Simon Billis wrote:
Good quality storage (which usually comes at a price) will provide the functionality that is needed to backup the VM's either as a complete VM image or files from the VM filesystem. Entry level storage from suppliers such as Equallogic/Dell comes with this functionality and it is possible to have the storage up and attached to servers within 10 mins from un-boxing it (but do allow a little longer to understand it ;-) .)
Suggest reading this interesting piece "3 years of equallogic" before thinking about using it's snapshot stuff -
http://www.tuxyturvy.com/blog/index.php?/archives/61-Three-Years-of-Equallog...
Of course not all snapshot solutions are created equal, equallogic's appears to be especially poor in this regard.
nate