Considering ESX Ranger Backups 1

[DanMc]

I'm trying to figure out if ESX Ranger snapshots are similar to SAN snapshots. The price, at about $600 per CPU is definitely attractive.

Is the Ranger backup similar to a SAN, where you get an exact point in time, or is it like a file system backup, where by the time you reach the end of the directory tree, files might have been modified during the start of the backup?

What is the resulting backup file? Is it a folder with VDMK's and VMX config that I could import into another VMWare server, or would I have to use ESX Ranger to "restore" it?

 

[Arisap]

ESX ranger takes a hot backup of a running VM guest by freezing the vmdk and creating redo files for any changes that occur during the time you are performaing the backup. It then backs up the vmdk and reapplies the redo files back to the vmdk. It then tars and gzips the files so you get a .tgz file that contains the vmdk and the vmx and nvram files. you can take these files and do whatever you want with them. Ranger does however, make it fairly easy to restore through their GUI. The resultant restore is a crash-consistant state. So when you restore, the server comes up just as if the power cord has been yanked. In my experience Ranger works really well. You can read further details on

http://www.vizioncore.com

for some other cool stuff it can do.

 

[DanMc]

Thanks Arisap! That's exactly the info and level of detail I was looking for, and it sounds great.

I also found this VMBK.PL project yesterday. I think I may try this first, since I will have to script what I do with the .tgz backups in ESX Ranger anyway.

http://www.vmts.net/vmbkmanual.htm