KVM backups, how? | Nutanix Community
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Hi, I'm struggling with backups while using KVM. We've been using snapshots for our standard backup process and these work just fine within the cluster. I can recover a VM either as a new clone to retrieve lost files or to directly replace the original in case of a major crash.



My next problem is exporting those snapshots to another cluster (since DR isn't available for KVM yet) or to a non-Nutanix archival server. That appears not to be possible. Everything I've been suggested so far involves backing up the VM internally or copying the iSCSI device with dd which would involve us having two completely separate backup processes running in parallel. Not fun.



Is there a way to export the Nutanix drives to another server? Logically they must exist somewhere so should be copyable.
Hello



Have you looked at http://www.acronis.com/en-us/business/backup/linux-server/?



seems to be a good KVM backup.
Another way - dump iscsi disks, something like



dd if=/dev/disk/by-path/ip-192.168.5.2:3260-iscsi-iqn.2010-06.com.nutanix:hadoop-n001-disk1-1e386ef0-lun-0 of=/mnt/hadoop-n001.d1.img bs=1M



You can easely find all disks to backup from KVM host, something like



[root@NTNX-13SMxxxxxx-A mnt]# ls /dev/disk/by-path/*hadoop-n001*/dev/disk/by-path/ip-192.168.5.2:3260-iscsi-iqn.2010-06.com.nutanix:hadoop-n001-cdrom-centos-6.5-x86_64-minimal.iso-70648f54-lun-0/dev/disk/by-path/ip-192.168.5.2:3260-iscsi-iqn.2010-06.com.nutanix:hadoop-n001-disk0-b3104834-lun-0/dev/disk/by-path/ip-192.168.5.2:3260-iscsi-iqn.2010-06.com.nutanix:hadoop-n001-disk1-1e386ef0-lun-0
Another way to get the disk path associated with every vm is via this command (on KVM hypervisor)




  1. Get UUID for your VM (either through Prism or command below):virsh list --all

  2. Get disk image location:# virsh domblklist
It will be something like this:





/dev/mapper/1NUTANIX_NFS_388663_d10d8f42_1fcc_4fd5_be30_006de14e340e





Problem with backup is not making a copy of the above disk image. I have yet found a way to "restore" it back into acropolis-managed VM. Anyone figure this yet? Seems like we would also need the VM XML configuration (you can dump it via virsh as well).
Thanks for the feedback @vinnielima

vinnielima wrote:Another way to get the disk path associated with every vm is via this command (on KVM hypervisor)




  1. Get UUID for your VM (either through Prism or command below):virsh list --all

  2. Get disk image location:# virsh domblklist
It will be something like this:





/dev/mapper/1NUTANIX_NFS_388663_d10d8f42_1fcc_4fd5_be30_006de14e340e





Problem with backup is not making a copy of the above disk image. I have yet found a way to "restore" it back into acropolis-managed VM. Anyone figure this yet? Seems like we would also need the VM XML configuration (you can dump it via virsh as well).

Hello Nutanix users,



good news for you. In early 2018 you have a new player in KVM, Acropolis Data Protection field - Storware vProtect πŸ™‚!



In Addition, there is a free program, which allows you to protect 10VMs with all features free of charge πŸ˜€.



https://www.nutanix.com/partners/technology-alliance-program/storware/



I do advice you to take a look on our webpage or watch a 45min technical Webinar, which we had in July with Nutanix team:



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SY_nUtH5-UY&feature=youtu.be



We discussed how Storware and Nutanix can deliver end-to-end solutions that provide:



– efficient, incremental backup of AHV VMs with CBT/CRT (Changed-Region Tracking),

– data consistency for your applications running on AHV VMs,

– file level restore from your backups,

– a scalable, multi-node backup architecture,

– orchestration via Open API.



Keep in mind that vProtect offers several backups destination, You can store your data on multiple backup Destinations (backup targets) ☺️:



https://storware.eu/en/storware-vprotect/

https://www.vprotect.io/
Lots of options for backup @kiboro



Check out Veeam, HYCU, or Rubrik



Check out this episode of the Nutanix community podcast for some thoughts:

NearSync Replication: Reducing RPO Times



Thanks πŸ‘
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