[VCSA] Any recommendation for a backup/replica job?

[comapny1980]

Dear All,

It is possible for me to take backup of vcenter Virtaull applicances using veeam backup, if yes what is the best setting for backup job. Vcenter applicaes is installed as vm on our esxi host.

regards

furqan ahmed

[foggy]

Yes, it is totally possible. Please review this thread for some recommendations. Basically, you need to enable VMware Tools Quiescence in the job settings.

[tntteam]

Yes, it is totally possible. Please review this thread for some recommendations. Basically, you need to enable VMware Tools Quiescence in the job settings.

Hi,

Sorry but this thread is all but clear. There are informations for different vcsa and veeam versions and I can't figure out the safest way to do this.

Can you tell me how to backup vcsa 6 completly (including application and database valid states) with VEEAM using a complete sentence describing the complete steps from A to Z so there will be no missunderstanding ? THanks !

-use the vmware script to do manual backup ( https://kb.vmware.com/selfservice/micro ... Id=2091961 ) ?
-use vmware tools quiesce ?
-use some prefreeze script ?

Also I found this website but I did not understand very well what's explained here :
http://emadyounis.com/vcenter/vcenter-s ... 1-rundown/

Support for VCSA backups via VMware vSphere Storage APIs – Data Protection (formley VADP) has been extended. In addition to VCSA with embedded PSC support, now external PSC has been added. This can be done leveraging VMware’s VDP or any third party solution with VMware vSphere Storage APIs – Data Protection, like Veeam. In this example I’m using VDP 6.1 and have taken backups of my external PSC and VCSA.

So we can setup vmware vadp appliance and veeam will integrate with it ?

Thank you

[lando_uk]

At the moment our VCSA 6.0 is backed up as part of a normal job and then copied off site, nothing special has been configured.

Would this restore/replicate to a new location and power on and work straight away, or would it be corrupted because we didn't think about the DB?

Reading articles like this makes me think we shouldn't just rely on Veeam and we may be at risk, potentially needing VMware support to fix the DB upon restore.
http://www.vladan.fr/how-to-backup-and- ... on-vcsa-6/

Or am I worrying about nothing and the vcenter restore would work fine because Veeam is great ?

Cheers

[jmmarton]

You may want to look through this thread.

veeam-backup-replication-f2/backup-vcen ... 17875.html

Joe

[lando_uk]

Can you tell me how to backup vcsa 6 completly (including application and database valid states) with VEEAM using a complete sentence describing the complete steps from A to Z so there will be no missunderstanding ? THanks !

I'd also like to know.

[mdornfeld]

Can you tell me how to backup vcsa 6 completly (including application and database valid states) with VEEAM using a complete sentence describing the complete steps from A to Z so there will be no missunderstanding ? THanks!

I'd also like to know.

Agreed. The above has just become a jumbled mess of versions and conflicting recommendations. I'd also like to know A-Z steps of the Veeam recommended way to back up the vCSA 6.x appliance. Thank you!

[Vitaliy S.]

Hi Matt, not sure why it is conflicting, but basically you need to enable VMware Tools quiescence and use pre-freeze/post-thaw scripts for application consistency, adding this VM via direct ESXi host connection should not be required.

Let me know if you face any issues with this approach.

[mdornfeld]

use pre-freeze/post-thaw scripts for application consistency

Thank you Vitaliy. Just to be perfectly clear on the pre-freeze/post-thaw scripts, which specific scripts are you referring to?

Matt

[Vitaliy S.]

I'm referring to some generic pre-freeze/post-thaw scripts that should be used to prepare vPostgres database in VCSA for backups. If there are no scripts to use and vCenter Server database can sustain creating snapshots without preparing its database, then quicence on the file system level (VMware Tools Quiescence) should be enough to make a VM-level backup of the VCSA.

BTW, VMware has a KB article on how to back it up, but this is a manual procedure > Back up and restore vCenter Server Appliance/vCenter Server 6.0 vPostgres database

[mdornfeld]

Thank you for the input. It strikes me as very odd that given the general direction of VMware towards the vCSA, and my guess that at least half of Veeam's user base uses VMware, that you don't just have a perfectly tuned built-in job for Veeam users to invoke for this very specific purpose. It's like that moment a few revs back when Veeam realized it should introduce a specialized backup job to backup Veeam itself. My suggestion is that the vCSA is now mature enough that this should be a given as well. Thank you for your time and assistance!

[Vitaliy S.]

Thanks for the feedback! I will double-check it with our QC team, but I haven't heard that vCSA needs any special treatment during backup (assuming VMware Tools Quiescence is enabled).

[mdornfeld]

Hi Vitaliy.

Really appreciate you checking with QC. I am probably misunderstanding, but it seems like I just go two separate set of instructions in the last couple of posts.

... you need to enable VMware Tools quiescence and use pre-freeze/post-thaw scripts for application consistency.

... I haven't heard that vCSA needs any special treatment during backup (assuming VMware Tools Quiescence is enabled).

Would really appreciate that if after you check with QC, you can post the go-forward recommendation from Veeam for backing up the vCSA 6.x appliance.

Thank you very much for you persistence! Matt

[Vitaliy S.]

Ok! The confusion is probably coming from that for any application running on Linux usually some native pre-freeze/post-thaw scripts are required. If application vendor does not provide it, then it should be safe to use just VMware Tools Quiescence option.

[tntteam]

Hey there,

Since the topic is still not clear, I did setup the vmware backup db script on cron.daily and dump db into /storage/autodeploy/ as I do not use this feature, this volume has free space.

I tested this volume is inside the vcsa veeam backup, so if needed I can just use the vmware import script.

And now I can say my DB is backed up and not "should be"

Vmware backup script : https://kb.vmware.com/selfservice/micro ... Id=2091961

[albertwt]

Hi All,

I've just migrated to VCSA v6.5 from Windows VCenter server.
Now, what's the best practice or steps to backup the VCenter server safely?

I'm using Veeam Backup & Replication 9.0.0.1715, do I need to create separate backup job since this is Linux VM not to be backed up with other Windows VM for maximizing data deduplication?

[foggy]

Please review the thread above for the hints. Another existing thread as well as this blogpost will also be useful. Thanks.

[albertwt]

Hi Alex,

Thnks for the assistance, the new VCenter server VCSA v6.5 is running on VMware Photon OS™ [Minimal Linux Container Host], so does the article mentioned is still applicable?

[Vitaliy S.]

Yes, it still should be applicable.

[Vitaliy S.]

Just a quick update for everyone, here is a whitepaper describing how to back up and restore VCSA > Backup and Recovery of vSphere VCSA and Platform Services Controllers (kudos to Michael White).

[Flo]

Hy,
I try to backup my new VCSA. The Backup-Job is finishing successfully. But the backup-files aren´t complete. When I restore the backup the VM will start and show "Can´t find operating system"

Used storage of the original VCSA is 17GB and used storage of the restored VCSA is 3GB. I don´t know why the files are missing...

Veeam B&R Version 9.5u2
ESXi Version 6.5u1
VCSA Version 6.5u1c
Server is a Cisco C250M2 and the storage is a SAN.

What can I do to backup the new VCSA correctly?
Support Case #02432525

[foggy]

While you're waiting for the answer from support engineer, I recommend reviewing the following KB article, in addition to the white paper mentioned in the post right above yours.

[Flo]

I´ve read the KB article and also the whitepaper. Nothing changed.
The VM and the vmdk files are working well. When I export as OVF or OVA and restore, everything works fine.

Only the Veeam Backup doesn´t work.

[foggy]

If you're doing everything correctly (according to the mentioned recommendation) and still see the issue, let's wait for what our engineers could say after reviewing the case.

[referencepoint]

What is the recommended way to back up the vCenter Server Appliance? I have added the vCenter instance to Veeam and I have several backup jobs for various VMs. If I set up a backup job for the VCSA (quiesce enabled, AAP disabled, as per recommendations) then I see the VM snapshot operation time out and the backup job fails. Other threads recommended adding ESXi hosts and backing up VMs on those directly, but I cannot explicitly add the hosts as they are already implicitly added - as they are part of a cluster within vCenter.

[PTide]

Hi and welcome to the community!

I suppose you've already read the KB and the whitepaper on the subject, so please open a support case and post your case ID here.

Thanks

[referencepoint]

PTide - Case ID is 03087499.