Host-based backup of VMware vSphere VMs.
Post Reply
Simonx182
Influencer
Posts: 14
Liked: 3 times
Joined: May 31, 2012 4:01 am
Full Name: Simon Tauber
Contact:

Local Storage and iSCSI Backup Advices

Post by Simonx182 »

Hello,

I'm new to the veeam world and plan to use it for a couple of our customers. Most customers have small installations with 2 ESX Hosts (ca. 7 VM's). VM's are stored on the local disks of the hosts, no SAN/FC. I'm planning to licence the ESX hosts with VMware essentials and use Veeam essentials to backup them to a iSCSI Nas (Qnap) via 1 Gigabit Ethernet.
Actually I'm backing up the machines via BackupExec Remote Agents to tape and wanted to use veeam as a second backup to minimize the restore times. Server VM's are running 2003/200 R2 with Exchange, SQL ,Sharepoint...

What are your advises about best performance for backup and restore?
Should I install veeam in a VM on both ESX hosts and start backups from there to the iSCSI NAS?
If one ESX Host goes down, am I able in this constelation to start the backed up VM's stored on the NAS on the second ESX?
Is it recomended to use separate NIC's on the ESX Hosts and a second switch with jumbo Frames enabled to get better performances?
Is Veeam essentials able to do these backups without big problems on Exchange or SQL, or do I have to use the veeam essentials plus (enterprise) version?
In the future for other customers: Do I still need backupExec or do you recomend using only veeam and invest the money in the enterprise version?

Thanks for your time.

Regards
Simon
foggy
Veeam Software
Posts: 21069
Liked: 2115 times
Joined: Jul 11, 2011 10:22 am
Full Name: Alexander Fogelson
Contact:

Re: Local Storage and iSCSI Backup Advices

Post by foggy »

Simon, welcome to Veeam Community forums! Please find some answers below.
Simonx182 wrote:Should I install veeam in a VM on both ESX hosts and start backups from there to the iSCSI NAS?
Actually you do not need Veeam servers on both hosts. If both hosts have all datastores where protected VMs' disks reside connected to them, then you just need a single VM on any of them to be able to use Virtual Appliance mode for data retrieval. Otherwise you just need an additional proxy on the second host specifically to backup VMs residing on it.
Simonx182 wrote:If one ESX Host goes down, am I able in this constelation to start the backed up VM's stored on the NAS on the second ESX?
Yes.
Simonx182 wrote:Is it recomended to use separate NIC's on the ESX Hosts and a second switch with jumbo Frames enabled to get better performances?
Jumbo frames will allow to get better performance, just remember to enable them on all NICs and switches on the backup network, otherwise you can get a reverse effect.
Simonx182 wrote:Is Veeam essentials able to do these backups without big problems on Exchange or SQL, or do I have to use the veeam essentials plus (enterprise) version?
Standard edition does not have any limitations in backup functionality compared to Enterprise. Please see the detailed comparison of both editions in this document.
Simonx182 wrote:In the future for other customers: Do I still need backupExec or do you recomend using only veeam and invest the money in the enterprise version?
If you have a requirement to offload backups to tape, you still need some third-party solution like BackupExec to perform that (as currently Veeam B&R doesn't provide this functionality). This is what many of our customers do.
Simonx182
Influencer
Posts: 14
Liked: 3 times
Joined: May 31, 2012 4:01 am
Full Name: Simon Tauber
Contact:

Re: Local Storage and iSCSI Backup Advices

Post by Simonx182 »

Thank you for your fast response Alexander,
Actually you do not need Veeam servers on both hosts. If both hosts have all datastores where protected VMs' disks reside connected to them, then you just need a single VM on any of them to be able to use Virtual Appliance mode for data retrieval. Otherwise you just need an additional proxy on the second host specifically to backup VMs residing on it.
only to be shure: what if exactly this ESX host goes down where Veeam is installed? How do I start them on the second ESX host?
Which performs better, if I copy the second Host-Machines via Virtual Appliance Mode or if I use the additional proxy?

Regards
Simon
foggy
Veeam Software
Posts: 21069
Liked: 2115 times
Joined: Jul 11, 2011 10:22 am
Full Name: Alexander Fogelson
Contact:

Re: Local Storage and iSCSI Backup Advices

Post by foggy »

Simonx182 wrote:only to be shure: what if exactly this ESX host goes down where Veeam is installed? How do I start them on the second ESX host?
You can either replicate the Veeam B&R VM to another host or deploy a new Veeam B&R server in case of a failure. Another option is to use a standalone extract.exe utility to restore the backups.

There is a huge existing topic on how to protect Veeam B&R server, please take a look:
What is the best way of protecting the Veeam Backup server?
Simonx182 wrote:Which performs better, if I copy the second Host-Machines via Virtual Appliance Mode or if I use the additional proxy?
Performance will be the same. In both cases VM disks are attached to the proxy and data is retrieved directly from storage via ESXi I/O stack.
Simonx182
Influencer
Posts: 14
Liked: 3 times
Joined: May 31, 2012 4:01 am
Full Name: Simon Tauber
Contact:

Re: Local Storage and iSCSI Backup Advices

Post by Simonx182 »

Nice. That sounds good.
I'll read these posts to get furhter informations.

One last question about the licencing: In Veeam essentials is written on each licence: Max 3 Hosts. 2 Sockets / Host.
If I have 1 ESX with 1 Socket, and one ESX with 2 Sockets. I have to buy 2 Veeam essentials licences, right?
foggy
Veeam Software
Posts: 21069
Liked: 2115 times
Joined: Jul 11, 2011 10:22 am
Full Name: Alexander Fogelson
Contact:

Re: Local Storage and iSCSI Backup Advices

Post by foggy »

You need two 2-socket bundles. And there's no "max 3 hosts" limitation anymore, you can use any number of hosts under the 6 socket limit with the Essentials license.
Simonx182
Influencer
Posts: 14
Liked: 3 times
Joined: May 31, 2012 4:01 am
Full Name: Simon Tauber
Contact:

Re: Local Storage and iSCSI Backup Advices

Post by Simonx182 »

so if I add now a third ESX host with 1 Socket I wouldn't need no other license?
foggy
Veeam Software
Posts: 21069
Liked: 2115 times
Joined: Jul 11, 2011 10:22 am
Full Name: Alexander Fogelson
Contact:

Re: Local Storage and iSCSI Backup Advices

Post by foggy »

Simonx182 wrote:so if I add now a third ESX host with 1 Socket I wouldn't need no other license?
Correct.
Simonx182
Influencer
Posts: 14
Liked: 3 times
Joined: May 31, 2012 4:01 am
Full Name: Simon Tauber
Contact:

Re: Local Storage and iSCSI Backup Advices

Post by Simonx182 »

sweet :) thank you. You helped me a lot.
Post Reply

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: Google [Bot] and 88 guests