Re: [BackupPC-users] Backup of virtual machines

[Kris Lou]

Just throwing this out there:  I use a variant of this:
http://www.charleslabri.com/back-up-xenserver-6-to-network-share-with-fancy-scripting-and-lots-of-fun-and-no-downtime/
.

It automates the exporting of snapshots to a mounted share.  You'll have to
modify a few things to make it work; in particular, I would recommend
adding compression to the exports.

-Kris
--
Attend Shape: An AT Tech Expo July 15-16. Meet us at AT Park in San
Francisco, CA to explore cutting-edge tech and listen to tech luminaries
present their vision of the future. This family event has something for
everyone, including kids. Get more information and register today.
http://sdm.link/attshape___
BackupPC-users mailing list
BackupPC-users@lists.sourceforge.net
List:https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/backuppc-users
Wiki:http://backuppc.wiki.sourceforge.net
Project: http://backuppc.sourceforge.net/

Re: [BackupPC-users] Backup of virtual machines

[Daniel Berteaud]

Le 04/07/2016 à 14:01, Smith, Graham - Computing Technical Officer a écrit :
>
> I don't use xenserver but my generic advice as a strategy would be to
> backup the contents of the VMs rather than the raw virtual disks.
>
> Effetively treating the guests as if they were physical systems. The
> raw virtual disk files will be large but also non-unique so will cost
> a lot more
>
> in storage space in your backups and potentially take a lot more time
> to backup. Backing up the files contained within the VMs should save
> space
>
> with BackupPC in taking full advantage of single instance storage of
> repeated files in your pool common to many users or host systems.
>

You can have both: save full image while storing only the delta between
two backups.

Here's what I've written:
http://gitweb.firewall-services.com/?p=virt-backup;a=blob_plain;f=virt-backup;hb=HEAD

I use it only on KVM, but should work with anything libvirt supports. I
use it in combination with BackupPC (as pre dump and post dump script)

The basic idea is:

- Suspend the VM
- take a snapshot of the underlying storage (using LVM)
- Resume the VM (so it has only been suspended for a very short time,
usually not even noticeable)
- Using chunkfs, mount the image (file or raw block) as a set of chunks
of fixed size: there's no copy, the fuse mount point is virtual, and
ready from it will read in fact from the snapshot, except that it'll be
pesented as a set of small chunks
- Using BackupPC, backup all those chunks
- When done, unmount the fuse file system and remove the snapshot

Now, the next backup will only store chunks which have changed, which is
usually not a lot

++

-- 

Logo FWS

*Daniel Berteaud*

FIREWALL-SERVICES SAS.
Société de Services en Logiciels Libres
Tel : 05 56 64 15 32
Visio : http://vroom.im/dani
/www.firewall-services.com/

--
Attend Shape: An AT Tech Expo July 15-16. Meet us at AT Park in San
Francisco, CA to explore cutting-edge tech and listen to tech luminaries
present their vision of the future. This family event has something for
everyone, including kids. Get more information and register today.
http://sdm.link/attshape___
BackupPC-users mailing list
BackupPC-users@lists.sourceforge.net
List:https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/backuppc-users
Wiki:http://backuppc.wiki.sourceforge.net
Project: http://backuppc.sourceforge.net/

Re: [BackupPC-users] Backup of virtual machines

[Adam Goryachev]

On 4/07/2016 22:01, Smith, Graham - Computing Technical Officer wrote:


I don't use xenserver but my generic advice as a strategy would be to 
backup the contents of the VMs rather than the raw virtual disks.


Effetively treating the guests as if they were physical systems. The 
raw virtual disk files will be large but also non-unique so will cost 
a lot more


in storage space in your backups and potentially take a lot more time 
to backup. Backing up the files contained within the VMs should save 
space


with BackupPC in taking full advantage of single instance storage of 
repeated files in your pool common to many users or host systems.


Invariably it is the data rather than an operating system that is 
usually most important to keep, so you may choose to only keep a 
subset within each VM


of the unique data and configs etc. However it may be no harm to 
include a single backup of a "template" of your base operating system 
of the VM to which


you may subsequently restore data files to, particularly if your guest 
OS are heavily customised and rebuilds are complex or time consuming


to recreate from scratch.

That may aid a quicker recovery situation and gives you a hypervisor 
and potentially OS agnostic recovery option route should you need it 
compared


to say taking VM system state snapshots and backing those up for example.



FYI, I use backuppc to backup the content of my VM's as above, except I 
make use of my storage backend to assist (I use Xen instead of 
XenServer, so some of this may not apply to your environment).


I use the pre-backup script from backuppc to connect to my SAN and run a 
script which:

1) Takes a LVM snapshot of the VM (disk) to be backed up
2) Uses kpartx to scan for partitions
3) Uses mount to mount each partition on the SAN server at a VM specific 
mountpoint


Then, backuppc will backup the VM specific mountpoint of the SAN
Finally, I use the post-backup script from backuppc to connect to my SAN 
and run a cleanup script which reverses the above.


So far, this is working well for me.

PS, I also do remote off-site image backups, but I only have two copies 
of the remote images, yesterday and current, where one of those can be 
incomplete.


IMHO, you should do both file level backups of the contents, in case a 
user accidentally deletes a file, or some crypto-locker virus, as well 
as image level backups in case of crypto locker, malicious damage, or 
serious system crash/disaster.


Emphasis placed on crypto locker solutions, been bitten and saved more 
than once thanks to backups.


*From:*Elias Pereira [mailto:empbi...@gmail.com]
*Sent:* 04 July 2016 02:30
*To:* General list for user discussion questions and support 


*Subject:* [BackupPC-users] Backup of virtual machines

Hello guys,

What the best way to backup VMs from xenserver?

Thanks in advance!


The contents and any attachment of this e-mail are private and 
confidential.
They are intended only for the use of the intended addressee. If you 
are not the intended addressee, or the person responsible for 
delivering it to the intended addressee, you are notified that any 
copying, forwarding, publication, review or delivery of this e-mail or 
any attachments to anyone else or any other use of its contents is 
strictly prohibited. You are prohibited from reading any part of this 
e-mail or any attachments.  If you have received this e-mail in error, 
please notify the system manager.  Unauthorised disclosure or 
communication or other use of the contents of this e-mail or any part 
thereof may be prohibited by law and may constitute a criminal 
offence. Internet e-mails are not necessarily secure. The Institute 
does not accept responsibility for changes made to this message after 
it was sent.  Unless stated to the contrary, any opinions expressed in 
this message are personal to the author and may not be attributed to 
the Institute.




--
Attend Shape: An AT Tech Expo July 15-16. Meet us at AT Park in San
Francisco, CA to explore cutting-edge tech and listen to tech luminaries
present their vision of the future. This family event has something for
everyone, including kids. Get more information and register today.
http://sdm.link/attshape


___
BackupPC-users mailing list
BackupPC-users@lists.sourceforge.net
List:https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/backuppc-users
Wiki:http://backuppc.wiki.sourceforge.net
Project: http://backuppc.sourceforge.net/


--
Attend Shape: An AT Tech Expo July 15-16. Meet us at AT Park in San
Francisco, CA to explore cutting-edge tech and listen to tech luminaries
present their vision of the future. This family event has something for
everyone, including kids. Get more information and register today.

Re: [BackupPC-users] Backup of virtual machines

[Smith, Graham - Computing Technical Officer]

I don't use xenserver but my generic advice as a strategy would be to backup 
the contents of the VMs rather than the raw virtual disks.
Effetively treating the guests as if they were physical systems. The raw 
virtual disk files will be large but also non-unique so will cost a lot more
in storage space in your backups and potentially take a lot more time to 
backup. Backing up the files contained within the VMs should save space
with BackupPC in taking full advantage of single instance storage of repeated 
files in your pool common to many users or host systems.

Invariably it is the data rather than an operating system that is usually most 
important to keep, so you may choose to only keep a subset within each VM
of the unique data and configs etc. However it may be no harm to include a 
single backup of a "template" of your base operating system of the VM to which
you may subsequently restore data files to, particularly if your guest OS are 
heavily customised and rebuilds are complex or time consuming
to recreate from scratch.

That may aid a quicker recovery situation and gives you a hypervisor and 
potentially OS agnostic recovery option route should you need it compared
to say taking VM system state snapshots and backing those up for example.

G.
_
Graham Smith
Technical Officer
Department of Computing
Institute of Technology Tallaght
Tallaght
Dublin 24
Ireland

From: Elias Pereira [mailto:empbi...@gmail.com]
Sent: 04 July 2016 02:30
To: General list for user discussion questions and support 

Subject: [BackupPC-users] Backup of virtual machines


Hello guys,

What the best way to backup VMs from xenserver?

Thanks in advance!

The contents and any attachment of this e-mail are private and confidential.
They are intended only for the use of the intended addressee. If you are not 
the intended addressee, or the person responsible for delivering it to the 
intended addressee, you are notified that any copying, forwarding, publication, 
review or delivery of this e-mail or any attachments to anyone else or any 
other use of its contents is strictly prohibited. You are prohibited from 
reading any part of this e-mail or any attachments.  If you have received this 
e-mail in error, please notify the system manager.  Unauthorised disclosure or 
communication or other use of the contents of this e-mail or any part thereof 
may be prohibited by law and may constitute a criminal offence. Internet 
e-mails are not necessarily secure. The Institute does not accept 
responsibility for changes made to this message after it was sent.  Unless 
stated to the contrary, any opinions expressed in this message are personal to 
the author and may not be attributed to the Institute.
--
Attend Shape: An AT Tech Expo July 15-16. Meet us at AT Park in San
Francisco, CA to explore cutting-edge tech and listen to tech luminaries
present their vision of the future. This family event has something for
everyone, including kids. Get more information and register today.
http://sdm.link/attshape___
BackupPC-users mailing list
BackupPC-users@lists.sourceforge.net
List:https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/backuppc-users
Wiki:http://backuppc.wiki.sourceforge.net
Project: http://backuppc.sourceforge.net/