I found a script on a VMWare community site that is a champ! It makes a snapshot and does a backup then removes the snapshot, so you see no downtime unless you want it to. Here is the link:
http://communities.vmware.com/docs/DOC-10382;jsessionid=5B6DF0EF2EFDE96949DF F1547838FA9E -----Original Message----- From: sysad...@tricubemedia.com [mailto:sysad...@tricubemedia.com] Sent: Sunday, February 14, 2010 3:12 PM To: qmailtoaster-list@qmailtoaster.com Subject: Re: [qmailtoaster] Re: Virtual QMT I use a clone VM, then daily I shutdown the clone do an export. If you use Vsphere4, and all the gimmicks, your can do " Live backup " IE back up a Running VM. but it gets costly. I just use ESXi, as I sais above, I have a clone VM( using Jakes replication Videos ) then I shutdown clone, do the export to my NAS, . you can also just use the built in qmail-backup, scp that to your NAS etc. > How are you guys backing up your VM's? I love the idea of using a > virtual machine, and was playing with one that got pressed into service this week. > It appears to be running pretty smoothly, now I am going to try to > fine tune it. My biggest concern is trying to back it up. I am > hoping I can just tar the VM and move it to a NAS. Is this possible - > or do I need to shut it down first. I would love the idea of a > nightly backup of the entire VM. It would sure make restoration a snap. > > >>> Jake Vickers wrote: >>>> Eric Shubert wrote: >>>>> Phil Leinhauser wrote: >>>>>> >>>>>> Is there anything like a load tester for QMT to mimic the 500 >>>>>> user limit? >>>>>> >>>>> >>>>> I don't know of one. (Doesn't mean there isn't one) >>>>> >>>>> It'd be nice to have a testing harness of some sort for QMT. >>>>> Anyone up for writing one? >>>>> >>>> >>>> One of the setups I was working on was Xen, but there is one running >>>> ESX. They have 500 users, all using IMAP, and some users experience >>>> 8-10 >>>> minute lags in accessing their imap stores (or webmail). >>>> IMAP processes have been increased, and the softlimit has also been >>>> increased. >>>> I do agree we could use some testing tools (this should be on the >>>> devel >>>> list, and can easily be added to the "tools" section of the subversion >>>> repo). >>>> I used to have a script around here somewhere that dumped 10K emails >>>> to >>>> load test, but haven't used it in a long time and would have to really >>>> dig to find it. >>>> I just wonder if the imap load isn't hitting a limitation in the >>>> VMware >>>> storage structure. The system has enough horse power and lots of RAM. >>>> 'sar' shows the cpu is not working very hard. When running a 'du -sh >>>> *' >>>> on the /home/vpopmail/domains takes as long as 7 minutes on a couple >>>> domains, which is what points me towards a VMware filesystem >>>> suspicion, >>>> since that "test" is not even using imap but straight file access. >>> >>> That's a good guess. I'll think about it a bit. >>> >>> Courier or Dovecot? (Not that it matters a whole lot if filesystem >>> access is slow) >>> >>> Which elevator type is running on the guest? (noop appears to be best) >>> Any idea which elevator ESX is configured to use? >>> Which ESX version? >>> >>>> As a side thought - anyone ever looked at freshmeat on some pop/imap >>>> testing tools? >>>> >> >> >> Courier is running. I may switch them to dovecot since it handles the >> larger mailboxes better (some boxed are 7+ Gigs in total size). I still >> think it's a filesystem issue though, as a 'du -sh' command takes so >> long. >> I do not have much more information as to the ESX setup however. They >> did >> have the mailstore mapped via NFS and switching that to a "local" >> filesytem decreased the issues by 50% or more. They moved a busy host to >> another ESX server and that decreased the issues even more, but they >> still >> experience 1-3 issues per day, always during peak times. >> >> And when I compare that against a 1500+ user system I have on a >> bare-metal >> server (mixed pop3 and imap) that does not have any issues (and 1/2 the >> hardware horsepower), the only other thing I can point a finger at at >> this >> point would be VMware. >> >> Some testing tools would be great to reproduce this type of thing. Did >> anyone come up with any ideas yet? >> >> >> ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ----- >> Qmailtoaster is sponsored by Vickers Consulting Group >> (www.vickersconsulting.com) >> Vickers Consulting Group offers Qmailtoaster support and >> installations. >> If you need professional help with your setup, contact them today! >> ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ----- >> Please visit qmailtoaster.com for the latest news, updates, and >> packages. >> >> To unsubscribe, e-mail: >> qmailtoaster-list-unsubscr...@qmailtoaster.com >> For additional commands, e-mail: >> qmailtoaster-list-h...@qmailtoaster.com >> >> >> > > > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ----- > Qmailtoaster is sponsored by Vickers Consulting Group > (www.vickersconsulting.com) > Vickers Consulting Group offers Qmailtoaster support and > installations. > If you need professional help with your setup, contact them today! > ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ----- > Please visit qmailtoaster.com for the latest news, updates, and > packages. > > To unsubscribe, e-mail: > qmailtoaster-list-unsubscr...@qmailtoaster.com > For additional commands, e-mail: > qmailtoaster-list-h...@qmailtoaster.com > > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ----- Qmailtoaster is sponsored by Vickers Consulting Group (www.vickersconsulting.com) Vickers Consulting Group offers Qmailtoaster support and installations. If you need professional help with your setup, contact them today! ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ----- Please visit qmailtoaster.com for the latest news, updates, and packages. To unsubscribe, e-mail: qmailtoaster-list-unsubscr...@qmailtoaster.com For additional commands, e-mail: qmailtoaster-list-h...@qmailtoaster.com --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Qmailtoaster is sponsored by Vickers Consulting Group (www.vickersconsulting.com) Vickers Consulting Group offers Qmailtoaster support and installations. If you need professional help with your setup, contact them today! --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Please visit qmailtoaster.com for the latest news, updates, and packages. To unsubscribe, e-mail: qmailtoaster-list-unsubscr...@qmailtoaster.com For additional commands, e-mail: qmailtoaster-list-h...@qmailtoaster.com
