VSS for Linux?

[caustic386]

I just switched our environment to the new vCenter Virual Appliance for ESXi 5. It is running quite well, but I'm wondering if there is some VSS equivalent that should be configured for the embedded DB2 database? I can't find any references to transaction consistency + Linux in the documentation, but it's possible I don't even know what to look for.

[Gostev]

In VMware, there is functionality called prefreeze/postthaw scripts. Search the forum for these terms to find some usage examples. Thanks.

[caustic386]

Found - thanks!

[damocue]

Hello,

From last reply in this topic, is there any change? Are databases on Linux still backed up through pre-freeze & post-thawn scripts, or it has changed since then? As I know, if I do a backup of a Linux guest with DB, but without to execute pre-freeze script, the backed DB isn't consistent. That's right?

Regards,

[Vitaliy S.]

Hello David,

From last reply in this topic, is there any change? Are databases on Linux still backed up through pre-freeze & post-thawn scripts, or it has changed since then?

Yes, you still need to use VMware Tools quiescence with pre-freeze and post-thaw scripts to create application-consistent backups.

As I know, if I do a backup of a Linux guest with DB, but without to execute pre-freeze script, the backed DB isn't consistent. That's right?

Yes, but most of the Linux apps can handle such backups (without pre-freeze preparation), however if you're looking for best practices then pre-freeze scripts should be a way to go.

Thank you.

[damocue]

Hello Vitalyi,

Thanks for your quick reply. So, the best way for a consistent backup, it's to follow one of the 2 options at the paper "Hot backup of MySQL on a Linux VM", right?

Thank you very much!

[Vitaliy S.]

That's correct.