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mirror virtual machines on another nas
Hi,
I have an esxi server and the virtual machines are stored in a thecus nas using iSCSI.
I have a second nas where I wanted to synchronize/mirror the vm's every day for disaster recovery
After struggling a lot with thecus firmware which doesn't allow iSCSI sync, and reading it is not reccomended to connect to an iSCSI target from two different sources (I was trying to have a windows server mirror the tho iscsi targets using ms software initiator), I'm thinking of installing openfiler or freenas on the thecus nas.
is it possible to mirror iscsi targets from one openfiler (or freenas) to another, while the vm's are running?
is it possible to connect to more than one iscsi target with esxi 4.0?
I have an esxi server and the virtual machines are stored in a thecus nas using iSCSI.
I have a second nas where I wanted to synchronize/mirror the vm's every day for disaster recovery
After struggling a lot with thecus firmware which doesn't allow iSCSI sync, and reading it is not reccomended to connect to an iSCSI target from two different sources (I was trying to have a windows server mirror the tho iscsi targets using ms software initiator), I'm thinking of installing openfiler or freenas on the thecus nas.
is it possible to mirror iscsi targets from one openfiler (or freenas) to another, while the vm's are running?
is it possible to connect to more than one iscsi target with esxi 4.0?
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SOLUTION
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You can use the free VMware converter (http://www.vmware.com/products/converter) to copy a running vm to a new datastore. That way you have a point in time copy for backup purposes.
Good Luck
Good Luck
Are you planning on pausing/shutting down the vms for a backup window? If not raw copies may be corrupt when trying to load. the vmware vcb should be able to do this for you.
ASKER
thanks for the responses, I think I'm going to use mksbackup + ghettovcb for backing up powered on machines.
if someone is looking for the same solution here's a helpful link http://www.magikmon.com/mksbackup/ghettovcb.en.html
if someone is looking for the same solution here's a helpful link http://www.magikmon.com/mksbackup/ghettovcb.en.html
ASKER
I found out I couldn't connect to the 2 iscsi targets because they had the same lun ID.
Now that I can connect to both nas systems through the same esxi server, is there a good (and free) way to clone the virtual machines while they are running?