One question regarding the nfs access with instant recovery. When i push an instant recovery out my understanding is it live-maps the contents of the backup stored on the veeam server with some under-the-hood-magic directly to the nfs server on the veeam server. Thus, the esx server connects to the nfs server and starts the vm from there. very well. and it works.
now my question: If i browse this nfs store with my vcenter file browser it shows the vmdk file with 70 gig. all right.
Now i went directly to the veeam server and checked the nfs directory and...whoops..there is a vmdk, too, but it is only 623 bytes in size and inside there is a tweak called "# Extent description RW 146810880 VMFS "vmfilename-flat.vmdk". Now just for ma understanding: WHERE is the real vmdk located at this time?
Hi Joerg, the VMDK file is still located in the backup file. What you see in the NFS directory is VMDK descriptor file. Every virtual disk has this file, however normally you cannot see it unless you use tools like FastSCP to browse the datastore (vSphere Client hides it). This descriptor file points to the flat VMDK file that contains actual raw data. This raw data file remains in our backup file, and vPower NFS proxies access to its data blocks. Thanks!
hi vitaliy,
so just to get this clear, the os filesystem on the veeam server can only see the descriptor file while it can NOT see the flat. the flat is finally transparently injected only in the real nfs session. is that correct?
best regards
joerg
Yes, that correct. OS file system cannot see the flat file because this file is still located in the backup storage, and the descriptor simply points to the flat VMDK with raw data.
