VMware snapshot and Storage Array Snapshot ?

[albertwt]

Hi All,

What are the difference and the Pros/Cons of using VMware Snapshot vs. Storage Array Snapshot in Veeam backup ?

So far I've been facing some difficult situation (24x7 SQL server VM outage for 3.5 hrs+) where failed Veeam backup has caused large VMware snapshot to be closed or committed even after hours.
The root cause is Veeam Backup repository does not have enough disk space but then the Veeam backup still continue to do so followed by the major outage when committing the VMware snapshot.

Another case also happened when, my VCenter VM was offline due to some problem with the Storage hardware, which caused one of the important large VMDK from one important VM still hanging off the Veeam Backup Proxy VM, causing another long VMware snapshot manual commit, followed by the failure of the disk consolidation process which is again has caused very long hours again hitting the other important VM.

Now, my management team has lost its trust in using Veeam to backup very large VM like File Server, SQL Server, SharePoint server and Exchange Server with the size larger than 3 TB and above.

How does the Veeam Enterprise Plus with Storage Array Snapshot can be safer than this high risk VMware snapshot ?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[foggy]

Backup from storage snapshots significantly reduces the impact of VMware snapshot removal.

[EBoucq]

Hi,

What's the size of the storage snapshot once it's been taken ?
It says "Veeam Backup & Replication accesses the ‘cloned’ VMware vSphere snapshot on the storage snapshot and copies VM data from it". Does that mean, the backup only saves the data inside the VMware snapshot ?
Sorry it's confusing to me.

Thanks.
Eric

[MarkBoothmaa]

Could using the agent backup not be a better alternative as there will be no VM stun.

[Regnor]

@MarkBoothmaa: If your requirement is to have zero stun on your VM, then yes a Veeam Agent backup could be an alternative.

Hi,

What's the size of the storage snapshot once it's been taken ?
It says "Veeam Backup & Replication accesses the ‘cloned’ VMware vSphere snapshot on the storage snapshot and copies VM data from it". Does that mean, the backup only saves the data inside the VMware snapshot ?
Sorry it's confusing to me.

Thanks.
Eric

The Storage snapshot itself initially doesn't have a size as it just points to the exisiting blocks/volumes.
Just like a VMware snapshot, it will grow over time, depending on the changes happening to the original volume.
The advantage here is with Storage snapshots, that your VMs only run with a snapshot during a short time and that a storage system handles snapshots more intelligently.
The process is:
Creation VMware snapshot -> Creation Storage snapshot -> Deletion VMware snapshot on source VMs -> Backups reads Storage snapshot -> Storage Snapshot gets deleted

[EBoucq]

Thanks for the explanations.