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WinServ VM backup vs cloning

Posted: Tue Oct 17, 2017 8:05 pm
by dialbat
Hello,
i want to reinitialize my TS-470 Pro. I have WinServ2012 running and iSCSI luns.
I've backed up luns to external drive, I've cloned VM to external drive and i copied VM file as well.
My VM image file is 120gb, cloned is 62gb - how is that?
What is the best way to backup VM, so i can import it after i reinitialize system?

thank you

Re: WinServ VM backup vs cloning

Posted: Sat Nov 25, 2017 5:04 am
by flagator
I'm wondering the same thing. Just ordered a couple m.2 SSDs and I'm going to reinitialize to put the QNAP OS and VM's on the SSD's. Were you able to re-create your VMs using the backup VMs?

Re: WinServ VM backup vs cloning

Posted: Mon Dec 18, 2017 6:48 pm
by storageman
dialbat wrote:Hello,
i want to reinitialize my TS-470 Pro. I have WinServ2012 running and iSCSI luns.
I've backed up luns to external drive, I've cloned VM to external drive and i copied VM file as well.
My VM image file is 120gb, cloned is 62gb - how is that?
What is the best way to backup VM, so i can import it after i reinitialize system?

thank you
Clone shares code from original VM

Re: WinServ VM backup vs cloning

Posted: Mon Dec 18, 2017 11:16 pm
by Trexx
There are a couple scenario's that may account for this.

1) VM files will grow based on disk usage, even temporary usage, but they will not shrink. So for example, say MS releases a 10GB Service Pack, which you then install and it uses another 20GB to unpack/update/etc. Your VM file will grow 30GB, but won't shrink back once the install is done/you delete the files.

2) There was an issue for VM's created in the prior version of VS 2.x that had snapshots enabled, didn't come cleanly over into VS 3.x and sometimes could "over-allocate" past their defined VDisk limit. Doing a VM backup, and Restore typically resolves these issues.

VS 3.x removed the "clone" function, so your best option is to use VS 3.x backup function, backup the files to an external system (NAS/USB/etc.) then do a VM restore after re-initializing the system.