Backing up ISCSI Exported Volumes

[lctn]

We have an F200 unit acting as storage for our VMWare servers. We have a mix of local VMs and volumes exported via ISCSI across our WAN.

We snapshot our volumes nightly, but also need to set up a backup for individual vmdk files. I need to automate the backups and would like some direction on how I might accomplish this without risking volume corruption by two boxes using the same volume.

We want the backup to be processed from the LAN the 3par system is on, rather than reaching across the WAN to the servers with the exported volumes. Each end user is, or will be in their own domain, so I am assuming this will be done from a trusted host.

This is a fairly new system, so I am most likely not aware of all options available for what I need to do.

Thanks for any assistance with this.

[Christian]

You could look into Commvault snap protect , we use that againt our 3PARs for backup of VMware.

The way it works is :

* First it makes Vcenter snapshot all VM on a LUN
* Snapshot is taken on the 3PAR
* Snapshots on active LUN is deleted inside Vcenter
* Snapshot on the 3PAR is exported to a ESXi Host ( For backup checking )
* Snapshots on the 3PAR is also exported to a Commvault Media agent
* Backup data is copy off the 3PAR snapshot into the backup system

You will then get container backup so you can restore a full VM or single files depending on what you need.

And also your offloading your production servers since you don't need to drag backup data directly from the ESXi Hosts.

http://www.scribd.com/doc/106468915/48/ ... -3PAR-Snap