Migration over NAS and slow connection.

Bzyk47

Hello everyone.

Before I switch completely to XCP-ng, I want to play with it a bit and set up an ad-hoc backup server at the same time.

What I have:
There are two locations: office and home.
Office: A server with ESXi-7 (4 VMs, 500GB, no vCenter) and a Synology DS220j - both running 24/7.
At home: Synology DS220j (runs 24/7, daily backup from office: documents, databases) and a somewhat lavish PC, which is to act as an emergency server. XCP-ng should be installed on it but not run permanently, only if the server in the office breaks down.
Locations are permanently connected with IPSec (relatively slow, approx. 20Mbit upload from the office). I know - sending 500GB over 20Mbit takes 2.5 days. Maybe for first “rsync” FloppyNet can be considered (or nowadays: USB disk).

What I would like to have:
My thoughts are to often do a VMs export from ESXi to the office NAS. Once a week (or month, or after major update in VMs) a rsync (or over FloppyNet if no incremental doable) to NAS at home. So I will have the VMs in 1Gbit network. From time to time import the VM into XCP at home, maybe update XCP itself.
In case of disaster: start oversized PC with XCP-ng, import VMs from home NAS, customize networks in VMs and start/connect. In the worst case, an hour or two of downtime.
If it happens shortly after update - few minutes (only import DBs).

Is it possible? If yes, how?
Greets, Tadek
PS. Sorry for my AI-English

rtjdamen

@Bzyk47 This is relative easy, you install XCP-ng on your office host, install Xen Orchestra, migrate your vms. On your home location you can do 2 things.

create a remote nfs share where Xen Ochetra can do vm backups to.
Create a local XCP-ng installation where you replicate the vms to.

Both is fairly easy to deal with from within the standard settings in Xen Orchestra. The amount of data changed a day is only important for the slow connection in between for replication. i use 500mbit connections for this and that works pretty fast.

If u need anything else or need assistance with the setup just let me know!

Bzyk47

@rtjdamen Hi,
thanks for quick reply, however how can I install XCP-ng on the host in office if it's running ESXi? As a VM? I thought XCP-ng is type 1 hypervisor...

rtjdamen

@Bzyk47 you would need a second host to do live migration/import. What u can do if u can affort any downtime is export your vms to ova of vmdk and rhe install xcp-ng on your vmware host and the import the vms. Its not possible to upgrade vmware to xcp-ng with the vms on it.

Bzyk47

@rtjdamen said in Migration over NAS and slow connection.:

Its not possible to upgrade vmware to xcp-ng with the vms on it.

That's quite understandable

I don't have a second real server either. I spent $200 on RAM and SSDs to bring my 8-core home PC up to the hypervisor requirements for 4 VMs. That should be enough to tide me over for a week or two, if the real server fails, before I fix it or buy a new one.

I'm not going to move completely right away because I'm not familiar with XCP-ng. It would be too dangerous for business, aside from the downtime (it would be doable on Sunday). I want to look at XCP first and test it for some time.
Hence the idea of doing it via NAS.

But I don't reject the option of deleting the vmware and installing XCP-ng if it works well on the backup server. That is actually the goal. First learn with backup-server, then move completely.

Davidj 0

@Bzyk47
Could you take your home PC to the office for a week?

Take it to the office, and install XCP-ng on it
Migrate your VMs from ESXi to XCP-ng.
Install XCP-ng on your office server.
Migrate your VMs to your office server.
Do incremental backups of your VMs to your home pc.
Take your home PC back home.

This solves your bandwidth problem, lets you continue to operate during your migration, and doesn't require new hardware.