Backup from Nimble Replicated Copies

[slampe]

So I apologize if I missed this being answered in the forum already. We've been trying to get one final question answered by our reps before making our Veeam acquisition, but from what has been demonstrated to us isn't fully answering our question.

What we're trying to determine is there anyway to perform a Veeam backup, that targets a Nimble replicated copy from a secondary storage system, and VMware is UNAWARE of this happening? So we've seen hot add and storage integration demonstrated, but in any scenario we've been shown, VMware is aware the backup is being performed and a VM snapshot happens in some form. We're wanting to know, is there any way for the Veeam backup to occur and VMware (vCenter) is completely unaware and doesn't leverage the VM snapshot process or is that not possible?

Thanks!

[foggy]

Hi Shawn, in case you create VM backup in Veeam format (compressed backup file stored on disk), VM snapshot is always triggered. You can trigger storage snapshot on the secondary storage without making a backup though - in this case VMware snapshot for the VM will not be created.

Could you please share the scenario when what you're asking might be required?

[slampe]

Thanks foggy. Scenario would be, we just want to be able to backup at will (during the day) and we don't want production to be aware of this. We'd be running a production Nimble array with a DR array and were just looking for a way to target the replication copies as a "just in case" outside of the normal nightly process. More specifically, if we wanted to backup something like Exchange more frequently than each night, but didn't want it to be as intrusive as the app consistent process, just something quick and easy.

[foggy]

Then snapshot-only job creating snapshots on the secondary storage might address your need.

[slampe]

But won't that still trigger a snapshot event within vSphere, even if you were to un-check quiescence and app-aware processing, and just go for crash-consistent?

[foggy]

No, VMware snapshot will not be triggered in this case.