Host-based backup of VMware vSphere VMs.
jveerd1
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Re: Any Experience Backing up with VVOL's?

Post by jveerd1 »

We are testing VVOL as well, but more from a snapshot perspective, because the snapshot process on VVOL differs from traditional volumes and snapshots have the biggest impact during backup/replication.

Using the same storage array, whould one expect lower or higher virtual machine stun times during snapshot remove (Checkpoint_Unstun) when using snapshots with VVOL compared to snapshots with traditional volumes? In our lab we are measuring higher stun times with VVOL, but because snapshots are offloaded to the array with VVOL, we would expect lower stun times. Anybody who can comment on this?
cbrasga
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[MERGED] VVOLs or Direct SAN Backup?

Post by cbrasga »

Since VVOLs won't allow for Direct SAN Backup, which scenario is recommended by Veeam: To utilize VVOLs and use the Hot Add backup transport method OR utilize standard Datastores and use Direct SAN backup?
veremin
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Re: Any Experience Backing up with VVOL's?

Post by veremin »

Hi, Cazi,

Your post has been merged into existing discussion talking about pros and cons of using VVOLs. Kindly, take a look at the answers provided above.

As to performance comparison, I don't think any exists at the moment, so, it might be a good idea to conduct several tests and see which approach satisfies you most.

Thanks.
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[MERGED] VVOLS or not?

Post by rlawsha »

We are migrating from EMC VNXe to EMC Unity all flash array. At the same time we are getting new ESX servers. We are running the latest Veeam and ESX6. I am at the point of partitioning storage on the new array. wondering if I should opt for the newer VVOLs as opposed to traditional LUNs. Anyone have any thoughts on the matter?
dellock6
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Re: VVOLS or not?

Post by dellock6 » 1 person likes this post

Hi Rick,
there are tons of documentation around VVOLS and their benefits, like policy based management, per-vm policies and so on.
As we are in the Veeam forum, I'd like to add that another great advantage of VVOLs is snapshot performance:
http://cormachogan.com/2015/03/10/virtu ... snapshots/

Basically, the penalty for running over a snapshot with VVOLs is way lower than regular snapshot, so backup activities are better performing with VVOLs. My personal suggestion would be to stick to VMFS, and if you have enough space, start to play with VVOLs on the storage, move some VMs there, and see how they behave. Veeam supports both vmfs and vvols, and you can even migrate from one to the other or even restore a vmfs vm to a vvol volume, so you are protected during your learning experience with them.
Luca Dell'Oca
Principal EMEA Cloud Architect @ Veeam Software

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esiebert7625
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Re: VVOLS or not?

Post by esiebert7625 »

There is a clear advantage to backups with VVols, I wrote that up in this post http://vsphere-land.com/news/how-vmware ... ckups.html, the one disadvantage is there currently is no direct to SAN backup support with VVols.

As far as adoption of VVols it will depend on several factors, does your current storage support VVols and to what level do they support it and how well can they scale. EMC is still fairly new to VVols. Do you need support for array based replication? If so know that VVols currently does not support that. VVols is still fairly new but at some point it will replace VMFS so it's more about when will you migrate instead of if you will migrate. At this point I would suggest trying it out and not jumping in until you are comfortable with it and understand the differences and limitations. Don't get me wrong there are plenty of great benefits to using VVols such as dynamic space allocation and reclamation and better snapshot handling. You can run VMFS & VVols on the same array so you should set them both up, you don't pre-allocate storage to VVols storage containers so you won't be using extra space and you can Storage vMotion between them. The next release of vSphere which is not too far out will definitely provide a better VVol experience and eliminate some of the current limitations.
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Re: VVOLS or not?

Post by DaveWatkins »

The lack of Direct SAN is why we didn't move to them with our new SAN. In saying that migration is fairly simple as long as you have free space to empty a LUN later as a simple storage vmotion from VMFS to VVOL will do it
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