VMware vsphere Data Protection 6.0 Maciej Kot Senior Systems Engineer VMware
Overview
vsphere Data Protection Overview Data protection for VMs and applications Agent-less VM backup and restore Agents for SQL Server, Exchange, SharePoint Browser-based file level restore (FLR) Included with vsphere Essentials Plus Kit and higher Simple virtual appliance deployment Managed with vsphere Web Client 3
vsphere Data Protection Overview Agent-less VM backup and restore means easier deployment, less complexity Changed Block Tracking (CBT) for backup and restore Minimizes backup window requirements and data transfer First backup is full, subsequent backups are synthetic full vsphere Data Protection 4
vsphere Data Protection Overview Application Agents SQL Server Exchange SharePoint Backup and restore individual databases Restore Exchange mailboxes Application-consistency 5
vsphere Data Protection Overview Powered by EMC Avamar deduplication Variable-length segment deduplication minimizes backup storage consumption Deduplication across all backup data in VDP appliance Typically, 50% to 90% deduplication efficiency* *Deduplication efficiency depends primarily on backup data type(s). Every environment is different - results will vary. 6
vsphere Data Protection Overview Backup data replication for offsite recovery Reliable, secure, efficient transfer of backup data between appliances Data is deduplicated and compressed before replication Only unique data segments are replicated Replicated data is encrypted for security vsphere Data Protection vsphere Data Protection vsphere Data Protection Main Data Center DR Data Center Remote Office 7
vsphere Data Protection Overview Integration with an EMC Data Domain system Utilizes EMC Data Domain Boost to help reduce bandwidth consumption Increased capacity, backup data deduplication and compression Backup data copy between Data Domain systems vsphere Data Protection EMC Data Domain System 8
vsphere Data Protection Overview Typical use cases: Small to medium sized environments Remote office deployments 160-200 average VMs per 8TB VDP appliance Average VM: 60GB actual data, 5% daily data change rate, 30-day retention Sizing guideline assuming averages above: 20 to 25 VMs per 1TB VDP capacity Longer retention, types of data, etc. will affect actual results Up to 20 VDP appliances supported per vcenter Server environment 9
vsphere Data Protection Overview Reliable: Mature, proven backup and recovery technology Efficient: Market-leading de-dup, WAN-friendly replication Value: Included with vsphere Essentials Plus Kit and higher Easy: Virtual appliance deployment, vsphere Web Client management 10
Technical Walkthrough
Deployment vcenter Server VDP VDP Proxy VDP Agent VMware vsphere VMware vsphere 12
Deployment VDP virtual disks - one for guest OS and Avamar, multiple for backup data Virtual disks can be on same datastore or spread across multiple 13
Deployment Run the storage performance test Helps ensure storage can support IO-intensive backup operations 14
Application Agent Deployment Client downloads on Configuration tab Install agent in VM guest OS Microsoft.NET Framework required 15
Application Agent Deployment SQL Server Failover and AlwaysOn cluster support Exchange Database Availability Group (DAG) support 16
External Proxy Deployment VDP has one internal proxy - supports up to eight backup streams Optionally, external proxies can be deployed Used to protect VMs on storage VDP does not have direct access to Required for Linux Ext4 file system backup 17
Proxy Management Number of backup stream can be adjusted for internal and external proxies Use case: Environments needing to limit storage and network utilization 18
Backing up Virtual Machines No backup agent required VDDK and VADP used to perform image (entire VM) backups Typical process: VMware Tools quiesces guest OS and apps, where possible VM snapshot is created Base (read-only) disk hot-added* to VDP appliance VDP queries vsphere for changed blocks Changed blocks are copied to VDP appliance and deduplicated When backup is complete, snapshot delta disk is consolidated into base disk *SCSI HotAdd is the default transport. If SCSI HotAdd cannot be used, the NBD transport facilitates backup across the network. 19
Backing up Virtual Machines Select containers Select VMs Select individual disks 20
Backing up Applications Agent-based backup and recovery 21
Backup Data Replication Backup data is deduplicated and compressed at source and target WAN-efficient: Only unique data segments are transmitted Secure: Replicated data encrypted (AES256) More reliable and less expensive than legacy tape solutions Multiple topologies supported 1:1, N:1, 1:N, etc. VDP VDP VDP Main Data Center DR Data Center Remote Office 22
Backup Data Replication Replicate: Image (VM) backups Application backups Previously replicated data Limit by: Backup type Number of backups Date 23
Backup Job Scheduling Daily Weekly Monthly Jobs can also be started manually 24
Backup Data Retention Retain for x number of days Retain until a specific date Custom retention policy 25
Restoring Backup Data VDP can restore: Entire VMs Individual virtual disks (VMDK files) Individual files (FLR) One or multiple application databases Exchange mailboxes (GLR) Restores can be performed using backup data Created from a local backup job Replicated from another VDP appliance Stored on another VDP appliance 26
Direct-to-Host Emergency Restore Restore a VM directly to a vsphere host when vcenter Server is offline 27
Automated Backup Verification Best method to verify backups: Routine practice restores Manual process in many cases VDP automates practice restores Job is created and schedule, e.g., restore VM every Saturday morning at 9:00 AM VM is restored disconnected from network VDP verifies VMware Tools heartbeats are detected (guest OS booted) Optional script can be included for further verification After restore, VM is deleted Backup verification info in VDP UI and email reports 28
vsphere Data Protection and EMC Data Domain Systems VDP contains Data Domain Boost libraries VDP backup data sent to a Data Domain appliance Backup metadata is stored in VDP appliance Checkpoints can also be copied to Data Domain in case VDP appliance is lost Amount of backup data is limited by Data Domain capacity Data Domain copy used to replicate data between two VDP+DD configs VDP DD Boost DD Boost VDP 29
Reporting User interface shows several metrics Appliance status and capacity utilization Number of protected VMs and jobs that have failed recently Task failures, job details, and unprotected VMs 30
Reporting Email reports contain info on the appliance, various jobs, and unprotected VMs 31
Backup and Maintenance Windows Maintenance window - integrity checks and garbage collection Avoid backup and replication during maintenance window Restore anytime Integrity check typically runs once per day and can also be started manually 32
Checkpoints and Rollback Integrity check creates checkpoint Two checkpoints are kept VDP rolls back to checkpoint to preserve backup data integrity Example: Power failure (VDP should always be shut down gracefully) Checkpoint rollback can also be performed manually 33
Recommendations
Before VDP Deployment Create DNS record for VDP appliance before deployment DNS must be accurate for vcenter, hosts, and VDP Forward and reverse lookup enabled Always use fully qualified domain name (FQDN) Time must be accurate and consistent across environment Dedicated vcenter Server account for VDP Assign administrator role at the root level 35
External Proxies Keep it simple - deploy external proxies only when required VDP does not have access to protected VMs datastore Higher number of concurrent backups needed File level restore for Linux EXT4 and LVM Use more proxy throughput versus more proxies Example: 2 proxies x 6 streams is better than 4 proxies x 3 streams 36
Shutting Down a VDP Appliance Do not Power Off a VDP appliance - use Shut Down Guest OS Power Off may cause unnecessary checkpoint rollback No Yes 37
File Level Restore, Snapshots, Replication One logical partition per virtual disk (.vmdk file) FLR only sees first logical partition Configure alarm - notify when VM is running on a snapshot VMware Knowledge Base article 1018029 Configure alarm - notify when VM needs consolidation VMware Knowledge Base article 2061896 Use repluser account for replication 38
VDP Appliance Capacity Utilization Monitor capacity utilization Warning issued at 80% Health check limit at 95% Read-only at 100% Ideal steady state is 70%-80% 39
Troubleshooting Log into VDP guest OS and run this command: tail -f /usr/local/avamar/var/vdr/server_logs/vdr-server.log 40
vsphere Data Protection Summary Data protection for VMs and applications Agent-less VM backup and restore Agents for SQL Server, Exchange, SharePoint Browser-based file level restore (FLR) Included with vsphere Essentials Plus Kit and higher Simple virtual appliance deployment, managed with vsphere Web Client EMC Data Domain system integration with Data Domain Boost Backup data replication for offsite retention Automated backup verification 41