Veeam issue I really had

itdaddy

I think veeam was th easiest replication software but this is the problem. I have been learning lots about replication software.
The big and huge need of replication software is the need for a cache or scratch server that equals the biggest vm you have or equals the same size as your entire datacenter. So for example, if you have say only a 500 GB datacenter veeam will add upto 500 GB of
extra files to your vm folders. The same with appassure and others. Appassure you can use an external server. Next year I plan
on using appassure software. I am going to buy 2 HP servers raid 0 but big and use them as scratch servers.
I really like using Veeam but veeam failed to tell me (and I failed to ask) that you need the equal amount of space on your host vm server to do the HOT replication. But I am going with appassure next year due to I can use an external server .

but if you have tons of space on your vm servers veeam is goood.

jibbajabba

We are using Veeam extensively but I seriously have trouble to understand what you mean ....

gkca

jibbajabba wrote: »

We are using Veeam extensively but I seriously have trouble to understand what you mean ....

I guess that he's referring to the fact that Veeam uses the VMware vStorage API to do the snapshot.

meadIT

jibbajabba wrote: »

We are using Veeam extensively but I seriously have trouble to understand what you mean ....

I think he's trying to say he was surprised that you need an amount of space equal to your datacenter to replicate it.

Itdaddy, that's just how Veeam works. If you want to have an exact replica of a server, ready to power on, of course you are going to need an equal amount of space. You can use an external server with Veeam, you just have to have VMware loaded on it. So you could have your production cluster setup, then have a standalone server or two with ESXi installed to use as your replication target.

itdaddy

OMg...okay the vms are made up of vm folders with vmdk files and assorted other files. When I used vm it created I think they were vrb files or something like that inside the source vm folders. Veeam is designed to create these vrb folders. If you are having trouble understanindg what I mean is
look inside your source vm folders where th vmdk files are located. Veeam creates these as scratch room or cache room to copy hot the files.
YOu need the exact space on that host to copy your vms. Talk to veeam if you do not understand what I mean. Say your datacenter takes up 500 GBs
of storage space on your host/vm host machine. well you are going to have to have 500 more GB on that host vm machine to copy HOT over to your twin server. I had 2 servers. One was A and copied to B hot. Well on A veeam creats vrb files located in your source vm folders. Do not take my word for look yourself. But I have learned most replication systems need SCRATCH space, some call it replay space, or cache space. But whatever yu call it they need the same amount of space available/FREE up not beingused almost as much as your biggets vm size or as much as your entire datacenter. I only had 30 GB left of my datacenter. Just be aware when replicating hot you need tons of temp space or scratch space. Veeam users you will find out sooner than you think. I liked veeam do not get me wrong but it eats up your host space with the vrb files. You will see..

anvigos

I've been using Veeam replication extensively too (for a few years now), and I have do admit I have no idea what are you talking about. Just about everything you say is not true.

Not sure which Veeam version you are using. In the current version (6.0) Veeam does not use VRB files for replication at all. VRB files are no longer created anywhere with replication. If you are using older version of Veeam, then indeed Veeam did use VRB files (compressed deltas) to store restore points on target host. But these VRB files were only created on target host, and never on the source host.

1. "I had 2 servers. One was A and copied to B hot. Well on A veeam creats vrb files located in your source vm folders" - NOT true! Veeam never created any files on source host EVER. It is 100% read-only to the source storage (this was the first thing we have validated). VRB used to be created on target host (B in this case), but they no longer exist in the current Veeam version anyway.

2. "You need the equal amount of space on your host vm server to do the HOT replication" - NOT true! Veeam never required "temp space" or "scratch space" equal to VM size for its functionality. VMware snapshots do require little space on source host (to store disk changes - just for a few minutes while VM disk is copied), but it is minimal (usually, 2 GB is enough). Snapshot files are obviously non-persistent (deleted immediately after replication cycle), and it is definitely not true that you need the same space as the source VM size. I think there is simply lack of understanding on your side how VMware snapshot work, if you think so. Snapshot can only grow to the size of VM if you keep it open forever, and every single bit of "base" VMDK gets updated. When with Veeam replication, snapshot only exists for a few minutes, and is immediately discarded once the job finishes processing VM.

3. "It eats up your host space with the vrb files" -only in previous Veeam versions, only on target host (not source host), and only if you configure it so. Do you realize that you can simply reduce the amount of restore points to from default 14 to 1? And then, you will not have those multiple VRB files at all (just one). Although my recommendation is to plan target host storage for keeping at least 7 restore points, so that you can roll further back in cases when corruption was spotted too late (such as in case with virus).

You should learn more about Veeam and/or VMware, you definitely lack knowledge based on what you are saying above. And you are not even using the latest version. Which, quite frankly, has huge replication advancements comparing to the previous ones - we are having great success with it, and replicating servers we could not even touch with the previous version - because they generated too many changes for our pipe.

NISMO1968

itdaddy wrote: »

I think veeam was th easiest replication software but this is the problem. I have been learning lots about replication software.
The big and huge need of replication software is the need for a cache or scratch server that equals the biggest vm you have or equals the same size as your entire datacenter. So for example, if you have say only a 500 GB datacenter veeam will add upto 500 GB of
extra files to your vm folders. The same with appassure and others. Appassure you can use an external server. Next year I plan
on using appassure software. I am going to buy 2 HP servers raid 0 but big and use them as scratch servers.
I really like using Veeam but veeam failed to tell me (and I failed to ask) that you need the equal amount of space on your host vm server to do the HOT replication. But I am going with appassure next year due to I can use an external server .

but if you have tons of space on your vm servers veeam is goood.

VEEAM has plans to have global deduplication and dedicated set of servers to keep backups on. As VMs overlap dramatically space savings should be HUGE.

P.S. Appassure is a VEEAM replica itself Even sites and marketing materials & newsletters are pretty much the same these days