VMWare ESXi v3 backup?

[Gardener1]

Hi everyone I hope you all had a great 4th of July. I have just deployed 10 Pano Logic I/O devices on our system for proof of concept reasons. One problem that I am have is how to back up the ESXi 3 server. My question to you is how does one back up the ESXi server? we use BE 12.5.

Thank you,

Louie

 

[TechyMcSe2k]

Look in to the VCB Proxy.

http://www.petri.co.il/forums/showthread.php?t=28313

_______________________________________
Great knowledge can be obtained by mastering the Google algorithm.

 

[Roadki11]

http://www.vizioncore.com/products/vRangerPro/

RoadKi11

"This apparent fear reaction is typical, rather than try to solve technical problems technically, policy solutions are often chosen." - Fred Cohen

 

[itsp1965]

This all depends on what you want to backup. If you want to backup the data on your virtualized OSses you can continue to use BE (I would suppose). If you are actually looking to backup your VM then Vmware VCB is what you are looking for

 

[SimonDavies]

You can get the VI agent for BE and do it that way, (it still uses VCB but does it somewhat more tidely).

Make sure you have enough storage on your BE server tho because it takes a snapshot of the VM and then backs that up (so you could be looking at lots of disk space if you have large vm's)

Simon

The real world is not about exam scores, it's about ability.

 

[ArizonaGeek]

I am with RoadKi11 on this one. We use Vizioncore to snapshot our VMs to a cheap Dell PE1850 with a 6tb Dell MD1000 SAS array. We then pick those up to tape using Backup Exec. They offer a suite of software for monitoring and backup of your VMs, and within 30 seconds of using their vFoglight product we saw we had WAY over allocated our VMs. They saved us the cost of their product by reducing the cost of our VMs. And Dell offers a really good deal on their software, significantly cheaper than the MSRP.

We also are using Shadowprotect by Storagecraft for our most critical servers. This is an image type software similar to Norton Ghost but the benefits of Shadowprotect is the hardware independent restore. We have 4 servers that, if lost even for 24 hours, would result in significant loss of revenue to the company. Shadowprotect would allow us to restore to a physical machine if we had to. We are 99% sure that our virtualization backup and DR plan would work but it is that 1% where Shadowprotect gives us a peace of mind and their product has a good price as well.

The nice thing about Vizioncore is that they charge based on a CPU socket not by the amount of VMs you have. Backup exec charges for each VM you have.

Cheers
Rob

The answer is always "PEBKAC!

 

[Gardener1]

Thanks, I am looking into all of these backup solutions. If any one else knows of any more solutions please keep them coming

 

[ITJohn3]

I am also with Roadkill on vRanger. We use it and love it. From my past experience with BE I would avoid using it if possible. You could also use VCB. For VCB usage goto the vmware website or for a quick list I have them posted at

http://it-john.com/home/archives/64.

John Sorensen
Network/Systems Admin

http://it-john.com

 

[Gardener1]

How much does vRanger cost?

 

[ITJohn3]

It depends on the reseller but the average from what I can tell is somewhere between $400-$500 per physical CPU. Looking at our last PO it looks like we paid 435 per CPU.

John Sorensen
Network/Systems Admin

http://it-john.com

 

[ArizonaGeek]

The vEssentials bundle is a better deal than just buying one product, I believe the bundle is like $899 per CPU MSRP, I think we got ours from Dell for about $600-$700 per CPU.

Cheers
Rob

The answer is always "PEBKAC!