VM snapshot?

[Uyen]

I'm looking for a imaging software that can take live snapshot of the server and be able to regularly test that harddrive image without shutdown the production server, but it is costly and hard to achive with the physical server, so I'm thinking about convert P2V, but will I be able to use the snapshot of my virtual machine to be used on another VM on the same host, or can I use the vmdk of this VM to run other VM to prove that my RTO is fast and work, without a need to shutdown my production server, but will it create any conflict if the same vmdk file is used in the same host?

I hope you have time to help me with my concern.  Thanks so much for your valuable time and knowledge.

[VMT1]

Remember, a VMware snapshot of a VM is NOT a form of backup.  Therefore you cannot use a snapshot to restore to another VM.  If you have a SAN, you could use SAN snapshots as they are considered a form of backup.

One thing you could do, if you don't want to purchase 3rd party backup software or you don't want to use the included backup virtual appliance from VMware called Data Recovery (all versions except Essentials and Standard editions) would be to schedule a clone of your VM through vCenter.

That may be space prohibitive depending on your storage.

[Uyen]

Thank you so much for your reply.  So is there any recommended 3rd part software that can do drive imaging without reboot the server?

[VMT1]

I honestly don't know, I haven't needed to image anything in years since woreking with VMs.  There are plenty of 3rd party imaging software products on the market, Ghost, Altiris, Acronis.  There is even a virtual appliance on VMware's Appliances website called FOG.  http://vmware.com/appliances/directory/246903

[Viperman]

I'm looking for a imaging software that can take live snapshot of the server and be able to regularly test that harddrive image without shutdown the production server, but it is costly and hard to achive with the physical server, so I'm thinking about convert P2V, but will I be able to use the snapshot of my virtual machine to be used on another VM on the same host, or can I use the vmdk of this VM to run other VM to prove that my RTO is fast and work, without a need to shutdown my production server, but will it create any conflict if the same vmdk file is used in the same host?

I hope you have time to help me with my concern.  Thanks so much for your valuable time and knowledge.

You could definitely P2V a live server and then do any sort of testing on the VM and then just throw it away whenever needed.  You might just find that the VM works just as good as the physical and end up getting rid of the Physical machine.  You could then snapshot, clone, copy or do whatever you want with the VM, thus not affecting the Physical machine.

[richard]

http://ultrabac.com

It's expensive, but UltraBac Gold does a real-time image of a running server.  Gold Plus (I think that's the name) will back up a physical and save it as an appropriate set of .vmdk files.  Once the cloning of the physical is finished, you can launch the VM.

It does not disrupt the operations of the server.