RE: [Xen-users] Backup running Windows machines - redundancy

["Guido Hecken" <guido.hecken@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Bart,

you're right, databases should be backed up with their own backup-technologies 
inside the domu e.g. mysqldump or ntbackup for exchange to have them in a 
consistent state.
One should perform the main-backup right after the db-backup script 
successfully finished.
If a short downtime of the db is not a problem, one could even stop the db and 
restart it when backup is done.
Maybe, if accessibility of the server is no problem too, you could even flush 
all(?) memory pages to disk, pause the whole machine and do your backup-job.
But all of these thoughts are not specific to virtualization technologies 
except the one with pausing the server.
;-)
Here some links to the topic:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Near_Continuous_Backup#Continuous_vs_near_continuous
http://wiki.r1soft.com/display/TP/near-Continuous+V.S.+True+CDP

Guido


-----Ursprüngliche Nachricht-----
Von: Bart Coninckx [mailto:bart.coninckx@xxxxxxxxxx] 
Gesendet: Mittwoch, 2. Februar 2011 22:43
An: Guido Hecken
Cc: xen-users@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Betreff: Re: [Xen-users] Backup running Windows machines - redundancy

Also, what I like to know: if you do a snapshot of a drive of a running
Windows DomU and copy (backup) the files in it after mounting, can you
assume they are all intact and safe to put aside. Obviously this is only
about regular files, not database stuff and things like that.

thx,

B.



On 02/02/11 18:39, Guido Hecken wrote:
> Roberto,
> 
> could you give us some more informations concerning your backup-strategy.
> 
> I'm working on the same subject and worked out some kind of "universal
> backup-script" which
> 
> uses different backup-methods, like dd with gzip, partimage, and
> ntfsclone for different operating systems.
> 
>  
> 
> Since nearly all of our domu have their base on LVM Storage, the process
> of creating a snapshot
> 
> and afterwards working with different backup tools on the snapshot seems
> to be the right way.
> 
> For desaster recovery an image created with dd and gzip works great but
> as stated by Paul this
> 
> kind of backup is not the right tool for daily (file-) backup.
> 
>  
> 
> Do you use ntfs-3g for mounting the snapshot or the windows file system?
> 
> What about the windows acls on those files, is rdiff able to include
> them in the backup?
> 
>  
> 
> Guido
> 
>  
> 
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> 
> *Von:* xen-users-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> [mailto:xen-users-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx] *Im Auftrag von *Roberto
> Bifulco
> *Gesendet:* Mittwoch, 2. Februar 2011 15:14
> *An:* sysadmin@xxxxxxxxxx
> *Cc:* xen-users@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> *Betreff:* Re: [Xen-users] Backup running Windows machines - redundancy
> 
>  
> 
> Hi Paul,
> 
> currently I'm trying to backup Windows machines using rdiff-backup for
> incremental backups.
> 
> I mount the Windows fs in dom0 and then rdiff-backup performs the
> incremental backup.
> 
> To restore a backup, just mount the Windows fs, rm all files in the
> mount point, and use rdiff-backup to restore an old backup to the
> mounted Windows fs.
> 
>  
> 
> Roberto
> 
>  
> 
>  
> 
>  
> 
> 2011/2/2 Paul PISCUC <paul.piscuc@xxxxxxxxxx
> <mailto:paul.piscuc@xxxxxxxxxx>>
> 
> Hi,
> 
> I know that there are a lot of tools to successfully backup windows
> guest machine, using samba shares, dd, rsync etc. They all work, but
> they don't solve one problem: redundancy.
> 
> In my current setup, backups are done using LVM snapshots, and rsync
> over the network. The problem is that the rsync is not incremental, and
> every time a new copy of the entire lv is sent to the backup server. I
> could mount on the Dom0 the disk of the windows guest, and send the
> files, but the restore process doesn't work.
> 
> Do you know/use other method to do incremental backups for Windows
> machines, that is more reliable or safer than this one?
> 
> Thanks alot.
> 
> Paul Piscuc
> 
> 
> <http://www.appnor.com>
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> 
> 
> 
> 
> -- 
> Roberto Bifulco, Ph.D. Student
> robertobifulco.it <http://robertobifulco.it>
> COMICS Lab - www.comics.unina.it <http://www.comics.unina.it>
> 
> 
> 
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