Host-based backup of VMware vSphere VMs.
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Jonathan
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Cascaded replica / backup (possible licensing issue)?

Post by Jonathan »

Would it be possible to make a backup and, subsequently, create a replica from that backup? Or even the other way around, so create a backup from a replica? And all this without the need for twice as much Veeam B&R cpu licenses?

At the moment, B&R is making nightly replicas for all virtual machines AND backups for some (file servers for which we get frequent guest file restore requests). As I've found out, it's much easier (and quicker) to restore a vm from backup than from a replica. However, if the proverbial were to hit the fan and our main datacenter burns to the ground, I'd rather have replicas. So I would like to leverage both.

The problem I see is with licensing. Veeam B&R will automatically subtract the number of cpu sockets from the licence whenever you perform a backup or replication job. Our main cluster has 8 sockets and so does our offsite recovery cluster. If I were to make replicas to the recovery cluster and, subsequently make backups off of those, I would need a 16 cpu Veeam B&R license instead of 8.

Am I right or am I missing something here?
Vitaliy S.
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Re: Cascaded replica / backup (possible licensing issue)?

Post by Vitaliy S. »

Jonathan wrote:As I've found out, it's much easier (and quicker) to restore a vm from backup than from a replica.
But with replicas you do not need to restore anything, all you have to do is power the replicated VM on and that's it! How come a full VM restore from the backup file can be quicker? ;)
Jonathan wrote:Would it be possible to make a backup and, subsequently, create a replica from that backup? Or even the other way around, so create a backup from a replica? And all this without the need for twice as much Veeam B&R cpu licenses?
If you want to create a VM backup and then replicate these files offsite, then please search these forums for existing topics ("offsite backup") to see all available options. You can also target your backup jobs to replicated VM, but in this case you will not be able to use VMware CBT to track all the changes, there are lots of similar threads with the same question, please check them out.
Jonathan wrote:The problem I see is with licensing. Veeam B&R will automatically subtract the number of cpu sockets from the licence whenever you perform a backup or replication job. Our main cluster has 8 sockets and so does our offsite recovery cluster. If I were to make replicas to the recovery cluster and, subsequently make backups off of those, I would need a 16 cpu Veeam B&R license instead of 8.
Yes, that's correct. You should have enough licenses to cover all ESX(i) hosts you're backing up/replicating VMs from.
Jonathan
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Re: Cascaded replica / backup (possible licensing issue)?

Post by Jonathan »

Vitaliy S. wrote: But with replicas you do not need to restore anything, all you have to do is power the replicated VM on and that's it! How come a full VM restore from the backup file can be quicker? ;)
Sure, a simple failover would be much quicker. But if somebody messed up a VM, I would at some point like to restore it to the production cluster. Or I might need to restore only a couple of guest files or a single vmdk. All of these tasks are much easier with backups. Also, getting the original production VM up and running again leaves my replica VM intact and ready for the next replication run.

So, if I get this straight, my only options would be to either run a replication job AND a backup job for each VM from the same source OR buy twice as many licenses?
foggy
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Re: Cascaded replica / backup (possible licensing issue)?

Post by foggy »

Jonathan wrote:So, if I get this straight, my only options would be to either run a replication job AND a backup job for each VM from the same source OR buy twice as many licenses?
Correct.
Jonathan
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Re: Cascaded replica / backup (possible licensing issue)?

Post by Jonathan »

foggy wrote: Correct.
That'll be the first option, then. 8)
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