Top 5 Tips in 2012 for Failsafe Virtual Machine Protection Greg Shields Senior Partner and Principal Technologist, Concentrated Technology, LLC

Administrative points on this webinar  Questions ●Can use the virtual Q&A panel. ●This webinar is recorded and available for replay after a few days. ●At the end of the webinar, we can raise virtual hand for dialog questions. ●Stick around until the end of the webinar! −Winners will receive a choice of books!  Overview of Veeam

Protecting VMs is so much More than Just HA

HA is important, but it ain’t everything.

Protecting VMs is so much More than Just HA HA is important, but it ain’t everything. Protects against host failure. Protects against application failure.

Protecting VMs is so much More than Just HA HA is important, but it ain’t everything. Protects against host failure. Protects against application failure. Does nothing for data loss. Does nothing for corruption. Does nothing for DR.

…and yet HA Seems to Get all the Attention.

How Can your VMs Fail? (Kinda’ like Faces of Death, but for VMs) Plenty of ways…

How Can your VMs Fail? (Kinda’ like Faces of Death, but for VMs) Plenty of ways… Lost or deleted data.

How Can your VMs Fail? (Kinda’ like Faces of Death, but for VMs) Plenty of ways… Lost or deleted data. Lost or deleted application objects.

How Can your VMs Fail? (Kinda’ like Faces of Death, but for VMs) Plenty of ways… Lost or deleted data. Lost or deleted application objects. A lost, deleted, or corrupted OS.

How Can your VMs Fail? (Kinda’ like Faces of Death, but for VMs) Plenty of ways… Lost or deleted data. Lost or deleted application objects. A lost, deleted, or corrupted OS. An accidentally-obliterated VM object.

How Can your VMs Fail? (Kinda’ like Faces of Death, but for VMs) Plenty of ways… Lost or deleted data. Lost or deleted application objects. A lost, deleted, or corrupted OS. An accidentally-obliterated VM object. Corruption as a result of miscommunication between layers.

How Can your VMs Fail? (Kinda’ like Faces of Death, but for VMs) Plenty of ways… Lost or deleted data. Lost or deleted application objects. A lost, deleted, or corrupted OS. An accidentally-obliterated VM object. Corruption as a result of miscommunication between layers. Stupid users.

How Can your VMs Fail? (Kinda’ like Faces of Death, but for VMs) Plenty of ways… Lost or deleted data. Lost or deleted application objects. A lost, deleted, or corrupted OS. An accidentally-obliterated VM object. Corruption as a result of miscommunication between layers. Stupid users. Stupid admins.

How Can your VMs Fail? (Kinda’ like Faces of Death, but for VMs) Plenty of ways… Lost or deleted data. Lost or deleted application objects. A lost, deleted, or corrupted OS. An accidentally-obliterated VM object. Corruption as a result of miscommunication between layers. Stupid users. Stupid admins. Water-based datacenter fire containment systems (Hint: These are bad.)

How Can your VMs Fail? (Kinda’ like Faces of Death, but for VMs) Plenty of ways… Lost or deleted data. Lost or deleted application objects. A lost, deleted, or corrupted OS. An accidentally-obliterated VM object. Corruption as a result of miscommunication between layers. Stupid users. Stupid admins. Water-based datacenter fire containment systems (Hint: These are bad.) The-tsunama-that-causes-a-tornado-which-brings-out-locusts- that-cause-a-nuclear-detonation-which-starts-an-earthquake- that…

Desperately Seeking Failsafe. (Dead VMs are only the Start) All these ways to kill a VM can keep you up at night.

Desperately Seeking Failsafe. (Dead VMs are only the Start) All these ways to kill a VM can keep you up at night. …but that insomnia’s a piece of cake…

Desperately Seeking Failsafe. (Dead VMs are only the Start) All these ways to kill a VM can keep you up at night. …but that insomnia’s a piece of cake… …when you start thinking about all the ways…

Desperately Seeking Failsafe. (Dead VMs are only the Start) All these ways to kill a VM can keep you up at night. …but that insomnia’s a piece of cake… …when you start thinking about all the ways… …your backup solution can also die…

Desperately Seeking Failsafe. (Dead VMs are only the Start) All these ways to kill a VM can keep you up at night. …but that insomnia’s a piece of cake… …when you start thinking about all the ways… …your backup solution can also die… …or kill…

Desperately Seeking Failsafe. (Dead VMs are only the Start) All these ways to kill a VM can keep you up at night. …but that insomnia’s a piece of cake… …when you start thinking about all the ways… …your backup solution can also die… …or kill… Let’s count the ways…

Desperately Seeking Failsafe. (Dead VMs are only the Start) All these ways to kill a VM can keep you up at night. …but that insomnia’s a piece of cake… …when you start thinking about all the ways… …your backup solution can also die… …or kill… Let’s count the ways… Failure in quiescence or VSS.

Desperately Seeking Failsafe. (Dead VMs are only the Start) All these ways to kill a VM can keep you up at night. …but that insomnia’s a piece of cake… …when you start thinking about all the ways… …your backup solution can also die… …or kill… Let’s count the ways… Failure in quiescence or VSS. Failure in capturing data across datacenter layers.

Desperately Seeking Failsafe. (Dead VMs are only the Start) All these ways to kill a VM can keep you up at night. …but that insomnia’s a piece of cake… …when you start thinking about all the ways… …your backup solution can also die… …or kill… Let’s count the ways… Failure in quiescence or VSS. Failure in capturing data across datacenter layers. Failure in verifying backup integrity.

Desperately Seeking Failsafe. (Dead VMs are only the Start) All these ways to kill a VM can keep you up at night. …but that insomnia’s a piece of cake… …when you start thinking about all the ways… …your backup solution can also die… …or kill… Let’s count the ways… Failure in quiescence or VSS. Failure in capturing data across datacenter layers. Failure in verifying backup integrity. Failure in notifying you when something happens.

Desperately Seeking Failsafe. (Dead VMs are only the Start) All these ways to kill a VM can keep you up at night. …but that insomnia’s a piece of cake… …when you start thinking about all the ways… …your backup solution can also die… …or kill… Let’s count the ways… Failure in quiescence or VSS. Failure in capturing data across datacenter layers. Failure in verifying backup integrity. Failure in notifying you when something happens. Failure in accounting for organic VM growth.

Five Failsafe VM Protection Tips (Ignore at your Peril)

Tip #1: Mind your Layers.

Five Failsafe VM Protection Tips (Ignore at your Peril) Tip #1: Mind your Layers. Your datacenter layers, that is.

Five Failsafe VM Protection Tips (Ignore at your Peril) Tip #1: Mind your Layers. Your datacenter layers, that is. Virtualization adds many layers of separation between VM and backup storage target. VM > Hypervisor > Host Server > Network > Storage

Five Failsafe VM Protection Tips (Ignore at your Peril) Tip #1: Mind your Layers. Your datacenter layers, that is. Virtualization adds many layers of separation between VM and backup storage target. VM > Hypervisor > Host Server > Network > Storage Disk-based backups have the potential to aggregate “the backups” with “the data”.

Five Failsafe VM Protection Tips (Ignore at your Peril) Tip #1: Mind your Layers. Your datacenter layers, that is. Virtualization adds many layers of separation between VM and backup storage target. VM > Hypervisor > Host Server > Network > Storage Disk-based backups have the potential to aggregate “the backups” with “the data”. This is bad.

Five Failsafe VM Protection Tips (Ignore at your Peril) Tip #1: Mind your Layers. Your datacenter layers, that is. Virtualization adds many layers of separation between VM and backup storage target. VM > Hypervisor > Host Server > Network > Storage Disk-based backups have the potential to aggregate “the backups” with “the data”. This is bad. Particularly when “the VMware admin” isn’t “the storage admin”.

Five Failsafe VM Protection Tips (Ignore at your Peril) Tip #1: Mind your Layers. Your datacenter layers, that is. Virtualization adds many layers of separation between VM and backup storage target. VM > Hypervisor > Host Server > Network > Storage Disk-based backups have the potential to aggregate “the backups” with “the data”. This is bad. Particularly when “the VMware admin” isn’t “the storage admin”. FAILSAFE: Ensure backups and data stay separate.

Five Failsafe VM Protection Tips (Ignore at your Peril) Tip #2: Don’t Test your Backups.

Five Failsafe VM Protection Tips (Ignore at your Peril) Tip #2: Don’t Test your Backups. Hire someone to test them for you.

Five Failsafe VM Protection Tips (Ignore at your Peril) Tip #2: Don’t Test your Backups. Hire someone to test them for you. Better idea: Hire an automation to do it (cheaper, more reliable).

Five Failsafe VM Protection Tips (Ignore at your Peril) Tip #2: Don’t Test your Backups. Hire someone to test them for you. Better idea: Hire an automation to do it (cheaper, more reliable). Be exceedingly careful about how that automation defines “a successful backup”. Disk file data integrity <> A recoverable backup.

Five Failsafe VM Protection Tips (Ignore at your Peril) Tip #2: Don’t Test your Backups. Hire someone to test them for you. Better idea: Hire an automation to do it (cheaper, more reliable). Be exceedingly careful about how that automation defines “a successful backup”. Disk file data integrity <> A recoverable backup. FAILSAFE: Ensure backups include data and application integrity verifications that automatically occur with each backup.

Five Failsafe VM Protection Tips (Ignore at your Peril) Tip #3: Proactively Monitor Quiescence.

Five Failsafe VM Protection Tips (Ignore at your Peril) Tip #3: Proactively Monitor Quiescence. (Honestly, a great name for a band.)

Five Failsafe VM Protection Tips (Ignore at your Peril) Tip #3: Proactively Monitor Quiescence. (Honestly, a great name for a band.) VSS is ridiculously complicated. VSS can easily break. VSS breaking might not be VSS’ fault.

Five Failsafe VM Protection Tips (Ignore at your Peril)

Tip #3: Proactively Monitor Quiescence. (Honestly, a great name for a band.) VSS is ridiculously complicated. VSS can easily break. VSS breaking might not be VSS’ fault. FAILSAFE: Take the Ronald Reagan approach with VSS: Trust but verify.

Five Failsafe VM Protection Tips (Ignore at your Peril) Tip #4: Demand Visibility for Success.

Five Failsafe VM Protection Tips (Ignore at your Peril) Tip #4: Demand Visibility for Success. Demand more visibility for failure. Especially personal failures.

Five Failsafe VM Protection Tips (Ignore at your Peril) Tip #4: Demand Visibility for Success. Demand more visibility for failure. Especially personal failures. Ensure alerting is configured to notify for job failures.

Five Failsafe VM Protection Tips (Ignore at your Peril) Tip #4: Demand Visibility for Success. Demand more visibility for failure. Especially personal failures. Ensure alerting is configured to notify for job failures. (You laugh, but this gets missed all the freaking time.)

Five Failsafe VM Protection Tips (Ignore at your Peril) Tip #4: Demand Visibility for Success. Demand more visibility for failure. Especially personal failures. Ensure alerting is configured to notify for job failures. (You laugh, but this gets missed all the freaking time.) (Go check yours. Right now.)

Five Failsafe VM Protection Tips (Ignore at your Peril) Tip #4: Demand Visibility for Success. Demand more visibility for failure. Especially personal failures. Ensure alerting is configured to notify for job failures. (You laugh, but this gets missed all the freaking time.) (Go check yours. Right now.) (No, really.)

Five Failsafe VM Protection Tips (Ignore at your Peril) Tip #4: Demand Visibility for Success. Demand more visibility for failure. Especially personal failures. Ensure alerting is configured to notify for job failures. (You laugh, but this gets missed all the freaking time.) (Go check yours. Right now.) (No, really.) FAILSAFE: Monitors are better monitors than you are. Use them.

Five Failsafe VM Protection Tips (Ignore at your Peril) Tip #5: Don’t add new Backup Jobs for New VMs.

Five Failsafe VM Protection Tips (Ignore at your Peril) Tip #5: Don’t add new Backup Jobs for New VMs. (If you don’t get the joke, see Tip #2.) Use a backup solution that’s designed to handle organic growth.

Five Failsafe VM Protection Tips (Ignore at your Peril) Tip #5: Don’t add new Backup Jobs for New VMs. (If you don’t get the joke, see Tip #2.) Use a backup solution that’s designed to handle organic growth. This is particularly important in Private Cloud environments. You might not be creating VMs. How will you know that you need to back them up?

Five Failsafe VM Protection Tips (Ignore at your Peril) Tip #5: Don’t add new Backup Jobs for New VMs. (If you don’t get the joke, see Tip #2.) Use a backup solution that’s designed to handle organic growth. This is particularly important in Private Cloud environments. You might not be creating VMs. How will you know that you need to back them up? FAILSAFE: Ensure your backup solution backs up and monitors your virtual platform constructs, and not just a list of VMs. Datastores, folders, clusters, other objects

Five Tips, Safe Failing. Tip #1: Layers! Tip #2: Testing! Tip #3: Monitoring! Tip #4: Alerting! Tip #5: Automation!

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