[CentOS] Best way to backup virtual machines from Citrix XenServer.

[Simon Billis]

Pasi Kärkkäinen sent a missive on 2010-02-09:

> On Mon, Feb 08, 2010 at 12:07:30PM -0800, nate wrote:
>> 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- Eq
>> uallogic.html
>> 
>> Of course not all snapshot solutions are created equal, equallogic's
>> appears to be especially poor in this regard.
>> 
> 
> I think that blog post gives too negative view of the EQL snapshots.
> They work very well for many use cases. Having a lot of random small
> writes all over the volume seems to cause a lot of wasted disk space
> though.

I agree - I'm not suggesting that the EQL box is the best thing since sliced
bread, but it does what it says on the tin. There are better/different
arrays and array controllers out there (3par, BlueArc, Pillar, EMC, Hitachi
etc., etc., etc.,) and depending on your needs and budget both now and in
the future and it would be wise to select the one that provides the best fit
for you and your business.