Section 12.7. Frequently Asked Questions

12.7. Frequently Asked Questions

The following Frequently Asked Questions, answered by the authors of this book, are designed to both measure your understanding of the concepts presented in this chapter and to assist you with real-life implementation of these concepts. To have your questions about this chapter answered by the author, browse to www.syngress.com/solutions and click on the "Ask the Author" form. You will also gain access to thousands of other FAQs at ITFAQnet.com.

Q: What software is qualified for use with VMware 2.5.1?

A: Please see http://vmware.com/pdf/esx_backup_guide.pdf for an up-to-date list of software that's compatible with ESX.

Q: What SANs are compatible with ESX Server?

A: Please see http://vmware.com/pdf/esx_SAN_guide.pdf for details on ESX-to-SAN server compatibility.

Q: What are the certified backup tools for ESX?

A: Please see http://vmware.com/support/esx25/doc/backup_tools_links.html.

Q: Can I back up my entire virtual machine from the Service Console?

A: Yes, but it is not advised. The console services should be left alone to manage the entire virtual machine infrastructure. It's best that backups be performed by separating the applications and data from the operating systems because backups can become quite large very quickly. You should consider a backup of the environments that change frequently (data and applications) with an agent specifically designed to perform this function. A backup of those virtual disks that change infrequently and need VMFS formats should be backed up from the Service Console. These console-based backups should be performed in a powered-down or suspended approach (preferred), or a suspended environment using redo logs as an alternative. All backups performed from a systems console mode must be restored in an all-or-nothing approach. Recovery for a single file or directory can only be accomplished via a backup agent or from a backup to a SAN environment using a variety of different recovery/restoral techniques.