Running a Linux Script for vSphere via Veeam Backup & Replication

I needed to do some proof of concept testing on the Pre-Freeze and Post-Thaw scripts to isolate some issues I've been having - rather than just beating my head against the wall all day.

Below are the steps I took to test Application-Aware processing for Linux Scripts for my test virtual machine.

Requirements:

• A Linux virtual machine - Tested with VMware ESXi 6.0.0 3380124 and Lubuntu 16.04 LTS
• Some scripts to run - Here's my example scripts that just create a freeze-thaw.log https://github.com/cajeeper/Veeam/tree/master/Linux%20Script 
• Veeam Backup and Replication - Tested on Veeam Backup & Replication 9.0.0.1715
• Both Veeam Backup and Replication and the Linux virtual machine need to be on the same network.
• And, always RTFM - Veeam Backup & Replication 9.0 User Guide for VMware vSphere https://helpcenter.veeam.com/backup/vsphere/pre_post_scripts.html

Steps:

1. Setup your Linux VM with SSH
   For Lubuntu
   
sudo apt-get install openssh-server -y
   

   

   Installing SSH

   
   
2. Copy your scripts to your Veeam Backup & Replication server
   
   

   

   Copying your scripts

   
   
3. Add the script's execution to the Application-Aware Processing to your backup job.
   
   Edit the job,
   Go to Guest Processing section,
   Enable application-aware process and click Applications,
   Select your virtual machine and click Edit,
   Go to the Scripts tab, and
   Browse to your scripts that you want to run for Pre-freeze and Post-thaw
   
   Note: Don't forget to assign you local login username and password that has SSH and the correct file / execution permissions.
    
   
   
   
   
   
    
4. Save the changes and run the backup job
   
   

   

   Veeam Backup and Recovery Backup Job Test Run

   
   

   

   Verfiying the scripts ran

   
   

Best of luck!

Installing ESXi - Operation Failed "Unable to read partition table for device"

In process of re-purposing an existing a Hyper-V host as a VMware ESXi host - no apologies, by the way - I've ran into this error a few times.

The installation process usually consists of re-sizing the original OS mirrored disk set virtual disks as one 32GB virtual disk and the remaining space as a secondary space to utilize as a utility datastore later for vSphere.

So, what's the reason for the this error? Well, the RAID controller didn't and wasn't told to zero out the disks during the changes to the virtual disks. The end result is the original partition table that was saved on the 278GB virtual disk is visible on the new 32GB virtual disk.

To fix this, we need to either create a new partition table or zero out the partition table data.

Two easy ways, is use dd or GParted on a linux distro live boot disk - Lubuntu is my first go-to.

With dd (to zero out the partition table data):

1. Open a terminal window
   
   
   
2. Run the command: dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/sda bs=512 count=1

• Note: you may need to run as sudo or elevate to su

With GParted (to create a new partition table):

1. Open GParted
   
   
   
2. Click Device, and select Create Partition Table...
   
   
   
3. Click Apply