VMWare Tools VSS

[davegold]

Hi,

In reviewing the Backup&Replication User's Guide, it notes that the reason to use Veeam VSS is that the VMWare Tools quiesce ("sync driver") is known to cause problems with SQL and Exchange.
I completely concur with this statement, the sync driver is known to be a really bad thing to use on a system with SQL or Exchange.

What about installing VMWare Tools with VSS instead of the sync driver? Wouldn't the VMWare provided VSS take care of creating a consistent snapshot without causing problems with SQL or Exchange?

Or stated a different way, what is the advantage of Veeam VSS versus the VMWare Tools VSS?

Thanks,

Dave

[Gostev]

what is the advantage of Veeam VSS versus the VMWare Tools VSS?

No applications awareness for VMware Tools VSS. Please review the sticky FAQ topic for more information. Thanks.

[davegold]

Hi Gostev,

Thats what I thought, but ESX 4.1 now adds application awareness for Windows 2008/2008 R2 to the VMware Tools VSS. There purporedly was for Windows 2003 previously with ESX 3.5 U2.

If you need some links, let me know.

Dave

[Gostev]

Hi, no it does not add application awareness. What it adds is application-agnostic app-level VSS quiescence for Windows 2008/2008 R2 , but is still has no application awareness whatsoever. Again, please do take time to read the FAQ - it is all explained there. Thanks.

[davegold]

Hi,

I think what confused me is that VMware labels it "application awareness," and as you point out it really is "application quiescing" only. (I didn't catch that in the FAQ)

Do I understand correctly that you do not use the VMware Tools VSS agent? (In other words, we do not need to make sure to install the VMware Tools with VSS instead of the lgtosync driver, correct?)

Thanks,

Dave

[Gostev]

Hi Dave, correct - we are not using any part of VMware Tools related to guest freeze (neither sync driver, nor these newer VSS components). Thus, you do not need to make sure VMware VSS integration components are installed. In fact, we completely disable VMware Tools quiescence by default (there is a setting for this in the advanced job settings). Thanks.

[mesmeridze]

Hi all!
In veeam 6 documentation i see that for enabling VM quiescence i need to specify administrator password, and about VMware Tools quiescence there are description that it`is not support application aware quiescence but perform SYNC driver. Is that true that VMware tools can`t run VSS Writers? I realy don't want to specify administrator password, but i need not only quiesce VMs but perform log truncation for MSSQL database.
What about VSS manifest file, do veeam creates manifests?

[dellock6]

Quiescing via tools and VSS are two different actions for different purposes.
In order to truncate MSSQL logs you need to use VSS. The password for the credentials are hidden after you input it the first time. You can also create another user in that server for this usage and give it a strong password; this is also useful when you need to change administrator password from time to time, since this operation does not affects Veeam.

[foggy]

VMware Tools VSS does generic VSS freeze of OS and applications. It uses Microsoft VSS to perform application-level quiescence to ensure that each application state is transactionally consistent. But it does not apply application-specific settings to prepare each application to perform VSS-aware restore on the next VM startup and does not perform transaction logs pruning.

That said, though you can have transactionally consistent backups using VMware Tools quiescence (just make sure the VM has VSS integration option installed), you are not guaranteed on restores. With VMware Tools VSS, restore is not performed according to Microsoft requirements and in some cases you may potentially have problems with full VM restore because application will not recover correctly.

Besides, VMware Tools VSS has a bunch of limitations. For example, application-level quiescing is only supported on Windows 2008 or later (file-level only on other), and there is a bunch of hardware limitations on VMs hardware in order for this to work.

So it's always better to use application-aware image processing to backup such highly transactional VMs as SQL Server.

[mesmeridze]

In case of using veeam quiescence, does vmware tools using somehow, for example to sync file system, or to confirm ESXi hosts that quiescence successful, or all such work will be performed by veeam? Do i need to install VM Tools to create consistent backups ?

[foggy]

VMware Tools quiescence is automatically disabled if application-aware image processing (Veeam quiescence) is enabled. However, VMware Tools itself are required for backup with Veeam application-aware image processing enabled. Thanks!

[casaubon]

Hi,

Let see this case, my job is configured like that:
- The "VMware Tools enable quiescence" ("vSphere" tab in advanced config) checkbox is checked.
- The "Application-aware image processing" is unused (unchecked and no credentials)
- The VSS component of the VMware Tools is installed inside the VM so Vmware Tools is able to use VSS

Should i understand that in this case, VBR will by-pass the VSS component of the VMware Tools in order to only use its "sync" driver as indicated in the User Guide ?

In others words, VM Tools will never use VSS when the snapshot is initiated by Veeam ?

Thx

[foggy]

VMware Tools VSS will be used in this case to perform application-agnostic app-level VSS quiescence for Windows 2008/2008 R2 (without any application-awareness, i.e. it will not perform application-specific steps required for VSS backup and VSS restore).

[Yanish]

Hi,

Just wondering if I am backing up a VSS aware applications using the VSS feature should I also use VM Quising or am I better off using just the native VSS?

[veremin]

Hi,

Just wondering if I am backing up a VSS aware applications using the VSS feature should I also use VM Quising or am I better off using just the native VSS?

When you back up/replicate highly transactional applications such as Active Directory, SQL, Exchange Server,etc (VSS aware applications) it is strongly recommended to use Application-aware image processing functionality.

Furthermore, If you want to enable both features together at the same time within one job (in case of you backing up different OS, Windows/Linux), you’ll have to select “Enable VMware quiescence”, disabled by default, and "Ignore application processing failures", these options will enable VMware quiescence on all VMs that failed to use native Windows engine (VSS), probably, it would be Linux VMs.

Thanks.

[MAA]

Do I need to install "Volume Shadow Copy Services Support" options in VMware Tools?
What are the advantages of setting this?

[Vitaliy S.]

Hello,

We recommend using application-aware image processing instead of VMware Tools quiescence. Installing this will allow VMware Tools to perform VSS-aware file system snapshots, but not VSS-aware application snapshots.

Thanks!