On 7/24/2012 9:28 AM, Bastian Friedrich wrote: > Hi, > > we are using Bacula's raw block device backup features for backing up virtual > machines that use raw devices (logical volumes, or DRBD) as their storage. As > advised by the bacula documentation (obviously, for the purpose of sparing > storage space), we set "sparse = yes" for the respective file sets. > > Recently, we discovered a problem with systems backed up in this way. >
That is only one of the problems with backing up VM images. Backing up only the entire VM image is only useful for disaster recovery purposes, as it makes it impossible to restore selected files inside the VM. Nothing can be restored at all without taking the VM offline. In an HA cluster environment, some mechanism must be employed to determine which cluster node should be backing up the VM image. Really, the only advantage is that it reduces the size of the Bacula catalog database and *may* reduce backup time. We are running Bacula inside the VMs to back up only data. A disk image file of the boot/root partition of the VM is kept on the host and backed up as a normal file with the host. Data restore on the VM is done exactly as for a real machine. A disaster recovery of the VM requires DDing the disk image, starting the VM, and then running the normal Bacula restore. This works for us, as the VMs are all using the same OS, etc., so it requires less backup media storage space. Otherwise, it is possible to make the image file be a bootable rescue type disk containing bacula-fd and needed libs. Then you could backup everything on the VMs and restore as you would restore a real machine from a rescue CD. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Live Security Virtual Conference Exclusive live event will cover all the ways today's security and threat landscape has changed and how IT managers can respond. Discussions will include endpoint security, mobile security and the latest in malware threats. http://www.accelacomm.com/jaw/sfrnl04242012/114/50122263/ _______________________________________________ Bacula-devel mailing list Bacula-devel@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/bacula-devel
