Backup vSphere vm

[garba1980]

Hi all, happy to hear from you. Months later I'd like to know your opinion again on vSphere virtual machine
backup techniques. In our company we currently have the vm on shared storage with three nodes, with daily vm
backup performed by Nakivo on QNAP NAS. Also in Nakivo there is a job that replicates the most important VMs
on the shared storage of the data center that we have in the second site connected via VPN. I think it is
appropriate to increase the number of backups, making for each of the vm a second job that points to a
second repository (hardened repo, cloud, etc etc). The famous 3-2-1 or 3-2-1-1-0 rules are not taken into
account in our case.
Thanks everyone for an answer.
Liuk

[rahul_mike]

What kind of a backup are we using in this case ? 
Hot-add, NBD or SAN based ? 
The Hot add backups and SAN backups should not have any limitations as such but the answer would really depend on what applications the VM hosts. If it is a DB server, and it is a application consistent backup then there maybe issues wrt to quiescing and the sync provider causing issues with the functioning of the application. 
Having a benchmark and identifying what frequency of backups are most suitable should have to be tested. Additionally is this going to be CBT incremental backups or full backups. 

[garba1980]

Thanks for the reply. Backup for critical machines is FULL on Sunday and INCREMENTAL from Monday to Saturday. I don't know what number of chains is currently configured. I know for sure that the transport/backup type is SAN (iSCSI Controllers and Dedicated Switches). I believe that having only one repository from which to restore the vm in case of failure or ransomware is risky. Clearly, the more types of backups there are, the more the chances of obtaining recovery without problems will be higher. This is my thought. Thank you. Liuk

 

[BarryGrowler]

Expanding your backup strategy to include additional repositories, as Liuk suggests, aligns well with enhancing data resilience. Incorporating a hardened repository or cloud storage, in addition to your current Nakivo backups to QNAP NAS, would indeed strengthen your defense against data loss or ransomware. Adhering more closely to the 3-2-1 or 3-2-1-1-0 backup principles through this diversification not only mitigates risks associated with single-point failures but also broadens recovery options, ensuring a robust backup infrastructure.

[aurora-chase]

Have you ever tried Vinchin Backup & Recovery? It is also a professional VM backup solution, which can protect your entire VMware vSphere environment in standalone ESXi or vCenter-managed host. For 3-2-1 backup architecture,  it brings offsite backup copy and cloud archive features. Besides, VM migration between mainstream platforms and most KVM-based platforms is quite easy.