Replication from ESXi to ESXi

[IT-Works]

Hi guys,

i have a questions regarding the functionality of Veeam Beackup.

Scenario:
Machine 1: ESXi 3.5 Update 3
Machine 2: ESXi 3.5 Update 2
Machine 3: Windows XP with Veeam Backup

I would like to replicate the VMs of Machine 1 to Machine 2.
The problem i run into is that after selecting the source VM of Machine 1 I have no entries for the destination datastore (which should be on Machine 2).
I thought free ESXi would be fully supported in Version 3 ?!!?!

Have you guys any ideas to solve this problem?

Thanks in advance!
Daniel

[Gostev]

Hello Daniel, ESXi is fully supported for backup and restore - but not as replication target (this is documented in the system requirements).

[IT-Works]

Hi Gostec,
thanks for your reply.
I had a look at the documentation once more.
To me it seems that it is even impossible to use ESXi as backup target.
So is it correct that right now the only possiblily to backup an ESXi Server is to save the backup file to the machine where VeaamBackup resides?


Another question concerning the performance:
When I backup from ESXi to the Veeam Backup Machine (WinXP x86) my average performance is about 31 MB/s.
When I try to restore the same backup to the ESXi the perfomance is pretty bad.....about 8 MB/s
Any clue?

Thanks!

Daniel

[Gostev]

Daniel,

When backing up ESXi you can save backup to:
- locally on Veeam Backup server
- any remote Windows share (CIFS share)
- any "fat" ESX datastore
- Linux server (or NFS mount)

Yes your ESXi upload numbers are pretty typical - in our performance testing we observed around 10MB/s ESXi upload as well. Apparently this happens due to ESXi design (upload throttling). You would observe the same speed if you try to upload the file to your ESXi using VIC Datastore Browser.

Thanks!