Re: [Devil-Linux-discuss] VMware questions

[Bruce S. <bw...@ar...>]

> > Is it possible to take a snapshot of a running guest OS and copy/export
> > the disk image to another server for backup?
> 
> Yes. There are several ways to do it. On being your own scripted snapshot
> method. Some companies use this method as their primary backup method.
> They do not backup the files within the VM at all.

Before I can write a script, I need to understand the file structure.
For example, following is a directory of a CentOS-5.1 guest OS that I
took a couple of snapshots while it was running.

What file(s) would be required to backup the latest snapshot?


lw3-000001-delta.vmdk   29-Feb-2008 18:11       16803840
lw3-000001.vmdk         29-Feb-2008 18:09       215
lw3-000003-delta.vmdk   29-Feb-2008 19:11       671115264
lw3-000003.vmdk         29-Feb-2008 18:26       248
lw3-499cb83e.vswp       29-Feb-2008 18:12       805306368
lw3-Snapshot1.vmsn      29-Feb-2008 18:07       18482
lw3-Snapshot2.vmsn      29-Feb-2008 18:11       806409071
lw3-flat.vmdk           29-Feb-2008 16:54       12884901888
lw3.nvram               29-Feb-2008 18:12       8684
lw3.vmdk                29-Feb-2008 15:37       393
lw3.vmsd                29-Feb-2008 18:11       815
lw3.vmx                 29-Feb-2008 18:23       1633
lw3.vmxf                29-Feb-2008 15:27       258
vmware-1.log            29-Feb-2008 16:54       121364
vmware-2.log            29-Feb-2008 18:12       29777
vmware.log              29-Feb-2008 19:06       56517


> VMware offers Consolidated Backup addon, which is supposed to aid
> commercial backup software vendor products in doing (essentially) the
> same.

IIRC, Consolidated Backup is not an option for 3i.

> It is your choice to deside how you do it.

Unless I choose 3i.  :-)

 - BS