Forum Discussion
speachey
Cirrus
CirrusVMWare Backups of active VEs?
We collect nightly UCS files of all of our BIG-IP VEs. If we need to restore from UCS, it requires requesting the build of a new guest before we can apply the latest UCS backup (VMWare is managed by...
Reply from F5 Support:
Thank you for reaching out to F5 Support. My name is Manisha from NA region and will be assisting you with the service request. Please let me know if these hours align with your needs. If not, we can reassign the case to a desired region.
1. Yes, as stated it the article F5 does not support the Snapshot process being used on a BIG-IP.
Recommended ActionsCreating and archiving backups should be done regularly and prior to any upgrade. The only supported method is to do so via an F5 UCS Archive.
2. Regarding your 2nd query --> there is a script that resides on the system as a cron job, that does automatic backups and even transfers these backups to a remote server, if properly set up. Please see below articles for automated UCS backups on BIG-IP :
https://my.f5.com/manage/s/article/K13418 ---> Archiving UCS files using the logrotate and crontab utilities (11.x - 17.x)
https://my.f5.com/manage/s/article/K78344940 ---> Schedule automated UCS backups on the BIG-IP system
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Kind Regards,
Manisha Kota | Service Provider Engineer
whisperer
MVP
MVPI have customers with the same issue as to different team maintaining certain infrastructure. Some chose to run dedicated hardware and not be subject to the whims and scheduling of another team within their organization. Not the answer you were looking to get, but certainly another option to consider ;)
FWIW I use a VMware workstation lab environment, and torture my F5 VE guests. I usually have no issues with rebuilding from a particular UCS when needed, even thought I pause, snapshot, etc. all the time. Also, keep in mind one other important thing.... to rebuild an F5 VE, you really need a few things --- the master password which you can obtain from the other unit and rekey on the replacement or target unit, and the base configuration. So, even if you base configuration is a bit old, as long as the F5 VE is serviceable, you can rebuild missing config (shared config only) by syncing from the surviving unit. So just some more ideas.
speacheyThanks for the response. F5 support confirmed that UCS backups are still the only recommended backup procedure to avoid service disruption. It is rare we need to restore VEs, and we will continue collecting UCS archives nightly.