Scribd
Upload
178 views6 pages

How To Disable - Enab

The document discusses two methods for disabling changed block tracking (CBT) on running virtual machines (VMs) without powering them off. The first method uses an Avamar utility called proxycp.jar to disable CBT on VMs managed by the Avamar backup software. The second method uses PowerCLI commands to modify the VM configuration and create a snapshot in order to disable CBT on unmanaged VMs. Both methods allow disabling CBT without taking the VMs offline.

Uploaded by

Lao Quoc Buu
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
178 views6 pages

How To Disable - Enab

The document discusses two methods for disabling changed block tracking (CBT) on running virtual machines (VMs) without powering them off. The first method uses an Avamar utility called proxycp.jar to disable CBT on VMs managed by the Avamar backup software. The second method uses PowerCLI commands to modify the VM configuration and create a snapshot in order to disable CBT on unmanaged VMs. Both methods allow disabling CBT without taking the VMs offline.

Uploaded by

Lao Quoc Buu
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
You are on page 1/ 6

 The Gurleyman

HOME > TECHNOLOGY > VIRTUALIZATION > HOW TO DISABLE/ENABLE


CHANGED BLOCK TRACKING (CBT) ON RUNNING VMS

Published December 3, 2014 by Chris

How to Disable/Enable Changed Block Tracking


(CBT) on Running VMs
If you use a backup product that leverages VMware’s changed block tracking (CBT),
you have probably also found cases when CBT wasn’t the right fit. In the world of
EMC Avamar, I’ve found that VM image-level backups will slow to a crawl if enough
blocks change but don’t quite reach the level (25%) necessary to automatically revert to
a full backup.

When I created a case with EMC Support, they dug into the logs and then pointed to
best practices that recommend disabling CBT when more than 10,000 blocks
regularly change between backups. The problem I hit next was that the top result and
KB for enabling/disabling CBT was a VMware post stating that step 1 was to power
off the VM. Backups are running long and the next maintenance window isn’t for two
weeks. Hmm…

1. Avamar method
2. PowerCLI method

1. Avamar. Then I recalled that Avamar seems to have no issue turning on CBT hot
when adding VMs to its inventory. If it can turn it on, how about turning it off? From
the GUI, the only time it exposes that option is adding a “New Client” in the
Administration panel. To be new, it can’t exist, which either means retiring the active
client or deleting it. Deleting it worked smoothly, but also wiped out all backups (not a
good idea); retiring seemed to hang when adding it back, but sometimes worked.
Getting closer…

Width: 1920
EMC suggested trying the proxycp.jar utility on the utility node. This tool does a lot of
fun stuff with VM clients and their related backup proxies. To download the latest
version (important), use FTP and the link below:

ftp://avamar_ftp:[email protected]/software/scripts/proxycp.jar

Then, upload it via SFTP/SCP to your Avamar utility node and ‘sudo cp’ it to
/usr/local/avamar/bin. After that, SSH to the utility node and run the following
commands to disable CBT and then verify that it worked (or run first to check status):

proxycp.jar –cbtstatus –disablecbt –vm <vm_name>

proxycp.jar –cbtstatus –vm <vm_name>

Width: 1920
2. PowerCLI. “Benj” posted a quick script on this back in 2012 with the full post
available here:

http://www.itwalkthru.com/2012/03/disabling-or-enabling-vmware-
change.html

Others have since pointed to Veeam KB1940 for validation of this method, and
curiously, the exact same script is given. Either both pulled from the same source
(albeit Veeam was two years later), or Veeam pulled from Benj, too. Regardless, here’s
the gem:

Get the VMs with CBT enabled:

$vms=get-vm | ?{$_.ExtensionData.Config.ChangeTrackingEnabled -eq


$true}

Create a VM Specification to apply with the desired setting:

$spec = New-Object VMware.Vim.VirtualMachineConfigSpec


$spec.ChangeTrackingEnabled = $false

Apply the specification to each VM, then create and remove a snapshot:

foreach($vm in $vms){
$vm.ExtensionData.ReconfigVM($spec)
$snap=$vm | New-Snapshot -Name 'Disable CBT'
$snap | Remove-Snapshot -confirm:$false}

Check for success:

get-vm | ?{$_.ExtensionData.Config.ChangeTrackingEnabled -eq $true}

If others in the community have any warnings concerning these hot-mods, feel free to
comment. Hopefully this can help those who have otherwise been limited to
downtime changes.

Share this:

 Facebook  Twitter  LinkedIn  Google


Width: 1920
 Reddit  Email
Previous Post
Real-World Dedupe on HP 3PAR

Next Post
What’s Involved In Upgrading XtremIO to 3.0?

Chris

 TECHNOLOGY VIRTUALIZATION

 AVAMAR BACKUP EMC VMWARE

2 Comments

Sam Chow said:

My question is about the snapshot process.


I have a SQL sever on which I need to reset CBT. Will this command create a
complete snapshot of the server ? My concern is that the deltas will not get
consolidated and removed during business hours. Server is 4 disks of 2TB
and 500GB each.

March 8, 2017 | Reply

Chris said:
→

Sam, yes it will create a complete/full snapshot and backup, but your
concern is valid. A new full backup may incur significant
consolidation time, depending on your backup software/target.

The context of this article was Avamar, which wasn’t always quick
about taking full backups. In 2015, I replaced Avamar with Rubrik

Width: 1920
(www.rubrik.com; for whom I now work), which addresses this pain
point of customers (consolidation challenges), among other benefits.

Let me know if you have any other questions!

March 12, 2017 | Reply

Leave a Reply
Enter your comment here...

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Search... Go

TAGS

3PAR Avamar AWS backup blogging Cisco cloud community compression deduplication Dell
disaster recovery EFI EMC ESXi HP Hyper-V IETF IPv6 load balancing love Microsoft

migration Multipathing PowerCLI Pure Storage QLogic relationships RemoteFX replication

Width: 1920
Rubrik SSH syslog vCenter VDI Veeam VMFS vMotion VMQ VMUG VMware

VMworld Watermark worship XtremIO

The Gurleyman
"It takes a manly man to be a Gurleyman." ~Sommer

IGNITE WORDPRESS THEME BY COMPETE THEMES.

You might also like