Good catch! I've been out of commission for a few days so I didn't see this till just now. The script you found is what I would have recommended. I do my backups the old fashion way too but if you need to get the whole machine, I have used scripts similar to this in the ESX world.
> I found a script on a VMWare community site that is a champ! It makes a > snapshot and does a backup then removes the snapshot, so you see no > downtime > unless you want it to. Here is the link: > > http://communities.vmware.com/docs/DOC-10382;jsessionid=5B6DF0EF2EFDE96949 > DF > F1547838FA9E > > -----Original Message----- > From: sysad...@tricubemedia.com [mailto:sysad...@tricubemedia.com] > Sent: Sunday, February 14, 2010 3:12 PM > To: qmailtoaster-list@qmailtoaster.com > Subject: Re: [qmailtoaster] Re: Virtual QMT > > I use a clone VM, then daily I shutdown the clone do an export. > If you use Vsphere4, and all the gimmicks, your can do " Live backup " IE > back up a Running VM. but it gets costly. > > I just use ESXi, as I sais above, I have a clone VM( using Jakes > replication > Videos ) then I shutdown clone, do the export to my NAS, . > > you can also just use the built in qmail-backup, scp that to your NAS etc. > > > > >> How are you guys backing up your VM's? I love the idea of using a >> virtual machine, and was playing with one that got pressed into service > this week. >> It appears to be running pretty smoothly, now I am going to try to >> fine tune it. My biggest concern is trying to back it up. I am >> hoping I can just tar the VM and move it to a NAS. Is this possible - >> or do I need to shut it down first. I would love the idea of a >> nightly backup of the entire VM. It would sure make restoration a snap. >> >> >>>> Jake Vickers wrote: >>>>> Eric Shubert wrote: >>>>>> Phil Leinhauser wrote: >>>>>>> >>>>>>> Is there anything like a load tester for QMT to mimic the 500 >>>>>>> user limit? >>>>>>> >>>>>> >>>>>> I don't know of one. (Doesn't mean there isn't one) >>>>>> >>>>>> It'd be nice to have a testing harness of some sort for QMT. >>>>>> Anyone up for writing one? >>>>>> >>>>> >>>>> One of the setups I was working on was Xen, but there is one running >>>>> ESX. They have 500 users, all using IMAP, and some users experience >>>>> 8-10 >>>>> minute lags in accessing their imap stores (or webmail). >>>>> IMAP processes have been increased, and the softlimit has also been >>>>> increased. >>>>> I do agree we could use some testing tools (this should be on the >>>>> devel >>>>> list, and can easily be added to the "tools" section of the > subversion >>>>> repo). >>>>> I used to have a script around here somewhere that dumped 10K emails >>>>> to >>>>> load test, but haven't used it in a long time and would have to > really >>>>> dig to find it. >>>>> I just wonder if the imap load isn't hitting a limitation in the >>>>> VMware >>>>> storage structure. The system has enough horse power and lots of RAM. >>>>> 'sar' shows the cpu is not working very hard. When running a 'du -sh >>>>> *' >>>>> on the /home/vpopmail/domains takes as long as 7 minutes on a couple >>>>> domains, which is what points me towards a VMware filesystem >>>>> suspicion, >>>>> since that "test" is not even using imap but straight file access. >>>> >>>> That's a good guess. I'll think about it a bit. >>>> >>>> Courier or Dovecot? (Not that it matters a whole lot if filesystem >>>> access is slow) >>>> >>>> Which elevator type is running on the guest? (noop appears to be best) >>>> Any idea which elevator ESX is configured to use? >>>> Which ESX version? >>>> >>>>> As a side thought - anyone ever looked at freshmeat on some pop/imap >>>>> testing tools? >>>>> >>> >>> >>> Courier is running. I may switch them to dovecot since it handles the >>> larger mailboxes better (some boxed are 7+ Gigs in total size). I still >>> think it's a filesystem issue though, as a 'du -sh' command takes so >>> long. >>> I do not have much more information as to the ESX setup however. They >>> did >>> have the mailstore mapped via NFS and switching that to a "local" >>> filesytem decreased the issues by 50% or more. They moved a busy host > to >>> another ESX server and that decreased the issues even more, but they >>> still >>> experience 1-3 issues per day, always during peak times. >>> >>> And when I compare that against a 1500+ user system I have on a >>> bare-metal >>> server (mixed pop3 and imap) that does not have any issues (and 1/2 the >>> hardware horsepower), the only other thing I can point a finger at at >>> this >>> point would be VMware. >>> >>> Some testing tools would be great to reproduce this type of thing. Did >>> anyone come up with any ideas yet? >>> >>> >>> > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- > -- > ----- >>> Qmailtoaster is sponsored by Vickers Consulting Group >>> (www.vickersconsulting.com) >>> Vickers Consulting Group offers Qmailtoaster support and >>> installations. >>> If you need professional help with your setup, contact them > today! >>> > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- > -- > ----- >>> Please visit qmailtoaster.com for the latest news, updates, and >>> packages. >>> >>> To unsubscribe, e-mail: >>> qmailtoaster-list-unsubscr...@qmailtoaster.com >>> For additional commands, e-mail: >>> qmailtoaster-list-h...@qmailtoaster.com >>> >>> >>> >> >> >> >> > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- > -- > ----- >> Qmailtoaster is sponsored by Vickers Consulting Group >> (www.vickersconsulting.com) >> Vickers Consulting Group offers Qmailtoaster support and >> installations. >> If you need professional help with your setup, contact them today! >> > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- > -- > ----- >> Please visit qmailtoaster.com for the latest news, updates, and >> packages. >> >> To unsubscribe, e-mail: >> qmailtoaster-list-unsubscr...@qmailtoaster.com >> For additional commands, e-mail: >> qmailtoaster-list-h...@qmailtoaster.com >> >> >> > > > > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- > -- > ----- > Qmailtoaster is sponsored by Vickers Consulting Group > (www.vickersconsulting.com) > Vickers Consulting Group offers Qmailtoaster support and > installations. > If you need professional help with your setup, contact them today! > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- > -- > ----- > Please visit qmailtoaster.com for the latest news, updates, and > packages. > > To unsubscribe, e-mail: > qmailtoaster-list-unsubscr...@qmailtoaster.com > For additional commands, e-mail: > qmailtoaster-list-h...@qmailtoaster.com > > > > > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- > ------- > Qmailtoaster is sponsored by Vickers Consulting Group > (www.vickersconsulting.com) > Vickers Consulting Group offers Qmailtoaster support and > installations. > If you need professional help with your setup, contact them today! > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- > ------- > Please visit qmailtoaster.com for the latest news, updates, and > packages. > > To unsubscribe, e-mail: > qmailtoaster-list-unsubscr...@qmailtoaster.com > For additional commands, e-mail: > qmailtoaster-list-h...@qmailtoaster.com > > >