Backup Repository
- Before you begin configuring the backup job, have an idea on what a backup repository is, and how it influences the performance of your backup server. Go through our online documentation - Technical Documents
- The section below explains the various file systems Vembu supports along with a few guidelines you must keep in mind.
- The Vembu BDR backup server utilizes the backup storage you have configured to store your backup files, VM copies, and the metadata. You can use a single repository to configure multiple jobs. Once a backup is triggered, you can find the following files created in the backup storage location.
FBM - Full Backup Metadata - FBM consists of the backup details
BDM - Backup Directory Metadata - This consists of details which show the directories that were configured
SGCF - The backup data is stored in the form of chunks in the storage directory (.sgcf) is the extension for chunk files. If any of these files get deleted, you will face difficulties during the restore process.
- For more efficiency, follow the 3-2-1 Backup Rule. Read our blog to know more about the 3-2-1 rule is and how it might help your data protection plan. Read - 3-2-1-backup rule
- Once you login to Web GUI and configure the storage location, you can start backing up VMs. You can create a repository either on a Windows (CIFS) share or in a local folder on the machine. You can mount any storage type (such as SAN, NAS, NFS, and so on) to the machine and use it as a backup repository. The data in the storage location will be compressed.
We recommend choosing local drive as the storage. Backup data can be stored in any type of storage (NAS/SAN/iSCSI),
What is NAS?
- NAS is Network-Attached Storage. It is a storage system that is connected to a network which is mostly a computer network. This storage system utilizes TCP/IP connection for data transport.
What is SAN?
- SAN is Storage-Attached Network. It is a storage system that is connected to a network which is mostly a storage network.
- Read more on configuring storage repository - Configuring Storage Repository
Vembu supports the file system which Microsoft offers:
To know more on using ReFS read our blog - resilient-file-system-refs-windows-10
Backing up virtual machines in SMB
Hyper -V supports SMB share where you can manage the Hyper-V storage remotely. The remote file server is a dedicated server which acts as a common storage place to accommodate all the associated virtual disk related files of the virtual machine which can be accessed with the help of SMB protocol. The Server Message Block (SMB) protocol allows applications for sharing and accessing files between host machines.
Let me explain how SMB works:
- Vembu BDR server supports backing up of remote SMB file shares by pushing the Vembu Integration service (VIS) on both remote Hyper-V host and SMB Server Share in which Virtual machine files are associated and the Backup Integration Service must be enabled. We support backing up Hyper-V virtual machine that is created by pointing to more than one SMB server.
- Supported SMB versions: Windows Server 2012 (SMB 3.0) and Windows Server 2012 R2 (SMB 3.02)
- Backup process begins with the snapshots of the Guest Virtual Machine, where VSS initiates the snapshot of the VHD files in the storage location by quiescing the I/O operations at a particular state to ensure a consistent backup.
- For further incremental backups, Vembu’s proprietary CBT (Changed Block Tracking) Driver is designed to backup only the blocks that have been changed for the associated virtual disk files.
Advantages in the virtual machines hosted in SMB file shares -
- Flexibility in migrating the virtual machines.
- Allow managing virtual machines located on SMB file shares
- Reduced capital and operational expenditure.
- Decreased Failover time.
Few points to keep in mind while configuring a storage repository
- Performance - Read and write performance must be optimal
- Capacity - the repository must be scalable as the backup chain tends to grow long, make sure there is enough capacity
- Avoid long backup chains
- Total VMs and their size you plan to backup
- Selecting your backup frequency and retention count. Read about Vembu's Retention Policy here - retention-policies-vembus-approach/
- The number of concurrent backup jobs. Your storage must be capable enough of storing multiple backup jobs simultaneously.
