Re: [BackupPC-users] Backing up VMs

[dan <dan...@gm...>]

i only run some test servers and redundant servers on vmware but i treat
them like a real machine.  monthly, i power down the VM and do a snapshot on
the host.  best of both worlds.  then the VM host gets backed up and i have
a long term backup of the VM image.

On 11/3/07, Stephen Joyce <st...@ph...> wrote:
>
> On Sat, 3 Nov 2007, Paul Archer wrote:
>
> > In general, you're better off backing up the virtual machines as if they
> > were real machines. That way you'll be able to do incrementals. If you
> > backup the files that represent the virtual disks, you'll have to get
> the
> > entire file all over again for even minor changes.
>
> I agree; treat the VMs as regular PCs. If the guest OS is Windows and you
> have no other bare-metal recovery plan, a monthly ASR backup, in addition
> to your normal fulls and incrementals, is good insurance against disaster.
> (Because ASR operates on all of C: it's a good idea to keep C: small and
> store data on another partition). It's a good idea for VMs and real Ms.
>
> Keep in mind that if you do back up the VM disk files from the host OS
> you'll probably need to suspend or poweroff the VM for the duration of the
> backup, which may take a very long time (vmware recommends this anyway) or
> make sure the VM disk files are on a filesystem on the host OS that
> supports snapshots or some other occult mechanism of insuring the disk
> files are quiescent.
>
> Hope this helps!
>
> Cheers, Stephen
> --
> Stephen Joyce
> Systems Administrator                                            P A N I C
> Physics & Astronomy Department                         Physics & Astronomy
> University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill         Network Infrastructure
> voice: (919) 962-7214                                        and Computing
> fax: (919) 962-0480                               http://www.panic.unc.edu
>
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