Snapshots and backups - file level or block level - new to nimble

[dtopo93]

Hello all. I have a possible upcoming storage project, and really am impressed so far what I've read about Nimble products.

My questions is this....with say a CS220 array..... what can expect from the built in software as far as backups and snap shots? For example, if I present ISCI LUNS to my VMware hosts, and on those LUNs I have VMFS datastores with my vmdks in the datastores of course, and windows server volumes formatted w NTFS on those vmdks ...what exactly are the Nimble snapshots of? I'm guessing they would be snapshots of the VMFS datastores, or are they actual snapshots of the files sitting on my NTFS windows volumes.? Does Nimble provide an agent to backup inside my VMs at the file level as well? 

Any information is appreciated for this Nimble newbie!

For the record I'm looking to have rotational file level backups.   VM level backups and replication (such as w Veeam )  and possibly disaster recovery to another offsite array. So again, any info on how I can achieve that within the Nimble offerings would be great ....thanks in advance....Dennis

[Nick_Dyer · Accepted solution]

Hello Dennis,

Nimble Storage is a block level device, so therefore any snapshots you take within the system will be of the native filesystem volume blocks you have created - ie VMFS within VMware, NTFS within Windows, rather than individual files or virtual machines.

We do provide restoration workflows in order to quickly clone a snapshot, mount to a server and restore the file / VM should you wish - have a search around this forum for those blogs. The vCenter plugin also provides some great workflows for similar requirements within VMware.

Hope this helps!