best practice to backup vmdk files on netapp shared storage

[norman_vicente]

Hello,

any body here implemented backup strategy of vm's on netapp shared storage.

1) how about netapp snapshot?

2) and to save space netapp deduplication?

looking forward.

[jasonmhill]

We have datastores on NFS and use VSC.  We are seeing up to 62% savings with deduplication.  We use snapshots within VSC which are then vaulted both to disk and to tape.   Contact your Sales rep or favorite PSE to discuss the details as they apply to your specific environment.

The security requirements here make even the simplest solution ... finicky, but VSC still functions as advertised.

There is a lot of documentation which covers this, but these should get you started:

http://media.netapp.com/documents/tr-3428.pdf

http://media.netapp.com/documents/tr-3747.pdf

http://media.netapp.com/documents/tr-3749.pdf

http://media.netapp.com/documents/tr-3770.pdf

http://media.netapp.com/documents/tr-3839.pdf

http://media.netapp.com/documents/wp-7125.pdf

https://library.netapp.com/ecm/ecm_get_file/ECMP1120486

Hope this helps.  Good luck!

[norman_vicente]

Jasonmhill,

your inputs is highly apprciated... i will look into this.

Norman

[jasonmhill]

Norman,

You are welcome.  For future reference, if you would like more specific answers as they relate to your case, I suggest you share a little more about your environment to include, but not be limited to things like:

* Ontap version and hardware platform(s)

* Vmware version and hardware platform(s)

* Type of data used on VMDK

* VMDK export protocol info  - luns (FC or iSCSI), or NFS

* Any pertinent NetApp licensing capabilities

* Tape backups? which brand? Tivoli, NetBackup?  Licensing? NDMP protocol?

* Retention and recovery requirements

* Regulatory requirements as they apply to your business - PCI DSS, SOX, HIPAA, FISMA, GLBA, etc

Additionally, if you plan to consult with your NetApp rep to help with implementation or to acquire new licensing, it would be good to have an idea regarding your realistic budget and implementation timeline.

Regards,

Jason

[norman_vicente]

DOT - 7.3.7

ESXi 5.0

Windows 2008, 2003, Oracle Database 9,10,11 Server (Windows)

Archserv

ISO TS 16949

• Ontap version and hardware platform(s) -->> FAS3240 7.3.7

• Vmware version and hardware platform(s) -->> ESXi 5.0 on BL460c G7

• Type of data used on VMDK -->> Windows 2008, 2003, Oracle Database

9,10,11 Server (Windows)

• VMDK export protocol info - luns (FC or iSCSI), or NFS -->> NFS only

• Any pertinent NetApp licensing capabilities -->> NFS, SnapMirror and

more

• Tape backups? which brand? Tivoli, NetBackup? Licensing? NDMP protocol?

-->> Archserv

• Retention and recovery requirements -->> 2 days recovery, Weekly,

Monthly, Quarterly, Yearly, Decade retention

• Regulatory requirements as they apply to your business - PCI DSS, SOX,

HIPAA, FISMA, GLBA, etc -->> ISO TS16949

[PALEXOPOULOS]

If your running NFS you can't go past VSC 4.1.

You can obviously heavily dedupe the NFS datastores, and backing up all your virtual machines in the datastore in a simple process of just a wizard, once you have inputted your controllers in. You can also do VMware consistent backups, initiate mirrors etc.

The Single File restores can be a little cumbersome, but once you work it out it's pretty easy (a bit of mucking around if you want to do Single File Restores (flex clone license required).

As for a vm restore as simple as a click of a button and the only license required is snap restore.