Backup Exec 2010, IBM DS3400 SAN, and VMWare
I'm just a little fuzzy here.
Everything was fine when we were running VMWare 3.5 and using VMBK to backup the VMWare environment over the network, however, upgrading to VSphere 4.0 and things have changed.
Not only is VMBK not support, NBD backups don't hardware work either on account of the service console bandwidth being throttled.
So, based on feedback from VMWare and Symantec, I'm moving all the VMWare stuff to an existing SAN. I've also upgraded to BE2010 so VCB isn't needed, and I've purchased the VMWare agents. My backup server was already connected to the SAN because it is using it for Disk to Disk backups.
I now have a ESX server connected to the SAN with it's own LUN, and that is working fine.
I'm stuck getting my backup server to actually backup VMs stored on that LUN. Through BE I can see the VM server, and it's storage, but when I attempt to backup it gives an error and looking up the error the potention problems are: no permission, no physical access, name resolution.
I'm pretty sure it is physical access, and I don't think I'm pressing the VM luns to the backup server properly.
IBM Storage Manager won't allow me to provide the Backup Server HBA access to the VM Lun because the BE server is already given access to another storage device. I used the fiber switch zoning rules ti make sure the BE server had access to all the ports, but the disks don't appear.
I'm sure a few kicks in the right direction will get me going...
Thanks in advance.
(One more thing, since my BE server is using a LUN for DIsk 2 Disk, do I need a second HBA for backing up other LUNs?)
Everything was fine when we were running VMWare 3.5 and using VMBK to backup the VMWare environment over the network, however, upgrading to VSphere 4.0 and things have changed.
Not only is VMBK not support, NBD backups don't hardware work either on account of the service console bandwidth being throttled.
So, based on feedback from VMWare and Symantec, I'm moving all the VMWare stuff to an existing SAN. I've also upgraded to BE2010 so VCB isn't needed, and I've purchased the VMWare agents. My backup server was already connected to the SAN because it is using it for Disk to Disk backups.
I now have a ESX server connected to the SAN with it's own LUN, and that is working fine.
I'm stuck getting my backup server to actually backup VMs stored on that LUN. Through BE I can see the VM server, and it's storage, but when I attempt to backup it gives an error and looking up the error the potention problems are: no permission, no physical access, name resolution.
I'm pretty sure it is physical access, and I don't think I'm pressing the VM luns to the backup server properly.
IBM Storage Manager won't allow me to provide the Backup Server HBA access to the VM Lun because the BE server is already given access to another storage device. I used the fiber switch zoning rules ti make sure the BE server had access to all the ports, but the disks don't appear.
I'm sure a few kicks in the right direction will get me going...
Thanks in advance.
(One more thing, since my BE server is using a LUN for DIsk 2 Disk, do I need a second HBA for backing up other LUNs?)
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Paulsolov, is mostly correct. There is contention about whether you need read, or read+write access to the LUNs, but you definately need it.
My understanding of zoning applies to the fiber switches, and at least with fiber, you don't need to involve zoning at all when dealing with this configuration, unless of course you're already using zoning for the added isolation/security.
My main confusion was caused by my not knowing if you could assign a HBA WWN as a host, and also as part of a host group as well. My backup server already has a connection to the SAN for 'backup to disk' operations, so I had to provide another HBA port so that I could assign it access to the VMWare LUN.
This same method applies to earlier VCB implementations, and at least right now, that is what you'll find documentation for.
My understanding of zoning applies to the fiber switches, and at least with fiber, you don't need to involve zoning at all when dealing with this configuration, unless of course you're already using zoning for the added isolation/security.
My main confusion was caused by my not knowing if you could assign a HBA WWN as a host, and also as part of a host group as well. My backup server already has a connection to the SAN for 'backup to disk' operations, so I had to provide another HBA port so that I could assign it access to the VMWare LUN.
This same method applies to earlier VCB implementations, and at least right now, that is what you'll find documentation for.
ASKER