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Agentless Snapshot Question

slarkinsol
over 5 years ago

Rapid Recovery 6.2.1...esxi 5.5...if i decide to do agentless on some of my servers, what is the method of the snapshot being created? I know the agent uses VSS and the local RR logs to know what to backup in each snapshot in windows but wasnt sure how Rapid Recovery knwos what has changed when backing up via VMWare agentless. I did notice in the setup of the core a mention about merging vmware snapshots....so i wasnt sure if using snapshots was how the agentless backup worked with VMWare

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  • 0 over 5 years ago

    Agent-less backups for VMware are fairly straight forward, however they do have a few 'new' pieces to introduce if you're not familiar with the process. 

    The snapshot process is done on a .vmdk level within VMware, the snapshot is taken to remove the lock on the .vmdk and then the backup of (or from) the .vmdk is done. The changed blocks are tracking through VMware via Change Block Tracking (CBT) which is a VMware feature (https://kb.vmware.com/s/article/1020128). 

    You mention that you are on ESXi 5.5. The version should be adequate, however you'll want to make sure you're on recent build of 5.5. If you're running 5.5 from 2014 you might run into more snapshot problems and/or VMware conflicts than if you were running a build from late 2018. 

    The rise and fall of most agent-less DP solutions revolves around a few factors: 

    1. ESXi builds being up to date
    2. Virtual Center resources (RAM) - specifically, running the minimum resources needed to just install the VC isn't the best way to perform agent-less backups, 16 GB is a good start. 
    3. Job contention - agent-less backups alleviate resources on the RR core (generally) however they do increase overhead within ESXi. Just don't increase concurrent jobs to a bunch as the OS isn't be hit as hard

    A few things to keep in mind/think of regarding agent-less backups: 

    support.quest.com/.../backing-up-virtual-center-with-rapid-recovery

    support.quest.com/.../rapid-recovery-lan-free-san

    support.quest.com/.../rapid-recovery-esxi-6-6-5-6-7-permissions

  • 0 over 5 years ago in reply to phuffers

    Thanks for the info...it still isnt clear if the "it snapshot itsself "refers to creating a snapshot similar to using the snapshot manager in the VM console and manually creating a snapshot...where disk resources are used up on the shared drive array my vm's are using for disk storage....

    i have some work to do if i want to use this....CBT is not enabled on the VM's i have checked...granted i would probably do agent for windows...but would like to use agentless for my vm running my ip phone system and powerchute admin

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  • 0 over 5 years ago in reply to phuffers

    Thanks for the info...it still isnt clear if the "it snapshot itsself "refers to creating a snapshot similar to using the snapshot manager in the VM console and manually creating a snapshot...where disk resources are used up on the shared drive array my vm's are using for disk storage....

    i have some work to do if i want to use this....CBT is not enabled on the VM's i have checked...granted i would probably do agent for windows...but would like to use agentless for my vm running my ip phone system and powerchute admin

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  • 0 over 5 years ago in reply to slarkinsol

    These are VMware level snapshots yes. They would appear in snapshot manager, as they are on the host level yes (snapshots of the .vmdk files themselves). The snapshots again only contain the changes made while open, so you do need extra free space, but not double your used space or anything like that. 

    CBT get enabled through RR when you add teh VM to protection. Most DP solutions will do this for you, as we do. Since otherwise you'd have to be good at command line, or turn off the VM to do so.