Backing up a VC VM that uses the Windows iSCSI Initiator

[amacbeth]

I know that there is a requirement to add the host via IP into Veeam in order to backup the VC server.
I know that vSphere does not support quiescing the file system when creating a snapshot for a VM that is using the Windows iSCSI initiator.

My question is:
Is it possible to create a Veeam backup job for a VC server that has the Windows iSCSI Initiator WITHOUT including the iSCSI drives?

My situation is that our VC has 3 drives. C: (system), D: (iSCSI) and E: (iSCSI). The iSCSI drives are on a QNAP on the network and are where the data for our backup jobs is stored. I would like to back up the VC server but I don't want to include the backup data (drives D & E). I really just want the C: drive to be included.

Is this possible using Veeam or should I rely on NTBackup for this sort of behavior?
Would it be possible to change the way our drives are mounted without losing or corrupting the data sets for the backup jobs?

Lots of questions, thanks in advance.

[dellock6]

You can use exclusions under the properties of the VM and choose to save only the scsi0:0 disk, usually this is the C drive.
But, why do you use VC to expose qnap disks to Veeam as a target? I would rather connect the QNAP via iscsi directly to the Veeam server.
Are both VC and Veeam server virtual machines?

Luca.

[amacbeth]

I hadn't noticed the Exclusions option. That should work. I will test that tonight.

The problem might be that we put both VC and Veeam on the same VM. Perhaps that's not recommended?
I'm not sure how much work would be required to split them at this point but due to the iSCSI issue it might be necessary to do so in order to get reliable backups of our VC server. I'm not sure it would totally resolve the issue at hand tho. I'm thinking exclusions are the best option for the moment.

This is my first venture into Veeam so I'm learning the pitfalls as I go.

[dellock6]

You need to disable content-aware processing and you cannot use hotadd mode in order to backup Veeam; but at the same time you would like to have consistent backup of VC using VSS, so you better split VC from Veeam.

Luca.

[Vitaliy S.]

Is it possible to create a Veeam backup job for a VC server that has the Windows iSCSI Initiator WITHOUT including the iSCSI drives?

If you use iSCSI initiators inside the Guest OS to present additional drives, then please be aware that we won't even try to backup those disks, as they are not visible in VM configuration.

[foggy]

Yes, disks connected via in-guest iSCSI initiator are not supported and are skipped from processing automatically. This is covered in the release notes document included with your download.

[JSinclair]

[merged]

Our file server uses <2TB volume directly connected to one of our SANs iSCSI volumes. However Veeam doesnt seem to recognize this drive or back it up.
Is there a way for Veeam to see this volume and include it in the backup of the server?

Another curious note. When I took a look at the backup from the server, (which has 2 volumes: C - local, and G-iSCSI). Veeam showed 2 volumes backed up, C and D. "C" appears to have the contents of the 100MB partition automaically created when installing Windows, and "D" has the contents of the actual C: drive. I am wondering if this is just how Veeam labels the drives in the restore wizard or if it would affect any restored by putting files on the wrong volume.

Jon

[foggy]

Our file server uses <2TB volume directly connected to one of our SANs iSCSI volumes. However Veeam doesnt seem to recognize this drive or back it up.
Is there a way for Veeam to see this volume and include it in the backup of the server?

Jonathan, according to Veeam B&R release notes (available with your download), disks connected via in-guest iSCSI initiator are not supported and are skipped from processing automatically.

Another curious note. When I took a look at the backup from the server, (which has 2 volumes: C - local, and G-iSCSI). Veeam showed 2 volumes backed up, C and D. "C" appears to have the contents of the 100MB partition automaically created when installing Windows, and "D" has the contents of the actual C: drive. I am wondering if this is just how Veeam labels the drives in the restore wizard or if it would affect any restored by putting files on the wrong volume.

There is an existing topic regarding this behavior, please look it through: C drive backup up to D in the recovery.