vsphere-esxi-vcenter-server-55-storage-guide

Chapter 2 Overview of Using ESXi with a SAN• Overall impact on SAN environment, storage performance (while backing up), and other applications.• Identification of peak traffic periods on the SAN (backups scheduled during those peak periods canslow the applications and the backup process).• Time to schedule all backups within the datacenter.• Time it takes to back up an individual application.• Resource availability for archiving data; usually offline media access (tape).Include a recovery-time objective for each application when you design your backup strategy. That is,consider the time and resources necessary to perform a backup. For example, if a scheduled backup storesso much data that recovery requires a considerable amount of time, examine the scheduled backup. Performthe backup more frequently, so that less data is backed up at a time and the recovery time decreases.If a particular application requires recovery within a certain time frame, the backup process needs toprovide a time schedule and specific data processing to meet this requirement. Fast recovery can require theuse of recovery volumes that reside on online storage to minimize or eliminate the need to access slowoffline media for missing data components.Using Third-Party Backup PackagesYou can use third-party backup solutions to protect system, application, and user data in your virtualmachines.VMware offers the Storage APIs - Data Protection to work in conjunction with third-party products. Whenusing the APIs, third-party software can perform backups without loading ESXi hosts with the processing ofbackup tasks.The third-party products using the Storage APIs - Data Protection can perform the following backup tasks:• Perform full, differential, and incremental image backup and restore of virtual machines.• Perform file-level backup of virtual machines that use supported Windows and Linux operatingsystems.• Ensure data consistency by using Microsoft Volume Shadow Copy Services (VSS) for virtual machinesthat run supported Microsoft Windows operating systems.Because the Storage APIs - Data Protection leverage the snapshot capabilities of VMFS, backups that youcan perform do not require downtime for virtual machines. These backups are nondisruptive, can beperformed at any time, and do not need extended backup windows.For information about the Storage APIs - Data Protection and integration with backup products, see theVMware Web site or contact you backup vendor.VMware, Inc. 33