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bproven
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Evaluating Backup/Replication - what are these files for?

Post by bproven »

I just started evaluating the product and I see that when running replication between 2 ESXi 4 hosts (same LAN, local datastore to local datastore), the software creates a couple files and I'm not sure what they are for:

-Source ESXi host: creates a "*-ctk.vmdk" What is this?
-Destination ESXi host: creates a "*_working.vmdk" What is this? I notice it is the exact same size as the real vmdk which means that my space requirements on the ESXi B host (replication destination) will have to be 2x the source(?)

Thanks for any insight that can be provided. It is also possible I deserve an "RTM" response too. I did search and quickly browse thru it first though :)
Gostev
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Re: Evaluating Backup/Replication - what are these files for?

Post by Gostev »

Hello, yes I can see your search attempt in the recent searches :) It did not work because searching for "-ctk" removes all search results with "ctk" found... if you search for just "ctk" you will find tons of results.

1. CTK files are not created by our software, but by ESX host when changed block tracking is enabled on the specific VM... the host uses these files to track changed disk blocks for the corresponding VMDK. These files don't grow in size with time.

2. You forgot to paste the word in the quotes? But from the context of your question I am assuming that you are asking about this file.

Hope it helps.
bproven
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Re: Evaluating Backup/Replication - what are these files for?

Post by bproven »

Gostev wrote:Hello, yes I can see your search attempt in the recent searches :) It did not work because searching for "-ctk" removes all search results with "ctk" found... if you search for just "ctk" you will find tons of results.

1. CTK files are not created by our software, but by ESX host when changed block tracking is enabled on the specific VM... the host uses these files to track changed disk blocks for the corresponding VMDK. These files don't grow in size with time.

2. You forgot to paste the word in the quotes? But from the context of your question I am assuming that you are asking about this file.

Hope it helps.

LOL - you got me. Oops on using quotes for searching.

Thanks for the quick response. Man, that was fast. If the support is this good I'm sold (and the product works well of course). We are currently evaluating the product for use with essentials. We are DAS only so the replication seems pretty cool if we keep host B reserved for disaster.

I'll do a better job searching next time :D
Gostev
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Re: Evaluating Backup/Replication - what are these files for?

Post by Gostev »

OK :mrgreen:

I did not mean to say that using quotes for searching forum helps, actually search engine here ignores quotes. When I first saw your original post, you had empty quotes in the second question - so I had to guess what are you asking about from the context of your question :).

I can see now that you have edited your original post and put *_working.vmdk there instead of empty quotes.
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