ML
    • Recent
    • Categories
    • Tags
    • Popular
    • Users
    • Groups
    • Register
    • Login

    KVM in Production - Build it yourself

    IT Discussion
    kvm lab production production environment
    13
    47
    5.9k
    Loading More Posts
    • Oldest to Newest
    • Newest to Oldest
    • Most Votes
    Reply
    • Reply as topic
    Log in to reply
    This topic has been deleted. Only users with topic management privileges can see it.
    • FATeknollogeeF
      FATeknollogee @Obsolesce
      last edited by

      @tim_g said in KVM in Production - Build it yourself:

      The oVirt Engine has to be installed in CentOS, but your oVirt Nodes can be Fedora.

      I'm looking in to self-hosted, with a Fedora oVirt Node, hosting a CentOS oVirt Engine on it as a VM.

      I might have to try that.
      I had previously tried installing the oVirt engine in Fedora...that did not go very well.

      1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
      • DustinB3403D
        DustinB3403 @FATeknollogee
        last edited by

        @fateknollogee said in KVM in Production - Build it yourself:

        @dustinb3403 said in KVM in Production - Build it yourself:

        Tedious as in, everything has to be adjusted by hand, in a CLI. Which isn't horrible, @scottalanmiller probably loves it.

        I on the other hand would prefer a GUI on top to lackadaisical just get going.

        I have zero plans to do backup via scripts & CLI.
        If the backup software has no GUI...I'm not interested.

        That's a bit where I'm at with it. It seems like a solid system, but I need a better approach to backups and restores. As I've not found it yet.

        FATeknollogeeF 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
        • FATeknollogeeF
          FATeknollogee @DustinB3403
          last edited by FATeknollogee

          @dustinb3403 said in KVM in Production - Build it yourself:

          I have zero plans to do backup via scripts & CLI.
          If the backup software has no GUI...I'm not interested.

          That's a bit where I'm at with it. It seems like a solid system, but I need a better approach to backups and restores. As I've not found it yet.

          Well, well @DustinB3403 let me introduce you to... (drum roll, please)...
          KVM host based backup...https://storware.eu/en/storware-vprotect/

          1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
          • stacksofplatesS
            stacksofplates
            last edited by

            I have 12 KVM hosts in production. For the very few machines that have stateful data, I use either the backup options built into the software/service that's running to a mounted location, my script, or I use ReaR. The rest of the systems are stored in Git.

            ReaR is cli but is really easy to automate.

            I ran an oVirt all in one before and it was really slow. It was on my DL380 with 96GB RAM and dual quad core Xeons, so I don't think it was the box. Bare KVM is just fast and easy.

            JaredBuschJ FATeknollogeeF Emad RE 3 Replies Last reply Reply Quote 1
            • JaredBuschJ
              JaredBusch @stacksofplates
              last edited by

              @stacksofplates said in KVM in Production - Build it yourself:

              I have 12 KVM hosts in production. For the very few machines that have stateful data, I use either the backup options built into the software/service that's running to a mounted location, my script, or I use ReaR. The rest of the systems are stored in Git.

              This is not a workable solution for the average SMB right now.

              Email is hosted for most place, but the internal infrastructure is not stateful in a normal SMB. Could it get there, or close? Certainly, but that is not reality.

              The problem with using KVM in production is the lack of robust backup solutions like Veeam that handle hypervisor level backups with things like forever forward incrementals.

              Making a new snapshot every day sucks donkey balls.

              I have not looked into @stacksofplates script yet to see what he has done, but you get my point.

              stacksofplatesS 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 4
              • FATeknollogeeF
                FATeknollogee
                last edited by FATeknollogee

                Oops, I forgot to include the link in my previous post...

                KVM host based backup...https://storware.eu/en/storware-vprotect/

                DustinB3403D 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                • FATeknollogeeF
                  FATeknollogee @stacksofplates
                  last edited by FATeknollogee

                  @stacksofplates said in KVM in Production - Build it yourself:

                  I have 12 KVM hosts in production. For the very few machines that have stateful data, I use either the backup options built into the software/service that's running to a mounted location, my script, or I use ReaR. The rest of the systems are stored in Git.

                  ReaR is cli but is really easy to automate.

                  I ran an oVirt all in one before and it was really slow. It was on my DL380 with 96GB RAM and dual quad core Xeons, so I don't think it was the box. Bare KVM is just fast and easy.

                  I'm with @JaredBusch on this one, no way this sounds user friendly or easy to use.

                  stacksofplatesS 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
                  • DustinB3403D
                    DustinB3403 @FATeknollogee
                    last edited by

                    @fateknollogee said in KVM in Production - Build it yourself:

                    Oops, I forgot to include the link in my previous post...

                    KVM host based backup...https://storware.eu/en/storware-vprotect/

                    How much does it cost?

                    FATeknollogeeF 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                    • stacksofplatesS
                      stacksofplates @JaredBusch
                      last edited by

                      @jaredbusch said in KVM in Production - Build it yourself:

                      @stacksofplates said in KVM in Production - Build it yourself:

                      I have 12 KVM hosts in production. For the very few machines that have stateful data, I use either the backup options built into the software/service that's running to a mounted location, my script, or I use ReaR. The rest of the systems are stored in Git.

                      This is not a workable solution for the average SMB right now.

                      Email is hosted for most place, but the internal infrastructure is not stateful in a normal SMB. Could it get there, or close? Certainly, but that is not reality.

                      The problem with using KVM in production is the lack of robust backup solutions like Veeam that handle hypervisor level backups with things like forever forward incrementals.

                      Making a new snapshot every day sucks donkey balls.

                      I have not looked into @stacksofplates script yet to see what he has done, but you get my point.

                      The script does do an external snapshot and copy that. But ReaR does do incrementals which is why I use that more often.

                      I think if most SMBs looked outside of Windows they would find it's much easier to automate everything. Our DNS, DHCP, and workstation provisioning (kickstarts) is all done through Ansible. I did all of it, so I think it's a fair comparison to an SMB who has one person doing the work. I think those would be the big pieces of what small shops would need, and from there most everything else could be automated.

                      I agree 100% that most aren't that way now. I think it just takes a different mindset and different way of looking at it. I'm also not trying to get everyone to do this. I was just answering the question that was asked in the OP.

                      1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                      • FATeknollogeeF
                        FATeknollogee @DustinB3403
                        last edited by

                        @dustinb3403 said in KVM in Production - Build it yourself:

                        @fateknollogee said in KVM in Production - Build it yourself:

                        Oops, I forgot to include the link in my previous post...

                        KVM host based backup...https://storware.eu/en/storware-vprotect/

                        How much does it cost?

                        I think it was 600 Euro per host.
                        I'll have to dig up the price list.

                        FATeknollogeeF 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                        • stacksofplatesS
                          stacksofplates @FATeknollogee
                          last edited by stacksofplates

                          @fateknollogee said in KVM in Production - Build it yourself:

                          @stacksofplates said in KVM in Production - Build it yourself:

                          I have 12 KVM hosts in production. For the very few machines that have stateful data, I use either the backup options built into the software/service that's running to a mounted location, my script, or I use ReaR. The rest of the systems are stored in Git.

                          ReaR is cli but is really easy to automate.

                          I ran an oVirt all in one before and it was really slow. It was on my DL380 with 96GB RAM and dual quad core Xeons, so I don't think it was the box. Bare KVM is just fast and easy.

                          I'm with @JaredBusch on this one, no way this sounds user friendly or easy to use.

                          There isn't really any need for user friendly anything. It's just easy to use natively. I click one button it builds the server and adds the data it needs. It's really the easiest thing to do. Now I can have Jr. admins build machines exactly the same way every time without any changes. Everything is done through Tower. No more manually logging into boxes to make changes (unless you're trying to learn how something works but that's not in prod).

                          1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                          • FATeknollogeeF
                            FATeknollogee @FATeknollogee
                            last edited by

                            @fateknollogee said in KVM in Production - Build it yourself:

                            @dustinb3403 said in KVM in Production - Build it yourself:

                            @fateknollogee said in KVM in Production - Build it yourself:

                            Oops, I forgot to include the link in my previous post...

                            KVM host based backup...https://storware.eu/en/storware-vprotect/

                            How much does it cost?

                            I think it was 600 Euro per host.
                            I'll have to dig up the price list.

                            € 600 per host (2 sockets), w Standard Support includes 1 year maintenance
                            € 150 per year Standard Support - 8h response time, 8h/5 working days
                            € xxx per year Premium Support - 4h response time, 24h/5 working days
                            € 375 per year Titanium Support - 4h response time, 24h/7 working days

                            1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                            • CloudKnightC
                              CloudKnight
                              last edited by

                              Although I have no issues with KVM, I wouldn't personally use it in a production environment, at least there are more backup solutions for Xenserver and Hyper-V

                              Even though the backup script gets the job done, I wouldn't exactly call it practical.

                              1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                              • ObsolesceO
                                Obsolesce
                                last edited by

                                There appears to be lots of backup solutions for KVM. And these solutions are the best ones. They are simple BASH scripts that do exactly what they are supposed to do, and some PERL scripts.

                                The best kinds of backups are these, and that you can configure, and forget about, with the exception of testing restores occasionally.

                                These backup solutions are the least likely to fail.

                                When you get into vendor-specific and GUI-based backups, that's when thing start to get weird and lose potential reliability.

                                I prefer the CLI-based backups for production. They are the most reliable.

                                I've NEVER had a powershell / BASH scripted backup fail. I cannot say the same for any GUI-based backup (Veeam, WSB, etc.). In fact, I use PowerShell / BASH to "clean-up or fix" GUI-based backup failures.

                                black3dynamiteB 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 3
                                • black3dynamiteB
                                  black3dynamite @Obsolesce
                                  last edited by

                                  @tim_g said in KVM in Production - Build it yourself:

                                  There appears to be lots of backup solutions for KVM. And these solutions are the best ones. They are simple BASH scripts that do exactly what they are supposed to do, and some PERL scripts.

                                  The best kinds of backups are these, and that you can configure, and forget about, with the exception of testing restores occasionally.

                                  These backup solutions are the least likely to fail.

                                  When you get into vendor-specific and GUI-based backups, that's when thing start to get weird and lose potential reliability.

                                  I prefer the CLI-based backups for production. They are the most reliable.

                                  I've NEVER had a powershell / BASH scripted backup fail. I cannot say the same for any GUI-based backup (Veeam, WSB, etc.). In fact, I use PowerShell / BASH to "clean-up or fix" GUI-based backup failures.

                                  I wouldn't mind a text-based UI backups.

                                  ObsolesceO 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                  • ObsolesceO
                                    Obsolesce @black3dynamite
                                    last edited by

                                    @black3dynamite said in KVM in Production - Build it yourself:

                                    @tim_g said in KVM in Production - Build it yourself:

                                    There appears to be lots of backup solutions for KVM. And these solutions are the best ones. They are simple BASH scripts that do exactly what they are supposed to do, and some PERL scripts.

                                    The best kinds of backups are these, and that you can configure, and forget about, with the exception of testing restores occasionally.

                                    These backup solutions are the least likely to fail.

                                    When you get into vendor-specific and GUI-based backups, that's when thing start to get weird and lose potential reliability.

                                    I prefer the CLI-based backups for production. They are the most reliable.

                                    I've NEVER had a powershell / BASH scripted backup fail. I cannot say the same for any GUI-based backup (Veeam, WSB, etc.). In fact, I use PowerShell / BASH to "clean-up or fix" GUI-based backup failures.

                                    I wouldn't mind a text-based UI backups.

                                    Yeah, that's great for full backups. But suppose you have a multi-TB sized VM... maybe you want to do a full backup weekly, and incrementals daily. I don't know how you'd accomplish that in the same way.

                                    CloudKnightC 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                    • ObsolesceO
                                      Obsolesce
                                      last edited by

                                      I suppose it, like everything else, comes down to your specific environmental needs.

                                      1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                      • CloudKnightC
                                        CloudKnight @Obsolesce
                                        last edited by

                                        Text, CLI based doesn't bother me, I would like to see actual speed of VM backups using the script, and does it enable incremental backups of the VM?

                                        1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                        • black3dynamiteB
                                          black3dynamite
                                          last edited by

                                          I amazed that cockpit doesn't have some kind of package for managing backups. That would be awesome.
                                          Someone with mad skills could probably create a backup plugin for Cockpit.
                                          http://cockpit-project.org/blog/creating-plugins-for-the-cockpit-user-interface.html

                                          1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
                                          • F
                                            Francesco Provino
                                            last edited by

                                            Seems that Bacula has a KVM plugin: https://www.baculasystems.com/enterprise-backup-solution-with-bacula-systems/virtual-machine-backup-software . Any experience with that?

                                            matteo nunziatiM 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                            • 1
                                            • 2
                                            • 3
                                            • 1 / 3
                                            • First post
                                              Last post