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6 Posts
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November 20th, 2013 04:00
Read only virtual volumes
I have an interesting problem with Veeam (Backup software), Vmware and Vplex.
In order to do lan free backups the Vmware datastore virtual volumes must be presented to a windows server. This is a big risk if somebody decides to initialise the virtual volumes in Windows. With a VNX/Clariion I used to present the luns read-only to the windows server. VPLEX virtual volumes does not have a readonly option. Any ideas to about howto migitate the risk of data loss ?
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1gar2nMRBp12266
14 Posts
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November 20th, 2013 07:00
Hi Adriaan,
As you mentioned, VPLEX would not be able to directly provide you with a solution. Two options I can think of are:
1. Use an array-based copy (snapshot or clone) of the volume you are backing up as a way to protect the production device from changes. Mount the array-based copy on your Windows host and if someone happens to make changes it wont impact the original production device. I still see the potential for altered backups with this option, however.
or
2. Determine if there is OS support for mounting the device in (OS enforced) read only mode. For example with W2K8 and higher you can use diskpart:
diskpart > select disk 1
diskpart > select volume 3
diskpart > attributes volume set readonly
-or-
diskpart > attributes volume clear readonly
I am not familiar enough with Veeam to know if you have this as an option.
-Don
Wolfko
6 Posts
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November 21st, 2013 06:00
Hi Don
Option 1 is not an option due to lack of storage capacity.
Option 2 is also not ID10T proof.
I'm thinking of using the REST API / scripting to add the backup server to a storage view with a prescript and remove it with a postscript after the backups finished. This is only for the weekly full backups. My tests so far indicate that there is not much of a speed difference between "lan free" and lan backups for incrementals