Linux VM backup with Consolidated Backup

I have this pdf file named,

Symantec TechNote 293350
How to configure and use
NetBackup 6.5.1 for VMware

And it says this

= = =
■ For backups of the entire virtual machine that allow individual file restore
(2-Mapped FullVM), incremental backups are not supported.
= = =

Then again it has this on later page

= = =
Configure incremental backups for VMware

Incremental backups of virtual machines must be based on timestamps, not on
archive bit. You must configure the NetBackup client on the VMware backup
proxy server as follows.
To configure the client on the proxy server for incremental backups:
1 Start the Backup, Archive, and Restore interface from the NetBackup client
that is installed on the VMware backup proxy server. For example: click
Start > Programs> Veritas NetBackup > Backup, Archive, and Restore.
2 Click File > NetBackup Client Properties.
3 On the General tab, make sure Perform incrementals based on archive bit is
clear (unchecked).
= = =

And finally, this

= = =
■ For incremental backups, make sure the VMware backup proxy server is
correctly configured. Otherwise, NetBackup performs only full backups.
= = =

:-)

Abe

Thanks for the reply. I ran into this data sheet from VMWare but the wording seemed to imply that only Windows VMs may be backed up for incremental snapshots.

Key Features of VMware Consolidated Backup
“File level full and incremental backup. Recover
individual files and directories with file level full and
incremental backups for virtual machines running
supported Windows® operating systems."

http://www.vmware.com/files/pdf/consolidated_backup_datasheet.pdf

Any thoughts??

I researched this extensively last year and around also v1.5 which is the current release of VCB, and possible last release. However, there was rumours a new version would be released of the VCB framework when vSphere was released - this hasn't happened. VCB does work with vSphere but the intended path by VMware with vSphere is to go down the Data Recovery product route. However, this also does not seem to answer or provide the solution we are after. Still only Windows OS at file level.

See its datasheet here:

http://www.vmware.com/files/pdf/data_recovery_datasheet.pdf

At VMworld 2008 VMware showed a Linux Strategy and Roadmap that included File Level Backup for Linux Guests under VCB.
http://vmetc.com/2008/09/17/linux-strategy-and-roadmap-ta3201/

So we can only wait and hope.

The datasheet above is fairly clear on the VCB current capability.

You could do full backup of only the Linux OS root volume VMDK as long as its on its own. Then have a different strategy for your data. You could ignore the other VMDK's to be backed up by making them independent.

Thanks Stuart. I guess I will have to re-strategize our backup/restore policies for Linux VMs. Since file level and/or incremental backups are not possible, my guess is that the entire VMDK would have to be restored each time.

So in this case if a file is missing or needs to be restored from Linux Virtual Compatibility mode RDM, how can we do it ?