Should I backup my file server VM or just the files?
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The more I think about it, the more I think that backing up the entire VM makes the most since in that it's the simplest approach for the backup. Sticking to only files would likely make the backup process/management more complex (maybe, maybe not) but with a VM backup, I have the option of a full VM restore OR just the files anyway.
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The only time I wouldn’t backup the OS is if I could recreate the configuration easily (Salt Stack, Ansible, etc)
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I would lean towards taking the entire VM and backing it up, and if the backup appliance supports it. Mounting of my backups to restore piece meal files if this is required.
Block level backups are just to simple to not do, if you aren't doing state systems. Which how many people really are?
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Obviously having some flexibility in what you can restore would be best, so you don't have to go and restore everything, just to get a file from the day before.
KVM has the ability to mount the virtual disk and restore files, and so does Xen Orchestra (and XS).
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I think you can do the same thin in ESXi and Hyper-V as well I'm just not sure of how it operates there. Likely just mounting your vhd backups to a working VM and then dropping the files.
But this goes into a different backup approach. Backing up the data as a block device, rather than the entire VM.
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@nashbrydges said in Should I backup my file server VM or just the files?:
The more I think about it, the more I think that backing up the entire VM makes the most since in that it's the simplest approach for the backup.
Always back up the whole VM from the hypervisor. I always do the whole VM.
On a file server VM, you should also run a script that runs every few days depending on your environment that backs up the File Shares (Not the files, I mean the registry keys that contain the list of shares and all that). This if you can't restore the OS as it's corrupt in your backups or something, you can do how I said in my first post.
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I only do data volumes but I’m not running any Windows.
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Currently I do files, even though there are good recommendations and comments regarding the VM level.
The reason I do files cause I can easily create it and know all the aspects about it and easily test the integrity of the backup via applications like p7zip and calculate things and track it, and things are easier to understand like it is expected for the files to either grow or stagnate.
On VM level unless you have approach to test the backups like systematic way of getting that VM export and testing it, who knows then if you will restore from it properly when Disaster arrives and if all your VM backups are un restorable then you dont really have a backup. Do note i am not saying Veeam is bad product or not trustworthy, actually I heard the opposite all the time.
I dont have an automated system for testing exported VM, but this thread got me thinking of virtual-box headless that can be useful for this.
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@jaredbusch said in Should I backup my file server VM or just the files?:
Scott likes to talk like everyone uses state systems when that is far from the case.
Scott likes to talk like everyone should use state systems, which is nearly always the case.
But even if you don't, if you have automated rebuild and install scripts, or use cloud computing, you rarely want to restore the whole thing rather than just the data. It's way more than just state systems. We've been doing this since long before state systems were a thing.
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@nashbrydges said in Should I backup my file server VM or just the files?:
The more I think about it, the more I think that backing up the entire VM makes the most since in that it's the simplest approach for the backup. Sticking to only files would likely make the backup process/management more complex (maybe, maybe not) but with a VM backup, I have the option of a full VM restore OR just the files anyway.
Something worth noting about this is that if you are using and sticking to only specifically supported apps by your backup vendor and integrating them with agents in some way (like Veeam can do) then this works decently well. If you start using databases or other stateful systems that the backup software isn't specifically programmed to handle, then you either need to create local backups first that the backup software can back up or you need to stop those databases until the backups are done, or you risk that the backups are corrupt.
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I dislike hypervisor level backups because of the risks and complexities that they bring. You have to be confident that you know absolutely everything that they are backing up and know that all of it is supported. I feel that it is easier to do the more reliable "data only" method, or do both of course.
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@scottalanmiller said in Should I backup my file server VM or just the files?:
@jaredbusch said in Should I backup my file server VM or just the files?:
Scott likes to talk like everyone uses state systems when that is far from the case.
Scott likes to talk like everyone should use state systems, which is nearly always the case.
But even if you don't, if you have automated rebuild and install scripts, or use cloud computing, you rarely want to restore the whole thing rather than just the data. It's way more than just state systems. We've been doing this since long before state systems were a thing.
With a stand-alone windows file server is not so bad redeploying it with the help of powershell. But it’s so different compare to Linux.
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@black3dynamite said in Should I backup my file server VM or just the files?:
@scottalanmiller said in Should I backup my file server VM or just the files?:
@jaredbusch said in Should I backup my file server VM or just the files?:
Scott likes to talk like everyone uses state systems when that is far from the case.
Scott likes to talk like everyone should use state systems, which is nearly always the case.
But even if you don't, if you have automated rebuild and install scripts, or use cloud computing, you rarely want to restore the whole thing rather than just the data. It's way more than just state systems. We've been doing this since long before state systems were a thing.
With a stand-alone windows file server is not so bad redeploying it with the help of powershell. But it’s so different compare to Linux.
Yes, much more work for sure. But no matter what OS you use, no matter what your backup situation is, you should have a rapid new deployment system to rebuild systems whether it is script, state, or whatever.
