On 07/24/2012 09:01 AM, Bastian Friedrich wrote:
> Am Dienstag, 24. Juli 2012, 10:27:21 schrieb Josh Fisher:
>> On 7/24/2012 9:28 AM, Bastian Friedrich wrote:
>>> 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.
> In most cases, it is possible to mount file systems of restored disks without
> restarting the complete VM. Granted, it is still required to restore the whole
> disk, even if only very few data are required.
>
>> Nothing can be restored at all without taking the VM offline.
> Au contraire, it is well possible! However, doing so is not always simple.
>
> We use/offer two mechanisms, the first being mounting restored file systems,
> while the second is running restored VMs in something like a quarantined
> environment (so that they can run simultaniously to the original VM).
>
>> In an HA
>> cluster environment, some mechanism must be employed to determine which
>> cluster node should be backing up the VM image.
> Depending on the setup, yes. We use one (of usually no more than two) node for
> backup purposes. Yes, this results in a single point of failure for the backup
> service (which is then not run in HA). Has never been a problem so far.
>
>> Really, the only
>> advantage is that it reduces the size of the Bacula catalog database and
>> *may* reduce backup time.
> The most important point is that you don't need to install and maintain client
> components ("agents" in other backup software's lingua) on the virtual
> machines.
>
> I'm not at all saying that block level backups for virtual machines are in any
> way superior to a file level backup within the machines. Both have unique
> advantages and disadvantages, and we offer both; however, as a matter of fact,
> virtualization customers -- our customers -- show a large demand for block
> level VM backups.To get block level VMware backups, you need our Enterprise Edition, because we have a VMware plugin, or you will need some equivalent that knows how to work with vSphere. Best regards, Kern > > Thx anyway! > Bastian > ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 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
