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Chapter 2
Before You Install
If you will not be using cataloging, in order to provide the most flexibility, it is recommended to install
vRanger using an external SQL database server. This will allow you to relocate the vRanger
installation simply by installing the application in another location, and pointing the Install Wizard to
the existing database.
2.4.2.a
Sizing the Catalog Database
The vRanger catalog process collects and records metadata and path information for files updated
since the last backup and catalog entry. Depending on the number of VMs protected, and the number
of files in each VM, the catalog database may grow quite rapidly.
Actual database growth will vary depending on the Guest OS and the number of files changed
between backups, but the information below can be used as an approximate guide.
With default filtering, the full catalog of a generic Windows 2008 VM is approximately 500 files,
or approximately 0.2 MB.
Note: Many Windows files are not cataloged due to filtering (see “Catalog Filtering” in Chapter 3 of
the vRanger User’s Guide). An amount of data equal to a standard Windows 2008 installation will
result in a larger catalog footprint.
2.5.0
Incremental and differential backups will only catalog changed files, making the catalog record
for these backups considerably smaller. Using incremental and/or differential backups will allow
you to store catalog data for many more savepoints than if you used only full backups.
Installing the vRanger Virtual Appliance
The vRanger virtual appliance can process backup and restore tasks in addition to replication tasks.
This allows you to scale backup, restore, and replication activity across multiple hosts or clusters,
while maintaining central scheduling and reporting control from a single vRanger server.
While the deployment and configuration of the virtual appliance are covered in more detail in
“Configuring the Virtual Appliance” in Chapter 3 of the vRanger User’s Guide, the information below
should help you understand the usage of the virtual appliance.
2.5.1
Virtual Appliance Usage
The vRanger virtual appliance can be used to perform the following operations. For each of these
operations, the processing activity occurs on the VA.
Restore - network and LAN-Free (HotAdd)
File-level restore
Linux file-level restore
2.5.2
Backup - network and LAN-Free (HotAdd)
Replication
Deployment Locations
The locations to which the vRanger virtual appliance(s) should be deployed depend on the specifics
of the virtual environment in question.Some general guidelines for VA deployment are:
You may share a single virtual appliance among the hosts within a cluster. You may install a
virtual appliance to some or all hosts within a cluster as well. If a VA is not detected on the host,
vRanger will check if the host is part of a cluster, and then if that cluster has a VA available.
You must have a virtual appliance deployed on any ESXi host or cluster that will be used for
replication and backup. This is true regardless of whether the host or cluster will be used as the
source or target of the replication tas