VMware RDM instead of VMDK?

[TitaniumCoder477]

I have read that storing backups in a VMDK/VMFS volume is not recommend/best practice. (vmware-vsphere-f24/don-t-store-backups- ... 66-15.html and https://www.veeam.com/blog/vmware-backu ... tices.html)

I am trying to design an all-in-one DR appliance as follows:

CHASSIS: Dell R430 (or something like that) w/ 10 x 2.5"
CPU(s): 2 x Xeon E5-2600 v4 w/ 10 cores ea
RAM: 64GB
OS DRIVES: 256GB SSD (RAID1)
DATA DRIVES: 2 x 4TB RAID1 (for replicas) and 6 x 4TB RAID10 (for backups)
NICS: 1GbE
HOST: VMware Essentials
VM(s): 1 x Server 2016 Standard w/ Veeam B&R

The DR appliance would be configured such that VMware and the VM reside on the SSD RAID1. The 4TB RAID1 would be presented to Veeam as a replica repository. The RAID10 would be (option 1) a datastore with a single VMDK, presented to the VM for backups OR (option 2) passed through to the VM as a RDM.

So based on what others have said, VMDK is not a recommended way to go for the backup volume. What about RDM?

My objective is to have an appliance that can handle both replicas and backups and DR/restore from either. Suggestions welcome.

Thanks!

[Andreas Neufert]

Hi James,
thanks for the questions.
Technically it do not matter if you store the backup on a pRDM or a vmdk.
The recommendation to go with pRDMs is that you avoid any single point of failure when your VMs go offline because of VMFS bugs, the idea is to not affect the backups at same time.

The risk is lower when you have a completely seperated VMware environment for backups, but still if there is no technical benefit in using a vmdk there, use a pRDM. At the end you can mount the prdm on any Windows Server and access the data without vmware if needed.

[jhoughes]

If the host is running ESXi with only local disks, you will not have an option to present those RAID groups as RDMs.

[Andreas Neufert]

If you have the right hardware you can... https://kb.vmware.com/s/article/1017530