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How to do a backup wrong:Top mistakes

Rick VanoverMCITP vExpert VCPVeeam Software

About the Speaker

Contributor to industry publications

Agenda

Supportability and platformsFiles, application data and restore expectationsConsistency levelsMissing VMsError and warning notificationCapacity calculationsBackup frequencyWrong type of backup

Supportability

Products usually are matched to a platform VMware vSphere and Hyper-V have big impact

Platforms and design

*MUST* include domain of failure in design of backup for VMs

VMEmail Server

VMSQL

Server

VMFile

Server

VMApplication

Server

Backup57 VMs

and growing

vSphere or Hyper-V hosts

Storage

Backup infrastructure

Separate

Files, application data and expectations Files may not be enough to satisfy restore requirements Ensure proper recovery options Special applications may require special attention

● Email systems● Database systems

VMSQL

VMAD/DNS

VMApp

Production VMs

Backups

vSphere or Hyper-V

Backup system

● Web services● Authentication services

Consistency levels Different products on different platforms may offer different

consistency levels in backups

Recommended viewing Elias Khnaser’s session on consistency: “Backing up enterprise applications: Transaction consistency is key”

Disk volume

Volume Shadow Copy Service

Provider

RequestorWriters

Missing VMs

Age-old problem: New system added, but what about getting it backed up.

Does virtualization help this situation?No. It makes it worse

Cross-Check what is missing over time with growth

Interactive Demo

Datastores, folders, vApps, resource pools in vSphere

Error and alert notification Nothing worse than going in to do a restore to find that

a backup has failed Ensure alerting and notifications indicate relevant

information● What failed (or incurred a warning)● Ensure the right person gets the alert

Alerting versus resolutions Email, SNMP, pager, logs, reports This is important if not addressed, retention can

be exhausted

“Un-Fixing” problems

Sometimes IT pros have to “Make it work”That may mean turning off components that can’t easily be fixed Don’t throw problems under the rug Take the time to determine root cause of issues Learn something from issues to avoid repeat occurrences Note what you fix and make that available internally for future issues that may

come up

VM VMVM VM

Failed Server Healthy Server

VM VMVM VM

VM VMVM VM

Shared Storage for VMs

VMs fail over to healthy host

Capacity calculationsDesigning a backup solution takes into account a number of metrics: Storage capacity: tape, disk, cloud, etc. Retention requirements Data profile change rate

This is a challenge as VMs grow

Deduplication can help avoid doing backups wrongWindows Server 2012 can help avoid shortages

Backup performance Bandwidth

Backup frequency All VMs are not created equal Nor are all protection requirements If multiple frequencies are in use, how do you know

which one is best for the situation? Does the frequency match the needs of the business

and applications?

Avoid taking the wrong type of backup

There are many types of backups: Image File-based backup Application backup

Also avoid the wrong type of snapshot

Is a snapshot a backup? No But, it can be used as part of a backup Why is this important?

Is data backed up – but useless without the application?Example: exclusions, user data and files

Multiple copies of backup

It is always a good idea to have multiple copies of backups: on disk, tape, copy of contents on disk

Layered approach

Over-complicating things

Things to over-complicate: Raw Device Mapping (RDM) Pass-through storage iSCSI in-guest Lack of enlightenment kit Obsolescence

If virtualization doesn’t need to be complex, don’t make it complex: Will help backups Will help troubleshooting Aid in future changes

What We Covered

Supportability and platformsFiles, application data and restore expectationsConsistency levelsMissing VMsError and warning notificationCapacity calculationsBackup frequencyWrong type of backup

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