vmware-snapshots?

[wilho]

Hi,

Is the storage|vmware-snapshots meant for backing up datastore on the vmware hypervisor to freenas? Or is this something more complicated, like taking proper zfs-snapshots of vdmk's on freenas, used by hypervisor through iscsi ?

Manual is quite brief of the subject:
"VMware-Snapshot allows you to coordinate ZFS snapshots when using VMware as a datastore. Once this type of snapshot is created, FreeNAS® will automatically snapshot any running VMware virtual machines before taking a scheduled or manual ZFS snapshot of the dataset or zvol backing that VMware datastore. The temporary VMware snapshots are then deleted on the VMware side but still exist in the ZFS snapshot and can be used as stable resurrection points in that snapshot"

Does using this feature need purchased version of vmware? Is this feature safe and robust?

Thanks.

 

[cyberjock]

The snapshots are meant for snapshoting a datastore the VM hypervisor is using on the given dataset/zol.

The feature may require purchasing a version of VMWare ESXi. You'd have to consult with ESXi to find out what stuff their software supports (or doesn't support).

As for the feature being "safe and robust" it is a tool in properly doing backups/snapshots/replication of your VMs while they are running. It is up to the administrator of the ESXi and FreeNAS server to use the tools to ensure proper, reliable, and usable backups of their VMs as necessary.

 

[buliwyf]

Hello there,

i'm testing the vmware-snapshot with a zvol/iscsi datastore at the moment.
As far as i can see it works, but at the moment i don't see how to to rollback a snapshot reasonable.
If i rollback all the virtual machine all the virtual machines on the zvol would get rolled back.

What would be a usefull config? a seperate iscsi zvol for each machine
or a dataset with several subsets shared via nfs?

Any recomendations?

 

[toadman]

NFS is more convenient, but in my experience the performance suffers. (Yes, even with proper RAM and SLOG setup.) While less convenient from the perspective of isolating VMs on the datastore, I use iscsi datastores and snap the entire zvol once a day. While it's redundant, I use image backup software running on the VMs that need a more specific backup strategy (like say real time backup).

 

[LearnLearnLearn]

The manual is not very intuitive and I don't want to accidentally overwrite something so thought I'd ask about the setup for this.
The 'Add VMware-Snapshot' function asks

Hostname; the esxi host
username/password: admin on esxi host (or custom account)
ZFS Filesystem: This isn't clear. I'm assuming this is the FN storage I'd like to back up to?
Datastore: This is obviously the datastore I want to back up to NFS

 

[mdimuzio]

Hello there,

i'm testing the vmware-snapshot with a zvol/iscsi datastore at the moment.
As far as i can see it works, but at the moment i don't see how to to rollback a snapshot reasonable.
If i rollback all the virtual machine all the virtual machines on the zvol would get rolled back.

What would be a usefull config? a seperate iscsi zvol for each machine
or a dataset with several subsets shared via nfs?

Any recomendations?

Hi buliwyf, had you find a way to rollback a ESXi VM ? With the last version of FreeNAS (9.3), I can snapshot the VM from FreeNAS, but when I try to rollback, ESXi doesn't rollback it although FreeNAS log (/var/log/messages) tell me there wasn't errors.

 

[mdimuzio]

Hi to all users : sorry but only now I found the way : it's only necessary to shutdown the VM before the rollback ! :p

Tnx to all

 

[twocolors]

hi, can someone say how work storage|vmware-snapshots in 9.10.
I add, 2 host but not understand when will be snapshots?

i make 2 dataset, 1 for wmware-snapshot and 1 for wmware iSCSI. M.b. it's mistake and make one for iSCSI and do snapshot ?

 

[toadman]

Snapshots are part of the dataset being snapshot. You don't need the "vmware-snapshot" dataset. If you have a dataset on Freenas that is serving as a vmware datastore, then you setup a vmware snapshot in Freenas.

If set up, and freenas knows it has to snapshot the dataset, freenas first contacts the vcenter (or the esxi box) and tells it to do a vm snapshot for any VMs that are on the datastore in question. Then freenas snapshots the dataset. Then freenas tells vcenter (or esxi) to delete that vm snapshot.

This way there is always a "clean" copy of the VM state on the freenas snapshot.

 

[twocolors]

thank you, if i want work snapshot for vmware, i must make zvol for new VM and connect on iSCSI ?

new VM -> new zvol -> new iSCSI ?

 

[toadman]

If you want ISCSI storage (vs NFS), yes. Within freenas create a zvol and and present to the network as an iscsi volume. Within vmware create a datastore using that iscsi target. Then create the new VM on that datastore.

Next setup a periodic snapshot task for the zvol within freenas. And finally setup a vmware snapshot within freenas. Here you will point to the vmware vcenter or esxi server and the datastore that uses the iscsi volume and contains the new VM.

 

[LearnLearnLearn]

The main problem I see is how do you restore from a snapshot backup? I have a zvol which is the storage pool being used by vmware on an IBM BladeCenter. I've tried following a number of explanations to backup the entire zvol but have no idea how I would restore it if there were a problem. Also, I don't want a ton of backups, just 2 or 3 I can pick from should something happen to the zvol.

 

[twocolors]

1 zvol = 1 VM ?

 

[LearnLearnLearn]

>1 zvol = 1 VM ?

Not sure what you are asking or if you are saying something?

If you are asking if the one zvol is dedicated to one VM, no. The zvol is shared between several blades or esxi servers.

 

[Mlovelace]

The main problem I see is how do you restore from a snapshot backup? I have a zvol which is the storage pool being used by vmware on an IBM BladeCenter. I've tried following a number of explanations to backup the entire zvol but have no idea how I would restore it if there were a problem. Also, I don't want a ton of backups, just 2 or 3 I can pick from should something happen to the zvol.

What you would do, assuming you were using snapshots as backups, is clone the snapshot and mount the cloned zvol/dataset to your VMware environment. Once the datastore (cloned zvol/dataset) is available you would remove the current VM that is going to be replaced by the backup, and storage vMotion the backed up VM from the cloned datastore to the original datastore. Once the storage vMotion of the restored VM is complete you'd detach the (cloned zvol/dataset) datastore from the VMware environment, and delete the clone from freeNAS.

 

[LearnLearnLearn]

Oh, that's interesting. Let's see if I understand this.
Basically you are saying keep a backup of that zvol.
If it ever becomes corrupted, I can mount the backup directly to the esx servers and keep right on running.
Then, I would delete the previously corrupted volume and start making a backup of what is now my currernt volume.

Am I understanding?

If I am understanding. Is there a way I could mount the backup so that it is always ready to go?

 

[Mlovelace]

Oh, that's interesting. Let's see if I understand this.
Basically you are saying keep a backup of that zvol.
If it ever becomes corrupted, I can mount the backup directly to the esx servers and keep right on running.
Then, I would delete the previously corrupted volume and start making a backup of what is now my currernt volume.

Am I understanding?

If I am understanding. Is there a way I could mount the backup so that it is always ready to go?

No, you are confusing a snapshot with backup. I explained how to restore a VM from a snapshot of a zvol/dataset. You can backup your VMware datastores with third-party software but that's a different topic.

 

[LearnLearnLearn]

I'm no guru with vmware, I've only ever used ESXi so have no special or third party tools. I've used ghetto backup in the past, that's about it. I'm also no guru when it comes to freenas. I built a couple of servers, installed fibre channel on them, got that going thanks to the posts on this site and that is as far as I've gone. I used to use costly fibre channel storage devices until I found freenas.

I will re-read your reply and see if I can better understand it.

 

[LearnLearnLearn]

Ok, so, to confirm, I do not own vMotion, or any other vmware tools. I simply use ESXi as a dev environment and to show potential buyers how vmware works. If they like it, I send them to vmware.