vSphere - Implementation Advice

[skydok]

Hi,
I need some advice on implementation of Veeam especially for Exchange 2010.


Enviorment 15TB of Datastores + RDMs.
All RDMs are going to be Virtual RDMs.
Exchange RDMs are 3-4 Luns all together 3 TB of database data.


Backup server will be Physical server with HBA to backup in SAN mode .

What should i take in when implementing ? i mean other than the exchange its straightforward, but exchange wise did i miss something?

[Vitaliy S.]

Hello,

Some Exchange 2010 specific tips and tricks you can be found in this topic > http://forums.veeam.com/viewtopic.php?f ... 586#p22112

As to implementation recommendation, then can you please tell me if there is any particular reason to go with vRDMs and not regular virtual disks?

Thank you!

[yizhar]

Hi.

Your plan seems fine to me.

Please note the following regarding vRDM -
The VMFS datastore holding the RDM (the pointer to actual volume), needs to have enough free space for the expected VMware snapshots taken during backup.
Normally the snapshots will not grow too much if the backup doesn't take too long and if nothing special is going on the server during backup (maintenance, etc).
However you should plan for worst case, so I suggest at least at least 400gb free space on the VMFS datastore.
For example - if Veeam server doesn't complete the job because of power failure, software or hardware problem etc, and the VMware snapshot of production server isn't remove until you manually fix it.

Yizhar

[yizhar]

Another tip regarding Veeam backup:

For large servers I recommend using a dedicated Veeam job. Not mixing it with other VMs.
I consider server with more then 1000gb a large one.
I would also consider splitting the planned 3tb mailbox databases between 2-3 Exchange servers instead of a single one.

Yizhar

[skydok]

Vitally,
its not possible to move now the customer to VMDKs because they want now to do the project of Backup and i am not responsible for the other enviorment.
so i am stuck with vRDMs

yizhar,
I understand the splitting of Job of course, and the enough space to reserve for snapshots,about splitting DB its not my responsibility,i am not the customer and except recommending it
as i already did its not possible.


I wonder about Restore of the Exchange,when i restore RMDs ,it restores it as a VMDK right?so i should restore the actual data and not the luns.

[Vitaliy S.]

Yes, vRDMs will be restored as regular VMDK disks, that is why I've asked you if there was there any reason of using vRDMs. Anyway, I believe the most frequent restore operation will be item level restore, so you should be good with vRDM for now.

[skydok]

Thanks ,i will take it incounter