Forum ©XSIBackup: ©VMWare ©ESXi Backup Software

Thank you Benjamin.

One of the main concerns when using XSIBackup under vCenter is making sure vCenter does not move your VMs around if you are using vMotion.

You can prevent that by setting some rules in your vCenter or by using XSIBackup-Pro helper argument [b][https://33hops.com/xsibackup-help-man-page.html#disablevmotion]/xsibackup-help-man-page.html#disablevmotion[/url][/b]

Use [b]ssh -v[/b] and observe what is in the end being parsed and executed in the remote host, you might need escaping some characters.

But the output you posted does indeed execute [b]xsibackup[/b]. The license agreement and the output below is xsibackup output. You are probably just using a wrong path. If you execute this

./xsibackup --backup-point=/vmfs/volumes/datastore1 --backup-type=custom --backup-vms="SBS_2011" --mail-from=xsibackup@XXXXX --mail-to=alerts@XXXXX --smtp-srv=192.168.XX.21 --smtp-port=25 --smtp-usr=User@XXXXXX --smtp-pwd=xxxx --testmode=true

From inside the [b]/vmfs/volumes/datastore1/xsi-dir[/b] directory xsibackup will execute.

XSIBackup, as everything, evolves over time. Older versions assumed that any "over IP" backup should be handled by Rsync, as there wasn't any other --backup-prog capable of doing so. In newer versions there's more than one program that can handle IP backups and thusly, you are now required to especify the backup program. There can be some instructions refering to older versions in the man page, we'll check the texts.

Compression:

--backup-prog:rsync => No compression
--backup-prog:rsync[b]:z[/b] => Compression enabled

Older versions didn't have the option to compress Rsync data.

[b]--test-mode=true[/b] just allows you to test e-mail sumission, it doesn't really check anything else.

There's nothing such as a FS in the de-duplicated NAS appliance. If you are interested in how things work, you can start here

[url=https://33hops.com/lightweight-deduplication-appliance.html]https://33hops.com/lightweight-deduplication-appliance.html[/url]

If the previous backup takes too long to complete, XSIBackup will not execute to avoid parallel processes clogging your system.

Instead you should use the [b]--on-success[/b] and [b]--on-error[/b] event handlers, or program the following backup later on to make sure the previous has ended.

Take on account that XSIBackup, as stated in the man and feature page, does not have a true Borg client and sends [b]all data[/b] to the Borg server. Thus, depending on the data you pretend to backup and your available network bandwidth, Borg might not be your best choice among available XSIBackup backup programs.

No XSIBackup does not require to be installed in the default recommended installation path: /vmfs/volumes/datastore1/xsi-dir, but if you install to other path, you are implicitly recognizing you know the path is persistent and you will need to take care to apply appropiate permissions and take any other needed action.

We'll be glad to help, but please, help us to help you and post all the relevant information:

- XSIBackup edition and version.
- ESXi version and build number (vmware -v)
- Backup job argument list.
- XSIBackup output or xsibackup-cron.log file

UPDATE:

Just as a remainder, XSIBackup is compatible with ESXi 5.1 and above.

[url=https://sourceforge.net/p/xsibackup/discussion/general/thread/1d29b644/]https://sourceforge.net/p/xsibackup/discussion/general/thread/1d29b644/[/url]

It shouldn't take more than a couple of minutes.
Try to kill everything related to XSIBackup and run the backup again

kill -9 $( ps -c  | grep xsi | awk '{print $1}' )

[b][https://33hops.com/xsibackup-pro-vmware-esxi-backup.html]Download latest version 10.0.1[/url][/b], you don't need to overwrite all files, just [b]src/onediff[/b]. It includes a way to decide whether or not to unregister the [b]_XSIBAK[/b] VM via the [b][https://33hops.com/xsibackup-help-man-page.html#options]--options=unreg-xsibak[/url][/b]. Default option is to not unregister from v. 10.0.1. The duplicate MAC alarm is very anoying, but you can disable it very easily:

1 - Log in to vCenter Server using the vSphere Client, go to the Hosts and Clusters view and click the vCenter Server instance.
Select the Management tab > Alarm Definitions.
2 - Search for VM MAC in search window.
3 - Edit the VM MAC Conflict alarm.
4 - Deselect Enable this alarm.
5 - Click Finish.

This will only affect application level duplicate MAC alarms, not at the OS level. This alarm should probably have never been activated by default from part of VMWare.

I will try to explain myself better from a different perspective.

The article you read poses a very interesting combination of [b][https://33hops.com/xsibackup-pro-onediff.html]OneDiff[/url][/b] and [b][https://33hops.com/xsitools-vmfs-deduplication.html]XSITools[/url][/b], which is only possible if you use two different servers.

1 - You make a OneDiff backup over IP to a secondary server. Provided that you already made the first initial full backup, the OneDiff cycle will take just the time to copy the diff data and send the e-mail. This will generate a light load on the server being backed up, namely, your production server.

2 - Once the OneDiff backup job has finished, you have a mirrror copy of your original VM in a second server with an [b]_XSIBAK[/b] extension. Here you run the XSITools backup, which makes the archive of the data into a deduplicated repository. As the backup is being made from the mirror copy, your production server will not be affected by the XSITools backup, which will make a full copy of the server.

This is the post you mentioned in your original question: "my goal is to succesfully setup something like this"

The thing is that you cannot fully achieve what is explained in the post, cause you say you only have one server available. Thus, you can make a full backup and afterwards an XSITools backup, but it will only be similar to what is explained, and your unique server will notice the load while the backups are in progress.

The backup jobs you posted are basically O.K.

[b]NOTE:[/b]

You don't need to parse all e-mail options all the time

--mail-from=my@email.me --mail-to=my@email.me --smtp-srv=mysmtp --smtp-port=25 --smtp-usr=user --smtp-pwd=password

You can use the SMTP Server panel at [b]conf/smtpsrvs[/b] and shorten your syntax dramatically to something like

--use-smtp=1 --mail-to=my@email.me

Hello Luca, this question is a bit unprecise, but I'll try to offer you an answer.

[b][https://33hops.com/xsidiff-vmware-esxi-file-replication.html]XSIDiff[/url][/b] being unlicensed won't be a problem if you copy [b]-flat.vmdk[/b] disks below or equal to 10 gb.

Yes, if you buy [b][https://33hops.com/xsibackup-pro-vmware-esxi-backup.html]XSIBACKUP-PRO[/url][/b] you can use it in up to 20 different hosts via the [b][https://33hops.com/xsibackup-help-man-page.html#manhost]--host[/url][/b] argument, we are currently issuing as many XSIDiff licenses as you need to operate on 20 hosts from one master server.

You do need to enable [b]Less Secure Apps[/b]: [url]https://support.google.com/accounts/answer/6010255?hl=en[/url] for your gmail.com account.
You can find all the details here [url]https://33hops.com/xsibackup-smtp-client.html#gmail[/url]