appliance that simply requests nominating a 'share' on one NAS (where ghettoVCB backs up to) which it rsyncs to a share on a destination NAS appliance. I'm not comfortable using rsync at the shell level level to do wild card rsyncing and would like to continue to use standard appliance GUI for rsync config..
The symbolic linking idea is a GREAT IDEA though, if it works.
If RSYNC will in fact sync a 'linked to file/files' you could then simply set a flag in the script (for dummys like me who run appliance NASes) which creates a directory at the same level as the time stamped ones called (for example) "Last Backup". This would be symbolicly linked to the directory containing the last backup. I would then rsync that 'Last Backup" directory to the remote location.
Would this work?
@gregtjones
I would have to agree with Alain, symlink would be the best option and what I was thinking if this were to be implemented. Remember, this script is not meant to fit every single backup use case and there has not been a huge request for rsync support. Generally, feature request will be dictated by the amount of feedback I get as it's work that needs to be done both updating the script and testing.
What I would suggest is that you use ghettoVCB and do a normal backup, then manually create a symlink to the backup with the date. Then run rsync to see if it'll pick up the changes and you may want to do this for few additional backups and update the symlink pointer. If this works, I'll consider this for a feature release which most likely will be a flag that'll dynamically create a "common" symlink that is based ont he VM's name.
Thanks
How you can help - http://www.virtuallyghetto.com/p/how-you-can-help.html
=========================================================================
William Lam
VMware vExpert 2009,2010
VMware scripts and resources at:
Getting Started with the vMA (tips/tricks)
Getting Started with the vSphere SDK for Perl
VMware Code Central - Scripts/Sample code for Developers and Administrators
If you find this information useful, please award points for "correct" or "helpful".
There may have been a snapshot in the past, in any case, this is not an issue with the script.
If you can manually do a vmkfstools copy on the VMDK w/o issues, then the script should work. I would recommend you try that and setting up the destination on both local VMFS volume + NFS and see if the problem is the same as if you ran the script.
=========================================================================
William Lam
VMware vExpert 2009,2010
VMware scripts and resources at:
Getting Started with the vMA (tips/tricks)
Getting Started with the vSphere SDK for Perl
VMware Code Central - Scripts/Sample code for Developers and Administrators
If you find this information useful, please award points for "correct" or "helpful".