VMware backups

[BTLOMS]

When backing up VMware clients with the VMware API using VMware snapshot backups, Netbackup leaves an Annotation update on the Guest OS with the timestamp "NB_LAST_BACKUP"

Does this timestamp mean that the Guest was successfully backed up? or does it mean that it successfully took a snapshot, but there is no guarantee that the backup completed?

Many thanks !

[RamNagalla]

hi,

its says about the the last successfull backup ..not about the snapshot

page number 59 from 7.5 VMware admin guide 

This option also records the date and time of the last successful backup of the virtual machine.

The date and time appear in vSphere Client on the Summary tab as a custom attribute under

Annotations. The attribute is labeled NB_LAST_BACKUP.

[BTLOMS]

I did see that.

But my question is: Does Netbackup write that annotation? AFTER it finishes successfully writing the snapshot to tape?

[Nate_D1]

Are you backing up directly to tape? If so everything I have read and researched about this leads me to beleive this is true, but you can 100% verify for yourself by watching the timestamp on the 'recent tasks' in vSphere and see when the snapshot finishes, and then see when the annotation is added (would be a 'reconfigure virtual machine' entry) and cross reference that in your netbackup admin console for when the write to tape finishes. If the annotation is added after the snapshot, then its only appended when the snapshot finishes. If it is appended after the tape finshes, then its added when the tape write is finished.