VMWare: questions regarding quiescence and my first attempt for a decent (backup) job

[cosmik]

Here they go:

1) I've got a mix of Linux/Server 2009 systems in a single job. Enabled "use vmware tools quiescence" and application aware processing, setting the latter to disabled for non-Windows boxes (I can not remove Linux VMs from the dialog box. Does this sound reasonable?

2) In the same job, setting the guest processing options seems to require a user account to be provided. I presume that the user account is for the cases where I have elected some sort of application aware processing to take place (even though the Linux VMs are listed). What kind of account is needed? A windows domain user? A domain admin? Talking about non-persistent clients here.

3) On the subject of quiescence, assuming that it is enabled on a Linux VM backup job: are pre-freeze/post-thaw scripts required in order to have consinstency on MySQL/MariaDB databases on Linux?

[cosmik]

(if possible move this to the VMware subforum)

I've found answers regarding to (1) and (2) (talking about a LOT of reading ). Still looking for answers to (3) and now have another question:

4) What is the impact of backup encryption on backup disk space consumed on the repository? Assume that a Linux XFS reflink-/crc-enabled repo is used.

[Mildur]

Hi Michael

Moved the topic

1) I've got a mix of Linux/Server 2009 systems in a single job. Enabled "use vmware tools quiescence" and application aware processing, setting the latter to disabled for non-Windows boxes (I can not remove Linux VMs from the dialog box. Does this sound reasonable?

You can disable application aware processing for single vms. We recommend to keep it enabled for all windows server.

2) In the same job, setting the guest processing options seems to require a user account to be provided. I presume that the user account is for the cases where I have elected some sort of application aware processing to take place (even though the Linux VMs are listed). What kind of account is needed? A windows domain user? A domain admin? Talking about non-persistent clients here.

Permissions are documented here, in case you haven't found it already.

3) On the subject of quiescence, assuming that it is enabled on a Linux VM backup job: are pre-freeze/post-thaw scripts required in order to have consinstency on MySQL/MariaDB databases on Linux?

Yes, if you create a VM Backup, then you have to leverage pre-freeze scripts. You can find some examples here for MySQL.
If you have MySQL, then you could use our Veeam Agent for Linux which has a MySQL integration to create consistent backups of MySQL server. Another license is not required. The same license will be used for the vm backup and the agent backup from a single machine.

4) What is the impact of backup encryption on backup disk space consumed on the repository? Assume that a Linux XFS reflink-/crc-enabled repo is used.

There is no impact on storage consumption if you enable encryption from start. Veeam knows about the blocks which are already stored and FastClone will work the same way as without encryption.
If you want to enabled encryption for existing jobs, then an active full backup is required to use the encryption. Active full backups will start a new backup chain with new blocks.

Thanks
Fabian