I understand and good advice. I'm just thinking about using this on basic application servers without active databases, and even then, only as an secondary alternative to using the agent on each VM.
Roger Wright Network Administrator Evatone, Inc. 727.572.7076 x388 _____ From: Sam Cayze [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Wednesday, August 20, 2008 12:51 PM To: NT System Admin Issues Subject: RE: Backup Exec 12 & VMs That's a pretty 'harsh' way to copy a server. If there are databases or anything running on the guest, I would expect some corruption on a restore. It's the equivalent of unplugging a live server, and powering it back on again. I wouldn't do backup the virtual machines that way unless they are suspended. ________________________________ From: Roger Wright [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Wednesday, August 20, 2008 11:35 AM To: NT System Admin Issues Subject: RE: Backup Exec 12 & VMs Yep, version 12 agents include the ability to capture open files. So then I should be good to go, right? Roger Wright Network Administrator Evatone, Inc. 727.572.7076 x388 _____ From: mqcarp [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Wednesday, August 20, 2008 12:02 PM To: NT System Admin Issues Subject: Re: Backup Exec 12 & VMs Do you have the open file option for your BE? If so, then I see no reason why that would not work. On Wed, Aug 20, 2008 at 10:46 AM, Roger Wright <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: I just did a test. Last night I backed up the Virtual Machines folder on the host box as part of my normal backup routine. The single VM was running at the time. This morning I deleted that entire folder and restored it from the backup. I was able to restart the VM without a problem. So it appears that recovery of VMs will be relatively easy as long as I don't require recovery of individual files within the VM. Am I missing something here? Roger Wright Network Administrator Evatone, Inc. 727.572.7076 x388 _____ From: mqcarp [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Wednesday, August 20, 2008 10:03 AM To: NT System Admin Issues Subject: Re: Backup Exec 12 & VMs To back up the VMDK files, you will need a different tool. I think BE has an option now for that, but we use RangerPro, which, as you said, basically encapsulates the VM and can spot restore the entire VM to any host. It is made by Vizioncore. They also make a vReplicator product to do live replication of VMs. On Wed, Aug 20, 2008 at 8:53 AM, Roger Wright <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: So the agent on the host will not backup the .vm* files? It would seem that backing up these would allow for easier DR. Roger Wright Network Administrator Evatone, Inc. 727.572.7076 x388 _____ From: Sam Cayze [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Wednesday, August 20, 2008 12:02 AM To: NT System Admin Issues Subject: RE: Backup Exec 12 & VMs if only 1 Guest, and if you have spare BE agent license, I would just throw the agent on the guest and back it up directly. Don't really ever need to backup the host. (Assuming all the host does is VMware Server). BE agents on the host can't backup guests out of the box. But they can, if you get creative and start sceduling/scripting snapshots/suspends. Worth investigating once you start getting more Guests running on one hosts. ________________________________ From: Roger Wright [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Tuesday, August 19, 2008 7:46 PM To: NT System Admin Issues Subject: Backup Exec 12 & VMs Okay, I've just deployed my first VM using VMware Server - a non-essential server so I could get a feel for the process - and it's running well. Now... what do I need to do to back up this and any future machines with Backup Exec? Does the host BE agent cover the guests or do I need to place an agent on each? Or is that only necessary if I wish to restore files/folders within the VM? Roger Wright Network Administrator Evatone, Inc. 727.572.7076 x388 _____ "All new": Parts not interchangeable with previous model. ~ Finally, powerful endpoint security that ISN'T a resource hog! ~ ~ <http://www.sunbeltsoftware.com/Business/VIPRE-Enterprise/> ~
