Archive for category Backup / Disaster Recovery

Dell Tech Page One Cloud and Virtualization Articles

imageI recently had the opportunity to write several articles for Dell’s Tech Page One blog.  I always enjoy thinking (and writing/speaking) about topics related to IT architecture changes.  Over the last several years, that has focused on virtualization technology and cloud computer.  A special

Below are links to those articles, with a brief intro for each.

With the seemingly endless list of daily IT tasks and projects, it’s difficult to step back and ask a hypothetical question: How would we build out data center infrastructures if we could completely start over?

The availability of new technology is often the beginning of a new set of challenges for IT professionals. The trick is in finding how to get the benefits of improvements while staying within the constraints of budgets, human resources, time, expertise, and business requirements.

When implemented correctly, virtualization helps reduce complexity, reduce management overhead, and increase overall operational efficiency. Those words should be music to the ears of any data center manager struggling to make their business requirements and technology ends meet.

The enigmatic world of quantum mechanics notwithstanding, it’s difficult to create something from nothing. That’s especially true if you’re an IT professional tasked with meeting storage needs.

A special thanks to Ziff Davis for providing the project and getting this published!

Webcast: Virtualization Backups – Products and Processes

My webcast, Options for backup in Microsoft virtualization platforms: Best of products and processes, sponsored by Dell, Inc. is now available for free download (registration is required).  Here’s the abstract:

Virtualization expert Anil Desai explores backup products and capabilities in Microsoft virtual environments. This webcast will look at Windows-based features and options for performing backups, as well as the capabilities of other products such as Microsoft System Center Data Protection Manager.

Users of Microsoft Virtual Server and the upcoming Hyper-V platform have several different approaches for protecting their virtual machines. This webcast will look at Windows-based features and options for performing backups, as well as the capabilities of other products such as Microsoft System Center Data Protection Manager. The presentation will help attendees determine which backup method is most appropriate for each type of workload, and their options for meeting those requirements.

Hyper-V and Clustering

A few days ago, I did a presentation on Microsoft’s Hyper-V at the DevTeach Conference in Toronto.  One of the areas I didn’t really get to expand upon is clustering for virtualization servers.  In brief, there are two main approaches – host clustering and guest clustering.  In the Microsoft world, Hyper-V relies on the tried-and-true Microsoft Cluster Services.  So the question remains: How do you set this up?  To get step-by-step details (18 pages of it!), see the free downloadable document: Step-by-Step Guide for Testing Hyper-V and Failover Clustering.  The document walks you through the required steps and is also a great way to learn more about Hyper-V administration for high-availability.

Free P2V Backup/DR Tutorial

Virtualization technology provides a lot of promise related to implementing backups and  managing disaster recovery environments.  For example, since VMs are self-contained, they can be easily moved or copied to other servers.  Administrators can use a variety of methods to keep multiple VMs synchronized (see my Backup / DR category for some articles on the topic).  But, in the real world, the problem becomes implementation.  With most virtualization platforms, you’ll either need to invest in additional (and often, costly) tools, or you’ll need to roll your own.

For the latter approach, Frane Borozan has created a physical2virtual.backup tutorial that walks through the major steps of setting up backups and DR for VMware environments.  From the site’s home page:

I will here describe whole process of implementation of virtual servers into your current network infrastructure. With virtualization you will get virtual failover servers and you will have fresh replica of all of your important data, so in case main servers failure you will have fast disaster recovery plan that just works. Of course you can have clusters in your network infrastructure but what is the cost of managing clusters and paying licenses for that expensive kind on in stable software.

There are always savings into hardware and power consumption, imagine now you need to have one physical for every server you own if you want to have good disaster recovery plan, with this you can have dozen of backups on the same server and you will run only backup that is needed in case of the disaster.

He also provides scripts and batch file commands for automating the process (a huge time-saver for those that want to use this approach).  Perhaps the best thing about the Tutorial is that it’s really practical.  It doesn’t assume you’ll be making multi-million-dollar investments in proprietary hardware and software.  Rather, it helps you utilize your standard infrastructure – multi-homed servers and Gb Ethernet switches. 

Good luck, and feel free to leave comments if you have any feedback on the approach!

Advanced Backup Options for Virtual Machines

This article was first published on SearchServerVirtualization.TechTarget.com.

It’s a pretty big challenge to support dozens or hundreds of separate virtual machines. Add in the requirement for backups – something that generally goes without saying – and you have to figure out how to protect important information. Yes, that usually means at least two copies of each of these storage hogs. I understand that you’re not made of storage (unless, of course, you’re the disk array that’s reading this article on the web server). So what should you do? In this tip, I’ll outline several approaches to performing backups for VMs, focusing on the strengths and limitations of each.

Determining Backup Requirements

Let’s start by considering the requirements for performing backups. The list of gaols is pretty simple, in theory:

  • Minimize data loss
  • Minimize recovery time
  • Simplify implementation and administration
  • Minimize costs and resource usage

Unfortunately, some of these objectives are often at odds with each other. Since implementing any solution takes time and effort, start by characterizing the requirements for each of your virtual machines and the applications and services they support. Be sure to write in pencil, as it’s likely that you’ll be revising these requirements. Next, let’s take a look at the different options for meeting these goals.

Application-Level Backups

The first option to consider for performing backups is that of using application features to do the job. There’s usually nothing virtualization-specific about this approach. Examples include:

  • Relational Database Servers: Databases were designed to be highly-available and it should come as no surprise that there are many ways of using built-in backup methods. In addition to standard backup and restore operations, you can use replication, log-shipping, clustering, and other methods to ensure that data remains protected.
  • Messaging Servers: Communications platforms such as Microsoft Exchange Server provide methods for keeping multiple copies of the data store in sync. Apart from improving performance (by placing data closer to those who need it), this can provide adequate backup functionality.
  • Web Servers: The important content for a web server can be stored in a shared location or can be copied to each node in a web server farm. When a web server fails, just restore the important data to a standby VM, and you’re ready to go. Better yet, use shared session state or stateless application features and a network load-balancer to increase availability and performance.

All of these methods allow you to protect against data loss and downtime by storing multiple copies of important information.

Guest-Level Backups

What’s so special about VMs, anyway? I mean, why not just treat them like the physical machines that they think they are? That’s exactly the approach with guest-level backups. The most common method with this approach is to install backup agents within the guest OS and to specify which files should be backed up and their destinations. As with physical servers, administrators can decide what really needs to be backed up – generally just data, applications, and configuration files. That saves precious disk space and can reduce backup times.

There are, however, drawbacks to this backup approach. First, your enterprise backup solution must support your guest OS’s (try finding an agent for OS/2!) Assuming the guest OS is supported, the backup and recovery process is often different for each OS. This means more work on the restore side of things. Finally, the restore process can take significant time, since a base OS must be installed and the associated components restored.

Examples of popular enterprise storage and backup solutions are those from Symantec, EMC, Microsoft and many other vendors.

Host-Level Backups

Host-level backups take advantage of the fact that virtual machines are encapsulated in one or more virtual disk files, along with associated configuration files. The backup process consists of making a copy of the necessary files from the host OS’s file system. Host-level backups provide a consistent method for copying VMs since you don’t have to worry about differences in guest operating systems. When it comes time to restore a VM (and you know it’s going to happen!), all that’s usually needed is to reattach the VM to a working host server.

However, the drawback is that you’re likely to need a lot of disk space. Since the entire VM, including the operating system, applications, and other data are included in the backup set, you’ll have to allocate the necessary storage resources. And, you’ll need adequate bandwidth to get the backups to their destination. Since virtual disk files are exclusively locked while a VM is running, you’ll either need to use a “hot backup” solution, or you’ll have to pause or stop the VM to perform a backup. The latter option results in (gulp!) scheduled downtime.

Solutions and technologies include:

  • VMware: VMotion; High Availability; Consolidated Backup; DRS
  • Microsoft Volume Shadow Services (VSS)

File System Backups

File system backups are based on features available in storage arrays and specialized software products. While they’re not virtualization-specific, they can help simplify the process of creating and maintaining VM backups. Snapshot features can allow you make a duplicate of a running VM, but you should make sure that your virtualization platform is specifically supported. File system replication features can use block- or bit-level features to keep a primary and backup copy of virtual hard disk files in-sync.

Since changes are transferred efficiently, less bandwidth is required. And, the latency between when modifications are committed on the primary VM and the backup VM can be minimized (or even eliminated). That makes the storage-based approach useful for maintaining disaster recovery sites. While third-party products are required, file system backups can be easy to setup and maintain. But, they’re not always ideal for write-intensive applications and workloads.

Potential solutions include products from Double-Take Software and from Neverfail. Also, if you’re considering the purchase of a storage solution, ask your vendor about replication and snapshot capabilities, and their compatibility with virtualization.

Back[up] to the Future

Most organizations will likely choose different backup approaches for different applications. For example, application-level backups are appropriate for those systems that support them. File system replication is important for maintaining hot or warm standby sites and services. Guest- and host-level backups balance ease of backup/restore operations vs. the amount of usable disk space. Overall, you should compile the data loss, downtime and cost constraints, and then select the most appropriate method for each type of VM. While there’s usually no single answer that is likely to meet all of your needs, there are some pretty good options out there!

Implementing Disaster Recovery for Virtual Machines

This article was first published on SearchServerVirtualization.TechTarget.com.

One of the many benefits of virtualization technology is its ability to de-couple workloads and operating systems from the underlying hardware on which they’re running. The end result is portability – the ability to move a VM between different physical servers without having to worry about minor configuration inconsistencies. This ability can greatly simplify a common IT challenge: Maintaining a disaster recovery site.

In an earlier article, “Implementing Backups for Virtual Machines”, I focused on performing backups from within guest OS’s. In this article, I’ll look at the other approach: Performing VM backups from within the host OS.

Determining What to Back Up

From a logical standpoint, virtual machines themselves are self-contained units that include a virtual hardware configuration, an operating system, applications, and services. Physically, however, there are numerous files and settings that must be transferred to a backup or disaster recovery site. While the details will differ based on the virtualization platform, the general types of files that should be considered include:

  • Host server configuration data
  • Virtual hard disks
  • VM configuration files
  • Virtual network configuration files
  • Saved-state files

In some cases, thorough documentation and configuration management practices can replace the need to track some of the configuration data. Usually, all of the files except for the virtual hard disks are very small and can be transferred easily.

Performing Host-Level Backups

The primary issue related to performing VM backups is the fact that VHD files are constantly in use while the VM is running. While it might be possible to make a copy of a VHD while it is running, there’s a good chance that caching and other factors might make the copy unusable. This means that “open file agents” and snapshot-based backups need to be aware of virtualization in order to generate reliable (and restorable) backups.

There are three main ways in which you can perform host-level backups of VM-related files. Figure 1 provides an overview of these options. Cold backups are reliable and easy to implement, but they do require downtime. They’re suitable for systems that may be unavailable for at least the amount of time that it takes to make a copy of the associated virtual hard disk files. Hot Backups, on the other hand, can be performed while a VM is running. Virtualization-aware tools are usually required to implement this type of backup.

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Figure 1: Options for performing host-level VM backups

Backup Storage Options

One of the potential issues with performing backups of entire virtual hard disks is the total amount of disk space that will be required. IT organizations have several different storage-related options. They are:

  • Direct-Attached Storage (Host File System): This method involves storing copies of VHD files directly on the host computer. While the process can be quick and easy to implement, it doesn’t protect against the failure of the host computer or the host disk subsystem.
  • Network-based Storage: Perhaps the most common destination for VM backups is network-based storage. Data can be stored on devices ranging from standard file servers, to dedicated network-attached storage (NAS) devices to iSCSI-based storage servers. Regardless of the technical details, bandwidth is an important concern. This is especially true when dealing with remote disaster recovery sites.
  • Storage Area Networks (SANs): Organizations can use SAN-based connections to centrally manage storage, while still providing high performance for backups and related processes. SAN hardware is usually most applicable to backups performed within each of the disaster recovery sites, since there are practical limitations on the length of these connections.

Maintaining the Disaster Recovery Site

So far, we’ve looked at what you need to backup and some available storage technologies. The most important question, however, is that of how to maintain the disaster recovery site. Given that bandwidth and hardware may be limited, there are usually trade-offs. The first consideration is related to keeping up-to-date copies of VHDs and other files at both sites. While there are no magical solutions to this problem, many storage vendors provide for bit-level or block-level replication that can synchronize only the differences in large binary files. While there is usually some latency, this can minimize the bandwidth load while keeping files at both sites current.

At the disaster recovery site, IT staff will need to determine the level of capacity that must be reserved for managing failures situations. For example, will the server already be under load? If so, during a fail-over, what are the performance requirements? The process of performing a fail-over can be simplified through the use of scripts and automation. However, it’s critically important to test (and rehearse) the entire process before a disaster occurs.

Planning for the Worst…

Overall, the task of designing and implementing a disaster recovery configuration can be challenging. The use of virtual machines can simplify the process by loosening the requirements for identical hardware at the primary and backup sites. The process still isn’t easy, but with proper planning and the right tools, it’s certainly possible. Good luck, and let’s hope you never need to use your DR handiwork!

Implementing Backups for Virtual Machines

This article was first published on SearchServerVirtualization.TechTarget.com.

In the early days of virtualization, it was common for users to run a few VMs in test and development environments. These VMs were important, but only to a small set of users. Now, it’s common for organizations to run mission-critical production workloads on their virtual platforms. Downtime and data loss can affect dozens or hundreds of users, and the rule is to ensure that virtual machines are at least as well protected as their physical counterparts. So how can this be done? In this article, I’ll present some information related to developing a backup strategy for virtual machines. In a related article, “Implementing Disaster Recovery for Virtual Machines,” I’ll look at some additional options for performing host-based backups.

Determining Recovery Requirements

If there’s a golden rule to follow related to implementing backups, it’s to start with enumerating your recovery requirements. After all, that’s the goal of performing backups: To allow for recovery. Considerations should include:

  • Data loss: What is an acceptable amount of data loss, in a worst-case scenario? For some applications and services, it might be acceptable to lose several hours worth of data if it can lower backup costs. In other cases, near-realtime backups might be required.
  • Downtime windows: What is an acceptable amount of downtime? Some workloads will require rapid recovery in the case of the failure of a host. In other cases
  • Virtual machine configuration details: What are the CPU, memory, disk, and network requirements for the VM? These details can help prepare you for moving a workload to another physical host.
  • Identifying important data: Which information really needs to be backed up? In some cases, full VHD backups might make sense. More often, critical data such as web server content, data files, and related information is sufficient.
  • Budget and Resources: Organizations have limits based on the amount of available storage space, bandwidth, human resources, and technical expertise. These details must be factored in to any technical solution.

Once you have the business-related requirements in mind, it’s time to look at technical details.

Backups for Guest OS’s

One common approach to performing backups for VMs is to treat virtual machines as if they were physical ones. Most organizations have invested in some method of centralized backup solution for their physical servers. Since VMs will often be running a compatible guest OS, it’s usually easy to install and configure backup agent within them. Configuration details will include the frequency of backups, which data to protect, and associated monitoring jobs.

The technical details can vary significantly, based on the needs of the environment. Some examples might include:

  • Small Environments: When managing a few virtual machines (such as in development and test environments), simple scripting or automation might be enough to meet backup requirements. For example, test results and data files might be stored on a shared network drive so they can be reviewed even when the VMs are unavailable.
  • Medium-Sized Environments: The job of supporting dozens or hundreds of virtual machines will require the use of a centralized, automated backup solution. Data is usually sent over a dedicated backup network and stored in one or more network locations.
  • Large Environments: When scaling to support many hundreds of virtual machines, managing direct-attached storage becomes nearly impossible. Organizations often invest in Storage Area Network (SAN) technology to support the increased bandwidth and disk space requirements. It may become difficult to identify important data when working with a vast array of different types of VMs. Organizations that can afford the storage resources may consider backing up the entire contents of their virtual hard disks to ensure that they can quickly recover them.

Again, regardless of the approach, the goal should be to meet business-level recovery requirements. Technical constraints such as limited storage space and limited bandwidth will play a factor in the exact configuration details.

Benefits of iSCSI

An important virtualization management-related concern is that of keeping track of virtual hard disks. The default option in many environments is to rely upon local storage. The problem is that it can quickly become difficult to enumerate and backup all of these different servers. For many environments, SAN-based resources are too costly for supporting all virtual machines. The iSCSI standard provides an implementation of SCSI that runs over standard Ethernet (copper-based) networks. To a host computer or a guest OS, an iSCSI-attached volume appears like a local physical volume. Block-level operations such as formatting or even defragmenting the volume are possible.

From a backup standpoint, systems administrators can configure their host and/or guest OS’s to use network-attached storage for storing virtual hard disk data. For example, on the host system, virtual hard disks may be created on iSCSI volumes. Since the actual data resides on a network-based storage server, this approach lends itself to performing centralized backups. One important caveat is that organizations should thoroughly test the performance and reliability of their iSCSI infrastructures before relying on their for production workloads. Issues such as latency can cause reliability issues.

Other Options

In this article, I presented details related to perform virtual machine backups from within Guest OS’s. Of course, this is only one option. Another useful approach is to perform backups at the level of the host OS. I’ll cover that topic in my next article, “Implementing Disaster Recovery for Virtual Machines.”

High-Availability with Exchange Server 2007 and Neverfail

I have written a free White Paper for The Neverfail Group – a leading provider of high-availability solutions for a variety of different platforms.  The following figure provides a brief architectural comparison of the differences between Microsoft’s Exchange Server approach Neverfail’s H-A solutions.

Figure - Comparing Neverfail vs. Exchange Server HA

The complete paper includes an overview of H-A features in Exchange Server 2007.  You can directly download the White Paper,  Enhancing Exchange Server 2007 High-Availability with Neverfail [PDF File].