Replicate two ESXi free servers

[shannonadams68]

I have two ESXi servers that I want to keep in sync. Both servers have internal storage. One server is currently in production and contains all the VM's. I want to use Veeam Backup & Replication to backup from my production server directly to the backup server. If I have a hardware failure on the production server, I want to failover to the backup server as quickly as possible.

Will someone please layout how to do this? Also, will I need to purchase a license for both servers or just one? My production server has two single core processors and my backup server has one.

Thanks for any help.

[Gostev]

Hello, Veeam Backup currently does not support ESXi as replication target, so this scenario is not possible.

[shannonadams68]

Gostev, if replication is not possible - could I backup the production server to the internal storage of the backup server and then do a restore on the backup server if necessary?

[Gostev]

I am assuming by "backup server" you mean "standby ESXi" rather than "Veeam Backup server"?

You cannot backup directly to ESXi at this moment. What you can do is backup to Veeam Backup server or a network share, and then use scheduled file copy jobs to copy files to standby ESXi internal storage. This makes little sense though since backup restoration would still require Veeam Backup server, so it is better to just perform backup directly to the Veeam Backup server instead of internal standby ESXi storage.

Of course, best would be to just use "fat" ESX as your standby ESX.

[davidshq]

Is there any intention to support this functionality in the future?
Dave.

[Ben Milligan]

Is there any intention to support this functionality in the future?
Dave.

Most certainly. We are definitely working to get this implemented in a later release.

[davidshq]

Don't suppose you guys keep a developer blog where we can watch progress of new development and see what sorts of features you have planned in the pipeline? Call me an info-aholic.
Dave.

[Gostev]

Hello Dave!

No, we do not publish roadmap - primarily because we innovative a lot, while our competition likes to copy our features. Take Veeam Backup for instance: as soon as we released version 2.0 (previous one), both of our chief competitors announced next major releases with many of those features that we have introduced to the market with 2.0. Too bad, we have already released 3.0 while they are still busy copying 2.0 features and having missed all previously announced GA dates a few times already. Nevertheless, obviously we do not want to give the competition luxury to know our directions and features in advance.

Another reason is that technologies and market conditions are changing too quickly in the virtualization market. This one is hard to argue. Trying to stick to even half-year old roadmap usually makes no sense. One year ago, who new that VMware will release free ESXi? Just one month ago, who knew that Citrix will make Xen Enterpise free? And even with VMware alone, tons of new technologies I am not allowed to talk about because of NDA are constantly popping up requiring us to constanly adjust our plans and directions. So basically, flexibility is the key to success.

[davidshq]

Gostev
Good reasons...and I have been impressed by your folks rapid pace of development, innovative developments, and stunningly simple (yet feature rich) UI (something that can't be said for several of the major behemoths out there, whose software is as friendly as a hungry croc). Looking forward to what is to come! Thanks.
Dave.

[Gostev]

Thanks Dave for your feedback... our UI is my baby so your feedback makes me very happy.