Vmware Backup Guide

Virtual Machine Backup Guide
ESX 4.0, ESXi 4.0, and vCenter Server 4.0, Update 2 and later for ESX Server 3.5, ESX Server 3i version 3.5, VirtualCenter 2.5
Virtual Machine Backup Guide Revision: 20090521 Item: EN-000036-05
You can find the most up-to-date technical documentation on the VMware Web site at: http://www.vmware.com/support/ The VMware Web site also provides the latest product updates. If you have comments about this documentation, submit your feedback to: docfeedback@vmware.com
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Contents
AboutThisBook
1 BackingUpwithVMwareInfrastructure 11
BackupConcepts 11 WhattoBackUp 12 VirtualMachineContents 13 AccessingandManagingVirtualDiskFiles 13 BackupComponentsandApproaches 14 UsingTraditionalBackupMethods 15 TraditionalBackupConsiderations 16 BackingUptheESXServer3ServiceConsole 16 BackingUpVirtualMachines 17 RunningtheBackupClientinaVirtualMachine 17 RunningtheBackupClientintheESXServer3ServiceConsole RunningtheBackupServerinaVirtualMachine 20 TreatingVirtualMachinesasFilesonSharedStorage 21 UsingVMwareConsolidatedBackup 22
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2 VMwareConsolidatedBackup 23
VMwareConsolidatedBackupOverview 23 HowVMwareConsolidatedBackupWorks 24 VMwareConsolidatedBackupUsageModels 24 VMwareConsolidatedBackupWorkflow 28 TypesofBackups 29 PerformingImageLevelVirtualMachineBackups 30 PerformingFileLevelVirtualMachineBackups 30 VMwareConsolidatedBackupLimitations 30 ConsolidatedBackupSoftwareandHardwareRequirements 31 SettingUpVMwareConsolidatedBackup 32 ConfiguringVMwareESXServerandVirtualMachines 32 SettingUpaVCBProxy 33 ConfiguringWindowsontheVCBProxy 34
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ConfiguringNetworkingontheVCBProxy 35 ConfiguringThirdPartySoftwareontheVCBProxy 35 InstallingVMwareConsolidatedBackup 36 InstallingaBackupSoftwareIntegrationModule 36 ConfiguringVMwareConsolidatedBackup 37 ConfiguringUSERNAMEandPASSWORD 40 EnablingSSLCertificateVerification 41 ConfiguringSAN 43 UsingVMwareConsolidatedBackup 43 CreatingaVCBHelperVirtualMachine 44 AssigningBackupPrivilegestoaConsolidatedBackupUser 45 CreatingaVMwareConsolidatedBackupUserRole 45 CreatingaVMwareConsolidatedBackupProxyRole 46 GroupingVirtualMachines 47 ConfiguringBackupJobs 48 FirstTimeBackup 48 QuiescingMechanisms 49 UsingVMwareVSSComponents 50 UsingSYNCDriver 51 RunningCustomQuiescingScripts 51 AdvancedConfigurations 53 CancelingaBackupJob 53 CleaningUpAfteraFailedBackupJob 53 UpgradingConsolidatedBackup 54
3 RestorationandDisasterRecovery 55
RestoringVirtualMachinesUsingVMwareConsolidatedBackup 55 UsingVMwareConvertertoRestoreVirtualMachineImages 56 UsingthevcbRestoreUtilitytoRestoreVirtualMachines 56 CentralizedRestore 56 PerGroupRestore 57 DirectRestoretoaVirtualMachine 57 DataRecovery 57
4 BackupScenariosandTroubleshooting 59
BackupUsageScenarios 59 TypicalConsolidatedBackupUsageScenario 60 Troubleshooting 61 ChangingBackupPoliciesafterESXServer2.xUpgrades 61 IdentifyingVMFSVolumesinBackupGUI 61
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Contents
A UsingServiceConsoletoBackUpandRestoreVirtualMachines 63
GeneralConfigurationSettingsforConsolidatedBackupUtilities 64 ConfigurationFileSettings 64 BackingUpVirtualMachines 66 PerformingBackups 66 IdentifyingVirtualMachines 67 IdentifyingVirtualMachinesbyDNSNameorIPAddress 67 IdentifyingVirtualMachinesbyBIOSUUID 68 IdentifyingVirtualMachinesbyMoRef 68 DisplayingVirtualMachineInformation 69 SpecifyingBackupDestinations 69 BackingUptoaLocalDirectory 69 BackingUptoaRemoteServer 69 ArchivingVirtualMachines 70 RestoringVirtualMachines 71 RestoringVirtualMachinestoOriginalLocations 71 RestoringVirtualMachinestoAlternativeLocations 71 CopyingaCatalogFile 72 EditingaCatalogFile 72 RestoringVirtualMachinesUsinganAlternateCatalog 74 NonInteractiveUseofthevcbRestoreUtility 74 RestoringVirtualMachinesfromArchives 75
B RestoringVirtualMachinesfromESXServer2.5.xtoESXServer3.x 77
SettingConfigurationParameters 77 RestoringESX2.5.xServerVirtualMachines 78
Index 79
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About This Book
Thismanual,theVirtualMachineBackupGuide,providesinformationondifferent methodsyoucanusetoperformbackupandrestoretasks.Italsodescribeshowtoset upanduseVMwareConsolidatedBackup,abackupsolutionofferedbyVMware Infrastructure3andrecommendedtoperformdailybackupsforvirtualmachines residingonaFibreChanneloriSCSISAN,oronalocalstore. TheVirtualMachineBackupGuidecoversESX4.0,ESXi4.0,ESXServer3.5,andESX Server3iversion3.5.Foreaseofdiscussion,thisbookusesthefollowingproduct namingconventions: FortopicsspecifictoESX4.0,thisbookusesthetermESX4. FortopicsspecifictoESXi4.0,thisbookusesthetermESXi4. FortopicsspecifictoESXServer3.5,thisbookusesthetermESXServer3. FortopicsspecifictoESXServer3iversion3.5,thisbookusestheterm ESX Server 3. Fortopicscommontobothproducts,thisbookusesthetermESXServer. Whentheidentificationofaspecificreleaseisimportanttoadiscussion,thisbook referstotheproductbyitsfull,versionedname. WhenadiscussionappliestoallversionsofESXServerfor VMware Infrastructure 3,thisbookusesthetermESXServer3.x.
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Intended Audience
Thismanualisintendedforanyonewhowantstoperformbackupandrestoretasks usingVMwareInfrastructure.Theinformationinthismanualiswrittenfor experiencedWindowsorLinuxsystemadministratorswhoarefamiliarwithvirtual machinetechnologyanddatacenteroperations.
Document Feedback
VMwarewelcomesyoursuggestionsforimprovingourdocumentation.Ifyouhave comments,sendyourfeedbackto: docfeedback@vmware.com
VMware Infrastructure Documentation

TheVMwareInfrastructuredocumentationconsistsofthecombinedVMware VirtualCenterandESXServerdocumentationset.
Abbreviations Used in Figures

ThefiguresinthisbookusetheabbreviationslistedinTable 1. Table 1. Abbreviations
Abbreviation database datastore dsk# hostn SAN tmplt user# VC VM# Description VirtualCenterdatabase Storageforthemanagedhost Storagediskforthemanagedhost VirtualCentermanagedhosts Storageareanetworktypedatastoresharedbetweenmanagedhosts Template Userwithaccesspermissions VirtualCenter Virtualmachinesonamanagedhost
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About This Book
Technical Support and Education Resources

Thefollowingsectionsdescribethetechnicalsupportresourcesavailabletoyou.To accessthecurrentversionsofthisbookandotherbooks,goto: http://www.vmware.com/support/pubs.
Online and Telephone Support

Useonlinesupporttosubmittechnicalsupportrequests,viewyourproductand contractinformation,andregisteryourproducts.Goto: http://www.vmware.com/support Customerswithappropriatesupportcontractsshouldusetelephonesupportforthe fastestresponseonpriority1issues.Goto: http://www.vmware.com/support/phone_support.html
Support Offerings
FindouthowVMwaresupportofferingscanhelpmeetyourbusinessneeds.Goto: http://www.vmware.com/support/services
VMware Education Services

VMwarecoursesofferextensivehandsonlabs,casestudyexamples,andcourse materialsdesignedtobeusedasonthejobreferencetools.Formoreinformationabout VMwareEducationServices,goto: http://mylearn1.vmware.com/mgrreg/index.cfm
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Backing Up with VMware Infrastructure
Backup,restoration,anddisasterrecoveryareamongthemostcriticalprocessesof datacentermanagement.VMwareInfrastructureandVMwareESXServerprovide manydifferentsolutions,eachsuitableforaspecificenvironment,toperformbackup andrestoretasks. ThisintroductiondescribeswhichresourcesshouldbebackeduponanESXServer systemandexplainsoptionsavailableforthatbackup. Thischapterincludesthefollowingsections: BackupConceptsonpage 11 WhattoBackUponpage 12 BackupComponentsandApproachesonpage 14 UsingTraditionalBackupMethodsonpage 15 UsingVMwareConsolidatedBackuponpage 22
Backup Concepts
Thefollowingconceptsareessentialforyourunderstandingofbackupprocedures: Differentialbackup.Backsuponlythosefilesthathavechangedsincethelast full backup. Filelevelbackup.Atypeofbackupthatisdefinedattheleveloffilesandfolders. Fullbackup.Backsupallselectedfiles. Fullvirtualmachinebackup.Backsupallfilesthatcomprisetheentirevirtual machine.Thesefilesincludediskimages,.vmxfiles,andsoon. Imagelevel(volumelevel)backup.Backsupanentirestoragevolume.
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Incrementalbackup.Backsuponlyfilesthathavechangedsincethelastbackup, whetheritisafullorincrementalbackup. Quiescing.Aprocessofbringingtheondiskdataofaphysicalorvirtual computerintoastatesuitableforbackups.Thisprocessmightincludesuch operationssuchasflushingdirtybuffersfromtheoperatingsystemsinmemory cachetodisk,orotherhigherlevelapplicationspecifictasks. VCBproxy.InthecontextofVMwareConsolidatedBackup,VCBproxyisa physicalorvirtualmachinerunningMicrosoftWindowsServer2003, ConsolidatedBackup,andthirdpartybackupsoftware.Usedtoperformfilelevel andimagelevelvirtualmachinebackups.
What to Back Up
WithintheESXServerenvironment,youneedtobackupthefollowingmajoritems: Virtualmachinecontents.Thevirtualmachinedatayoubackupcaninclude virtualdisksorRawDeviceMappings(RDMs),configurationfiles,andsoon. Aswithphysicalmachines,youmustbackupvirtualmachinedataperiodicallyto preventitspotentialdamageandlossduetohumanortechnicalerrors. Generally,usethefollowingbackupscheduleforyourvirtualmachines: Attheimagelevel,performbackupsperiodicallyforWindowsandnightlyfor Linux.Forexample,backupabootdiskimageofaWindowsvirtualmachine onceaweek. Atthefilelevel,performbackupsonceaday.Forexample,backupfileson drivesD,E,andsooneverynight. Forinformationonhowtoworkwiththefiles,seeAccessingandManaging VirtualDiskFilesonpage 13. ServiceConsole(ESXServer3only).Theserviceconsole,acustomizedversionof Linux,istheESXServer3commandlinemanagementinterface.Itprovidestools andacommandpromptformoredirectmanagementofESXServer3.Withthe VI ClientbeingthemaininterfacetotheESXServer3host,usetheserviceconsole toperformonlyadvancedadministrationoperations. NOTEESXServer3idoesnothaveaserviceconsole. Duringitslifetime,theserviceconsoledoesnotexperienceanymajorchangesother thanperiodicupgrades.Incaseofafailure,youcanrecoverthestateofyourservice consolebyreinstallingESXServer3.Ifyoudecidetobackuptheserviceconsole, youdonotneedtobackitupasfrequentlyasthevirtualmachinesandtheirdata.
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Chapter 1 Backing Up with VMware Infrastructure
Virtual Machine Contents

Tostorevirtualmachines,ESXServerusesVMwareVirtualMachineFileSystem(VMFS). VMFSisahighperformancefilesystemonphysicaldisksandLUNscapableofstoring largefiles,suchasthevirtualdiskimagesforESXServervirtualmachinesandthe memoryimagesofsuspendedvirtualmachines. FormoreinformationonVMFS,seeESXServer3ServerConfigurationGuideor ESX Server3iConfigurationGuide. SinceESXServer3.0,VMFS3supportsdirectories.Typically,aseparatesubdirectoryis usedforeachvirtualmachineonVMFS.Thisdirectorycontainsallthefilesthat comprisethevirtualmachine,suchas.vmdkvirtualdiskfiles,virtualmachine configuration.vmxfiles,logfiles,andsoon. NOTEAlltheinformationtypicallybackedupintheenterpriseinfrastructure, includingtheoperatingsystem,applications,anddata,isincludedinthevirtualdisks. Analternativetoavirtualdiskisarawdevicemapping(RDM)thatconnectsyour virtualmachinetoarawSANLUN.RDMscanexistintwomodes,virtual compatibilityandphysicalcompatibility. FormoreinformationonRDMs,seetheESXServer3ServerConfigurationGuideor ESX Server3iConfigurationGuide.
Accessing and Managing Virtual Disk Files

Typically,youuseVMwareInfrastructureClient(VIClient)toperformavarietyof operationsonyourvirtualmachines. DirectmanipulationofyourvirtualdiskfilesonVMFSispossiblethroughservice console(ESXServer3)andcommandlineinterface(ESXServer3i),althoughusingthe VIClientisthepreferredmethod. FromtheserviceconsoleorRemoteCommandLineInterface(RemoteCLI),youcan viewandmanipulatefilesinthe/vmfs/volumesdirectoryinmountedVMFSvolumes withordinaryfilecommands,suchaslsandcp.TheVMFSvolumeisprimarily intendedtostorelargefiles,suchasdiskimageswiththesizeofupto2TB.Youcanuse ftp,scp,andcpcommandsforcopyingfilestoandfromaVMFSvolumeaslongas thehostfilesystemsupportstheselargefiles.
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NOTEInLinux,importingalargediskfromaCommonInternetFileSystem(CIFS) mountstallstheESXServerhost.Ifthishappens,yourhostmustberebooted.Move largefilesfromtheserviceconsoletotapebackup.Todothiseffectively,usesupported programswithnoknownissues.Asaworkaround,usesmbclienttocopythelarge fileontoalocaldirectoryontheserviceconsoleandimportfromthere. Additionalfileoperationsareenabledthroughthevmkfstoolscommand.Usethis commandtoperformthefollowing: Creating,extending,anddeletingdiskimages. Importing,exporting,andrenamingdiskimages. Settingandqueryingpropertiesofdiskimages. CreatingandextendingaVMFSfilesystem. Formoreinformationonthevmkfstoolscommand,seetheESXServer3Server ConfigurationGuideorESXServer3iConfigurationGuide.
Backup Components and Approaches

Whenyouperformabackup,thefollowingthreecomponentsofbackupsoftwareare involvedintheprocess: BackupClient(BackupAgent).Aprogramthatscansvirtualmachinefilesystems andtransfersdatatobebackeduptoabackupserver.Duringrestoreoperations, thebackupclientwritesthedataintothefilesystems. BackupServer.Aprogramthatwritesthedata,pushedbythebackupclient,toa backupmedium,suchasarobotictapelibrary.Duringrestoreoperation,the backupserverreadsthedatafromthebackupmediumandpushesittothebackup client. Scheduler.Aprogramthatallowsyoutoscheduleregularbackupjobsand coordinatetheirexecution.Youcanschedulebackupsatperiodicintervals,oryou canscheduleindividualfilestobebackedupimmediatelyaftertheyhavebeen updated. Eachofthebackupsoftwarecomponentscanberuninavirtualmachine,ontheservice console(onlywithESXServer3),oronaVCBproxyrunningMicrosoftWindows Server2003.Whilethelocationoftheschedulerisnotimportant,thelocationsofthe backupserverandbackupclientareimportant.
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Dependingonwhereyouwanttoruneachcomponent,chooseoneofthefollowing approaches: Traditionalbackupapproach.Youdeployabackupclienttoeverysystemthat requiresbackupservices.Youcanthenregularlyscheduleautomaticbackups. Withthisapproach,severalmethodologiesexist.Chooseamethodthatbettersuits yourneedsandrequirements. SeeUsingTraditionalBackupMethodsonpage 15. VMwareConsolidatedBackup.IfusedwithSANstorage,ConsolidatedBackup enablesoffloadedandimpactfreebackupsforvirtualmachinesrunningon ESX Server.Thisapproachletsyouusethevirtualmachinesnapshottechnology andSANbaseddatatransferinconjunctionwithtraditionalfilebasedbackup software.WhenrunningConsolidatedBackup,youcanbackupvirtualmachine contentsfromacentralizedMicrosoftWindowsServer2003backupproxyrather thandirectlyfromtheESXServersystem.Utilizingabackupproxyreducesthe loadonESXServerallowingittorunmorevirtualmachines. IfyoudonothaveSAN,youcanuseConsolidatedBackupintheLANmode.This modeletsyourunConsolidatedBackuponaphysicalmachineconnectedtoyour ESXServersystemoverregularTCP/IPnetwork,orinoneofthevirtualmachines onyourESXServerhost. SeeVMwareConsolidatedBackuponpage 23.
Using Traditional Backup Methods

Withthetraditionalbackupmethods,youdeployabackupagentoneachhostwhose dataneedstobeprotected.Regularbackupsareconductedautomatically. Thebackupagentscansthefilesystemforchangesduringperiodsoflowsystem utilizationandsendsthechangedinformationacrossthenetworktoabackupserver thatwritesthedatatoabackupmedium,suchasarobotictapelibrary. Withthetraditionalmethods,youcanbackupyourvirtualmachinesand,ifyouare usingESXServer3,theserviceconsole.
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Traditional Backup Considerations

Whenusingtraditionalmethodstobackupyoursystem,keepinmindthefollowing: Tobeabletocapturethedatainitsconsistentstate,performbackupsatthetimes ofthelowestactivityonthenetworkandwhenyourcomputerresourcesare mostlyidle.Whileperformingbackups,youmightneedtotakecritical applicationsoffline. Makesurethatnetworkbandwidthbetweentheserveryouarebackingupandthe backupserverissufficient. Withalargenumberofservers,bothphysicalandvirtual,allocateenough resourcestomanagebackupsoftwareoneachhost.Managingagentsinevery virtualmachineistimeconsuming.
Backing Up the ESX Server 3 Service Console

BecausetheESXServer3serviceconsoledoesnotexperiencemajorchangesduringits lifetimeanditsstateiseasilyrecoverableincaseofafailure,youmightdecideagainst backingitup.Ifyouchoosetobackuptheserviceconsole,youdonotneedtodoit frequently. Usethefollowingmethodswhenbackingupserviceconsole: FileBased.Treattheserviceconsoleasaphysicalmachinewithadeployed backupagent.Torestoretheserviceconsole,reinstallit,reinstalltheagent,and thenrestorethefilesthatyoubackedup.Thisapproachmakessenseif managementagentsthatarehardtosetuphavebeendeployedintheservice console.Otherwise,thisapproachprovidesnoadvantageovernotbackingupthe serviceconsole. ImageBased.Usethirdpartysoftwaretocreateabackupimagethatyoucan restorequickly.UseyourbootCDorwhateverthebackupsoftwarecreatedto restoretheserviceconsole.
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Backing Up Virtual Machines

Dependingonyourneedsandavailableresources,youmightchooseoneofthe traditionalmethodsforbackingupyourvirtualmachines.Traditionalbackupmethods donotuseConsolidatedBackup. Traditionalbackupmethodsofferthefollowingoptions: Runbackupclientsfromwithinavirtualmachineperformingfilelevelor imagelevelbackups.Aslongasyouarebackingupoverthenetwork,no compatibilityguideisneeded.SeeRunningtheBackupClientinaVirtual Machineonpage 17. RunbackupclientsfromtheESXServer3serviceconsole,backingupvirtual machinesintheirentiretyasfilesresidingintheVMFSfilesystem.SeeRunning theBackupClientintheESXServer3ServiceConsoleonpage 19. Backupvirtualmachinedatabyrunningabackupserverwithinavirtualmachine thatisconnectedtoatapedriveorotherSCSIbasedbackupmediaattachedtothe physicalsystem.SeeRunningtheBackupServerinaVirtualMachineonpage 20. Whenvirtualmachinefilesresideonsharedstorage,usestoragebasedimagingon storagesuchasSAN,NAS,oriSCSI,oranindependentbackupserver(aproxy backupserverorNDMP)tobackupvirtualmachinefiles.SeeTreatingVirtual MachinesasFilesonSharedStorageonpage 21. NOTERunningthebackupserverintheESXServer3serviceconsoleisnotsupported.
Running the Backup Client in a Virtual Machine

Becauseavirtualmachineisjustaphysicalmachine,youcanbackitupinthesame mannerasaphysicalmachine,usingbackupsoftwarerunninginsideavirtualmachine. Method1andMethod2illustratehowyoucaninstallabackupagentwithineach virtualmachineandbackupdataoverthenetworktobackupservers,deployedin othervirtualmachinesorinsidephysicalmachines. Method 1: Backup Server in a Virtual Machine Withthismethod,deployyourbackupclientinonevirtualmachinewhilethebackup serverisinanothervirtualmachine.VMwarerecommendsthatyourunbothvirtual machinesonthesameESXServersystem.Inthiscase,databetweenthetwovirtual machinesmovesthroughthevirtualEthernetthatconnectsthesevirtualmachines,but doesnothavetobetransferredoveraphysicalEthernetconnection. WhenyouuseMethod1,thebackupagentperformsquiescingofavirtualmachine beingbackedup.
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Method1isgenerallyusedforfilelevelbackupsofthedatastoredwithinthevirtual machinesdiskimage. Table 1-1. Backup Client in One Virtual Machine, Backup Server in Another Virtual Machine
Recommended: File-level restore: Full virtual machine restore: Quiescing: Load on ESX Server: LAN-free backup: Manageability: WhenhardwareforaVCBproxyorbackupserverisnt available Veryeasy No Excellent Extremelyhigh No Verypoor
Method 2: Backup Server in a Physical Machine WithMethod2,youdeploythebackupclientinavirtualmachinewhilethebackup serverrunsonaphysicalmachine. NOTEInsteadofMethod2,considerusingConsolidatedBackup. UseMethod2forfilelevelbackupsofthedatastoredwithinthevirtualmachinesdisk image. Table 1-2. Backup Client in a Virtual Machine, Backup Server in a Physical Machine
Recommended: File-level restore: Full virtual machine restore: Quiescing: Load on ESX Server: LAN-free backup: Manageability: VCBcanbeusedinstead VeryEasy No Excellent High No Verypoor
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Running the Backup Client in the ESX Server 3 Service Console

Becauseanentirevirtualmachineisencapsulatedinonlyafewfiles,youcantreat virtualmachinesasfilesonanESXServer3hostandbackupthesefilesfromtheservice console.AsMethod3andMethod4illustrate,withthisapproach,youdeployyour backupclientintheserviceconsoleandbackupthefilestobackupservers,deployed inothervirtualmachinesorinsidephysicalmachines. Whenyourunbackupclientsintheserviceconsole,dooneofthefollowingtoperform abackupofyourvirtualmachines: Poweroffyourvirtualmachines. Usesnapshotstobackuprunningvirtualmachines. Method 3: Backup Server in a Virtual Machine WithMethod3,youdeploythebackupclientintheESXServer3serviceconsolewhile thebackupserverrunsinthevirtualmachine. NOTEUseMethod3onlywhenseparatehardwareforaVCBproxyorbackupserver isnotavailable. Method3isusedtoperformimagelevelbackupsorbackupsofentirevirtualmachines. Table 1-3. Backup Client in a ESX Server 3 Service Console, Backup Client in a Virtual Machine
Recommended: File-level restore: Full virtual machine restore: Quiescing: Load on ESX Server: LAN-free backup: Manageability: WhenhardwareforaVCBproxyorbackupserverisnt available No Veryeasy Excellent Extremelyhigh No Verypoor
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Method 4: Backup Server in a Physical Machine WithMethod4,youdeploythebackupclientintheESXServer3serviceconsolewhile thebackupserverrunsonaphysicalmachine. NOTEInsteadofMethod4considerusingConsolidatedBackup. Method4isusedtoperformimagelevelbackups. Table 1-4. Backup Client in an ESX Server 3 Service Console, Backup Server in a Physical Machine
Recommended: File-level restore: Full virtual machine restore: Quiescing: Load on ESX Server: LAN-free backup: Manageability/Scalability: VCBcanbeusedinstead. No VeryEasy Excellent High No Verypoor
Running the Backup Server in a Virtual Machine

Youcanbackupvirtualmachinedatabyrunningabackupserverwithinavirtual machinethatisconnectedtoatapedriveorotherSCSIbasedbackupmediaattached tothephysicalsystem. Whenusingthismethod,keepinmindthefollowing: VMwaresupportsattachingSCSIdrivestotheESXServerusingAdaptecSCSI adapters.Usingotheradapters,suchasLSIMPTFusionSCSI,isnotsupported. Ifyouareusingatapedrivelibrary(versususingastandalonetapedrive),the librarymustbemultitarget,andnotmultiLUN. SetthetapedrivesvirtualtargetIDinthevirtualmachinesconfigurationtobethe sameasthephysicaltargetID. ForinformationonattachingaSCSIbasedtapedrivetoyourvirtualmachine,seeBasic SystemAdministration.
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Treating Virtual Machines as Files on Shared Storage

Whenvirtualmachinefilesresideonsharedstorage,itispossibletousestoragebased imagingonstoragesuchasSAN,NAS,oriSCSI,oranindependentbackupserver (a proxybackupserverorNDMP)tobackupvirtualmachinefileswithoutcreatingan additionalloadontheESXServerhostthatrunsthevirtualmachines. SAN Backups IfyourvirtualdiskfilesarestoredonaSAN,usefeaturessuppliedbyyourSANvendor tocreateacopyofyourproductionLUNcontainingallvirtualdiskfilesandthensend thesecopiestoyourbackupmedia.Withthismethod,youdonothavetousevirtual machinesnapshotfunctionalityduringthebackupprocessbecausetheSANhardware providesthesnapshotfunctionality. WhenusingSANsnapshotstobackupyourdata,keepinmindthefollowing: SomevendorssupportsnapshotsforbothVMFSandRDMs.Ifbotharesupported, youcanmakeeitherasnapshotofthewholevirtualmachinefilesystemforahost, ormakesnapshotsofindividualvirtualmachines(oneperdisk). SomevendorssupportsnapshotsforasetupusingRDMsonly.IfonlyRDMsare supported,youcanmakesnapshotsofindividualvirtualmachines. Seeyourstoragevendorsdocumentationforadditionalinformation.Formore informationonSAN,seetheFibreChannelSANConfigurationGuideortheiSCSISAN ConfigurationGuide. NFS Backups Ifyourvirtualmachinesarestoredonexternalnetworkattachedstorage(NAS)systems usingtheNFSprotocol,youcanperformimagelevelbackupsofthevirtualmachines. Seeyourstoragevendordocumentationforadditionalinformation.
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Using VMware Consolidated Backup

Inamoderndatacenterenvironment,preformingtraditionalbackupsmightcause problems,someofwhicharedescribedinTraditionalBackupConsiderationson page 16.Toavoidmanyoftheproblems,considerusingVMwareConsolidatedBackup. VMwareConsolidatedBackupaddressesmostoftheproblemsyouencounterwhen performingtraditionalbackups.ConsolidatedBackuphelpsyouto: ReducetheloadonyourESXServersystemsbymovingthebackuptaskstooneor morededicatedbackupproxies. NOTETotakeadvantageoftheConsolidatedBackupoffloadingcapabilities,you arerequiredtouseFibreChanneloriSCSISANforyourvirtualmachinedata. Eliminatetheneedforabackupwindowbymovingtoasnapshotbasedbackup approach. Simplifybackupadministrationbymakingoptionalthedeploymentofbackup agentsineachvirtualmachineyoubackup. Backupvirtualmachinesregardlessoftheirpowerstate.
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VMware Consolidated Backup
VMwareConsolidatedBackupisabackupsolutionofferedby VMware Infrastructure 3.Itistherecommendedwaytoperformdailybackupsfor virtualmachinesresidingonaFibreChanneloriSCSISAN. YoucanalsouseConsolidatedBackuptobackupvirtualmachinesresidingon ESX Serversystemsthatdonothaveanaccesstosharedstorage. Thischapterincludesthefollowinginformation: VMwareConsolidatedBackupOverviewonpage 23 ConsolidatedBackupSoftwareandHardwareRequirementsonpage 31 SettingUpVMwareConsolidatedBackuponpage 32 UsingVMwareConsolidatedBackuponpage 43 QuiescingMechanismsonpage 49 AdvancedConfigurationsonpage 53 UpgradingConsolidatedBackuponpage 54
VMware Consolidated Backup Overview

YouuseConsolidatedBackupalongwithathirdpartysoftwaretoperformbackupsof virtualmachinedisks.ConsolidatedBackupcentralizesbackupontheVCBproxy, whichcanbeusedtoprotectmanyvirtualmachines.
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ThefollowingarethekeyfeaturesofConsolidatedBackup: MostmajorbackupapplicationsintegratewithConsolidatedBackupproviding youwithafastandefficientwayofbackingupdatainvirtualmachines. ConsolidatedBackupeliminatestheneedforhavingabackupagentinstalledin eachvirtualmachineyouwanttoprotect. ConsolidatedBackupcanreadvirtualdiskdatadirectlyfromyourSANstorage deviceusingFibreChanneloriSCSI,orthroughtheESXServerI/Ostackorusea networkconnectiontoanESXServerhosttoaccessvirtualdiskdata. ConsolidatedBackupcanruninavirtualmachine. ConsolidatedBackupsupportsfilelevelfullandincrementalbackupsforvirtual machinesrunningMicrosoftWindowsoperatingsystemandimagelevelbackups forvirtualmachinesrunninganyoperatingsystem. YoucanuseConsolidatedBackupagainstasingleESXServerhostorwitha VirtualCenterServerthatmanagesanumberofESXServers.
How VMware Consolidated Backup Works

ConsolidatedBackupconsistsofasetofutilitiesandscriptsthatworkinconjunction withathirdpartybackupsoftware.ToensurethatConsolidatedBackupworkswith thespecificbackupsoftware,eitherVMwareoryourbackupsoftwarevendorprovide integrationmodulescontaininganyrequiredprebackupandpostbackupscripts. Thethirdpartysoftware,integrationmodule,andConsolidatedBackuprunonthe VCBproxy,aphysicalorvirtualmachinethathasMicrosoftWindowsoperatingsystem installed. ForspecificversionsofMicrosoftWindows,seeConfiguringWindowsontheVCB Proxyonpage 34.
VMware Consolidated Backup Usage Models

Tostoreandmanagevirtualdiskfiles,ESXServerusesavarietyofphysicalstorage devices,includinglocaldisks,NASstorage,FibreChannelSANs,oriSCSISANs. Formoreinformationondifferenttypesofstorage,seeESXServer3ConfigurationGuide orESXServer3iConfigurationGuide. ThetypeofstoragedeviceyourESXServersystemhasaccesstodetermineshowyou setuptheVCBproxyandthetransportationmethodConsolidatedBackupusesto accessvirtualdiskdata.
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Chapter 2 VMware Consolidated Backup
ConsolidatedBackupprovidesthefollowingmethodsofaccessingvirtualmachine diskdata: SANModeUsewithFibreChannelandiSCSIstoragetocompletelyoffload backupstoaphysicalVCBproxy. HotAddModeUsewithanytypeofstoragetoperformbackupsbyaVCBproxy setupinavirtualmachine. LANMode(NBDMode)Usewhenyourenvironmentdoesnotpermittheuseof theSANorHotAddmodes. SAN Mode YouselectthismodewhenyourESXServerstoresitsvirtualmachinedisksonFibre ChannelSANoriSCSISAN.Whenusingthismode,youcancompletelyoffload backupstoaphysicalVCBproxy. InadditionwithFibreChannel,youavoidmovingdataacrossthenetwork.Inthiscase, iftheVCBproxyisyourmediaserver,youcangetcompletelyLANfreebackupsof yourvirtualmachines. Figure 21illustrateshowConsolidatedBackupworksintheSANmode. Figure 2-1. VMware Consolidated Backup in the SAN mode
LAN
ESX Server virtual machine VMware Tools
VCB proxy
backup software
integration module
Fibre Channel SAN/ storage LAN
Consolidated Backup
Fibre Channel/iSCSI storage
virtual disk VMFS
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SCSI Hot-Add Mode IntheSCSIHotAddmode,yousetuponeofyourvirtualmachinesasaVCBproxy anduseittobackupothervirtualmachinesresidingonstoragevisibletothe ESX ServerthathoststheVCBproxyvirtualmachine.Thismodeeliminatestheneedof havingadedicatedphysicalmachineforyourVCBproxyanddoesnotrequireyouto exposeSANLUNstotheWindowsVCBproxy. Inthismode,youcanuseConsolidatedBackuptoprotectanyvirtualdisksonanytype ofstorageavailabletoyourESXServerhost,includingNASorlocalstorage. Theonlyexceptionisthatitdoesnotbackupanydisksofthevirtualmachinethathas anyindependentdisk,PhysicalCompatibilityRDM,orIDE(ThisisapplicabletoESX4 andESXi4.) ConsolidatedBackupcreatesasnapshotofthevirtualdisktobeprotectedandhotadds thesnapshottotheVCBproxy,allowingittoaccessvirtualmachinediskdata.TheVCB proxyreadsthedatathroughtheI/OstackoftheESXhost. Figure 2-2. VMware Consolidated Backup in the Hot-Add Mode
LAN
ESX Server VCB Proxy virtual machine backup software integration module
shared storage network
Consolidated Backup
virtual machine VMware Tools
virtual disk shared storage VMFS local storage
virtual disk VMFS
TobeabletorunConsolidatedBackupintheSCSIHotAddmode: YouneedtohaveESXServer3.5orESXServer3iversion3.5orlater. Ifyouareusingonlythelocalstoragedevices,youneedaVCBproxyvirtual machineoneachESXServerhost. IfyouareusingVirtualCenter,makesuretohaveversion2.5orlaterinstalled.

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RunningConsolidatedBackupintheSCSIHotAddmodeprovidestheLANfree capabilitiesoftheSANmodebecausethevirtualdiskdataistransferredfromthe ESX ServerI/Ostack.AlthoughthismodeisnotasefficientastheSANmode,which doesnotcauseanyoverheadontheESXServerhost,itisstillmoreefficientthanthe LANmode. LAN Mode (NBD Mode) YouselectthismodewhenyourESXServerdoesnothaveaccesstoaSAN,butuses localstoragedevicesorNAStostoreitsvirtualmachinedisks. Inthismode,ConsolidatedBackupusesanoverthenetworkprotocoltoaccessthe virtualdisk.TheESXServerhostreadsthedatafromthestoragedeviceandsendsit acrossanetworkchanneltotheVCBproxy. TobeabletorunConsolidatedBackupintheLANmode: YouneedtohaveESXServer3.5orESXServer3iversion3.5orlater. IfyouareusingVirtualCenter,makesuretohaveversion2.5orlaterinstalled. Yourvirtualdiskscannotbelargerthan1TBeach. Figure 23illustrateshowConsolidatedBackupworksintheLANmode. Figure 2-3. VMware Consolidated Backup in the LAN mode
LAN
VCB proxy
backup software
integration module
Consolidated Backup virtual disk VMFS local storage
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BecausethevirtualdiskdataistransferredfromtheESXServerhostacrosstheLAN, thismodedoesnotprovidetheLANfreecapabilitiesoftheSANmode.However, runningConsolidatedBackupintheLANmodeoffersyouthefollowingadvantages: YouarenotrequiredtostorevirtualdisksonaSAN.Youcanuseanystorage device,includingNAS,thatESXServercanaccess. YouarenotrequiredtohaveadedicatedphysicalserverforyourVCBproxy.In additiontosettingupaphysicalserverastheVCBproxy,youhaveanoptionof configuringoneofyourvirtualmachinesastheVCBproxy. WhilethisconfigurationdoesnotcompletelyoffloadbackupprocessesfromtheESX Serverhost,itstillhasanadvantageoverusingabackupagentintheserviceconsole orintheproductionvirtualmachine.Youcanusetheadvancedresourcescheduling capabilitiesofVMwareInfrastructuretopreventthevirtualmachinerunningyour backupsfromimpactingtheperformanceofyourproductionworkloads.Forexample, youcanputthevirtualmachineperformingyourbackupsandyourproductionvirtual machinesindifferentresourcepools.SeetheResourceManagementGuide. IfyourESXServerhostandtheVCBproxyareonasecureisolatednetwork,you canuseanunencrypteddatatransfer,whichisfasterandtakeslessresourcesofthe ESXServerhostandtheproxy.Whenyouneedtoprotectsensitiveinformation, youhaveanoptionoftransferringvirtualmachinedatainanencryptedform.
VMware Consolidated Backup Workflow

BeforeusingConsolidatedBackup,youneedtoconfigureandscheduleabackupjob foreachvirtualmachineoragroupofvirtualmachines. Atthescheduledtime,thebackupsoftwarestartsthebackupjobontheVCBproxy. Whenthebackupjobislaunched,thefollowingstepstakeplace: 1 Thebackupsoftwarecallstheprebackupscript,whichperformsthesetasks: a (Optional)Runsyourcustomprefreezescriptinthevirtualmachine. Theprefreezescriptpreparesthecriticalsoftwarecomponentsinthevirtual machineforabackup.SeeRunningCustomQuiescingScriptsonpage 51. b Quiescesthevirtualmachine. SeeQuiescingMechanismsonpage 49. c Putsthevirtualmachineintosnapshotmode. Changestovirtualdisksarestoredforlaterwriting.Thevirtualmachinecan continuetooperateduringthisprocess. d
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UnquiescesthevirtualmachinethatwasquiescedinStep b.
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(Optional)Runsyourcustompostthawscriptinthevirtualmachine. ThepostthawscriptreversesanychangesmadebytheprefreezescriptinStep a.
Makesthevirtualmachinesnapshotavailabletothethirdpartysoftware: Forimagelevelvirtualmachinebackups,seePerformingImageLevel VirtualMachineBackupsonpage 30. ForfilelevelbackupsofMicrosoftWindowsvirtualmachines,see PerformingFileLevelVirtualMachineBackupsonpage 30.
Thebackupsoftwareperformsanordinarybackupofthevirtualmachine snapshotmovingthedatatoabackupmedium.Thevirtualmachinecancontinue tooperateduringthisprocess. Thebackupsoftwarecallsthepostbackupscript,whichperformsthefollowing tasks: a b Unmountsthevirtualmachinesnapshotfromthebackupproxy. Takesthevirtualmachineoutofsnapshotmode,committingtodiskany changesmadewhilethemachinewasinsnapshotmode.
Types of Backups
ConsolidatedBackupsupportsimagelevelbackupsforvirtualmachinesrunningany guestoperatingsystemandfilelevelbackupsforvirtualmachinesrunningMicrosoft Windowsoperatingsystems. Imagelevelbackupallowsbackupclientstomakeacopyofallvirtualdisksand configurationfilesassociatedwithaparticularvirtualmachine.Thistypeofbackup issuitableforrestoringanentirevirtualmachineintheeventofahardwarefailureor asystemadministratorerror,suchastheaccidentaldeletionofthevirtualmachine. Filelevelbackupallowsbackupclientstomakecopiesofindividualfiles containedwithinthevirtualdisks.Filelevelbackupscanbeofthefollowingtypes: FullfilebackupBacksupallfiles. DifferentialbackupBacksuponlyfilesthathavechangedsincethelastfull filebackup. IncrementalbackupBacksuponlyfilesthathavechangedsincethelast backup,whetherthelastbackupwasfullorincremental. Filelevelbackupsallowfilesordirectoriestoberestoredindividually.Usethe filelevelbackupstopreventdatalossduetousererrors,suchasaccidentalfile deletion.
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Performing Image-Level Virtual Machine Backups

Animagelevelvirtualmachinebackupisoperatingsystemneutralandcanbe performedregardlessoftheguestoperatingsystem. Whenyouruntheimagelevelvirtualmachinebackup,ConsolidatedBackupfirst createsasnapshotofyourvirtualmachine.Thenthefollowingstepstakeplace: 1 ConsolidatedBackupexportsthevirtualmachinesnapshottoalocaldirectoryon theVCBproxy.Forexample:
C:\mnt\mytestvm.foo.com-fullVM
Thethirdpartybackupsoftwarepicksupthevirtualmachinediskimagesand configurationfilesandmovesthemtothebackupmedium.
Performing File-Level Virtual Machine Backups

ForvirtualmachinesrunningWindows,ConsolidatedBackupsupportsfilelevel backups. Whenyourunfilelevelbackups,youfirstcreateasnapshotofyourvirtualmachine. Thenthefollowingstepstakeplace: 1 ConsolidatedBackupdiscoversvolumeswithinvirtualmachinesnapshotsand mountsdiscoveredvolumesontheVCBproxyatpredefinedjunctionpoints. Eachjunctionpointcorrespondstoadriveletterassignedtoeachvolumeinthe virtualmachine.Forexample:
C:\mnt\mytestvm.foo.com\letters\D
CAUTIONBecausetheVCBproxycanrecognizeonlyvolumesthathavedrive lettersassignedtothem,makesurethateachvolumeonavirtualdiskhasadrive letter. 2 Thethirdpartybackupsoftwaremakesfilelevelbackupsfromthesevolumes.
VMware Consolidated Backup Limitations

Undercertaincircumstances,youcannotuseConsolidatedBackupforbackingupdata inavirtualmachine. ConsolidatedBackupinSANmodecannotbackupvirtualmachineswithdisk imagesstoredonastoragedevicethattheVCBproxycannotaccess. ConsolidatedBackupcannotbackupRDMsinphysicalcompatibilitymode.
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ConsolidatedBackupcannotperformfilelevelbackupsofvirtualmachines runningoperatingsystemsotherthanMicrosoftWindows. YoucannotuseConsolidatedBackuptobackupvirtualmachinesinacluster. ThesevirtualmachinesshareanSCSIcontrollerandsnapshotoperationscannot beperformedonthem. IfyouareunabletouseConsolidatedBackup,deployabackupagentinthevirtual machineandperformthebackupfromwithinthevirtualmachine.Thebackupagentis suppliedbyyourthirdpartybackupsoftwarevendor. Fordetailsoninstallationofthebackupagent,refertothedocumentationprovided withtheintegrationmodulematchingyourbackupsoftware.
Consolidated Backup Software and Hardware Requirements

WhetheryouplantouseConsolidatedBackupintheSANorLANmode,general requirementsforConsolidatedBackupinclude: AsingleESXServersystemandtheVIClient,ormultipleESXServersystemsand VirtualCentertomanagethem. NOTETouseConsolidatedBackupintheLANmode,makesuretoupgradeyour ESXServertoversion3.5orlaterandyourVirtualCentertoversion2.5orlater. Backuphardware,suchasatapesystem. OneofthefollowingversionsofMicrosoftWindowsoperatingsystemtoinstallon yourVCBproxy: MicrosoftWindowsServer2003ServicePack1(32bitor64bit) MicrosoftWindowsServer2003R2(32bitor64bit) MicrosoftWindowsServer2003ServicePack2(32bitor64bit) MicrosoftWindowsServer2008.However,ServerCore(commandline) installationsofWindowsServer2008Standard,WindowsServer2008 Enterprise,andWindowsServer2008Datacenterarenotsupported.
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BackupsoftwarethatsupportsConsolidatedBackup.Foralistofsupporting thirdpartybackuppackages,seetheVMwareInfrastructure3BackupSoftware CompatibilityGuide. NOTEIfyouuseConsolidatedBackupinconjunctionwithaVMwaresupported thirdpartysoftware,makesurethattheversionsofMicrosoftWindowsandyour backupsoftwarematch.Forexample,ifyourunthe64bitversionofMicrosoft Windows,installthe64bitversionofthebackupsoftware. Networkadapter(NIC). TouseConsolidatedBackupintheSANmode,additionalrequirementsinclude: FibreChanneloriSCSISANstoragehostingvirtualmachinesyouplantobackup. IfyouuseFibreChannelSAN,youcanuseadedicatedphysicalsystemforaVCB proxywithaFibreChannelhostbusadapter(HBA)installedoruseavirtual machineasVCBproxy.
Setting Up VMware Consolidated Backup

FollowthesestepstoconfigureallthecomponentsthatworkwithConsolidated Backup: 1 2 ConfigureyourESXServerormultipleservers.SeeConfiguringVMwareESX ServerandVirtualMachinesonpage 32. SetupyourVCBproxyandinstallyourbackupsoftware,ConsolidatedBackup, andcorrespondingintegrationmoduleontheVCBproxy.SeeSettingUpaVCB Proxyonpage 33. Ifneeded,enableSSLcertificateverification.SeeEnablingSSLCertificate Verificationonpage 41. IfyouuseSAN,configureyourSANfabric.SeeConfiguringSANonpage 43.
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Configuring VMware ESX Server and Virtual Machines

YoushouldhaveanexistingESXServerhostormultipleESXServerhostsand VirtualCentertomanagethem.
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UsingVIClient,configurestorageforyourESXServerandcreatevirtualmachines. The followingarerequirementsforConsolidatedBackuptorunsuccessfully: VirtualmachinesyouareplanningtobackuphavetheirvirtualdisksonVMFS datastorescreatedonlocalstorage,oroniSCSIorFCSAN.Virtualmachinescan alsouseRDMsinvirtualcompatibilitymode.ConsolidatedBackupdoesnot supportRDMsinphysicalcompatibilitymode. IfyouplantouseConsolidatedBackupintheLANmode,thesizeofyourvirtual diskfilesshouldnotexceed1TB. ThelatestversionofVMwareToolsisinstalledineachvirtualmachineyouare planningtobackup.WithoutthelatestversionofVMwareTools,thesnapshots thatConsolidatedBackupcreatesforbackupsarecrashconsistentonly.Thatis,no filesystemsynchronizationisperformed. Forfilelevelbackups,yourvirtualmachinesrunMicrosoftWindowsNT4.0, WindowsServer2000,WindowsXPProfessional,WindowsServer2003, Windows Vista,orWindowsServer2008operatingsystems. Imagelevelvirtualmachinebackupsaresupportedforallguestoperating systems. FormoreinformationonconfiguringstorageandRDMs,seetheESXServer3 ConfigurationGuideorESXServer3iConfigurationGuideatwww.vmware.com. ForinformationoncreatingvirtualmachinesandinstallingVMwareTools,seeBasic SystemAdministrationatwww.vmware.com.
Setting Up a VCB Proxy

TheVCBproxyisamachine,eitherphysicalorvirtual,thatrunsConsolidatedBackup, yourthirdpartybackupsoftware,andanintegrationmoduleforthebackupsoftware. WhetheryourVCBproxyisaphysicaloravirtualmachine,followthesestepsto configureit. To configure your VCB proxy 1 2 3 OntheVCBproxy,installandconfigureMicrosoftWindows.SeeConfiguring WindowsontheVCBProxyonpage 34. ConfigurenetworkingontheVCBproxy.SeeConfiguringNetworkingonthe VCBProxyonpage 35. Installandconfigurethethirdpartybackupsoftwaretobeusedwith ConsolidatedBackup.SeeConfiguringThirdPartySoftwareontheVCBProxy onpage 35.
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4 5 6
InstallConsolidatedBackup.SeeInstallingVMwareConsolidatedBackupon page 36. Installanintegrationmodulecorrespondingtoyourthirdpartybackupsoftware. SeeInstallingaBackupSoftwareIntegrationModuleonpage 36. ConfigureConsolidatedBackup.SeeConfiguringVMwareConsolidated Backuponpage 37.
Configuring Windows on the VCB Proxy

OnyourVCBproxy,installasupportedversionofMicrosoftWindows.See ConsolidatedBackupSoftwareandHardwareRequirementsonpage 31. AllversionsofWindows,exceptWindowsServer2003EnterpriseEditionand WindowsServer2003DatacenterEdition,assigndriveletterstoeachvisiblenew technologyfilesystem (NTFS)andfileallocationtable(FAT)volumes.Tobeabletouse ConsolidatedBackup,youneedtoclearanyunuseddriveletterassignments. CAUTIONIfyoudonotperformthisconfigurationstep,datacorruptionforvirtual machinesusingRDMcanoccur. To disable assignment of drive letters 1 2 3 4 5 ShutdowntheVCBproxy. DisconnecttheVCBproxyfromtheSANormaskalltheLUNscontainingVMFS volumesorRDMs. Boottheproxyandloginasadministrator. Openacommandlineinterface. RuntheDiskpartutilitybytyping:
diskpart
TheDiskpartutilitystartsupandprintsitsowncommandprompt. 6 Disableautomaticdriveletterassignmenttonewlyseenvolumesbytypingatthe Diskpartcommandprompt:

automount disable
Cleanoutentriesofpreviouslymountedvolumesintheregistrybytypingatthe Diskpartcommandprompt:
automount scrub
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ExittheDiskpartutilitybytyping:
exit
9 10 11
ShutdownWindows. ReconnecttheVCBproxytotheSAN,orunmaskallpreviouslymaskedLUNs containingeitherVMFSvolumesorRDMs. Boottheproxy.
Configuring Networking on the VCB Proxy

YourVCBproxyneedstoestablishaconnectiontotheVirtualCentermanagingyour ESXServerclusterortoasingleESXServersystemifyoudonothaveacluster. ToconfigurenetworkingforyourVCBproxy,followtheseguidelines: IfthereisafirewallbetweentheVCBproxyandtheVirtualCenter,thefirewall mustpermitTCP/IPconnectionstoVirtualCenter.Bydefault,theVirtualCenter expectsincomingconnectionsatTCP/IPport443. EstablishTCP/IPconnectionstoport902forallESXServerhoststhatrunvirtual machinesyouplantobackupfromtheVCBproxy. FormoreinformationonconfiguringNetworking,seetheESXServer3Configuration GuideorESXServer3iConfigurationGuide.
Configuring Third-Party Software on the VCB Proxy

ThethirdpartybackupsoftwarethatyouuseinconjunctionwithConsolidatedBackup runsontheVCBproxy.Currently,notallthirdpartybackupsoftwaresupports WindowsServer2008. AfilelevelmountmightfailiftheversionofVCBProxysoperatingsystemisearlier thantheversionofthebackupvirtualmachinesoperatingsystem.Forexample, backingupaWindowsServer2003virtualmachineonWindowsServer2003VCB proxysucceeds.However,backingupaWindowsServer2008virtualmachineon WindowsServer2003VCBproxyfails. Afteryouinstallthebackupsoftware,youneedtoconfigureit,soitisabletousethe ConsolidatedBackupscriptsandutilities. Toconfigureyourbackupsoftware,followdirectionsthatyourvendorprovides.
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Foranyspecificrequirementsandinstructions,consulttheREADME.htmlfileincluded intheintegrationmodulethatcorrespondstoyourbackupsoftware.Youmightbe requiredtodothefollowingforyourbackupsoftware: Turnonthecrossjunctions(mountpoints)optionforyourbackupsoftware. TurnofftheWindowsarchivebitandchangejournalfunctionsifyourthirdparty backupsoftwareperformsincrementalordifferentialbackups.Bothfunctions requirethebackupsoftwaretoalterthefilesystembeingbackedup,whichisnot possibleinasnapshotbasedbackup. Windowsarchivebit.Thearchivebitisanattributeofafilethatsomebackup productsusetodeterminewhetherthefilehaschangedsinceitsprevious backupandwhetheritshouldbebackedup.Configurethebackupclientto usetimestampsinstead. Windowschangejournalcannotbeusedforincrementalbackupsin snapshotbasedbackupscenarios. Afteryouinstallandconfigureyourthirdpartybackupsoftware,youcanverifyitby runningabackupandrestorationjobonalocaldirectoryontheVCBproxy.
Installing VMware Consolidated Backup

InstallConsolidatedBackupbasepackageontheVCBproxy. To install the basic Consolidated Backup 1 2 3 LogintotheVCBproxyusinganaccountwithadministratorprivileges. InstalltheConsolidatedBackuppackagebyrunningsetup.exefromyour CDROMorelectronicdistribution. Duringtheinstallation,chooseaninstallationdirectoryforConsolidatedBackup oracceptthedefaultone.ThedefaultdirectoryisC:\Program Files\VMware\VMware Consolidated Backup Framework.
Installing a Backup Software Integration Module

OntheVCBproxy,youmustinstallaConsolidatedBackupintegrationmodulethat matchesyourthirdpartybackupsoftware.Foreachsupportedthirdpartybackup software,eitherthebackupsoftwarevendororVMwareprovidesanintegration module. NOTEIfthirdpartybackupsoftwareisnotinstalledonVCBproxyonWindows Server 2008,youneednotinstallConsolidatedBackupintegrationmoduleon WindowsServer2008.
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IntegrationmodulesprovidedbyVMwarearedistributedasZIPfiles.UnpacktheZIP fileintoyourVMwareConsolidatedBackupinstallationdirectory.Thiswillcreatea subdirectorycontainingaREADME.htmlfilethatdescribeshowtoinstalltheintegration module.Inaddition,theREADME.htmlfileprovidesanyspecificinstructionsyouneed toconfigureyourbackupsoftwareforConsolidatedBackup.
Configuring VMware Consolidated Backup

TheConsolidatedBackupconfigurationfileconfig.jsislocatedatthefollowing defaultlocation:
C:\Program Files\VMware\VMware Consolidated Backup Framework\config.
WhenconfiguringConsolidatedBackup,makesuretospecifyalloptionsinthe config.js filethatdonothaveanydefaultvalues. Table 21providesanoverviewofalltheconfigurationsettingsinthisfile. Table 2-1. Consolidated Backup Configuration Settings
Option BACKUPROOT Default C:\\mnt Description Directoryinwhichallthevirtualmachinebackupjobs reside.Makesurethisdirectoryexistsbeforeyoustart virtualmachinebackups. Foreachbackupjob,asubdirectorywithauniquename derivedfromthebackuptypeandthevirtualmachine nameiscreatedhere. Forimagelevelvirtualmachinebackups,thevolume containingthismountpointmustbelargeenoughto holdtheexporteddiskimagesofthelargestvirtual machinetobehandled. HOST PORT USERNAME PASSWORD (no default) 443 (no default) (no default) HostnameoftheVirtualCenterserverortheESXServer hostusedbytheVCBproxy. PortnumbertoconnecttotheVirtualCenteror ESX Serverhost. SeeConfiguringUSERNAMEandPASSWORDon page 40. SeeConfiguringUSERNAMEandPASSWORDon page 40.
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Table 2-1. Consolidated Backup Configuration Settings (Continued)

Option TRANSPORT_MODE Default san Description DetermineshowVCBaccessesvirtualdiskdata.For informationonthetwomodesofConsolidatedBackup, seeVMwareConsolidatedBackupUsageModelson page 24. Thefollowingoptionsexist: san(forSANmode) Backupvirtualdiskfiles residingonasharedFibreChanneloriSCSIstorage device. hotadd Backupvirtualdiskfilesonanyshared storageorlocalstoragethroughtheVCBproxy virtualmachine. nbd ornbdssl (forLANmode) Useoneofthe followingoptionstobackupvirtualdiskfiles residingonastoragedeviceaccessedthroughthe NetworkBlockDevice(NBD)protocol. Also,use oneoftheseoptionstoenableConsolidatedBackup insideavirtualmachinethatservesasaVCBproxy. nbd Selectifyoudonotneedtoencrypt virtualdiskdata. nbdssl Selecttoencryptvirtualdiskdatafor overthenetworktransfers.Also,youmaywant toenableSSLcertificateverification.See EnablingSSLCertificateVerificationon page 41. LOGLEVEL 3 DeterminestheamountoflogoutputgeneratedbyVCB. Validrangesarefrom0(leastverbose)to6(most verbose).Changethissettingto6whentroubleshooting.
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Option SNAPSHOT_POLICY Default automatic Description Validoptions: automatic ConsolidatedBackupcreatesand deletesbackupsnapshotsforvirtualmachineson demand. manual ConsolidatedBackupdoesnotcreateor deleteanysnapshotsbutdetectsabackupsnapshot named_VCB-BACKUP_andusesthissnapshotfor backup.Thisoptionisusefulforcreativescripting. createonly ConsolidatedBackupcreatesa backupsnapshotwhentheprebackupscriptis beingrun,butitdoesnotremovethesnapshotafter backup.Thisoptionisusedtorunaverificationjob. Yourverificationscriptwouldberesponsiblefor tearingdownthemount. deleteonly ConsolidatedBackupdetectsthata backupsnapshotnamed_VCB-BACKUP_existsand doesnotattempttocreateone.However,the snapshotisdeletedbythepostbackupscript.This optionisusefulforcreativescripting. VM_LOOKUP_METHOD ipaddr Useoneofthefollowingoptionstospecifyhow ConsolidatedBackupidentifiesvirtualmachines: ipaddr Identifiesvirtualmachinesbasedon DNS name/IPaddress. name Identifiesvirtualmachinesbasedonnames asshowninVirtualCenter.Usethisoptionifyou havemultiplevirtualmachineswiththesame IP address,butwithdifferentnames.Eachvirtual machinemusthaveauniquename,otherwisea backupjobfails. PREEXISTING_MOUN TPOINT1 fail Useoneofthefollowingoptionstospecifywhethera backupjobshouldproceedorfailifConsolidated Backupdiscoversapreexistingmountpointforavirtual machine: fail InstructsConsolidatedBakcuptofailthe backupjob. delete InstructsConsolidatedBackuptoremove thepreexistingmountpointandbackupsnapshots associatedwithit. Ifthisoperationissuccessful,thebackupjob proceeds.Ifthisoperationfails,thebackupjobfails.
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Option PREEXISTING_VCB_ SNAPSHOT1 Default fail Description Useoneofthefollowingoptionstospecifywhethera backupjobshouldproceedorfailifConsolidated Backupdiscoversapreexistingbackupsnapshotofa virtualmachine: fail InstructsConsolidatedBackuptofailthe backupjob. delete InstructsConsolidatedBackuptoremove thepreexistingbackupsnapshot. Ifthisoperationissuccessful,thebackupjob proceeds.Ifthisoperationfails,thebackupjobfails aswell. MAX_RETRIES 0 Thenumberoftimestoretryanoperationafteritfails. Usethisoptionifmultiplebackupjobsfailwith resource busyerrors. Thetimeinterval(inseconds)betweenretrialsofafailed operation.ThissettingisvalidonlywhenMAX_RETRIES islargerthan0.
BACKOFF_TIME
10
1. WhenTRANSPORT_MODEissettohotadd,thevalueforPREEXISTING_MOUNTPOINTand PREEXISTING_VCB_SNAPSHOTmustbethesame,sinceitisnotpossibletoreliablyremovea preexistingsnapshotinthiscasewithoutcleaningupthemountpoint.
Configuring USERNAME and PASSWORD

TobeabletouseConsolidatedBackup,youneedtospecifyausername.Youcansetit totheIDusedforloggingintotheVirtualCenterhostorESXServerhost.Usethesame passwordyouuseforloggingintotheVirtualCenterhostorESXServerhost. Ifyoudonotspecifythepassword,ConsolidatedBackupchecksifthepasswordisset intheregistryatthefollowinglocations: OnWindowsx86HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\VMware, Inc.\VMware Consolidated Backup\Password OnWindowsx64HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\VMware, Inc.\VMware Consolidated Backup\Password Ifthepasswordisnotspecifiedintheregistry,ConsolidatedBackuppromptsforthe password.
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YoucanconfigureConsolidatedBackuptouseSecuritySupportProvider Interface (SSPI)forauthentication.TheadvantageofusingSSPIisthatitdoesnot requirethepasswordtobestoredinthisconfigurationfileinplaintextorintheregistry. InordertobeabletouseSSPI,thefollowingconditionsmustbemet: ConsolidatedBackupmustconnectdirectlytoaVirtualCenterServerversion2.5 orlater.MakesurethatHOSTintheconfig.jsconfigurationfilepointstoyour VirtualCenterServer. AlwaysuseConsolidatedBackupfromausercontextwiththesameusernameand passwordcredentialsonboththeVCBproxyandtheVirtualCenterServer,orbea domainuser.ThebackupapplicationserviceprocesswhichcallsVCBmustbe configuredtorununderthisusercontext.ConsolidatedBackupandthebackup applicationthatcallsitmustnotbeusedintheLocalSystemaccountcontext. TheConsolidatedBackupusermusthaveadministratorprivilegesontheVCB proxyandhavetheVCBBackupUserroleassignedinVirtualCenter. Ifyoursetupmeetsalltheseconditions,youcanenableSSPIauthenticationbysetting USERNAMEto__sspi__.ForSSPI,thepasswordneedstobeset,butitisignored.Itcan besetto"".
Enabling SSL Certificate Verification

WhenConsolidatedBackupcommunicateswiththeVirtualCenterserverorESXServer host,itcantransferdataoveranencryptedSSLconnectionoruseanunencrypted networkchannel. Useunencryptedchannelonlyifyoucreateatrustedenvironmentwithfullyisolated transmissionsbetweenyourESXServerhostandVCBproxy.DisablingSSLcan improveperformancebecauseyouavoidtheoverheadrequiredtoperformencryption. However,tosecurethecommunicationchannelandpreventpotential maninthemiddleattacks,enabletheSSLcertificateverificationinyourConsolidated Backupenvironment.TheSSLcertificateverificationisnotenabledbydefault. NOTEYoucanusetheSSLcertificateverificationonlywithESXServer3.5and ESX Server 3iversion3.5.EnablingtheSSLcertificateverificationinamixed environment,forexample,whenyourunESXServer3.0.xandESXServer3.5,cancause backupoperationstofail.
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FortheSSLcertificateverificationtosucceed,thehostnameonthecertificatemust matchthecurrentfullyqualifieddomainnameofthehostthatpresentsthecertificate. Ifyouusethedefaultselfsignedcertificate,thesenamesdonotmatchandthecertificate verificationfails.Toaddressthisissue,addacertificatethatissignedbyarecognized certificateauthority.SeetheReplacingVirtualCenterServerCertificateswhitepaper. To enable SSL certificate verification on a VCB proxy 1 UsingtheMicrosoftRegistryEditor(regedit.exe),locatethefollowingkey:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\VMware, Inc.\VMware Consolidated Backup
MakesurethattheDWORDentrywiththefollowingnameispresent.Otherwise, createanewone.
VerifySSLCertificates
3 4
ToenableSSLcertificateverification,setthevalueforthisentryto1. ConnecttoyourESXServerhostorVirtualCenterserverthroughtheVIClient, enteringthenamesexactlyasyouspecifiedintheconfig.jsfile,the ConsolidatedBackupconfigurationfile. IfyourESXServerhostorVirtualCenterserverusethedefaultselfsigned certificate,youwillreceiveasecurityalertaskingyoutoverifytheSSLthumbprint.
Afterverifyingthethumbprint,clickYestoaddthecertificatetotheWindows certificatestore.
YoucanalsoenabletheSSLcertificateauthenticationfortheESXServer3command lineutilitiesontheserviceconsole. To enable SSL certificate verification on an ESX Server 3 service console 1 ObtainthethumbprintoftheESXServerhostbyenteringthefollowingcommand ontheserviceconsole:
openssl x509 -noout -in /etc/vmware/ssl/rui.crt -fingerprint -sha1
2 3
Openthe/etc/vmware/backuptools.conffileinaneditor. SetHOST_THUMBPRINTtothethumbprintoftheESXServerhost. Thethumbprintiscasesensitiveandyoumustenteritintheexactsamewayas displayed.TheformatofthethumbprintisXX:XX:XX:XX:XX:...,whereXXare hexadecimaldigits.
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Configuring SAN
IfyouareusingSANtostoreyourvirtualmachinedata,configuretheSANfabricto whichboththeESXServerandtheVCBproxyareconnected. ForConsolidatedBackup,yourSANconfigurationmustmeetthefollowing requirements: TheVCBproxyhasareadwriteaccesstotheSANLUNsthatstoreyourvirtual machines.Toachievethis,addtheVCBproxytothesamefabriczoneswherethe ESXServersystembelongs. Thehostmode(connectiontype)settingsontheVCBproxyandontheESXServer match.Forexample,ifyouhaveanIBMarrayandthehostmodesettingisLNXCL, setthesamefortheVCBproxy.Forinstructionsonconfiguringhostmodesettings forHPstoragearrays,refertovendordocumentation. SeedocumentationprovidedbyyourSANstoragearrayandswitchvendors,aswellas theFibreChannelSANConfigurationGuideandiSCSISANConfigurationGuide.
Using VMware Consolidated Backup

BecauseConsolidatedBackupworksinconjunctionwithathirdpartysoftware,details onhowyouuseConsolidatedBackupdependonthespecificsoftware.Refertothe README.htmlfilethatcomeswithyourbackupsoftwareintegrationmodule. FollowtheseguidelineswhenusingConsolidatedBackup: IfyouuseConsolidatedBackupintheHotAddmode,createaVCBproxyhelper. SeeCreatingaVCBHelperVirtualMachineonpage 44. Createabackuproleandassociateaspecificuserwiththisrole.SeeAssigning BackupPrivilegestoaConsolidatedBackupUseronpage 45. Ifyouhavemultiplevirtualmachinestobackup,groupthesevirtualmachinesand managethatgroupasasingleentityinyourbackupsoftwarebyconfiguringDNS aliasesfortheproxy.SeeGroupingVirtualMachinesonpage 47. NOTEConsolidatedBackupsupportsamaximumof60concurrentlymounted virtualmachines.Forexample,youcanconcurrentlymount60virtualmachines thathaveaC:drive,or30virtualmachinesthathaveaC:andaD:each.
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Afteryouhaveassociatedagroupofvirtualmachineswithonehostname,youcan setupabackupjobforeachaliasusingthealiasastheclientnameforthejob.See ConfiguringBackupJobsonpage 48. Whenyouperformafirstbackupforaparticularvirtualmachine,poweronthis virtualmachine.SeeFirstTimeBackuponpage 48. NOTEYoucannotuseConsolidatedBackuptobackupvirtualmachinesinacluster. ThesevirtualmachinesshareanSCSIcontrollerandsnapshotoperationscannotbe performedonthem.
Creating a VCB Helper Virtual Machine

IfyouuseConsolidatedBackupintheHotAddmode,youneedtocreateashadow virtualmachineforConsolidatedBackuptouseinternally.Theshadowvirtualmachine hasthesamenameasyourvirtualVCBproxywiththe(VCB-HELPER)suffixadded. Forexample,ifthenameofyourvirtualbackupproxyis BackupProxyVMWAREBACKUP,thenameoftheshadowvirtualmachineshouldbe BackupProxyVMWAREBACKUP(VCB-HELPER). To create VCB helper virtual machine 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 RightclickanESXhostandselectNewVirtualMachine. SelecttheconfigurationasCustomandclickNext. Enternameofthevirtualmachineas<proxyvm>(VCBHELPER)andclickNext. SelectadatastorethatisvisibletoallESXhostscontainingVCBproxyvirtual machineandbackupvirtualmachines.ClickNext. SelecttheappropriateVirtualMachineVersionandclickNext. SelectGuestOperatingSystemasOther,andVersionasOther(32bit)andclick Next. Selectnumberofvirtualprocessorsas1andclickNext. SelectMemorysizeas256MBandclickNext. SelectHowmanyNICsdoyouwanttoconnect?asNoneandclickNext. SelectSCSIcontrollerasLSILogicParallelandclickNext.
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SelectDisktypeasDonotcreatediskandclickNext.Thesettingsforthenew virtualmachinearedisplayed. ClickFinish. CAUTIONDonotpowerontheVCBhelpervirtualmachineasitcausesthebackup tofail.
Assigning Backup Privileges to a Consolidated Backup User

VCBusersarethoseusersthathavetheirusernameandpasswordconfiguredinthe VCBconfigurationfileand,tobeabletoperformbackups,needtohavebackup privilegesforthevirtualmachinesbeingprotected. Forallvirtualmachinesthatneedtobebackedup,setbackupprivilegesassociatingthe VCBuserwiththeVMwareConsolidatedBackupUserrole.InVirtualCenter2.5or later,usethepredefinedVMwareConsolidatedBackupUserrole.Ifyouarerunning anearlierversionofVirtualCenter,createanewrolewiththebackupprivileges. WhenusingConsolidatedBackupintheHotAddmode,theVCBusermusthavean abilitytoperformadditionaltasks,suchasaddingandremovingvirtualdisks,onthe VCBproxyandVCBhelpervirtualmachines.YouneedtocreateanadditionalVMware ConsolidatedBackupProxyroleandassociatethisrolewiththeVCBuser. Formoreinformationoncreatingrolesandaddingpermissionstovirtualmachines,see theBasicSystemAdministration.
Creating a VMware Consolidated Backup User Role

InVirtualCenter2.5orlater,useapredefinedrolecalledVMwareConsolidatedBackup User.IfyouarerunninganearlierversionofVirtualCenter,createanewrolewiththe backupprivileges. To create a VCB User role 1 2 3 LogintothevCenterServerwithAdministratorcredentialsusingvSphereClient. FromthevCenterServer,selectView>Administration>Roles. RightclicktheexistingVMwareConsolidatedBackupuser(sample)roleand selectClone. AnewroleCloneofVMwareConsolidatedBackupuser(sample)iscreated. RenametheCloneofVMwareConsolidatedBackupuser(sample)roleto VMwareConsolidatedBackupUser.
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(Optional)Ifthegrantedprivilegesarenotenabled,enabletheroleby rightclickingontheVMwareConsolidatedBackupUserroleandselectingEdit Role. SelectthefollowingprivilegesfortheVMwareConsolidatedBackupUserrole. Clicktheplussigns(+)toexpandthelists,asneeded. VirtualMachine>Configuration>DiskLease VirtualMachine>Provisioning>AllowReadonlyDiskAccess VirtualMachine>Provisioning>AllowVirtualMachineDownload VirtualMachine>State>CreateSnapshot VirtualMachine>State>RemoveSnapshot
Toenablehotaddtransportmode,addthefollowingprivileges: Datastore>Browseadatastore VirtualMachine>Provisioning>Clonevirtualmachine
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ClickOK. Setpermissionsonalltheprotectedvirtualmachines,associatingtheVCBuser withtheVCBuserrole.Forvirtualmachinebackup,permissionsaresetatESX hostlevel.
Creating a VMware Consolidated Backup Proxy Role

IfyouareusingConsolidatedBackupintheHotAddmode,inadditiontotheVCB Userrole,youneedtocreatetheVMwareConsolidatedBackupProxyrole.Afteryou createtheVCBProxyrole,setpermissionsindividuallyontheVCBproxyandVCB helpervirtualmachinesassociatingtheVCBuserwiththeVCBProxyrole. To create a VCB Proxy role 1 2 3 LogintothevCenterServerwithAdministratorprivilegesusingvSphereClient. FromthevCenterServer,selectView>Administration>Roles. RightclicktheexistingVMwareConsolidatedBackupUser(Sample)roleand selectClone. AnewroleCloneofVMwareConsolidatedBackupuser(sample)iscreated. RenametheCloneofVMwareConsolidatedBackupuser(sample)roleto VMwareConsolidatedBackupProxy.
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(Optional)Ifthegrantedprivilegesarenotenabled,enabletheroleby rightclickingontheVMwareConsolidatedBackupProxyroleandselectEdit Role. SelectthefollowingprivilegesfortheVMwareConsolidatedBackupProxyrole. Clicktheplussigns(+)toexpandthelists,asneeded. VirtualMachine>Configuration>AddexistingDisk VirtualMachine>Configuration>ChangeResource VirtualMachine>Configuration>RemoveDisk VirtualMachine>Configuration>Settings
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ClickOK. SetpermissionsontheVCBproxyandVCBhelpervirtualmachinesassociating theVCBuserwiththeVCBProxyrole.
Grouping Virtual Machines

Ifyouhavemultiplevirtualmachinestobackup,assignthevirtualmachinestogroups andsetupdifferentaliasesforthegroups,allpointingtothesameIPaddressofthe VCBproxy.Fordetailsandinstructionsongroupingyourvirtualmachines,referto documentationforyourbackupsoftware. Forexample,youcancreateseparategroupsforvirtualmachinesbelongingtothe Accounting,Engineering,andMarketingdepartmentsofyourcompany,assignthe followingaliases,andmanageeachgroupasasingleentityinyourbackupsoftware: vcbaccounting.company.com vcbengineering.company.com vcbmarketing.company.com Settingupdifferentaliasesletsyou: Associatedifferentpermissionswitheachgroupofvirtualmachines.Forexample, Accounting,Engineering,andMarketinggroupscaneachhavetheirownsetof permissionsthatmightgrantbackupandrestoreprivilegestodifferentusers. Easilymoveagroupofvirtualmachinestoadifferentproxy.Forexample,ifyour datacentergrows,youcanaddanewproxyandmovejobsforthegroupby pointingthealiastothenewproxy.
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Configuring Backup Jobs

Therulesthatyourbackupsoftwarefollowswhenbackingupvirtualmachinesare organizedintobackupjobs.Backupjobsdescribetheprocessofbackingupvirtual machinedataandincludechoosinganameforthebackupprocesstodistinguishit fromotherjobs,selectingthefilesforbackingup,choosingbackuptype,settingupthe schedule,andsoon. Directionsonhowtoconfigurebackupjobsforyourvirtualmachinesaredifferentfor eachbackupsoftwareandarelistedintheREADME.htmlfileprovidedwiththe integrationmoduleforyourthirdpartybackupsoftware. Whenconfiguringbackupjobs,followtheseguidelines: AssignalljobstotheVCBproxy. Usealiasesasthenamesforthejobs. Associatethejobswithoneofthefollowingdirectories: filelevel:C:\mnt\mytestvm.foo.com\letters\D imagelevel:C:\mnt\mytestvm.foo.com-fullVM Scheduleeachjobtorunataspecifictime. IfyourunmultiplebackupjobsonthesameVCBproxyatthesametime, rememberthatbackupproductsmighthavelimitationsonthenumberofjobsyou canruninparallel. NOTEYoucannotperformafilelevelbackupsimultaneouslywithanimagelevel backupforthesamevirtualmachine.
First-Time Backup
Whenyouperformafirstbackupforavirtualmachine,thevirtualmachinehastobe poweredon,otherwisethebackupfails. NOTEYoudonotneedtopoweronavirtualmachineifyourintegrationmoduleis configuredtousevirtualmachinedisplaynamesinsteadofIPaddressesorDNS names. Afteryouhavecompletedthefirstbackupofthevirtualmachine,ConsolidatedBackup canperformbackupsofthevirtualmachineregardlessofitspowerstateatbackup time.
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Quiescing Mechanisms
WhenyoustartthebackupprocessusingConsolidatedBackup,yourvirtualmachines areautomaticallyquiescedtoguaranteetheconsistencyofthevirtualmachine snapshots. Tonothaveaquiescingmechanism,append-Q 0tovcbMounter. Touseprebackupjobs,addNO_QUIESCE=1attheendoftheconfig.jsconfiguration file.Allprebackupjobswillnothavequiescingsnapshotsifconfig.jsconfiguration fileiseditedasabove. DependingonthequiescingmechanismthatConsolidatedBackupuses,thesnapshot canbe: Crashconsistent Filesystemconsistent Applicationconsistent AsTable 22demonstrates,thequiescingmechanismsdependontheguestoperating systemthatyouruninyourvirtualmachines,theversionsofESXServerthathostsyour virtualmachines,andtheversionofVMwareToolsyouinstallinthevirtualmachines. Table 2-2. Quiescing Mechanisms Used by VMware Consolidated Backup
ESX Server 3.5 U1 or Earlier and Corresponding VMware Tools SYNCdriver Filesystemconsistent quiescing SYNCdriver Filesystemconsistent quiescing Crashconsistentquiescing ESX Server 3.5 U2 or Later and Corresponding VMware Tools SYNCdriver Filesystemconsistentquiescing VMwareVSScomponent Applicationconsistent quiescing VMwareVSScomponent Applicationconsistent quiescing WindowsVista 32bit/64bit WindowsServer2008 32bit/64bit Otherguestoperating systems Crashconsistentquiescing Crashconsistentquiescing Crashconsistentquiescing VMwareVSScomponent Filesystemconsistentquiescing VMwareVSScomponent Filesystemconsistentquiescing Crashconsistentquiescing
Guest Operating System Windows2000Server 32bit WindowsXP32bit WindowsServer2003 32bit Windows200364bit
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Thefollowingvirtualmachinesgetonlycrashconsistentbackups: VirtualmachinesmigratedfromESX Server 3.5 Update2toanearlierversionof ESXServer. VirtualmachinesthathavetheversionofVMwareToolsshippedwith ESX Server 2.5.x.
Using VMware VSS Components

IfyouareusingESXServer3.5Update2orlater,theVMwareVolumeShadowCopy Service(VSS)componentsgetinstalledbydefaultwhenyouinstallVMwareToolson yourvirtualmachines. NOTETheVSScomponentgetsinstalledbydefaultwhenyoudoafreshinstallation ofVMwareToolsshippedwithESXServer3.5Update2.Ifyouupgradefromanearlier version,youneedtoinstalltheVSScomponentmanually. TobeabletousetheVSScomponent,thevirtualmachinesshouldhavethefollowing guestoperatingsystems: WindowsServer200332bit/64bit WindowsVista32bit/64bit WindowsServer200832bit/64bit ConsolidatedBackupusestheVMwareVSScomponenttocreatequiescedsnapshotsof thevirtualmachinevolumes. ForvirtualmachinesrunningWindowsServer2003astheguestoperatingsystem,the VSScomponentusesapplicationVSSwritersmakingsurethattheVSSsnapshotsare applicationconsistent.ThesnapshotrepresentstheentirestateoftheVSSaware applicationsregardlessoftheirbackuphistoryanddoesnotmodifythebackuphistory. ForvirtualmachinesrunningWindowsVistaandWindowsServer2008,theVSS componentdoesnotuseapplicationwritersand,asaresult,thesnapshotsare filesystemconsistent.
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Using SYNC Driver

TheSYNCdrivergetsinstalledbydefaultwhenyouinstallVMwareToolsonthe virtualmachinesthathavethefollowingguestoperatingsystems: WindowsXP32bit(ESXServer3.5Update1orearlier,andESXServer3.5 Update 2orlater) Windows2000Server32bit(ESXServer3.5Update1orearlier,andESXServer3.5 Update2orlater) Windows200332bit(ESXServer3.5Update1orearlier) Ifinstalled,theSYNCdriverholdsincomingI/Oandflushesalldirtydatatoadisk, makingsnapshotsfilesystemconsistent. Keepinmindthefollowing: CreatingquiescedsnapshotsusingtheSYNCdriverrequireswaitingforI/Oto drainintheguestoperatingsystem.Thismightaffecttimesensitiveapplications, suchasDBHammer. IfyoudonotinstalltheSYNCdriverwheninstallingVMwareTools,youcanavoid thedelaycausedbytheI/Odraining.However,yoursnapshotswillbe crashconsistentonly,unlessyouprovidecustomquiescingthroughprebackup andpostbackupscriptsintheguestoperatingsystem.
Running Custom Quiescing Scripts

Youcanalsoruncustomprefreezeandpostthawquiescingscriptstocreatea quiescentsnapshotofyourvirtualmachine.Forexample,usethescriptstoachieve applicationconsistentbackupsinWindowsvirtualmachinesthatdonotsupportthe VSScomponents.Deployandrunthecustomquiescingscriptsinsidetheprotected virtualmachine.Table 23showsthedirectories,inwhichtheprefreezeandpostthaw scriptsshouldbeplaced. Whenrunningthescripts,youcanalsousetheSYNCdriverorVSScomponentson thosevirtualmachinesthatsupportthem.
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Table 2-3. Locations of Custom Quiescing Scripts

Guest Operating System Windows Location on Virtual Machines Hosted by ESX Server 3.5 U1 and Earlier C:\Windows\pre-freeze-script.bat Location on Virtual Machines Hosted by ESX Server 3.5 U2 and Later C:\Program Files\VMware\VMware Tools\backupScripts.d backupScripts.disafoldertobe createdbytheuser,andisnotthe nameofafile. Allscriptsareinvokedin ascendingalphabeticalorderwith freezeasthefirstargument. Postthaw C:\Windows\post-thaw-script.bat C:\Program Files\VMware\VMware Tools\backupScripts.d backupScripts.disafoldertobe createdbytheuser,andisnotthe nameofafile. Allscriptsareinvokedin descendingalphabeticalorder withthaworfreezeFailasthe firstargument. Other Prefreeze Postthaw /usr/sbin/pre-freeze-script /usr/sbin/post-thaw-script /usr/sbin/pre-freeze-script /usr/sbin/post-thaw-script
Script Prefreeze
Whenrunningthescripts,ConsolidatedBackupperformsthefollowingsteps: 1 Runstheprefreezescriptinsidethevirtualmachinebeingbackedup. Forthescriptslocation,seeTable 23. Iftheprefreezescriptreturnsanonzeroexitcode,thesnapshotcreateoperation fails. 2 (Optional)EngageseithertheSYNCdriverorVSScomponents. ForinformationonthevirtualmachinesthatsupporttheSYNCdriverandVSS components,seeTable 22. Ifthisstepfails,ConsolidatedBackupproceedstoStep 5. 3 Createsasnapshot.
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DisengagestheSYNCdriverortheVSScomponents. ThisstepcanfailifthesnapshotcreationinStep 3tooktoolongandtimedout.
Runsthepostthawscriptinsidethevirtualmachine. Ifsuccessful,theexitstatusofthisscriptis0.
Advanced Configurations
YoumightneedtoperformadvancedconfigurationswhenusingConsolidatedBackup. Forexample,youmightneedtorunapostbackupcommandforyourvirtualmachines tocancelbackupjobs.
Canceling a Backup Job

Ifabackupoperationiscanceledfromyourthirdpartysoftwarewhilethebackupisin process,thevirtualmachinemightnotbeunmountedfromthebackupproxy,andthe snapshotmightnotbedeleted.Thisisexpectedbecausethecleanupscriptwasunable torun.Tofixtheproblem,youmustmanuallyrunthepostbackupcommandforeach virtualmachine.Asanalternative,runvcbCleanupasdescribedinCleaningUpAfter aFailedBackupJobonpage 53. To run the post-backup command 1 2 OntheVCBproxy,checkthefoldersinthe C:\\mntdirectorytodeterminethe virtualmachinehostnames. Foreachvirtualmachinehostname,runthefollowingcommandfromthe genericsubdirectoryintheConsolidatedBackupinstallationdirectory.
cscript /nologo post-command.wsf <VCB installation path ["C:\Program Files\VMware\VMware Consolidated Backup Framework"] <virtual_machine_hostname>>
Cleaning Up After a Failed Backup Job

WhenyouuseConsolidatedBackupwithaVMwareprovidedintegrationmoduleto performfilelevelvirtualmachinebackups,aftercompletingthebackup,abackup softwarecallsthepostbackupscripttounmountthevirtualmachinesnapshotfromthe backupproxyandtakethevirtualmachineoutofsnapshotmode. However,ifabackupjobfails,somebackupapplicationsneverrunthepostbackup script.Asaresult,virtualmachinescanstillremainmountedandinthesnapshotmode attheendofthebackupcycle.
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Tocleanupsnapshotsandunmountvirtualmachinesfromthedirectoryspecifiedin BACKUPROOToftheconfig.jsfile,runvcbCleanupattheendofyourbackupcycle. CAUTIONDonotrunvcbCleanupwhilebackupsarestillinprogressontheVCB proxy.Thiscancausecurrentlyrunningbackupstofail. YoucanrunvcbCleanupinteractively,withoutacommandoption.Ifyouenterthe-y option,theutilityperformsthecleanupwithoutyourinteraction.Thisallowsyouto automatecleaningupafterabackupcycle.
Upgrading Consolidated Backup

WhenyouupgradeConsolidatedBackupfromitsearlierversions,performthe followingprocedureontheVCBproxy. To upgrade to VMware Consolidated Backup version 1.5 1 2 3 4 RestarttheVCBproxymachine. UpgradetothelatestConsolidatedBackupversionbyrunningtheVMware ConsolidatedBackupinstaller. OpenCommandPromptandenternet stop vmount2tostopanyrunning vmountservices. OntheCommandPrompt,enterDiskparttoopentheDiskpartutilityandissue theautomount scrubcommandtoremoveregistrysettingsforanypreviously mountedvirtualmachines. CleantheC:\Windows\Tempdirectorytoremoveanyaccumulatedtemporary files.
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Restoration and Disaster Recovery
Thischapterdescribeshowtorestoreyourdataorrecoverfromadisaster.Youneedto findabalancebetweenthenumberofagentsthatyouwanttouseandtheeasewith whichyoucanrestoreyourdata. Thischapterincludesthefollowinginformation: RestoringVirtualMachinesUsingVMwareConsolidatedBackuponpage 55 DataRecoveryonpage 57
Restoring Virtual Machines Using VMware Consolidated Backup

ConsolidatedBackuphelpsyouperformanimagelevelrestorationofentirevirtual machinesandfilelevelrestorationofthedataorfilesfrominsideavirtualdisk. Forspecificrestorationinstructions,consultthedocumentationthatcomeswiththe integrationmoduleforyourbackupsoftware. VMwaresupportsthefollowingrestorationprocesses: Imagelevelrestoration RestoreaVCBimageofyourvirtualmachineusingVMwareConverter.See UsingVMwareConvertertoRestoreVirtualMachineImagesonpage 56. (ESXServer3only)Restoreyourvirtualmachineusingthecommandline vcbRestoreutility.SeeUsingthevcbRestoreUtilitytoRestoreVirtual Machinesonpage 56.
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Filelevelrestoration Nobackupsoftwareinthevirtualmachine.Restorationisdonebythe administratoronabackupproxynetworksharethatisaccessiblebythe protectedvirtualmachine.SeeCentralizedRestoreonpage 56 Backupsoftwareindedicatedvirtualmachinesanddatamovedtotarget virtualmachines.SeePerGroupRestoreonpage 57. Backupsoftwaredeployedineveryprotectedvirtualmachine.Restorationis donedirectlybythesystemadministratorortheuser.SeeDirectRestoretoa VirtualMachineonpage 57.
Using VMware Converter to Restore Virtual Machine Images

YoucanuseVMwareConverterversion3.0.1andlatertorestoreVCBimagesofvirtual machinestorunningvirtualmachines.UsingtheVMwareConverter,integratedinto VirtualCenter,youcanrestoreyourvirtualmachinefilestoadifferentdatastore,host, orResourcePooldirectlythroughtheVIClient. ForinformationonVMwareConverter,seewww.vmware.com/products/converter/.
Using the vcbRestore Utility to Restore Virtual Machines

ThevcbRestoreutilityisacommandlineutilitythatyouusetorestoredatathathas beenbackedupusingimagebasedbackup.vcbRestorerunsontheESXServer3 serviceconsole. Forinformationonhowtousethisutility,seeUsingServiceConsoletoBackUpand RestoreVirtualMachinesonpage 63.
Centralized Restore
Whenperformingacentralizedrestore,youhaveagroupofvirtualmachineson ESX Server,aproxy,andabackupagentontheproxyinadedicatedvirtualmachine thatyouplantousetorestoreyourdata.Usethebackupsoftwaretogetthedatatothe proxythatisrunningtheagent.Aftertheadministratorrestoresthedatatothecentral server,copyitbacktothevirtualmachineusingtheCommonInternet File System (CIFS)remoteaccessfilesharingprotocol. Advantages:Thenumberofagentstomaintainisminimal. Disadvantages:Becausedatarestorationiscentralized,anadministratormustbe involvedinfilelevelrestoration.
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Chapter 3 Restoration and Disaster Recovery
Per-Group Restore
Whenperformingapergrouprestoration,onevirtualmachinehasabackupagentfor eachgroup,suchasaccounting,engineering,andmarketing.Thegroupadministrator restoresworkflowstoapergrouprestorehost.Filesarecopiedtoatargetvirtual machineusingCIFSfileshare. Advantages: Restorationscanbedelegated. Thistypeofrestorationisagoodcompromisebetweenthenumberofagentsand easeofrestoration. Disadvantages:Thisprocessisnotacompleteselfservicerestoration.
Direct Restore to a Virtual Machine

Backupagentsaredeployedineveryvirtualmachine.Theusercanusetheagentto backupdatatoatapeandrestorethesameway.Thebackupagentinthevirtual machineisusedtorestorethedata. Advantages:Thisprocessisaselfservicerestoration. Disadvantages:Agentsarerequiredineachvirtualmachine.
Data Recovery
Thefollowingguidelinescanhelpyourecoveryourdata: Makesureyouhaveimagelevelvirtualmachinebackups. BackupyourVirtualCenterdatabase. Makesureyouhaveyourlicensekeys. Makesureyouhaveenoughserverstorunallthevirtualmachinesyouplanto restore. EnablingmigrationwithVMotionorusingDRSenhancesyourdisasterrecovery capabilities.
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Backup Scenarios and Troubleshooting
Thischapterdescribesrealworldscenariosthatcanhelpyouplanyourbackup strategies. Thischapterincludesthefollowinginformation: BackupUsageScenariosonpage 59 TypicalConsolidatedBackupUsageScenarioonpage 60 Troubleshootingonpage 61
Backup Usage Scenarios

Thefollowingarethemostrecommendedusecases: Datacenter Atthefilelevel,performbackupseverynight. Attheimagelevel,performbackupsperiodicallyforWindows,andnightly forLinux.Thisisadisasterrecoveryscenario. Agentsinvirtualmachines.PerformincrementalbackupsforLinux. Backupserverinavirtualmachine.Forbranchoffices,deployagentsinthe virtualmachineaswell.
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Typical Consolidated Backup Usage Scenario

ThisisanexampleofhowyoucanuseConsolidatedBackuptoprotectdatainvirtual machines: 1 Thesystemadministratorconfiguresbackupschedulesandpoliciesinthe thirdpartybackupsoftware. Forexample,thesystemadministratormightinstructthebackupsoftwaretoback upD:\Data onvm37.company.comdailyat3:05a.m. 2 3 Thebackupsoftwareschedulesthisbackupjob. Whenthebackupsoftwarelaunchesthisjob,itcallsintoConsolidatedBackupby usingaprebackupscript. ConsolidatedBackupperformsthefollowing: a b 4 5 ContactsaVirtualCenterinstanceoranESXServerhost,andsendsarequest tocreateasnapshotofthevirtualmachinetobebackedup. Makesthissnapshotavailable(mounted)onthebackupproxy.Thismakesthe datathatneedstobebackedupvisibletothethirdpartybackupsoftware.
Thethirdpartybackupsoftwareperformsthebackupprocedureofcopying changeddatatothebackupmedia. Attheendofthebackupjob,thethirdpartybackupsoftwarecallsinto ConsolidatedBackup,usingapostbackupscript. ConsolidatedBackupdoesthefollowing: a b Detaches(unmounts)thesnapshotfromthebackupproxy. RequestsVirtualCenterortheESXServerhosttoremovethevirtualmachine snapshot.
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Chapter 4 Backup Scenarios and Troubleshooting
Troubleshooting
Thissectionguidesyouthroughissuesyoumightencounterwhenperforming backups.
Changing Backup Policies after ESX Server 2.x Upgrades

IfyouupgradedyourESXServerversion2.xtoversion3.x,youneedtomodifyall VMFSvolumepathsthatyouconfiguredinthebackupsoftware.Apathformatin ESX Server3.xisdifferentfromtheESXServer2.xformatandfollowsthisstandard: VMFSvolume
/vmfs/volumes/<file_system_UUID>
or
/vmfs/volumes/<file_system_label>
VMFSfile
/vmfs/volumes/<file system label|file system UUID>/[dir]/myDisk.vmdk
Identifying VMFS Volumes in Backup GUI

Whenyouuseabackupagentintheserviceconsoleforfilelevelbackups,youwork withVMFSvolumes. InESXServer3.x,VMFSvolumesareidentifiedbyuniqueidentifiers.Thenameofthe directory,underwhicheachVMFSvolumeismountedin/vmfs/volumes, correspondstothisuniqueidentifier.Theuniqueidentifierisassignedtothevolume duringformatting,andyoucannotchangeit. VMFSvolumescanhaveuserfriendlylabels.Theselabelsappearassymboliclinksin /vmfs/volumesandpointtothecorrespondingdirectory.Forexample,foraVMFS volumewiththeuniqueidentifier43a0552e-ae6093b2-47a1-00145e0a7ec0andthe labelstorage1,thefollowingentriesarecreatedunder/vmfs/volumes: Adirectorynamed43a0552e-ae6093b2-47a1-00145e0a7ec0,underwhichthe filesystemismounted. Asymboliclinknamedstorage1,pointingtothedirectory 43a0552e-ae6093b2-47a1-00145e0a7ec0. YourbackupsoftwareGUIsthatallowyoutoselectfilesforbackupsshowonlythe directory(theuniqueID)intheirBrowseDirectorypane.IfyouknowyourVMFS volumeonlybyitslabel,itmightbedifficultforyoutofindyourVMFSvolumeinthe GUIdirectory.
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To identify a VMFS volume by its label 1 Browsethe/vmfs/volumesdirectoryinyourbackupsoftwareGUI. ThesymboliclinkspointingtotheVMFSvolumemountpointsshowupinthefile selectionpane. 2 3 UsetheseentriestofindtheuniqueIDforthefilesystemlabelyouneed. SelectthedirectorycorrespondingtothisuniqueIDinthedirectorypanefor browsing.
Whenperformingfilebasedbackups,thebackupapplicationusespathsreferencing theuniqueidentifier,sothebackedupfilesshowupasthefollowing:
/vmfs/volumes/43a0552e-ae6093b2-47a1-00145e0a7ec0/vm01/vm01.vmdk
Whenrestoringfilesfromthebackupapplication,youmightneedtoperformareverse mappingtoidentifythecorrectVMFSvolumelabel(inthisexample,storage1) correspondingtothisuniqueidentifier.Todothis,backupthesymboliclinkitselfwhile performingbackups.
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Using Service Console to Back Up and Restore Virtual Machines
Thisappendixdescribeshowtobackupandrestorevirtualmachinesusingyour ESX Server3serviceconsole.Theappendixwalksyouthroughtheprocessof configuringtheConsolidatedBackupcommandlineutilitiesandprovidesexamples onhowtousetheseutilities. NOTEBecauseESXServer3idoesnothaveaserviceconsole,informationinthis chapterisnotapplicabletoESXServer3i.Toperformimagelevelvirtualmachine backupsonanESXServer3ihostthatdoesnothaveaccesstoSAN,useConsolidated BackupinLANmodeandrunitonavirtualmachine. Thisappendixincludesthefollowingsections: GeneralConfigurationSettingsforConsolidatedBackupUtilitiesonpage 64 BackingUpVirtualMachinesonpage 66 ArchivingVirtualMachinesonpage 70 RestoringVirtualMachinesonpage 71
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General Configuration Settings for Consolidated Backup Utilities

BeforeusingserviceconsoleConsolidatedBackuputilities,editthe /etc/vmware/backuptools.conf configurationfiletosetthemostcommon parametersforthesetools. BecausethisconfigurationfileisparsedasaBourneshellscript,followsyntax conventionsoftheBourneshellwheneditingthefile: Usethe#charactertoindicateacomment. Donotusespaceswhenenteringvariables.Forexample,FOO="bar"shouldhave nospacesaroundtheequalssign. Useabackslashbeforeenteringanyspecialcharacters,suchas$.Forexample, \$erver. AdministratorsfamiliarwithBourneshellscriptprogrammingcanuseallthestandard Bourneshellmechanisms,suchascommandexecution,forexample`foo`,oruse environmentvariables.
Configuration File Settings

Usethe/etc/vmware/backuptools.conf configurationfiletosetupthefollowing options. VCHOST SpecifiestheURLoftheVirtualCenterthatmanagestheESXServer3hostbeing backeduporrestored. Ifyouperformthebackuporrestoreoperationsonastandalonehost,youcanuse localhostasthehostname. NOTEYoucanusethe-hcommandlineoptionforanyConsolidatedBackup commandlineutilitytooverridethissetting. USERNAME SpecifiestheusernametologintotheVirtualCenterinstancedefinedbyVCHOST. Theusermusthaveprivilegestobeabletoregisterorcreatevirtualmachines. NOTEYoucanusethe-ucommandlineoptionforanyConsolidatedBackup commandlineutilitytooverridethissetting.
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Appendix A Using Service Console to Back Up and Restore Virtual Machines
PASSWORD SpecifiesthepasswordcorrespondingtoUSERNAME.Thisoptionallowsyouto performvirtualmachinebackupsinanoninteractiveway. CAUTIONBecausespecifyingapasswordinaconfigurationfilecanpresenta securityrisk,makesurethattheServiceConsoleisnotusedbyanyoneexceptan ESXServer3administrator. NOTEYoucanusethe-pcommandlineoptionforanyConsolidatedBackup commandlineutilitytooverridethissetting. VMNAMECACHE Themostcommonwayofidentifyingavirtualmachineforbackuppurposesisby itsDNSnameorbyitsIPaddress.However,whenyoubackupavirtualmachine fromastandaloneESXServer3host,theESXServer3hostcanrecognizethe IP addressonlywhenthevirtualmachineispoweredonandrunningVMware Tools. Tobeabletoperformbackupsofthevirtualmachineonthestandalone ESX Server 3hostevenwhenthevirtualmachineispoweredoff,youshould maintainacachefile.ThecachefilerecordstheIPaddressofthevirtualmachine eachtimethevirtualmachineisbeingbackedup.Thisallowsyoutoperformthe futurebackupsofthisvirtualmachineregardlessofitspowerstate. VMwarerecommendsthatyoudonotchangethedefaultsetting. NOTEYoucanusethe-ccommandlineoptionforvcbMountertooverridethis setting.ThevcbRestorecommanddoesnotusethissetting. TEMPDIR IfyouareusingthesecurecopycapabilitiesoftheConsolidatedBackup commandlineutilities,youcanusethisoptiontospecifyatemporaryholding spaceforyourvirtualmachinedata. Thisholdingspacemusthaveenoughfreestoragetoholdthelargestofyour virtualmachines. NOTEYoucannotoverridethissettingfromthecommandline.
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Backing Up Virtual Machines

YoucanusevcbMountertobackupanentirevirtualmachineintheserviceconsole. ThevcbMounterutilitycreatesaquiescedsnapshotofthevirtualmachineandexports thesnapshotintoasetoffiles,whichcanbelaterusedtorestorethevirtualmachine. Tobackupthesetoffiles,youcanuseanyfilebasedthirdpartybackupsoftware. BeforebackingupavirtualmachineusingvcbMounter,determinethefollowing: Whichvirtualmachinetobackup. SeeIdentifyingVirtualMachinesonpage 67. Wheretostorethebackupdata. ConsolidatedBackupserviceconsolesupportsdifferenttransportpluginsto eitherbackupthevirtualmachinetoalocaldirectoryorbackituptoaremote directoryusingscp.SeeSpecifyingBackupDestinationsonpage 69.
Performing Backups
AftersettingupconfigurationoptionsasdescribedinConfigurationFileSettingson page 64,enterthefollowingcommandinthecommandline: vcbMounter -a <virtual_machine_identifier> -r <backup_destination> -m <cos|nbd|nbdssl>, where <virtual_machine_identifier>isauniqueidentifierofthevirtualmachine yourebackingup.SeeIdentifyingVirtualMachinesonpage 67. <backup_destination>specifiesthelocationforbackupdata.SeeSpecifying BackupDestinationsonpage 69. <cos|nbd|nbdssl>specifiesthetransportationmodeforvcbMounter: cosUsethisoptiontobackupvirtualmachineswhosedisksareaccessible totheESXServerhostdirectlythrough/vmfs/volumes.RunthevcbMounter utilityintheserviceconsoleoftheESXServerhostwherethevirtualmachines resideoronanyESXServerhostthathasaccesstothedatastorewherethe virtualmachinedisksarestored. However,ifthevirtualmachinesresideonanyESXServerhostthathasaccess tothedatastorewherethevirtualmachinedisksarestored,youmustrun vcbMounterthroughthevCenterServer.
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nbdUsethisoptiontobackupvirtualmachinesoverthenetworkfroma differentESXServerhostthanthehostwhereyourunthevcbMounterutility. Selectthisoptionifyoudonotneedtoencryptvirtualdiskdatafor overthenetworktransfer. nbdsslUsethisoptiontobackupvirtualmachinesoverthenetworkfrom adifferentESXServerhostthanthehostwhereyourunthevcbMounter utility.Selectthisoptionifyouneedtoencryptvirtualdiskdataforoverthe networktransfer. Followtheseexampleswhenbackingupvirtualmachines: Backingupthevirtualmachinevm37.company.comtothelocaldirectory /home/VMs/vm37: vcbMounter -a ipaddr:vm37.company.com -r /home/VMs/vm37 Backingupthevirtualmachinevm37.company.comtothedirectory /backups/VMs/vm37.Thedirectoryislocatedontheremoteserver backups.company.comwiththeuserIDvmware. Thebackups.company.com hostisrunningasecureshell(ssh)server.UsetheConsolidatedBackupsecure copy(scp)plugintotransferthevirtualmachinetobackups.company.com. vcbMounter -a ipaddr:vm37.company.com -r scp://vmware@backups.company.com:/backups/VMs/vm37 BackingupavirtualmachineonastandaloneESXServer3host.Toidentifythe virtualmachine,usethevirtualmachinesnamedisplayedintheVIClient.The virtualmachineisbackeduptothelocaldirectory/home/VMs/vm37. vcbMounter -a name:"Virtual Machine 37" -r /home/VMs/vm37 NOTEThevirtualmachinenameargumentiscasesensitive.
Identifying Virtual Machines

Youcanusedifferentstandardstospecifythevirtualmachineyouwanttobackup.
Identifying Virtual Machines by DNS Name or IP Address

ThemostcommonwayofidentifyingvirtualmachinesistousetheirDNSnameor IP address.Toidentifythevirtualmachine,usethefollowingspecification: ipaddr:<DNS name or IP address>
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Forexample,torefertothevirtualmachinevm37.company.comwiththeIPaddress 10.17.5.12,useoneofthefollowingsearchspecifiers: ipaddr:vm37.company.com ipaddr:10.17.5.12
Identifying Virtual Machines by BIOS UUID

Youcanidentifyavirtualmachinebyitsuniversallyuniqueidentifier(UUID).Usethe followingsearchspecifier: uuid:<uuid> Forexample: uuid:564d78a1-8c1c-59b4-fa02-be14138797be
Identifying Virtual Machines by MoRef

Internally,VirtualCenterandESXServer3refertoobjectsbyManagedObject References(MoRef).ToidentifyavirtualmachinebyMoRef,followtheseexamples: moref:vm-00027UsethisformatwhenaccessingVirtualCenterServer. moref:248UsethisformatwhenaccessingtheESXServer3host. BecauseMoRefschangeeverytimetheVirtualCenterserverorthehostinstancethat ConsolidatedBackupconnectstorestarts,youshouldnotuseMoRefstoidentify virtualmachines.However,whenrunningashellscripttobackvirtualmachines,you canuseMoRefstoidentifythevirtualmachines. Forexample,youcanwriteascriptthatusesvcbVmNamewiththeany:searchspecifier togetalistofallvirtualmachines,andperformcustomfilteringtoproducealistofonly thosevirtualmachinesyouwanttobackup.Virtualmachinesonthislistcanuse MoRefsastheiridentifiers.AnotherpartofyourscriptcancallvcbMounteroneachof theseMoRefstoperformthebackupoperations. Inacaselikethis,usingMoRefsratherthanotheridentifiers,suchasUUID,causesless searchoverheadbecausetheentirelistofallvirtualmachinesdoesnotneedtobe parsedeachtimetheidentifierisused.
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Displaying Virtual Machine Information

Tosearchforaparticularvirtualmachineandgetinformationaboutit,usevcbVmName. Followtheseexamples: vcbVmName -s powerstate:onListsallpoweredonvirtualmachines. vcbVmName -s any:Listsallknownvirtualmachines. vcbVmName -s ipaddr:vm37.company.comDisplaysinformationaboutthe virtualmachinewiththespecifiedaddress. ThefollowingisthesampleoutputyougetafterusingvcbVmName:
bash #vcbVmName -s name:vm37.company.com Found VM: moref:192 name:Virtual Machine 37 uuid:564d78a1-8c1c-59b4-fa02-be14138797be ipaddr:10.17.5.31
Specifying Backup Destinations

Youcanbackupavirtualmachinetoalocaldirectoryortoaremoteserverusingscp.
Backing Up to a Local Directory

Whenbackingupavirtualmachinetoalocaldirectory,specifythepathtothedirectory, forexample,/home/VMs/vm37. NOTEYoudonotneedtocreatethedestinationsubdirectory,suchas /home/VMs/vm37, inadvancebecausethebackupoperationwillcreateit.However, thedirectorythatlistsyourdestinationsubdirectory,forexample/home/VMs,must existbeforeyoustartabackupprocess.
Backing Up to a Remote Server

Whenyoubackupavirtualmachinetoaremoteserver,useacorrespondingscp plugin.Usethefollowingsyntax: scp://<user>@<host>:<path> Toperformthescpbackupautomatically,useRSAkeybasedauthentication.Inthis case,scpwillnotpromptyouforapasswordduringbackup.
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Forexample,tobackupavirtualmachinetothedirectory/backup/VMs/vm37located ontheremoteserverbackups.company.comthatusesthevmwareuserID,enterthe following: scp://vmware@backups.company.com:/backups/VMs/vm37 NOTEPriortobackup,makesurethatthe/backups/VMsdirectoryexistsonthe remoteserver.However,youdonotneedtocreatethe/backups/VMs/vm37directory becauseitiscreatedduringthebackupoperation.
Archiving Virtual Machines

UsevcbSnapAlltocreateanarchiveofgroupsofvirtualmachinesintheservice console.ThevcbSnapAll utilityhasthesamefunctionalityasvcbMounter,but,in addition,canidentifygroupsofvirtualmachines. Usethefollowingsyntax:
vcbSnapAll -a <virtual_machine_identifier> -r <backup_destination> -m<cos|nbd|nbdssl>,
where<virtual_machine_identifier>specifiesagroupofvirtualmachines.Use oneofthefollowingsearchspecifiers: powerstate:on|off|suspendedFindsallvirtualmachineswiththespecified powerstate. anyFindsallvirtualmachines. noneDoesnotfindanyvirtualmachines.Youcanusethisoptionfortesting. Youcanalsouseoneoftheuniqueidentifiersofthevirtualmachine.SeeIdentifying VirtualMachinesonpage 67. Thebackupdestinationdirectorymustexistbeforeyoustartthearchivingprocess usingvcbSnapAll.Whilerunning,thevcbSnapAllutilitycreatesasubdirectoryfor eachvirtualmachinethatmeetsthesearchcriteriainsidethebackupdestination directory.Youdonotneedtocreatethesubdirectoriesinadvance. Afteryoumovethevirtualmachinebackupdatafromthebackupdestinationdirectory toasecondarystorage,youcandeletethedirectorycontents.
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Restoring Virtual Machines

Youcanrestoreavirtualmachinetoitsoriginallocationortoanotherlocationofyour choice.
Restoring Virtual Machines to Original Locations

IfyousetupallconfigurationoptionsasdescribedinConfigurationFileSettingson page 64,thefollowingistheonlycommandyouneedtopasstovcbRestoretorestore avirtualmachine: vcbRestore -s <backup_directory> SeeSpecifyingBackupDestinationsonpage 69. Followtheseexampleswhenrestoringyourvirtualmachines: Restoringavirtualmachinefromalocalbackupdirectorynamed /home/VMs/vm37: vcbRestore -s /home/VMs/vm37 Restoringavirtualmachinefromtheremoteserverbackup.company.com, directory/backups/VMs/vm37,anduserIDvmware: vcbRestore -s scp://vmware@backup.company.com:/backups/VMs/vm37
Restoring Virtual Machines to Alternative Locations

Torestoreavirtualmachinetoalocationotherthanitsoriginallocation,ortoadifferent ESXServer3host,usethevirtualmachinescatalogfile.ThevcbMounterutility createsthisfileforeachvirtualmachineitbacksup.Thecatalog filecontains summaryinformationaboutthevirtualmachine,suchasitsdisplayname,itspower stateatthetimeofbackup,andsoon. To restore a virtual machine to an alternative location 1 Makeacopyofthevirtualmachinescatalogfile. SeeCopyingaCatalogFileonpage 72. 2 Inthecopyofthecatalogfile,specifythenewsettingsfordatastores,folderpath, andresourcepool. SeeEditingaCatalogFileonpage 72. 3 RestorethevirtualmachineusingvcbRestore. SeeRestoringVirtualMachinesUsinganAlternateCatalogonpage 74
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Copying a Catalog File

Whenrestoringavirtualmachinetoalocationotherthantheoriginal,makeacopyof thevirtualmachinescatalogfile. Forexample,makeacopyofthecatalogfileofthe/home/VMs/vm37virtualmachine. Enterthefollowing: cp /home/VMs/vm37/catalog /tmp/catalog-vm37
Editing a Catalog File

Inthecopyofthecatalogfileyoumade,changethefollowingsettings: Datastore.Identifieswheretostoreallthefilesthatcompriseavirtualmachine. Folderpath.Thefolderpathdefineswherethevirtualmachinewillbeplacedin theVirtualCenterfolderhierarchy. Resourcepool.Thishostspecificconfigurationitemdeterminesthevirtual machinesbehaviorwithrespecttoDRS(DistributedResourceScheduling).When youusemultipleESXServer3hostsmanagedbyVirtualCenter,thisitemalso specifiesthehostthatwillrunthevirtualmachine. NOTEIfyouchangethenameofthevirtualmachineinthecatalogfile,vcbRestore doesnotpickupthenewnamefromthefile,butinsteadusestheoriginalvirtual machinenamespecifiedinthe.vmxfile. YoucanchangethenameofthevirtualmachinelaterusingtheVIClient. Changing Datastore Paths Thedatastorepathinthecatalogfileidentifieswheretostoreallthefilesthat compriseavirtualmachine.Changedatastorepathsinthefollowingentries: disk.ide*.disknameNamesandlocationsofalldisksassociatedwiththe virtualmachine.ThisisapplicabletoESX4andESXi4. disk.scsi*.disknameNamesandlocationsofalldisksassociatedwiththe virtualmachine. config.vmxLocationforthevirtualmachinesmainconfigurationfile. config.suspenddirLocationforthememorysnapshotstakenwhenthevirtual machinegetssuspended. config.logdirLocationforthevirtualmachineslogfiles.
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Bydefault,alltheseentriesusethesamepath,whichpointstothesamedirectoryon thesamedatastore.VMwarerecommendsthatyoufollowthisstandardwhen changingthepath. Thedatastorepathshavethefollowingsyntax: [<datastore_name>] <path_on_datastore> Youcanobtainalistofvaliddatastorenamesfromthedatastorebrowserinyour VI Client,orbylookingatthefilesystemlabelsofyourVMFSvolumesintheservice consoleunder/vmfs/volumes. Changing Folder Paths Thevirtualmachinesfolderpathinthecatalogfilespecifiesthefolderwithinthe VirtualCenterfolderhierarchywheretherestoredvirtualmachinewillbeplaced. To change the folder path for the virtual machine 1 Identifythefolderthatwillstorethevirtualmachinebyrunningthefollowing commandintheserviceconsole: vcbUtil -c vmfolders Runningthiscommandassumesthatyouhavesetupappropriateconfiguration optionsasdescribedinConfigurationFileSettingsonpage 64. 2 Inthecatalogfile,setthefolderpathtooneofthefolderpathsprintedoutbythe vcbUtil command.
Changing Resource Pools Theresourcepoolsentryinthecatalogfiledeterminesthevirtualmachinesbehavior withrespecttoDRS(DistributedResourceScheduling).Whenyouusemultiple ESX Server3hostsmanagedbyVirtualCenter,thisitemalsospecifiesthehostthatwill runthevirtualmachine. To change the resource pool setting for the virtual machine 1 Identifytheresourcepoolthatthevirtualmachinewillusebyrunningthe followingcommand: vcbUtil -c resourcepools Runningthiscommandassumesthatyouhavesetupappropriateconfiguration optionsasdescribedinConfigurationFileSettingsonpage 64. 2 Inthecatalogfile,settheresourcepooltooneoftheoptionsprovidedbythe vcbUtil command.
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Restoring Virtual Machines Using an Alternate Catalog

Aftermodifyingthesettingsinthevirtualmachinesalternatecatalog,usethisfileto restorethevirtualmachine. Torestorethevirtualmachine,usethe-aentrytospecifythealternatecatalog. Forexample,torestoreavirtualmachinebackedupunder/home/VMs/vm37byusing thealternatecatalogfile/tmp/catalog-vm37,enter: vcbRestore -s /home/VMs/vm37 -a /tmp/catalog-vm37
Non-Interactive Use of the vcbRestore Utility

Whenusedinteractively,vcbRestorepromptsyouwhentherestoreoperationdetects afilethatalreadyexistsoravirtualmachinealreadyknowntoVirtualCenter. IfvcbRestoreisusedbyascriptinanoninteractiveway,usethe-bcommandline entrytospecifythebehavioroftheutility.Thefollowingoptionsareavailable: prompt Promptsauserbeforeoverwritingfilesorconfigurationsofvirtualmachines alreadyknowntoVirtualCenter. overwrite Overwritesanyexistingfilesandvirtualmachineconfigurationsknownto VirtualCenterduringrestore. keep Preservesexistingfilesandconfigurationsofvirtualmachinesknownto VirtualCenterwithoutreplacingthem. abort Terminatestherestoreoperationafterdetectinganexistingfileoravirtual machineconfigurationalreadyknowntoVirtualCenter.
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Restoring Virtual Machines from Archives

UsevcbResAlltorestoreallthevirtualmachinesfromthearchiveyoucreatedusing vcbSnapAll.ThevcbResAllutilitysupportsallthefunctionalityofvcbRestore.This isapplicabletoESXServer3andESX4. Usethefollowingsyntax: vcbResAll s <backup_directory> SeeRestoringVirtualMachinestoOriginalLocationsonpage 71andRestoring VirtualMachinestoAlternativeLocationsonpage 71.
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Restoring Virtual Machines from ESX Server 2.5.x to ESX Server 3.x
Thisappendixdescribeshowtorestorevirtualmachinesthatwerecreatedandbacked uponESXServer2.5.x,inESXServer3.xusingtheserviceconsole. NOTEBecauseESXServer3idoesnothaveaserviceconsole,informationinthis chapterisnotapplicabletoESXServer3i. Thisappendixincludesthefollowingsections: SettingConfigurationParametersonpage 77 RestoringESX2.5.xServerVirtualMachinesonpage 78
Setting Configuration Parameters

TorestorevirtualmachinesfromESXServer2.5.xtoESXServer3.x,setup configurationparametersinthe/etc/vmware/backuptools.conffile. Tosetupgeneralparameters,followrecommendationsinGeneralConfiguration SettingsforConsolidatedBackupUtilitiesonpage 64.
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Inaddition,definethefollowingparameters. DSPATH Specifiesthepathtoadatastorewhereyourrestoredvirtualmachinewillreside. Toavoidsettingupthisoptionindividuallyforeachvirtualmachineyourestore, usethe%VMNAME%entry.Duringtherestoreprocess,thebasenameofthevirtual machines.vmxconfigurationfilesubstitutesthisentry. Forexample,torestorevirtualmachinestotheoldvmsdatastoreusingthebase nameofthevirtualmachines.vmxfile,enterthefollowing:

DSPATH="[oldvms] %VMNAME%"
Thisentryrestoresthevirtualmachinewiththemyvm.vmxfileinto[oldvms] /myvm. VMHOST Specifiesthehostforthevirtualmachineyourestore.Thevirtualmachineis poweredonfromthishost. RESOURCEPOOL Specifiestheresourcepoolforthevirtualmachineyourestore.SeeChanging ResourcePoolsonpage 73. NOTESelectavalidresourcepoolonthehostyouspecifiedinVMHOST. Typically,theresourcepoolnamecontainsthenameofthecorresponding ESX Server3host.Youcanalsousethe%VMHOST%entry,whichwillbereplaced bythevalueyouassignedtoVMHOST. FOLDERPATH SpecifiesthefolderwithintheVirtualCenterhierarchy,inwhichtherestored virtualmachinewillbeplaced.SeeChangingFolderPathsonpage 73.
Restoring ESX 2.5.x Server Virtual Machines

Afterdefiningallnecessarysettingsinthe/etc/vmware/backuptools.conffile,you canrestorevirtualmachinesthatwerebackeduponESXServer2.5.x. TherestoreprocessisthesameasfortheESXServer3.xvirtualmachines. SeeRestoringVirtualMachinesonpage 71.
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Index
A
aliases 47 archive bit 36
C
catalog files 72 change journal 36 CIFS 56 Common Internet File System protocol 56 configuration file backup utilities 64 Consolidated Backup 37 Consolidated Backup and third-party backup software 24 configuration file 37 configuring SAN 43 configuring third-party software 35 configuring VCB proxy 33 considerations 22 customizing 53 features 23 file-level backups 30 image-level backups 30 installing 36 interoperability modules 36 limitations 30 overview 24 performing first backup 48 running 43 setting up backup jobs 48 turning off drive-letter assignment 34 utilities 64
B
backup clients about 14 in a virtual machine 17 in the service console 19 backup jobs canceling 53 setting up 48 backup policies, modifying 61 backup schedulers 14 backup servers 14 backup utilities 64 backups differential 11 file-level 30 from NFS 21 from SAN 21 image-level 30 incremental 12 overview 12 performing first 48 sample scenario 60 techniques 15 traditional 15 backuptools.conf file 64 BIOS UUID 68
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versus traditional backup methods 22 VMware Tools 32
P
physical compatibility 13
D
directory, /vmfs/volumes 13 disaster recovery 57 disk images, exporting 30 DNS name 67 drive letters 34
Q
quiescing about 12 customizing 51
R
raw device mapping 13 RDM physical compatibility 13 turning off drive-letter assignment 34 virtual compatibility 13 README.html file 36 restorations centralized 56 ESX Server 2.5.x virtual machines 77 file-based 55 per-group 57 self-service 57 vcbRestore utility 56 workflows 55
E
ESX Server 2.5.x 77 ESX Server, upgrading 61
F
FAT 34 files .vmdk 13 .vmx 13
I
incremental backups archive bit 36 interoperability modules about 24 installing 36 IP address 67
S
SAN storage and backups 21 configuring for VCB 43 schedulers 14 SCSI disks 13 service console 12 backing up 16 file-based backups 16 image-based backups 16
J
junction points about 30 turning on 35
M
MoRef 68
N
NFS storage and backups 21 NTFS 34
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Index
T
third-party software configuring for VCB 35 interoperability modules 24 turning off archive bit 36 turning off change journal 36 working with Consolidated Backup 24 time stamps 36 traditional backup methods 17 troubleshooting backup software GUI 61 path formats 61
U
utilities Consolidated Backup 64 vcbMounter 66 vcbRestore 56, 71
vcbRestore 71 catalog files 72 default use 74 restoring to alternative locations 71 restoring to original locations 71 virtual compatibility 13 virtual disks manipulating 13 storing 13 virtual machines aliases 47 groups 47 VMFS 13 vmkfstools commands 14 VMware Tools 32
W
Windows archive bit 36 Windows change journal 36 workflow 24
V
VCB proxy about 12 and networking 33 installing Consolidated Backup 36 junction points 30 running Windows 34 setting up 33 turning off drive-letter assignment 34 VCB, see Consolidated Backup vcbMounter destinations 69 overview 66 performing backups 66 specifying virtual machines 67
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Vmware Backup Guide

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Virtual Machine Backup Guide

Virtual Machine Backup Guide

Virtual Machine Backup Guide Revision: 20090521 Item: EN-000036-05

VMware, Inc. 3401 Hillview Ave. Palo Alto, CA 94304 www.vmware.com

Virtual Machine Backup Guide

Virtual Machine Backup Guide

About This Book

Virtual Machine Backup Guide

VMware Infrastructure Documentation

Abbreviations Used in Figures

About This Book

Technical Support and Education Resources

Online and Telephone Support

VMware Education Services

Virtual Machine Backup Guide

Backing Up with VMware Infrastructure

Virtual Machine Backup Guide

Chapter 1 Backing Up with VMware Infrastructure

Virtual Machine Contents

Accessing and Managing Virtual Disk Files

Virtual Machine Backup Guide

Backup Components and Approaches

Chapter 1 Backing Up with VMware Infrastructure

Using Traditional Backup Methods

Virtual Machine Backup Guide

Traditional Backup Considerations

Backing Up the ESX Server 3 Service Console

Chapter 1 Backing Up with VMware Infrastructure

Backing Up Virtual Machines

Running the Backup Client in a Virtual Machine

Virtual Machine Backup Guide

Chapter 1 Backing Up with VMware Infrastructure

Running the Backup Client in the ESX Server 3 Service Console

Virtual Machine Backup Guide

Running the Backup Server in a Virtual Machine

Chapter 1 Backing Up with VMware Infrastructure

Treating Virtual Machines as Files on Shared Storage

Virtual Machine Backup Guide

Using VMware Consolidated Backup

VMware Consolidated Backup

VMware Consolidated Backup Overview

Virtual Machine Backup Guide

How VMware Consolidated Backup Works

VMware Consolidated Backup Usage Models

Chapter 2 VMware Consolidated Backup

ESX Server virtual machine VMware Tools

Fibre Channel SAN/ storage LAN

Fibre Channel/iSCSI storage

virtual disk VMFS

Virtual Machine Backup Guide

ESX Server virtual machine VMware Tools

shared storage network

virtual machine VMware Tools

virtual disk shared storage VMFS local storage

virtual disk VMFS

TobeabletorunConsolidatedBackupintheSCSIHotAddmode: YouneedtohaveESXServer3.5orESXServer3iversion3.5orlater. Ifyouareusingonlythelocalstoragedevices,youneedaVCBproxyvirtual machineoneachESXServerhost. IfyouareusingVirtualCenter,makesuretohaveversion2.5orlaterinstalled.

Chapter 2 VMware Consolidated Backup

ESX Server virtual machine VMware Tools

Consolidated Backup virtual disk VMFS local storage

Virtual Machine Backup Guide

VMware Consolidated Backup Workflow

Chapter 2 VMware Consolidated Backup

Makesthevirtualmachinesnapshotavailabletothethirdpartysoftware: Forimagelevelvirtualmachinebackups,seePerformingImageLevel VirtualMachineBackupsonpage 30. ForfilelevelbackupsofMicrosoftWindowsvirtualmachines,see PerformingFileLevelVirtualMachineBackupsonpage 30.