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If you are looking for a quick reference to determine which versions of VirtualCenter are compatible with which versions of ESX then check out the VMware Infrastructure Compatibility Matrixes .pdf.

The following image is the ESX Server and VirtualCenter Compatibility table from the .pdf linked above. Note that VC 2.5 is backwards compatible with earlier ESX versions, but ESX 3.5 is only compatible with VC 2.5. Also note that VMware Server is still compatible only with VC 1.4. I believe I remember hearing something about future versions of VC will be able to manage both ESX and VMware Server hosts, but I could be wrong. Maybe with the new VMware Server 2.0?

Click on the image for a larger version.

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When I was linking to RTFM Education from my post Combining multiple VMware .lic files is a thing of the past I noticed Mike wrote a quick post about discovering the new LAN based backup features of VCB. I had to get my own copy of the VMware Consolidated Backup Improvements in Version 3.5 .pdf and understand the new LAN-based backup feature. In short, the requirement for a storage area network, and therefore the installation of VCB on a physical server with HBA(s) has been removed. Installing VCB on a Windows 2003 virtual machine is now possible. Maybe not recommended for larger environments, but possible and a achievable design for smaller infrastructures.

The .pdf also reveals that there are several other new features of VCB that were previously restrictions of the older versions.

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I ran into a frustrating issue this week where VCB was backing up everything except the .vmdk files. The vcbMounter.exe command would run and finish without errors, but when I checked the backed up files in the VCB Proxy’s “holding tank” LUN everything was there but the virtual disks. I was troubleshooting with a 20 GB Server 2003 VM and the command finished in about 30 seconds. During the troubleshooting I watched Virtual Center announce it was creating the snapshot and then immediately delete the snapshot. It did not error. There were no clues in any of the logs. It wasn’t until the -L 6 option (verbose) was added to the vcbMounter command that I was able to see the problem.

It turns out that the VM’s virtual disks were Independent. The VM was originally created on a ESX 2.X host a couple of years ago. I had helped the customer migrate to VI3 last year. Apparently the migrated and upgraded virtual hardware maintained the older disk settings. Once we powered down the VM and unchecked the Independent feature VCB backed up the .vmdk files. Unfortunately there are more than 50 VMs this customer will have to schedule shutdowns for in order to uncheck the Independent disk setting.

Independent virtual disks do not allow snapshots. Snapshots are required in order to use VCB. VCB works by creating a snapshot, which freezes the VM temporarily and then sends future disk activity to a “disk buffer”. The original .vmdks are then static and can be copied to the “holding tank”. Once VCB has finished copying the .vmdks the “disk buffer” is committed to the original disk and then the VM is “thawed” backed to normal. VMs created on ESX 3.x hosts do not have the Independent disk option enabled by default.

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When you use VCB you have to specify either ESX root or VC2 administrator credentials. These credentials are added and easily found stored in the required vcb-pre-backup and vcb-post-backup .bat files, and the config.js file when using a third party backup integration module. Therefore, a best practice is to create a new user that has the required permissions for backing up VMs. The new user, vcbuser, will allow you to keep your administrator and root accounts secure.

In the latest version of VC, VC2.5, the vcbuser role and permissions are predefined and called “VMware Consolidated Backup User”. The steps in this post are intended only for VC2.02 and earlier.

To create the vcbuser do the following:

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Looking for a comparison of VM backup solutions? PHD Technologies, makers of esXpress, have put together a matrix of features comparing how their product stacks up to VMware’s VCB, Vizioncore’s vRanger, and even vRanger integrated with VCB.

Check it out online in original form here.

I have saved the matrix as a stand alone page as well.

updated 12-11-07 *****

After reading comments from readers I realized

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Live Demonstration of VCB and Netbackup

The link above is a recorded demo of using VCB integrated with Netbackup. It’s a great 15 minute recording that demonstrates how to run full VM backups and file level restores using the familiar Netbackup interface.

The demo also covers how to set up a special Virtual Center user and role in order to avoid compromising the password of an administrator account in the vcb configuration file. The presenter also covers the use of a network share to get the restored files to the original source VM.

If a picture is worth a thousand words then at 25 frames per second …. well, you do the math!

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VMware VI3.5 is scheduled to be generally available by the end of 2007. Based on a public .pdf released by VMware, this post is my summary of the new features. I’m guessing this .pdf is really a .ppt presentation that VMware is delivering, but I have not attended this presentation myself.

The screen shot is from the document and shows the new features in the defined layers.

After some sales and marketing slides the document classifies the VI3 features today across 3 layers. These layers are then used to group the new features for the rest of the presentation.

The features are divided into 3 layers:

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It’s always an afterthought. The client bought VI3 Enterprise so they know they have VCB. Everybody is talking about live VM backups so what’s the big deal? Sounds like it’s simple to start backing up VMs and maybe even reducing the cost of your backup agent licensing, right? Well, if you haven’t planned for it, then not really.

It’s not that it’s difficult to install VCB. It’s understanding what is needed to use it. I’ve heard VMware themselves say it’s not the whole solution. It’s just a framework of scripts to help integrate the enterprise backup solution with the virtual environment. Here’s how VMware’s Virtual Machine Backup Guide puts it:

Consolidated Backup consists of a set of utilities and scripts that work in conjunction with a third party backup software. To ensure that Consolidated Backup works with specific backup software, either VMware or your backup software vendor provide integration modules containing any required pre backup and post backup scripts. The third party software, integration module, and Consolidated Backup run on the VCB proxy, a physical machine that has Microsoft Windows 2003 installed.

Here’s what you need to configure before you install VCB.

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I recently installed the latest version of Vizioncore’s vRangerPro and ran into an issue where 2 of the VMs would not complete a backup. All of the other VMs would complete without issue. Both backup jobs would stall at the “Acquiring VM Lock. This may take many minutes!” message in the job console window. I had to manually cancel the first stalled job (using CTRL + C) before the second job would begin and eventually stall in the same spot.

I was using vRanger installed with VCB 1.0.3 on the same server. The backup was going to a local NTFS drive. The job was configured with VCB integration.

I was able to get the jobs to work by

1. Canceling the stalled active backup job (Ctrl + C)
2. Deleting the job’s leftover VM’s snapshot (and committing the changes). BE SURE TO DO THIS BEFORE CONTINUING!!!!
3. removing the .vzmutex file from the VM’s volume folder. (using WinSCP)
4. I also removed all of the .log files (except for the active one) and .vzsnp files as well. (This step was just folder cleanup and not necessary to get the jobs working)

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The file attached to this post is the VMWorld 2007 “Leveraging VMware Consolidated Backup for Disaster Recovery” lab materials. I am posting this for those that did not get to go to VMWorld and do not have an ID to log on to the VMWorld site.

This .pdf illustrates the requirements for VCB as well as the step by step technical details of using the VCB framework for backing up VMs, restoring VMs, and restoring files.

VCB for DR VMworld 2007 Lab

updated 01.29.08 - You can also download this lab from my Files Page.

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These are my notes I used to prepare for a discussion with a client about implementing a secondary site for DR fail over. The client has already virtualized their production data center and is wanting to leverage VI for DR. The point of my discussion is that VI is too often viewed as a “silver bullet” for tough projects like back up and fail over. Yes, there are some specific areas that are easier to implement with VI, but careful consideration and planning must be executed if the overall DR plan is to be successful.

Goals and Objectives - the customer must make important decisions first !

· Recovery Time Objectives – acceptable time to start up systems and allow user access

requires server by server analysis

· Recovery Point Objectives – acceptable point in time recovery or start up at secondary site

requires application by application analysis

· Mission Critical Services

which applications & services must be available first.

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Dan Anderson - Consulting Architect

Tim Myers - Senior Consultant

This is my third 2 hr sesion today. I had to get coffee and refuel. I’ve sat in the same seat in the same room since 10:15 …. except for lunch.

Dan Anderson is the drill sargeant of VCB. If you’ve attended one of his sessions you know what I mean. He should keep me awake.

VMConverter 3.01 can now be used to restore from VCB images - that is huge!! You can restore to ESX, VMServer, workstation. This is the first “ton of bricks” concept that has hit me this week. Makes the restore process for full VM backups much more feasible.

Notes and questions from session: