Specifications

VMware, Inc. 153
Chapter 3 Using the VMware Management Interface
Backing Up Virtual Machines from the Service Console
You!can!back!up!your!virtual!machines!by!copying!to!tape!the!entire!virtual!disk!files!
and!any!redo!logs,!along!with!the!backups!of!the!service!console.!This!approach!makes!
it!easy!to!restore!your!virtual!machines!in!the!event!of!a!full!system!loss!or!data!loss!due!
to
!failure!of!unprotected!disks.!
These!full‐image!backups!do!not!permit!you!to!restore!individual!files.!You!must!
restore!the!entire!disk!image!and!any!associated!logs,!and!power!on!a!virtual!machine!
with!these!drives!connected!to!retrieve!specific!data.
The!next!section!describes!how!to!ensure!data!integrity!when
!backing!up!virtual!
machines!from!the!physical!computer!or!the!service!console.
Providing Optimum Data Integrity In Virtual Machine Backups Without
Downtime
You!can!use!the!VMware!Scripting!API!included!with!ESX!Serv er!2.5!in!conjunction!
with!backup!products!to!provide!snapshots!or!stable!disk!or!redo!log!images.!The!
appropriate!functions!can!be!called!from!within!many!backup!products!to!establish!a!
safe!basis!for!backing!up!images!or!logs.!You!can
!use!this!approach!with!any!disk!mode:!
persistent,!undoable,!nonpersistent,!or!append.
For!information!on!the!Scripting!API,!see!the!VMware!Scripting!API!documentation!at!
http://www.vmware.com/support/developer/.
Using Hardware or Software Disk Snapshots
You!can!use!the!snapshot!capabilities!offered!by!your!disk!subsystem,!file!system,!or!
volume!manager!to!provide!stable!copies!of!disk!images.!As!with!physical!servers,!
consider!using!some!level!of!application!integration!so!you!can!be!sure!your!backups!
have!the!level!of!data!integrity!you!want.!
You!can
!combine!these!approaches!with!the!ESX!Server!redo!log!API!(described!in!
“Providing!Optimum!Data!Integrity!In!Virtual!Machine!Backups!Without!Downtime,”!
previously)!to!keep!the!interval!during!which!an!extra!log!is!used!to!a!minimum.!To!do!
this,!take!the!following!general!steps:
! Add!the!new!redo!log.
! Take!a!snapshot!of!the!mirror!using!your!disk!subsystem’s!or!volume!manager’s!
interfaces.
! Commit!the!changes!to!the!live!log.
You!can!still!back!up!from!the!stable!disk!image!on!the!snapped!mirror,!and!reconnect!
the!mirror!to!have!it!pick!up!the!latest!changes!in!time!for!your!next!backup.