Feature request: disabled vmware quiescing for individual VMs in a job.

[Daniel2]

We have several jobs that alltogether backup up over 350 VMs with vmware quiescing (VQ) enabled. A hand full of Linux VMs must be backed up without vmware quiescing. I really don't want to create a couple of new jobs with VQ disabled for single VMs. It's a management hell, especially if you already have a number of jobs.

That feature was already requested here: veeam-backup-replication-f2/disabling-q ... 51872.html
But since not been added, and I don't understand why. Do you hate usability? But in all honesty, that is extremely frustrating and I'm already looking for alternative software solutions (there are a couple of other small things that add up).

By the way, in that thread the last response was "I can confirm that enabling app-aware backup for a VM will mean it no longer uses VMware Tools quiescence." but I cannot confirm that with 9.5u4. The only way to disable vmware quiescence on Linux VMs is to completely disable it for the job.

vmware.log entry for Veeam settings: vmware quiescing enabled, app-aware processing disabled

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2020-02-10T20:09:50.563Z| vmx| I125: SnapshotVMX_TakeSnapshot start: 'VEEAM BACKUP TEMPORARY SNAPSHOT', deviceState=0, lazy=0, quiesced=1, forceNative=0, tryNative=1, saveAllocMaps=0

vmware.log entry for Veeam settings: vmware quiescing disabled, app-aware processing enabled

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2020-02-11T08:01:53.191Z| vmx| I125: SnapshotVMX_TakeSnapshot start: 'VEEAM BACKUP TEMPORARY SNAPSHOT', deviceState=0, lazy=0, quiesced=0, forceNative=0, tryNative=1, saveAllocMaps=0

vmware.log entry for Veeam settings: vmware quiescing enabled, app-aware processing enabled

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2020-02-11T08:56:53.994Z| vmx| I125: SnapshotVMX_TakeSnapshot start: 'VEEAM BACKUP TEMPORARY SNAPSHOT', deviceState=0, lazy=0, quiesced=1, forceNative=0, tryNative=1, saveAllocMaps=0

[PetrM]

Hi Daniel!

Application-aware processing is the Veeam technology based on Microsoft VSS which is not supported by Linux platforms.
Therefore, VMware tools quiescence will be used automatically for Linux VMs as long as it's enabled in job settings.

A hand full of Linux VMs must be backed up without vmware quiescing

Why do you need to back up some of your VMs without quiescence?
The quiescence helps to create a consistent backup for VMs that do not support Microsoft VSS.

Thanks!

[Daniel2]

PetrM, I know how quiescing works. The problem is that we have a couple of sensitive servers that don't do all to well when you hit them with an I/O lock for 3 seconds. We also have 2 appliances that outright CRASH when ioctl() tries to freeze the file system, and since we can't access the OS we cannot fix the underlying issue. We backup the databases on those machines with other tools anyway, crash-consistent backups are enough for those machines. But I don't feel like further justifying my cause. The thing is, you should allow the customer to do it. It's not difficult to add such an option, just add the possibility to use exceptions in the job.

[PetrM]

Hi Daniel,

I understand the idea but just want to get more information about use case.
Ok, we will consider the request, thank you!

You can create a separate job for these sensitive servers as a workaround.

Thanks!

[Andreas Neufert]

Hi Daniel,
thanks for the above explanation.

[Changed]

Important point is as well to check if there is no issue with crash consistent backups as the root cause might not be for example the guest processing, it could be for example that the VM is running on NFS and HotAdd processing is performed. This could stun a VM for some seconds. => Direct NFS should be used to avoid this. So I think it is needed to verify that the issue is not present when you perform crash consistent backup to avoid that you search in the wrong direction.