PLEASE HELP! How can i add FreeNAS 11.2U6 to Veeam 9.5 and VMWare 6.5

[diglife]

Hi,

I am really struggling to try and intergrate FreeNAS 11.2U6 with both Veeam 9.5 and Vmware 6.5. It seems like i can do SMB and get it visible with one and NFS and get it to work with the other but not working successfully on both sides. Does anyone have any step by step instructions on what exactly is the best way to incorporate FreeNAS as a Backup Repository in Veeam and also be accessed by Vmware 6.5 as a datastore? I've tried different configs but haven't been successful and don't do this kind of thing very often! Thanks!

Shea

 

[HoneyBadger]

Are you trying to use the same folder for both duties (SMB to Veeam, and NFS to VMware?)

Start by separating the two workloads if you haven't - they have very different workload patterns.

 

[diglife]

I am...ultimately I just want to do nightly backups to FreeNAS using Veeam and be able to gen them up and be accessible from within VMWare if a DR need arises. How would I go about doing that? I did originally create SMB then pointed to the same location for NFS. It was at this point the backups started failing (which I'm not surprised) but was just trying to figure out some way to make this work. In the past, with other storage devices, i use NFS on both sides and have had little problems. Thanks for the response, I appreciate the help because I'm a little lost!

 

[diglife]

Well at least i was...trying to use the same folder. I ended up deleting both and am starting over. I have only created a storage pool at this point.

 

[HoneyBadger]

Generally speaking, presenting the same folder via both SMB and NFS simultaneously tends to lead to "issues" like this. Unless something has changed very recently, VMware vSphere can't access SMB shares, so just create one folder, export it as NFS, and connect both Veeam and VMware to it.

Note that the workloads are quite different though (backup writes are big and sequential, running VMs are small and random) so if you optimize the storage for one, the other will probably suffer. But if this is intended to be a rarity and you won't run VMs from the FreeNAS NFS export as their primary datastore, it will be "acceptable" - you can start the VM from the FreeNAS NFS so that it's running (slowly) and then use svMotion or similar migration to put the restored backup back onto fast storage.

 

[diglife]

Ok, so when creating the NFS share, it should be Unix correct for type? How do i "export" the NFS share? Sorry to keep hitting with questions. If you know of a good step by step I'll be glad to walk through it. I just haven't been successful with what I've found so far. I'm going to go recreate the NFS share and then look into exporting.

 

[HoneyBadger]

"Exporting" is the term for presenting the directory over NFS, think of it as an analog of "Sharing" in this sense.

Have a look at the FreeNAS Manual here - section 11.2 is on creating Unix (NFS) shares.

11. Sharing — FreeNAS®11.2-U6 User Guide Table of Contents

www.ixsystems.com

The whole manual makes for some good reading, and is probably the first place to look for general questions.

 

[diglife]

true : O )...thanks!

 

[diglife]

It's crazy i setup the NFS share exactly as the manual says but Veeam says

 

[kdragon75]

Perhaps I missed these details but you backing up FROM the FreeNAS TO the FreeNAS? How is your VMware storage configured?

For example, My FreeNAS provides iSCSI based storage for my host and VMs.
So Veeam will need to "connect" to the iSCSI storage to READ the VMs. This is done by using the iSCSI connection in Windows on the Veeam server to connect to my FreeNAS iSCSI target DO NOT INITIALIZE THIS DISK it is recommended to mark the iSCSI disk as offline in Windows disk manager.
Veeam will connect to the storage repository (potentially FreeNAS) using NFS/SMB and WRITE the backup.

The repository is NOT the same set of disks/folder as iSCSI share.

So in my case the data flows from FreeNAS (iSCSI) to Veeam to the backup repository (SMB or NFS)

 

[diglife]

I'm just wanting to use FreeNAS for my nightly backup storage for backups that are run by Veeam. We have outgrown the existing datastore and so i purchased a new server running FreeNAS. Veeam is running on a VM (on totally different server) and i've had no issues connecting it to new datastores in the past but this one is proving difficult. I usually do an NFS share and am up and running. I've tried using ISCSI even and the Windows ISCSI initiator shows connected but i can't add it as new drive in device manager. I've tried a lot of different types and can't get any to work. I've gotten SMB to work but then i can't see it on the VMWare side. I'll admit i don't do this very often though.

 

[HoneyBadger]

I've gotten SMB to work but then i can't see it on the VMWare side.

As I mentioned in a previous post, VMware doesn't speak SMB, so you will never be able to use an SMB share as a datastore.

It's crazy i setup the NFS share exactly as the manual says but Veeam says

Veeam says what exactly? Is there intended to be an attachment, error log, screenshot here?

 

[kdragon75]

Please also layout the details on how your esxi and datastore are setup. It sounds like your trying to get esxi to see the backup repository and that's not how it works.

 

[HoneyBadger]

Doesn't the Instant Recovery feature in Veeam require the VMware host to have access to the NFS backup repo, or am I misremembering? Either way, yes, more information is needed here.

 

[kdragon75]

Doesn't the Instant Recovery feature in Veeam require the VMware host to have access to the NFS backup repo, or am I misremembering? Either way, yes, more information is needed here.

It's not required as Veeam will act as the NFS and add it's self as a datastore during the instant recovery process.

 

[diglife]

Please also layout the details on how your esxi and datastore are setup. It sounds like your trying to get esxi to see the backup repository and that's not how it works.

that is what i'm trying to do is add it on both sides (Veeam and VSphere). I can see my existing datastore on both sides without issue but for some reason getting this to work has proven to be much more of a challenge. When i try to setup using NFS i get issues on the Veeam side and if i setup as SMB then i get issues on the VSphere side. It's a pretty simple setup. I have VM running Veeam on a DR server that is part of datacenter. I want to backup to FreeNAS @ night and in the event we have issue be able to run the backups. I'm probably making this way too difficult but had zero issues setting up a Lenovo EMC PX4 with this setup. I think the biggest difference is something to do with Perl on the FreeNas side but again i don't do this all of the time so i'm lost!

 

[diglife]

I should mention I have separate clusters ....DR cluster and production environment cluster.

 

[kdragon75]

I want to backup to FreeNAS @ night and in the event we have issue be able to run the backups.

This is handled by the vPower service if I recall. The Veeam server (or proxy) can act as an NFS server of your backup repository.

I'm probably making this way too difficult but had zero issues setting up a Lenovo EMC PX4 with this setup. I think the biggest difference is something to do with Perl on the FreeNas side but again i don't do this all of the time so i'm lost!

Yep. Don't use FreeNAS as a proxy or managed server. Pearl is missing modules and in an appliance not a full FreeBSD where you can install and modify packages. Use FreeNAS as SMB repository ONLY do not try to make it work as a managed server it may be workable but it will be severely broken after each update and likely after each reboot. This means that Veeam will act as a sort of NFS proxy for the SMB share on FreeNAS.

I fully understand that implications on backup chain maintenance task. This means the entire chain will be sent over the network during verification/roll ups/etc... If this happen to be over a slow link, set up a supported by Veeam server to ack as a backup proxy on the FreeNAs side.

Also its FreeNAS not FreeNas. ;)

 

[diglife]

Thanks, I will try later today!