Sneak Preview: SnapManager for VI3 (SMVI)

What is SMVI?

Although from the sound of it, it appears that SMVI is related to other SnapManager products like SnapManager for Exchange, SQL, SharePoint and Oracle, SnapManager for VI is not related to specific applications. SVMI rather serves as a medium to streamline the backup and restores of Virtual Machines and/or Datastores in a VMware environment. It interacts with VC or the ESX server and NetApp Storage devices and creates instantaneous backups and near-instantaneous restores of Virtual Machines and/or Datastores.

What's supported?

From a protocol standpoint all VMware protocols are supported, meaning FC, iSCSI and NFS. FC and iSCSI with this release are supported with VMFS.

What can you backup and Restore?

You can backup at the Datastore level and Restore at the VM level or the Datastore level.

Where can you restore a VM?

You can restore it on the original Datastore or a different Datastore. SVMI provides a listing of all existing datastore and you basically get to choose the one you want.  Furthermore, you have the option to mount the backup and verify its contents. 

SnapMirror integration?

SVMI supports integration with SnapMirror so upon creating a Snapshot a Snapmirror update will occur.

SMVI components

SVMI has a client based and server based component. The server will be typically installed on the Virtual Center server, although not required, and the client portion can be installed in your laptop if you'd like or you can install both server/client in the Virtual Center server. SVMI can be driven both by GUI or CLI. 

How does it backup?

SMVI temporarily leverages VMware's snapshot which makes calls to the LGTO_sync (lgtosync.sys) driver part of the VMware tools which is responsible for flushing dirty buffers to disk for filesystem consistency and creates a Redo Log (Redo Log is a misnomer, it's actually a bitmap) for storing disk changes. We keep the VMware snapshot around until we complete our Snapshot (NetApp) on the array side, which takes no more than a few seconds, at which point we delete the vmware snapshot, thereby merging the changes in the "redo log" with the original VMDK.

SVMI is currently in Beta and will be available for in the very near future.

Comments

[Sto Rage]

Does it support file level restores within a VM?

[Nick Triantos]

SVMI restores VMs and their associated VMDKs. Given that we do not use any type of backup agent or proxy solution, it doesn't allow directly for file level restore inside a VMDK.

Having said that you could restore a file if you wanted in a couple of different ways"

1) If FC/iSCSI/or NFS, you could restore to a location then attach the VMDK to a temporary recovery VM where you'd extract the file you want and copy it over to the affected VM.

2) Also, this applies only to NFS environments who also have CIFS licenses on their filers, you can export the NetApp Snapshot via CIFS directly to the affected VM. There, you'd use a tool like UFS Explorer (supports a ton of filesystems for about $100 for a site license) or Winimage which will crack the VMDK open and let you restore a file by drag-n'-drop.

[Duncan]

Why didn't you guys develop a VirtualCenter plugin instead of a seperate client application?

[Andrew Miller]

I'm VERY interested in this...any clues as to when "available in the very near future" will be?

Tthanks.

[Nick Triantos]

Duncan,

Time-to-market, customer demand, and engineering effort associated with developing it as a plug-in, dictated that we couldn't make architectural changes in in an ongoing project at this time. It's not we didn't consider it or considering it for a future release.

Cheers

[Nick Triantos]

Andrew,

"Available in the very near furture" means somewhere in the next 45-60 days.

[Ronny]

Hi Nick,

could you tell me what's the benefit of SMVI instead of using a script (like the one from Loyola Marymount University)?
I think the only difference with SMVI is that you have a nice GUI, right?

cheers,

Ronny

[Nick Triantos]

Hi Ronny,

While you can do a lot of things with scripts, in fact you can pretty much do anything, you are burden with the additional task of creating them and maintaining them. For some environments that's an additional burden.

In any case, the Loyola script would not apply directly here as it is for RDM with VCB. If you have this type of config then you'd use SnapDrive and you can obtain consistent app. snaps assuming you also leverage a SnapManager product like Snap Manager for SQL. I find no reason to use VCB for this config in that that after the snap is taken I could easily connect the LUN to standlone media/backup server and do file level backups to tape if I want. Or I could avoid tape all together and connect directly to the LUN in the snapshot on the original VM and restore a file.

btw...the Loyla script shows backup but it doesn't show the most important part which is restore in my opinion. I suppose there's another script for that :-)

Cheers

[Chad Sakac]

FYI - EMC offers a similar function in Replication Manager (analagous to the SnapManager family, but one product).

As always, hats off to our most respected competitor!

[Nick Tiantos]

Hi Chad,

I'm familiar wih RMSE. Has the RDM only support changed for RMSE?

SMVI supports VMFS and integrates with SRM and NetApp's SRA adapter and FlexClone for DR failover or testing of the SRM Recovery Plan. The latter while keeping the replication intact.

If RDM's only supported with EMC's RMSE, since VMware's SRM provides expirimental support for RDM I'd say, that you'd have to use a different product to be in a supported SRM config, i.e RecoverPoint.

Cheers