- VOX
- Data Protection
- NetBackup
- media server for backing up virtual machines / hyp...
- Subscribe to RSS Feed
- Mark Topic as New
- Mark Topic as Read
- Float this Topic for Current User
- Bookmark
- Subscribe
- Mute
- Printer Friendly Page
- Mark as New
- Bookmark
- Subscribe
- Mute
- Subscribe to RSS Feed
- Permalink
- Report Inappropriate Content
05-22-2013 01:16 PM
All,
Currently have one master controlling multiple media servers (all on windows server 2008 r2 enterprise)...I have some virtual machines / hyper visors to back up, and now have the hardware / software ready for installation..(also windows server 2008 r2 enterprise)
I remember being told all virtual machines need to be backed up to a separate media server, so this is going to fulfill that need. Are there any 'gotchas' or steps that I should pay attention to, or a specific installation that needs to happen, in order for this setup to work?
I'm quite new to the world of 'virtual machines' and 'hyper visors', so if any information can be provided, assume I'm on the low end of required knowledge for this. I'm comfortable running my Netbackup environment, so I'm assuming this shouldn't be a complicated step?
Again, thanks for any help / info.
-Scott
Solved! Go to Solution.
Accepted Solutions
- Mark as New
- Bookmark
- Subscribe
- Mute
- Subscribe to RSS Feed
- Permalink
- Report Inappropriate Content
05-22-2013 04:04 PM
Hi Scott,
Welcome to the world of VMware/Hyper V Backups, I want to start this by saying VMware and HyperV are backed up slightly differently, however they have almost all the same features/options available to each.
Ill start with VMware.. There are 2 ways really to backup virtual machines.. over the network or using the SAN. Now over the network is the fastest way to get this going, it really only requires a user/password for either the ESX host or a VSphere/VCenter server. First thing to do is identify which of your Windows Media servers (Linux available as of 7.5.0.4 +) will be your "Backup Host", this is the system which will do the communications with vcenter, and it should be identified in the Host Properties of the Master server. Once that is done you will want to add the VCredentials to NetBackup under the Credentials section on the left side of the console, use the FQDN of the vcenter host, then select port 443 (this is defualt in ESX4+) and when you hit OK it will validate the credentials.
NOTE* The Credential should basically have Admin rights in VSphere at the DataCenter level down, there is a detailed list, well a few on Symantecs site but none of them i have seen so far are 100% accurate.
Now you can create a VMware backup policy, the Policy type should be VMWARE if using NBU 7.5+ if your using an earlier version you will have to use Flashbackup-windows for VMware. This is pretty well documented by the VMware guide which is found here - http://www.symantec.com/business/support/index?page=content&id=DOC5162
A few things to note about the way NetBackup backs up VMWare, There is no need to install a NetBackup agent on the VM for a backup.. its simply not required, however for restores having the client present on the VM does make things go much smoother, its not required becuase NetBackup can restore to a UNC path however this requires extra configuration and is really a pain.
For the SAN Option, If your ESX farm is using SAN/Fibre attached LUNs you can present those to NBU and it will attempt to backup off the SAN which is much faster and easier on the VM farm. This is usually considered the best practice if available becuase the VM really doesnt know its being backed up, all the load and traffic handled by the Storage array not by ESX or vcenter.
A note on this there are some pre-requisites to doing this method. If you present the LUNs right off then you will likley corrupt the vmware farm and potentially lose multiple virtual machines. You will need to disable auto mounting in windows so that when it recognizes the LUNs it does not attempt to mount them and this is how you want it. Windows will recognize the disk device but not mount it, it will stay in an offline state which is what you want to see.
The process is pretty simple, NBU will tell vcenter to snapshot the VM, and then VMware will pass the scsi LUN id that the snap is on to NBU and from there NBU will review all the LUNs it has view into and if there is a match it will use the SAN to move the data. Once completed NBU will instruct vcenter that its completed and the snapshot is removed.
Hyper V is done almost exactly the same way however HyperV requires that the NBU agent be installed on each HyperV system, and NBU can only backup the VMs on that one host. unlike with VMware where you only have to point to a single instance of Vcenter for all your ESX hosts.
the Documentation for HyperV can be found here http://www.symantec.com/business/support/index?page=content&id=DOC5161
Hope this helps
- Doug
- Mark as New
- Bookmark
- Subscribe
- Mute
- Subscribe to RSS Feed
- Permalink
- Report Inappropriate Content
05-22-2013 04:04 PM
Hi Scott,
Welcome to the world of VMware/Hyper V Backups, I want to start this by saying VMware and HyperV are backed up slightly differently, however they have almost all the same features/options available to each.
Ill start with VMware.. There are 2 ways really to backup virtual machines.. over the network or using the SAN. Now over the network is the fastest way to get this going, it really only requires a user/password for either the ESX host or a VSphere/VCenter server. First thing to do is identify which of your Windows Media servers (Linux available as of 7.5.0.4 +) will be your "Backup Host", this is the system which will do the communications with vcenter, and it should be identified in the Host Properties of the Master server. Once that is done you will want to add the VCredentials to NetBackup under the Credentials section on the left side of the console, use the FQDN of the vcenter host, then select port 443 (this is defualt in ESX4+) and when you hit OK it will validate the credentials.
NOTE* The Credential should basically have Admin rights in VSphere at the DataCenter level down, there is a detailed list, well a few on Symantecs site but none of them i have seen so far are 100% accurate.
Now you can create a VMware backup policy, the Policy type should be VMWARE if using NBU 7.5+ if your using an earlier version you will have to use Flashbackup-windows for VMware. This is pretty well documented by the VMware guide which is found here - http://www.symantec.com/business/support/index?page=content&id=DOC5162
A few things to note about the way NetBackup backs up VMWare, There is no need to install a NetBackup agent on the VM for a backup.. its simply not required, however for restores having the client present on the VM does make things go much smoother, its not required becuase NetBackup can restore to a UNC path however this requires extra configuration and is really a pain.
For the SAN Option, If your ESX farm is using SAN/Fibre attached LUNs you can present those to NBU and it will attempt to backup off the SAN which is much faster and easier on the VM farm. This is usually considered the best practice if available becuase the VM really doesnt know its being backed up, all the load and traffic handled by the Storage array not by ESX or vcenter.
A note on this there are some pre-requisites to doing this method. If you present the LUNs right off then you will likley corrupt the vmware farm and potentially lose multiple virtual machines. You will need to disable auto mounting in windows so that when it recognizes the LUNs it does not attempt to mount them and this is how you want it. Windows will recognize the disk device but not mount it, it will stay in an offline state which is what you want to see.
The process is pretty simple, NBU will tell vcenter to snapshot the VM, and then VMware will pass the scsi LUN id that the snap is on to NBU and from there NBU will review all the LUNs it has view into and if there is a match it will use the SAN to move the data. Once completed NBU will instruct vcenter that its completed and the snapshot is removed.
Hyper V is done almost exactly the same way however HyperV requires that the NBU agent be installed on each HyperV system, and NBU can only backup the VMs on that one host. unlike with VMware where you only have to point to a single instance of Vcenter for all your ESX hosts.
the Documentation for HyperV can be found here http://www.symantec.com/business/support/index?page=content&id=DOC5161
Hope this helps
- Doug
- NetBackup Snapshot Manager Virtual Private Cloud Endpoint Support for AWS in 10.4!! in NetBackup
- Veritas Backup Exec and Hyper-V VM's in Backup Exec
- An error occurred with the status code "2" for backing up the virtual machine. in NetBackup Appliance
- Error Backup Snapshot Vmware in NetBackup
- The backup failed to back up the requested files in NetBackup
