©XSIBackup-Free: Free Backup Software for ©VMWare ©ESXi

Forum ©XSIBackup: ©VMWare ©ESXi Backup Software


You are not logged in.

#1 2018-03-14 22:20:22

eyes
Member
Registered: 2018-03-13
Posts: 27

Guidance for Backup Process

Greetings!

We are a new XSIBackupPro user having converted from GhettoVCB. With GhettoVCB we created full backups everyday -- twice a day.

Our environment is as following:
Four EXSi Server having VM's stored locally to the server. The backups are transmitted to a NAS Box (LAN) connected to the same VMHost.

We have the following Wish List:
1) Create two (2) separate incremental backups everyday Monday-Sunday. The first incremental backup will start at Midnight, while the second incremental backup will start at Noon) to NAS Drive1 . The idea is to speed up the backups during the week.

2) Create one separate FULL backup on Sunday to NAS Drive2 When the Office Closed. The idea is to take this drive off-site on Monday.

3) Compression would be an added Benefit.

How can i convert our current working script (below) to accomplish the items in the Wish List above as close as possible.

Our current working Cron script:
/vmfs/volumes/datastore1/xsi-dir/xsibackup --time="Mon 22:00|Tue 22:00|Wed 22:00|Thu 22:00|Fri 22:00|Sat 22:00|Sun 22:00" --backup-point="/vmfs/volumes/DMZ" --backup-how=hot --backup-type=all --mail-from=server@chop.us --mail-to=chicken@chop.us --smtp-srv=192.168.9.66 --smtp-port=25 --smtp-usr=pork@chop.us --smtp-pwd=busybox --date-dir=yes --shell-warnings=0 --smart-info=yes --del-dirs=+3d

Thanks in advance for your information.

Follow-up questions:
Considering that the above Wish List can be accomplished:
1) In the event a Production VM Host goes down, will I be able to attach a Backup VM Host to the NAS with an incremental backup and have full functionality of the VM?

Thanks again for your information.

eyes

Offline

#2 2018-03-16 20:49:35

roberto
Moderator
Registered: 2017-04-22
Posts: 49

Re: Guidance for Backup Process

If you just want an incremental backup, as fast as possible, use (c)OneDiff. You can optionally use --certify-backup=yes to get a hash certification proof upon backup completion.


/path/to/xsibackup --backupid=00 --time="Mon 00:00|Tue 00:00|Wed 00:00|Thu 00:00|Fri 00:00|Sat 00:00|Sun 00:00|Mon 12:00|Tue 12:00|Wed 12:00|Thu 12:00|Fri 12:00|Sat 12:00" --backup-prog=onediff --backup-point="/vmfs/volumes/backup1" --backup-type=custom --backup-vms="W701,Linux01" --mail-to=you@yourdomain.com --use-smtp=1 --certify-backup=yes

If you want an incremental backup but also archiving your VMs with deduplication and a high space utilization level use (c)XSITools program with compression enabled. You can also optionally use --certify-backup=yes


/path/to/xsibackup --backupid=01 --time="Mon 00:00|Tue 00:00|Wed 00:00|Thu 00:00|Fri 00:00|Sat 00:00|Sun 00:00|Mon 12:00|Tue 12:00|Wed 12:00|Thu 12:00|Fri 12:00|Sat 12:00" --backup-prog=xsitools:z --backup-point="/vmfs/volumes/backup1" --backup-type=custom --backup-vms="W701,Linux01" --mail-to=you@yourdomain.com --use-smtp=1 --certify-backup=yes

As you want an additional full backup on Sundays, we'll add Sunday's noon backup to a different job that will use --on-success and --on-error event handlers to trigger another backup job upon finishing. This full backup job will not need the --time argument, as will be triggered by a previous backup job. --certify-backup=yes is optional in all cases.


/path/to/xsibackup --backupid=02 --time="Sun 12:00" --backup-prog=xsitools:z --backup-point="/vmfs/volumes/backup1" --backup-type=custom --backup-vms="W701,Linux01" --mail-to=you@yourdomain.com --use-smtp=1 --certify-backup=yes --on-success="backupid->03" --on-error="backupid->03"


/path/to/xsibackup --backupid=03 --backup-prog=vmkfstools --date-dir=yes --backup-point="/vmfs/volumes/backup2" --backup-type=custom --backup-vms="W701,Linux01" --mail-to=you@yourdomain.com --use-smtp=1 --certify-backup=yes

Last edited by roberto (2018-03-17 11:10:36)

Offline

#3 2018-03-16 21:36:30

eyes
Member
Registered: 2018-03-13
Posts: 27

Re: Guidance for Backup Process

Excellent Feedback. Thank you! You made my weekend. Have a great weekend.

Eyes

Offline

#4 2018-03-21 19:39:56

eyes
Member
Registered: 2018-03-13
Posts: 27

Re: Guidance for Backup Process

Thanks again for helping with the backup scripts. I have one follow-up question:

We noticed that hours after we ran the onediff script, some vm's left an unconsolidated snapshot and other did not. What is the normal behavior?

Thanks again

Offline

#5 2018-03-22 10:42:42

admin
Administrator
Registered: 2017-04-21
Posts: 2,057

Re: Guidance for Backup Process

We don't know if you are referring to the original VM being backed up or the resulting VM.
Provided that you are talking about the resulting VM produced by XSIBACKUP-PRO, the normal behaviour is that the differential data transmitted inside the snapshot, is integrated or consolidated with the pre-existing data on the target VM.

https://33hops.com/xsibackup-pro-onediff.html

Nevertheless, a set of checks is performed in the original and target VMs (Trivial Check) to verify they are exact copies. An optional full hash check is available through the --certify-backup argument. Should something as gross as a differential snapshot not having been integrated at the destination VM, some very obvious errors would be showing up throughout the logs and e-mail reports.

In case you are talking about the VM being backed up, a snapshot called xsibackupdiff is always present when the VM is engaged in a OneDiff mirror. It's the snapshot that holds the differential data between backup cycles.

Offline

Board footer