Question regarding ESXi datastore direct access...

[haris2887]

HI all.
I am neew to Veeam so forgive the stupid questions..

I am currently running 2 Esx hosts and a DAS (Directly attached storage via SAS) in my testing environment.
I have Vaeem Running in a VM.I have added the Vcenter to VAEEm etc..

Now my questions are regarding the Repositories/Direct Access San.

1.I am assuming Direct Access San feature will not work with a DAS as you need the LUN mapped to the VM ? am i correct? As most PPL are either Using ISCSI or FC Sans. We cannot MAP DATASTORES to the VM's for direct access.

2.I know Vaeem cannot target ESX datastores (VMFS) directly, so how will the traffic go directly to SAN (I want to Backup to a SAN )without going over the network.
I know one solution is to make VMDK files on the SAN and mount them To the Veeam VM.

My main problem is not to Have the the DATA go through the Network instead Direct SAN ...

[skydok]

1.You need the MASKING Factor for SAN MODE, if the Veeam Server is Virtual then it should use the HOTADD Mode which is
optimized for it .

2. i dind't understand what the question really is . You want to Backup to SAN but not over Network?what do you mean ?

[foggy]

1. It is possible to use Direct SAN mode with SAS storage, please look at this topic.
2. Another existing topic answering your question, however, I would note, that storing backups on the same storage along with the backed up data is not generally a good idea.

[haris2887]

We have a Second San Dedicated for Backups..

OK well it turns Out we can't USE RDM on our DELL MD3200 ...... And as this is NOt an FC or ISCSI san we wont be able to Map(present) the Lun to the VM.

Options..
1. Format this LUN as NTFS, and present it through iSCSI to Veeam B&R backup repository. This is most common and recommended approach. (* Cant do in my scenario, not iSCSI)
2. Add this LUN as a pRDM or vRDM virtual disk to a Veeam B&R VM (your backup repository). (* RDM cant be done on DAS arrays as per this article http://kb.vmware.com/selfservice/micros ... Id=1017704)
3. Create multiple virtual disks (VMDK) on this datastore for Veeam B&R VM to use.

looks like the only option is the 3rd one...

[haris2887]

OK..
THis is What i Have Done...
I have Mapped as RDM the RAW Physical LUN on the SAN and Presented it to the VM...



So there is NO VMFS on it and It is a Physical Map to the LUN...

[dellock6]

If your Veeam server is running as a virtual machine on the storage you want to do backups from, "AND" that RDM is coming from another SAN storage you want to save your backup onto, traffic will flow over san and not over lan, your configuration (as per your requirements) is correct.
Where is coming from that LUN?

PS: even if you hide the VM name, we know is vCenter, look at the folder name of the vmdk disk