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Thanks for the reply ... can you explain what this means in laymens terms?<br />
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&quot;Yes - but NFS exsports only for ESX Server. VMware Server and Workstation support protocols such as CIFS/SMB.&quot;<br />
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I will be using VMWare Server - what does this mean for me?<br />
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Thanks again<br />

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Fantastic, thanks very much !
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No worries! Glad I could help.
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Hi <br />
<br />
I am investigating visualizing our infrastructure and I have two questions:<br />
<br />
1. Because Virtual Machines are simply a folder with files, if I were to run a tape backup job and back up the folders, will the backup be successful if it runs while the virtual machines are online? Will there be any adverse affects to not shutting down the virtual machines before backing up the files?<br />
<br />
2. Is it possible to run a virtual machine from a network share? This way I can host the virtual machine files on a share that is accessible to all servers, and in the event of a hardware failure, I can simply open the virtual machine on another server through the network share. Is this advisable? Why / why not?<br />
<br />
Thanks !
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Hi 

I am investigating visualizing our infrastructure and I have two questions:

1. Because Virtual Machines are simply a folder with files, if I were to run a tape backup job and back up the folders, will the backup be successful if it runs while the virtual machines are online? Will there be any adverse affects to not shutting down the virtual machines before backing up the files?

2. Is it possible to run a virtual machine from a network share? This way I can host the virtual machine files on a share that is accessible to all servers, and in the event of a hardware failure, I can simply open the virtual machine on another server through the network share. Is this advisable? Why / why not?

Thanks !

Backing up Virtual Machines and running from Network Share

The term "Backup" means the methods and processes involved to copy computer data (system data as well as application data) to media other than the ones where the data originally live (disk, tape, optical, cloud). "Restore" in turn means the methods and processes involved in data recovery, i. e., bringing back copied computer data to their original location. Backup/Restore primarily serves as a means of protection against data loss, be it due to disaster, corruption or sabotage. It can also be used for recovering data from an earlier point in time and even for cloning machines or applications. There is a wide variety of backup/restore software available, from expensive commercial products to free or open source tools.

Storage Software

VMware, a software company founded in 1998,  was one of the first commercially successful companies to offer x86 virtualization. The storage company EMC purchased VMware in 1994. Dell Technologies acquired EMC in 2016. VMware’s parent company is now Dell Technologies.

VMware has many software products that run on desktops, Microsoft Windows, Linux, and macOS, which allows the virtualizing of the x86 architecture.  Its enterprise software hypervisor for servers, VMware vSphere Hypervisor (ESXi), is a bare-metal hypervisor that runs directly on the server hardware and does not require an additional underlying operating system.