Veeam 4.0 and version 4 VMs

[schaffeb]

We have a vSphere 4.0 cluster with esx 4.0 hosts. We still have a lot of v4 vms. What limitations are there in terms of what Veeam 4.0 can do with these older vms?

For example can we use this wonderful Virtual Appliance mode and changed block tracking?

I can't seem to find a clear description of this in the manual.

BTW, My initial tests indicate awesome speed gains. Great job guys!

[drbarker]

v4 vm's backup fine - the only bit that's missing is change block tracking...

Backing up using the vStroage api, you'll see a messages like:

5 of 5 files processed

Total VM size: 50.00 GB
Processed size: 50.00 GB
Processing rate: 43 MB/s
Backup mode: SAN/NBD without changed block tracking
Start time: 10/29/2009 12:06:40 AM
End time: 10/29/2009 12:26:29 AM
Duration: 0:19:48

Enabling changed block tracking...
Changed block tracking cannot be enabled: virtual hardware version 7 or later required.

[Gostev]

Talking as VMware customer right now: we at Veeam have upgraded to vSphere solely to be able to use changed block tracking. All other features combined were not sufficient enough to justify the upgrade. You are definitely missing a lot by not using changed block tracking - specifically, about 10-20 times backup window reduction, and near-realtime replication capabilities (if all this matters to you, of course).

[schaffeb]

Oh trust me, the changed block tracking is important

I imagine we will be converting over our remaining v4 vms in a hurry to gain this advantage.

[withanh]

The speed difference with vSphere 4 & Veeam 4 is crazy compared to Veeam 3. Here's my real world #'s where the only difference is changing from Veeam 3 to Veeam 4. We have always been a VMware/vSphere 4 shop having only entered the virtual world a few months ago.

I couldn't find the log of the full backup on Veeam3, but I do have the incremental for Veeam3

Veeam3 incr
3 of 3 VMs processed (0 failed, 0 warnings)

Total size of VMs to backup: 401.00 GB
Processed size: 401.00 GB
Avg. performance rate: 32 MB/s

Start time: 10/8/2009 7:00:35 PM
End time: 10/8/2009 10:36:36 PM

Veeam4 full
3 of 3 VMs processed (0 failed, 0 warnings)

Total size of VMs to backup: 401.00 GB
Processed size: 401.00 GB
Processing rate: 49 MB/s
Start time: 10/28/2009 7:00:15 PM
End time: 10/28/2009 9:19:08 PM
Duration: 2:18:53

Veeam 4 incr
3 of 3 VMs processed (0 failed, 0 warnings)

Total size of VMs to backup: 401.00 GB
Processed size: 401.00 GB
Processing rate: 322 MB/s
Start time: 10/29/2009 6:15:19 AM
End time: 10/29/2009 6:36:33 AM
Duration: 0:21:13

A full backup using Veeam4 took way less time than even an incremental using Veeam3. The changed block tracking and other improvements in both engines (VMware and Veeam) is well worth upgrading your v4 hardware machines to v7 hardware for that. It is a truly amazing difference in backup speeds.