SnapCenter docs confusing my little z80... "How SnapCenter backs up Windows file systems" | NetApp | Page 1

kind gazelle Mar 27, 2023, 4:19 PM

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It goes on to say snaps of multiple VM's on a datastore are better...
Then in paragraph four it throws a curve ball; it says:
<<If data from other host servers resides on the same volume, this data cannot be restored from the Snapshot copy.>>

Just to clarify:
If I am backing up data on a datastore from a single (ESX host), can I restore any of them as needed? Or does "host" mean "guest OS"?

a. If the former then that means we can't auto-vmotion
b. If the latter, do we have to take a backup for each individual guest host?

gleaming surge Mar 27, 2023, 5:53 PM

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Some questions to better understand your config:

Do you have NFS-datastores for your VMs or VMFS-datastores?
What do you want to backup? The whole VM? (VM-consistent) Or only an application inside the VM? (application-consistent)
--> the former: You need the "SnapCenter Plug-in for VMware vSphere" (yeah, long name), which while being a "plug-in" can exist on it's own without needing a SnapCenter server (yeah, stupid name). --> https://docs.netapp.com/us-en/sc-plugin-vmware-vsphere/index.html
--> the latter: You need the "SnapCenter server". In most configurations you create iSCSI LUNs which are provided to the guest OS inside the VMs. These are for the DBs & logs of your application. --> https://docs.netapp.com/us-en/snapcenter/index.html

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Regarding your question:
SnapCenter will only "know" about the LUNs which you select to back up. Since snapshots are always created on the whole volume: If other unrelated LUNs also reside on the volume they would also be available in that snapshot (point-in-time image of the volume). But you would not be able to access these other LUNs via the SnapCenter GUI. You would need more manual procedures via CLI or System Manager. Solution: Don't put other unrelated LUNs on the same volume.

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Here some samples layouts for SQL DBs: https://docs.netapp.com/us-en/snapcenter/protect-scsql/reference_storage_layout_recommendations_for_snapcenter_plug_in_for_microsoft_sql_server.html#lun-and-vmdk-sample-layouts

kind gazelle Mar 28, 2023, 3:24 PM

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Sorry, I had a Discord popup and did not see the updates. All of these are NFS datastores. I was looking at the Windows plug-in, not applications. Apps where plugins are available will be backed up seperately.
We want to backup by resource/policy, but we also allow auto vmotion based on resource utilization.
I want to make sure that when we run a Windows consistent backup, whether I can use that snapshot to restore other FS VMDK's even if the have vmotioned to a different ESXi host.

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If not, I can use the manual process, I want to have it documented internally

gleaming surge Mar 29, 2023, 9:30 AM

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If these are "simple" Windows VMs you don't need the Windows plug-in. Using "SnapCenter Plug-in for VMware vSphere" and quiescing the VMs (via the VMware Tools) should be enough to have a consistent filesystem.

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Don't know if you remember SnapDrive but the "SnapCenter Plug-in for Windows" is basically that. If you don't have any NetApp-LUNs connected to the guest OS and all the disks of your VMs reside on VMDKs you don't need the Windows Plug-in.

kind gazelle Mar 29, 2023, 11:14 AM

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Oh, yes SD/SM, bring back memories... But if I have a SQL server hosted on vCenter, with luns presented by iSCSI, I can use SC/SQL to back those up in a quiesced state. I thought I would need SC/Win to backup any registry/ini files on the OS system. So what is SC/Win for, if I don't need it for a VMDK based box? Is it for Win machines booting from an iSCSI lun? That is the only other thing I can think off

kind gazelle Mar 29, 2023, 4:29 PM

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@green spindle Have you dealt with the above questions before?

gleaming surge Mar 29, 2023, 4:47 PM

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If your SQL servers are installed on bare-metal servers (with the DBs & Logs on ONTAP LUNs) you need some software so that SnapCenter can talk to the filesystem. That's what the "SnapCenter Plug-in for Windows" installed on the server is for. Additionally you would deploy the "SnapCenter Plug-in for SQL" which would talk to SQL.
If your SQL servers are VMs then you have two possibilities:

Same as with bare-metal servers you put the DBs & Logs into ONTAP LUNs. Then SnapCenter does not care about the server being virtualized so you need the same plug-in (Windows and SQL). (You don't need the vSphere Plug-in here.)
Or you put the DBs & Logs on VMDKs on your datastores. Then you also need the vSphere Plug-in.

In all these scenarios we are only talking about backing up the "application data" so the logs and the LUNs. If you also want to backup the server-installation and the OS itself you would either use SAN-boot (so that everything already resides on your NetApp) or if it's a VM it would be another VMDK which would get backed up like all the other VMs via the vSphere Plug-in.

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There are even more supported ways where to put the DBs & Logs: https://docs.netapp.com/us-en/snapcenter/protect-scsql/reference_storage_types_supported_by_snapcenter_plug_ins_for_microsoft_windows_and_for_microsoft_sql_server.html

kind gazelle Mar 31, 2023, 11:17 AM

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Are you implying I could quiesce and backup a SQL Server with just the SCV plugijn? I don't read that in the docs, but sometimes I do wear blinders. 😉

gleaming surge Mar 31, 2023, 11:34 AM

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If you want crash-consistent backups: Simply create a snapshot policy in ONTAP and replicate them to another system via SnapMirror/SnapVault. No SnapCenter or any plug-ins needed.
If you want VMware-consistent backups: Use SCV and let it quiesce the filesystem of the VMs via VMware Tools. SCV will also trigger the snapshot-creation in ONTAP.
If you want application-consistens backups: Use the SCSQL (the SnapCenter Plug-in for SQL) together with SCW (if DB & logs are on guest-connected LUNs) or together with SCV (if DB & logs are on VMDKs).

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That's my current understanding of the situation

#SnapCenter docs confusing my little z80... "How SnapCenter backs up Windows file systems"