Introduction to NFS-based VMware deployment

For NFS, we know that it is a network file system. This system is based on shared services. So what applications does VMware virtual service have? Now let's look at the specific deployment scheme in detail. Using NFS-Based Network File System (NAS) devices to deploy VMware virtual servers is becoming more and more popular, for example, NFS-based NAS gateways provided by some companies are almost customized for VMware virtual servers, because these instances are stored in the form of files, called VMDK, NAS is the best choice for storing files. It is more than just its ease of use and lower VM deployment costs. Many users have found that NFS also enhances VMware's data protection.

Snapshot Basics

Users rely on snapshots as the first line of defense against any data loss. Snapshots can protect data in a timely manner at a time point. You can also choose to store separate files by gradually adding snapshots to retrieve complete data when the database is damaged, this is one of its biggest advantages.

VMware has created its own file system, which is mainly stored in block-based storage, such as iSCSI and Fiber Channel storage. VMware has the ability to create snapshots on a file system. When using VMware VM through NFS, the file system is responsible for the work of the NFS device, it also has the ability to balance different devices. This difference brings a major difference between VMware VMFS and NFS, that is, the energy and availability of each platform to execute snapshots.

Basically, snapshots freeze the file system at one point in time. This prevents any data blocks that exist in the file system from being changed or deleted. The data blocks are usually put in a read-only mode. The Snapshot creation process is very fast and can be completed within several seconds. After a snapshot, the user has a frozen image of the file system. In the case of data loss or data destruction, the user can use the frozen image to retrieve the data again, snapshots can also be used for other purposes. For example, snapshots can be applied to backup servers and backup file systems, and can run without affecting application performance.

The main advantage is that applications can affect each other between file systems and users. In their applications, users do not see any latency. Operating systems, programs, or storage systems are actually a key difference in Snapshot technology.

VMware Snapshot

The logon features of VMware Snapshot technology and databases are similar. Once the VMware Administrator takes a snapshot, any block in the file system that needs to be added or modified is written to a separate disk location.

The challenge of this method is that as snapshots are increasingly written to the disk, they need to be traced and re-encoded. This not only affects the storage performance, because of the load on the hypervisor, therefore, all computing performance may be affected. In a virtual server environment, unexpected pressure may affect the computing performance, because CPU resources are the core. As a result, snapshots on each virtual machine and virtual host manually limit the main performance. These restrictions cause fewer snapshots to be completed within one day, and fewer snapshots will be retained within a certain period of time.

As a restoration tool, snapshot efficiency is severely restricted, leading to virtual architecture failure, downtime, and data loss. It also requires additional potential data protection tools.

NFS-based snapshots and VMware

When using NFS-based VMware, the snapshot function and responsibility is to detach the hypervisor to the storage system, that is, the NAS gateway. The Gateway also has more efficient methods to cope with the increasing number of snapshot copies. Most snapshot technologies are similar to the one described above. The difference between NAS gateway is that it manages the updated file system.

Unlike migrating to a single disk, NAS enhances functionality by balanced writing to the file system. Through NAS, the block location on the disk is stored on a desktop called iNode table. INode table is similar to the Windows file configuration Manual (FAT. When the file system on the iNode table changes, it will be updated to the new block version, and a link is maintained between the previous snapshot and the earliest snapshot.

The purpose of creating a unit is to manage the file system and intelligently balance the basic file system. This allows NAS devices of the host's VMware image to obtain almost unlimited snapshots regardless of the number and range of snapshots, it does not affect the performance of the VMware Host. Therefore, snapshots can minimize data loss and accelerate application recovery within one day. Because snapshots can be stored for an indefinite period of time, their use can be extended to tests including decision support or VMS.

Combination of VMware and NFS photos

One challenge for NFS snapshots is that they are simple to use and execute, and their integration into VMware File System is limited. You have two options: one is to place a specific application of the virtual machine in a static state, so you can execute a reliable snapshot without worrying about cache writing, completing in a non-virtual environment or managing VMware balances the VMware Snapshot technology.

In this technology, you can use virtual machines to discover VMware snapshots. In this case, VMvare hypervisor keeps the entire machine in a static state and the snapshots executed are consistent. Once this is done, the VM snapshots are retained for a long time through NFS-based NAS. After completing the NAS snapshot, you can delete the VMware snapshot to reduce the computing and storage I/O resources of the host.

For script automation, this is a relatively simple process. manual and automatic operations can be executed in just a few minutes.

By using these two technologies, the customer has achieved high-quality data recovery and increased the number of data, solved data loss, and achieved complete data protection.