VMware Infrastructure Backup Solution
Traditional backup solutions under virtualization environments
normally consume excessive host resources and extend backup windows.
Huawei launches a backup solution for VMware environments to
minimize host resource consumption, reduce volume of data to be
backed up, improve backup and recovery efficiency, and simplify
deployment and management. This solution yields a high efficiency,
flexibility, and ease-of-use under VMware virtualization
environments, and swells the functionality of virtualization
architecture.
Background and Challenge
The virtualization technology can divide a physical server into
multiple virtual servers, and can improve resource utilization with
increasing virtual servers. For large-scale deployment of virtual
servers, a large amount of data needs to be protected and massive
redundant data is also generated in the virtualization environment.
This environment consists of multiple virtual machines (VMs), and
each VM contains storage images used for data protection and
disaster recovery, which both require a large storage capacity.
Traditional backup methods can meet data backup requirements if the
number of virtual servers is relatively small. However, the rapid
development of virtualization technologies makes installing proxy
programs on each VM less effective in addressing this challenge.
With a traditional backup method still in use, all VMs begin to back
up data and compete for resources during data backup. According to
some statistics, 10 concurrent backup tasks running on a physical
server can trigger a fierce resource competition among server
memories, CPUs, networks, and storage resources. This exhausts
computing resources of the server and disables the system from
handling increasing I/O loads. As a direct result of this, backup
fails to be completed within a preset period.
For the preceding reasons, the virtualization environment requires a
special backup solution for improving system resource utilization,
enhancing backup performance, narrowing backup windows, and reducing
data backup scales.
Solution
Huawei offers a solution to meeting those backup
requirements by integrating its storage systems with renowned backup
software in virtualization environments, such as VMware VADP API,
Symantec NetBackup, and CommVault Simpana. This solution features
flexible, lightning-quick, efficient, and reliable data backup and
disaster recovery.
Also, it is designed for backup scenarios that involve multiple VMs,
need to recover an entire VM or a file, and tolerate no VM downtime
during data backup.
By using the VADP API, the backup software can directly access
virtual disks on the storage system, invoke and query data, and
implement file-level or VM-level backup on an operating VM. In
addition, the incremental backup function is available for improving
backup efficiency, greatly narrowing backup windows, and effectively
lowering backup I/O loads of underlying storage devices.
With this solution, users no longer need to install any backup proxy
on a target VM as backup processing is switched from the ESX server
to the VMware backup server. The VMware backup server is powerful as
it can perform centralized and overall backup and recovery on
specific ESX servers without adding ESX server loads and affecting
VM running.
Notably, this solution also reduces required backup space as it
recruits a storage medium that supports data deduplication.
Highlights
Zero Impact on Services
- The snapshot-based backup imposes no impact on VMs and ESX
servers.
- The application consistency is under constant protection.
- The tracking function for changed
data blocks can implement incremental backup, narrow backup
times, and minimize recovery times.
- The load of a proxy server can be balanced for an increased
throughput.
Flexible Recovery
- The image of a VM can be recovered in a flash.
- Backup files can be recovered by
using the full or incremental recovery method.
- The recovery of various data and
application programs such as Exchange, SharePoint, and SQL
Server is supported.
- Data, applications, and systems can be quickly recovered for
prompt site reconstruction.
High Cost Efficiency
- The solution supports the deduplication function, which can
reduce the volume of backup data and backup network traffic, and
can effectively lower the cost on backup infrastructures.
- The solution simplifies backup system deployment, reducing
the required number and expenditure of backup software licenses.