On Tue, 7 Feb 2017 12:02:24 -0800 Geoff Nordli <geo...@gnaa.net> wrote:
> Hi Mario. > > I use the pause quite a bit to backup virtual machines. Pausing the > machine will flush the cache and complete all outstanding async IO. > > https://www.virtualbox.org/pipermail/vbox-dev/2011-June/009810.html > > Look for the ignoreflush property and set that. > > VBoxManage setextradata "name" > \ "VBoxInternal/Devices/ahci/0/LUN#[x]/Config/IgnoreFlush" > > As a note, I use iscsi targetsand zfs/solaris to host the data as > zvols. > > Snapshots aren't 100% guaranteed. If you have applications like > Exchangeconsider using something like VSS on Windows. For example, > with Exchange I use VSS and then snapshot the disks from inside the > the VM using putty/plink. Then I know I am getting a good copy of > the data. > > Other applications may havereplication options. > > For things like SQL, I use a separate backup application to > explicitly backup the database, just to make sure. > > > Geoff > > > > On 2017-02-06 03:36 PM, Mario Lobo wrote: > > Hi to all. > > > > Currently, my backup routine consists of shutting down all VMs, > > copy all their .VDI files to the standby server, and restart the > > VMs. > > > > The obvious reason is for the standby server to be ready to run the > > VMs in case the primary server fails. > > > > A few questions comes to mind: > > > > 1) Shutting down and restarting the VMs is always a lot of work, no > > to mention the loss of counters, system statistics, etc ... so, is > > it safe just to pause the VMs to copy the .VDIs over? Would a > > paused state .VDI start ok on the standby server if I need to fire > > it up? > > > > 2) What is the proper procedure to backup via snapshots to a standby > > machine that needs to be fully independent of the primary server? > > > > Any experiences or recommendations are gratefully welcomed. > > > > Thanks, > > > Thanks for replying, Geoff! It made sense to me that pausing would be ok but I needed to confirm this. One last question. Sounds wierd to me to set an IgnoreFlush property if pausing the machine will flush the cache and complete all outstanding async IO. Is this setting telling the VM not to flush? Is this IgnoreFlush a per VM stting or general? Thanks again. -- Mario Lobo http://www.mallavoodoo.com.br FreeBSD since 2.2.8 [not Pro-Audio.... YET!!] "UNIX was not designed to stop you from doing stupid things, because that would also stop you from doing clever things." ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Check out the vibrant tech community on one of the world's most engaging tech sites, SlashDot.org! http://sdm.link/slashdot _______________________________________________ VBox-users-community mailing list VBox-users-community@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/vbox-users-community _______________________________________________ Unsubscribe: mailto:vbox-users-community-requ...@lists.sourceforge.net?subject=unsubscribe
