IBM Tivoli Storage Manager for Virtual Environments 6.3

In a nutshell TSM for VE provides protection for virtual machines by offloading backup workloads to a proxy server (vStorage Backup Server) and provides multiple restore capabilities including full VM restore, file level restore and instant restore. TSM for VE 6.3 contains several components which when combined ensure the protection of your virtalised environment these components are shown within the diagram below.

The protection of virtual machines via TSM was greatly improved within the TSM 5.3 client when an experimental VCB integration module certified by VMware was introduced to allow off-host file and full-vm backups of virtual machines. The TSM 6.2 client then introduced integration with the vStorage API (next-generation of VCB) this mean't that a staging area (dumping ground) was no longer required for the VM snapshots. This was followed by some major enhancements within the TSM 6.2.3 client and TSM for Virtual Environments which enabled incremental VM backups utilising VMwares Change Block Tracking (CBT) feature and instant VM restores via TSM for VE. The latest release of TSM for VE 6.3 introduced a vCenter Plugin to initiate scheduled backups of VMs and restores of VMs via vCenter. 

As always understanding and planning is key when implementing TSM for VE. If you are planning on implementing I recommend reviewing the following sites:
IBM Tivoli Storage Manager for Virtual Environments Version 6.3 Information Center
IBM Tivoli Storage Manager for Virtual Environments - Data Protection for VMware Wiki
IBM Tivoli Storage Manager for Virtual Environments 6.3 Deployment Guide
TSM & TSM for VE Sizing Concepts - Dec 2011

For those interested I have also put together a pre-requisites checklist to complete prior to deploying TSM for VE to ensure no gotchas occur during the deployment. 

Item	Confirmed (P/X)
VMS to be protected via TSM for VE defined
RTOs and RPOs for VMs to be protected via TSM for VE defined and confirmed as achievable
Number of versions of full and incremental TSM for VE backups to be retained confirmed
Additional storage required within TSM environment confirmed
Confirmed number of TSM for VE Proxies required to protect environment
Each TSM for VE Proxy meets the minimum hardware requirements
Supported OS installed on each TSM for VE Proxy
TSM Server 6.1.3 or later exists within environment and will be connected to via the TSM for VE Proxies
TSM BAclient 6.3.0 (including VMware Backup Tools) or later exists on each of the TSM for VE proxies
FastBack not installed on TSM for VE Proxy
vSphere 4.1 or later version of vSphere running
VM Hardware version 7 or later running on each VM to be protected via TSM for VE
LAN or SAN transport method to be used to protect Virtual Machines
Confirm Network and Security requirements in place
Confirm the VMCUSER ID required by TSM is available with sufficient rights within VirtualCenter

Once all the pre-requisites have been confirmed and your TSM for VE proxies are built you are ready to implement TSM for VE. Some useful general recommendations to consider when deploying TSM for VE are listed below:

• Run a full VM backup every 7 - 14 days depending on your specific RPO requirements.
• Fastest restore times are achieved via daily full’s.
• Fastest backup times are achieved via incremental's for as many days as possible (max 14) Therefore you cannot optimize between fastest restore and fastest backup timescales and a trade-off is required e.g. what is the maximum acceptable restore time (i.e. max number of incremental's) To calculate the estimated restore time the following calculation
• Estimated VM Restore Time = (time_to_restore_from_full) + (max number of incremental's * each_incr restore time)
• vStorage Backup Server Proxies can be physical or virtual (must be physical if LAN free is a requirement)
• If the vStorage Backup Server is virtual ensure it is not backing itself up as this process will dismount both its own hot-added image as well as the system image from which the VM was booted. If possible get another vStorage Backup Server to backup the VM or backup utilising the BAclient.

TSM for VE 6.4 (currently in Beta) is set to introduce some exicting enhancements (those of you on the Beta will know what I'm talking about) and is scheduled for release at the back end of 2012. If you have any questions regarding TSM for VE or successfully deploying TSM for VE please feel free to comment on the blog or contact me via wbush@virtualvizion.com