Inexpensive backup for ESXi box?

[sphinx99]

This is not business or anything, just personal. It's an ESXi box, not a lot of data, but a few VMs. I have backups of the critical data within the various guest VMs (mostly to the cloud) so I'm not worried about data loss, but it's slow to download that data and I don't have the bandwidth to actually backup all the actual multiple windows and linux installs in all these VMs but I'd hate to have to reinstall everything. Is there something simple / local I can use for quick backups of the actual VMs if I'm using the free ESXi? Like, backups to some extra disks in the same server, or some sort of external NAS? Not a lot of data.... 250GB or so at most. Just want some nightly unattended backup that keeps two or three days' worth so that I can rebuild the guest VMs quickly if I have to.

I can spend if I need to but it would be nice to keep it under $1K. I saw Drobo boxes being advertised but I have no idea whether they can interoperate with ESXi.

In work environments I'm comfortable with vsphere and dedicated vmware-aware backup solutions but I really am not sure what makes sense for more personal use with the freebie ESXi. Help appreciated.

 

[lopoetve]

file -> virtual appliance -> export

or just scp it off - performance will be poor when you put it back unless you migrate it though, as it won't be aligned.

there's no COS to run vcbmounter in, and you won't have a license for it

Drobo Pro can operate with ESX, but it's not cheap.

 

[crazyfinx]

look into ghetto vcb, we use it at work as our backup solution, this with the combination or batch scripts running in server 08 allows us to schedule daily backups of entire vm environment. There is two versions GhettoVCB and GhettoVCBg2. You can use the original edition with the free version of esxi, or the second edtion allows you to use a GUI to schedule and backup virtual machines, but you need the ESX/ESXi standard licenses to support this version as it needs the vcb api read/write to run. In your case backing up 250gb in vm snapshots shouldn't take long. We backup about 200gb in snapshots daily in around 3 hours to openfiler iscsi targets, then we have HA+replication setup on Openfiler to replicate offsite on an identical Openfiler server

here is version 1 - free version
http://communities.vmware.com/docs/DOC-8760

here is the G2 version
http://communities.vmware.com/docs/DOC-9843

 

[ZXQ]

This question isn't to the OP, but I think its semi-relative to the subject, and I have a funny feeling GhettoVCB does this, but-

Is there any way to script an export, and FTP it off to another server?

I bet thats a stupid question, but it hit me as I read this thread.

 

[crazyfinx]

This question isn't to the OP, but I think its semi-relative to the subject, and I have a funny feeling GhettoVCB does this, but-

Is there any way to script an export, and FTP it off to another server?

I bet thats a stupid question, but it hit me as I read this thread.

You can do whatever you want once you run the ghettovcb.sh script and save the vm snapshots to a NAS. You should than make sure you can access it via a FTP server. I'm assuming you want use FTP to transfer it offsite? If so why not use block replication from the NAS to an offsite location over encrypted communication like IPSEC tunnel?

I was just using OP as an example...

 

[ZXQ]

You can do whatever you want once you run the ghettovcb.sh script and save the vm snapshots to a NAS. You should than make sure you can access it via a FTP server. I'm assuming you want use FTP to transfer it offsite? If so why not use block replication from the NAS to an offsite location over encrypted communication like IPSEC tunnel?

I was just using OP as an example...

Ah, I wasn't using the OP as an example, more for my own test work.

I only have one ESXi box, and no NAS (yet), was just lookin for an easy way to backup VMs as a temp measure.

//edit: The question was purely hypothetical.

 

[lopoetve]

This question isn't to the OP, but I think its semi-relative to the subject, and I have a funny feeling GhettoVCB does this, but-

Is there any way to script an export, and FTP it off to another server?

I bet thats a stupid question, but it hit me as I read this thread.

In classic, from the COS, yes.

In ESXi, from a windows proxy, yes, if you have vcb. Or if you know what you're doing in the busybox, sure.

 

[lopoetve]

look into ghetto vcb, we use it at work as our backup solution, this with the combination or batch scripts running in server 08 allows us to schedule daily backups of entire vm environment. There is two versions GhettoVCB and GhettoVCBg2. You can use the original edition with the free version of esxi, or the second edtion allows you to use a GUI to schedule and backup virtual machines, but you need the ESX/ESXi standard licenses to support this version as it needs the vcb api read/write to run. In your case backing up 250gb in vm snapshots shouldn't take long. We backup about 200gb in snapshots daily in around 3 hours to openfiler iscsi targets, then we have HA+replication setup on Openfiler to replicate offsite on an identical Openfiler server

here is version 1 - free version
http://communities.vmware.com/docs/DOC-8760

here is the G2 version
http://communities.vmware.com/docs/DOC-9843

Wow. Those scripts really have some limitations. Didn't they think about snapping the VMs so that it can stay up while you copy the VMDK? That's the whole point of the snapshot - you're not copying the ~snapshot~ - it's only a transaction log, you do it to release the distributed lock on the base flat file. You can do that with anything - you don't need the VCB API to do it, as long as you have VIMA or something like that out there.

 

[crazyfinx]

Wow. Those scripts really have some limitations. Didn't they think about snapping the VMs so that it can stay up while you copy the VMDK? That's the whole point of the snapshot - you're not copying the ~snapshot~ - it's only a transaction log, you do it to release the distributed lock on the base flat file. You can do that with anything - you don't need the VCB API to do it, as long as you have VIMA or something like that out there.

wrong - this method will allow you to copy the entire contents of the vm folder including the vmdk(s), performing the snapshot allows you do this while the VM is running. The snapshot itself is not the only item that is copied. Hehe, I use this all the time, I don't have shutdown my vm's while backups are running.

 

[lopoetve]

wrong - this method will allow you to copy the entire contents of the vm folder including the vmdk(s), performing the snapshot allows you do this while the VM is running. The snapshot itself is not the only item that is copied. Hehe, I use this all the time, I don't have shutdown my vm's while backups are running.

edit: I should have said first script-

I'm just going off of what the first script describes on their download page - the first script at least requires the vms to be powered down, which actually wouldn't be required if they just used something like VIMA or the like to snap the disk first.



And trust me, you're not copying the delta file at all (the snapshot) - it's locked and can't be copied, and wouldn't be of any use even if you did copy it, as it's only a transaction log for what happens to the disk while you're copying it off. At least while the VM is up, that is.

VCB's API takes a snapshot to unlock the base disk to make it copyable - nothing more. All changes during the backup window are stored in the snapshot delta until the window completes, at which point they're rolled into the base disk again. It lets you keep the VM up and work on the files at the same time.

 

[crazyfinx]

You're preaching to the choir, hehe yeah I know the snapshot allows you to backup the vmdk(s) while its running, I've been trying to explain this

 

[Kusha]

This is not business or anything, just personal. It's an ESXi box, not a lot of data, but a few VMs. I have backups of the critical data within the various guest VMs (mostly to the cloud) so I'm not worried about data loss, but it's slow to download that data and I don't have the bandwidth to actually backup all the actual multiple windows and linux installs in all these VMs but I'd hate to have to reinstall everything. Is there something simple / local I can use for quick backups of the actual VMs if I'm using the free ESXi? Like, backups to some extra disks in the same server, or some sort of external NAS? Not a lot of data.... 250GB or so at most. Just want some nightly unattended backup that keeps two or three days' worth so that I can rebuild the guest VMs quickly if I have to.

I can spend if I need to but it would be nice to keep it under $1K. I saw Drobo boxes being advertised but I have no idea whether they can interoperate with ESXi.

In work environments I'm comfortable with vsphere and dedicated vmware-aware backup solutions but I really am not sure what makes sense for more personal use with the freebie ESXi. Help appreciated.

Yes this is very coomon for such type of problem now you can get a simle solution you can visit here www.esxibackup.net without any hesitation

 

[Child of Wonder]

Are you running ESXi free? If you have a license you can use VMware Backup and Recovery.

Veeam was giving away a 2 CPU NFR license of their backup product a little while ago which I use. It's awesome.