Data Protection for VMware and Application Data in Mission Critical Environments

So why is the implementation of a backup strategy for a virtual infrastructure not as simple as backing

up the set of data and configuration files that encapsulate a virtual machine?

To answer this question effectively, it is important to understand all the components of a virtual

infrastructure that need to be backed up and how critical effectively backing up each component is.

Figure 1 below depicts the different components of a virtual infrastructure to consider for backup

when building a backup strategy:

1. The console OS

2. The virtual machine

3. The application running inside a virtual machine or console

Figure 1: What to backup?

ESX Server

Guest

Console OS Backup

Apps

Application / Data

Virtual Machine

Console

ESX Server

Guest

Console OS Backup

Apps

Application / Data

Virtual Machine

Console

Each of the Virtual Infrastructure components above can be backed up using one or more of the

approaches below:

• Backup at the virtual machine level

• Backup at the console OS/hypervisor level

• Backup via proxy server

Each of these backup approaches above presents a different set of challenges and fails to provide a

data protection solution that not only is simple to manage and execute but also provides low RTO and

RPO. Furthermore, a disaster tolerant backup solution that provides cross-site protection is a critical

component of an effective backup solution. To address these challenges, HP Data Protector software

provides a backup option at the storage level:

• Backup at the storage level (HP Data Protector software value add with Zero Downtime Backup and

Instant Recovery)