Application Aware image processing question

[backupquestions]

If i have 100 VMs and only a handful of them are Exchange/SQL/IIS/AD, then I only need to enable application aware processing for those VMs, and I can leave it off on all the rest, correct? There is no real benefit to using it on all others if they don't run VSS apps, correct?

Also what about Linux VMs, I plan to not use any credentials or vmware quiesence etc, is that fine? Our old backup product just does a dumb/blind vmdk copy, and this is similar to what Veeam would do if configured this way, except it would still ignore free space during backup, right?

[jmmarton]

If a VM is running a Windows OS, there's a good chance that some sort of VSS writer is installed. Performing AAIP will then insure a clean and consistent backup. That's why I usually advise to enable AAIP on all jobs containing Windows VMs.

For Linux VMs you only need AAIP if it's running Oracle and you want to leverage OCI backups (not RMAN) or if you need to run pre-freeze/post-thaw scripts in the VMs.

Joe

[matteu]

Hi,

I know this is a base questio nbut I don't find what I want to know.
I know I have to use it when I backup server with sql / ad / oracle / sharepoint exchange on windows / linux server.

Do I need to use it for windows file server to be sure my backup is done with VSS ?
I would like to understand it to know how I have to configure linux server with / without application and windows server with / without application.

I want to know how to do good backup

Thanks for your help.

[Gostev]

Hello!

Yes, as a rule of thumb you want to use AAIP always for "good" consistent backups of your VMs.

Even if you don't have any of those enterprise apps on some VMs, just run vssadmin list writers command on those VMs to see how many other applications and system services will benefit from AAIP.

Thanks!

[skrause]

If you have a situation where you aren't super concerned about a backup of some servers being crash consistent rather than having full quiescence, you can set AAIP to "continue on error" for those jobs. Then if there is an issue your backups will still run if AAIP fails for some reason while still "by default" using AAIP on your jobs.

On a related note: If you are on VMware, having a network path for your interaction proxy(s) to run the AAIP through the network rather than VIX will greatly decrease the level of headache from random AAIP errors.

[vmJoe]

The Windows VSS writers can quiescence things like the WIM, COM+ REGDB and registry through the system state writer. That's just in a regular Windows server not running any other roles like DFS(r), or Windows File Server, or IIS - all of which have associated VSS writers as well.

Using AAIP really does help keep Windows clean on recovery i also recommend it being used on all Windows server

[nmdange]

For non-Exchange/SQL/AD Windows VMs, I use VMTools or Hyper-V Native Quiescence. The hypervisor will tell VSS to do a snapshot the same way Veeam does, except you don't need network connectivity to the guest OS.

[jmmarton]

You don't necessarily need network connectivity to perform AAIP, either. VIX allows for network-less AAIP, as long as you meet the requirements for VIX.

Joe

[matteu]

Thanks for your answer.
For windows -> always use AAIP OK

For linux ?
I know if there is oracle, I need to activate it. But if there is not. How to backup it correctly ?
How to setup a job where there is 2 linux vm + 10 windows for exemple.
I need to check quiescence + AAIP ?

[nmdange]

You don't necessarily need network connectivity to perform AAIP, either. VIX allows for network-less AAIP, as long as you meet the requirements for VIX.

Joe

True, I should say, you don't need network connectivity *or* administrative credentials. I prefer to keep the number of VMs that Veeam has administrative credentials for to a minimum.