I have a question regarding backups and VM's that contain snapshots. If i have a VM running in vmware with 2 snapshots and a snapshot based backup runs overnight, will it delete all of my snapshots or will it only delete the one it creates during the process?
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It depends on the backup solution. What product are you using? Also Snapshots are BAD.– ZaptoJul 13, 2016 at 20:20
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I know snapshots are bad, i'm preaching it as well. This is a bit of an odd situation for me as well. The solution in question is netbackup. I never used netback up and someone made me question what i already know. I didnt have much luck finding info myself so decided to ask on here.– user3225054Jul 13, 2016 at 20:22
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Are you using the Host backup or Agent backup of the guest?– ZaptoJul 13, 2016 at 20:25
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Host backup, no agent.– user3225054Jul 13, 2016 at 20:27
1 Answer
NetBackup uses the VMware Storage API’s and shouldn’t cause issues but;
VMsnapshots Snapshots are bad! this is a good explanation why
Snapshots can cause issues and depending on the delta size of the file it may not get played into the backup routine. I have seen issues in the past where chains of snapshots have been missed. I would recommend that you either use agent based processing for these VM’s if you cannot clean the snapshots or export the VM as a template (a better solution if you keeping snapshots for “backup").
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1Not all snapshots are bad. It depends on the implementation. ZFS for example excels at snapshots. I know in this instance you're talking about VMware snaps, and I agree with you on that point. However, you need to qualify that you are talking about VMware snapshots, not snapshots in general.– EEAAJul 14, 2016 at 0:24