ESXi, backups, etc

[Curio]

We're currently getting quotes from companies for server support and off-site backup. I'm having a hard time getting my head around how the VMs figure into the whole backup scenario.

We use ESXi 4.1 free, and as I understand it, the free version doesn't support backups? Only one company has identified this as a problem and say we'll need to spend thousands on the full version of ESXi to be able to backup the VMs. The other 2 companies have all-singing-all-dancing backup services, but no mention has been made of the VM side of things.

I've got so many acronyms and so much tech-babble BS flying around that I'm totally lost. The bottom line is, if our building gets hit by a meteor, will we be able to quickly get our VMs back on-line with ESXi free and off-site backup? Or do we need to spend a lot on a fully functional version of ESXi?

(please explain as if talking to a 2 year old with learning difficulties )

Thanks!

 

[Curio]

OK, here is some more info. I'm not a server/network person so I might not be explaining this 100% correctly

We have 1 Dell R410 server which hosts 3 VMs. Our actual data is stored on an older Dell 1950, which is then replicated (ZFS) onto a second 1950. The two 1950's were our older servers that were re-utilized in this fashion when we got the R410. It was seen as a good option at the time because it meant getting more use from the 1950's. We then have a file-level backup to our current support company's data center using Crash Plan Pro.

Due to the disks in the 1950's not being very big, we have now run out of space. The plan (all 3 companies have essentially the same plan) is to migrate everything to the R410 which has 4TB (4x1TB drives in RAID 10) of storage that isn't even being used currently.

Company A (our current provider) is saying the problem with this is that we'll lose the redundancy of the ZFS replication. Although, I'm not sure where the RAID capability of the R410 comes in? Wouldn't RAID 10 give us that same level of backup as the ZFS setup?

Company B wants to install a dedicated backup server, which apparently does OS level backups for everything. This also then goes to their data center for off-site backup.

Company C I'm still waiting for the details from, but I get the impression it will be similar to B.

 

[Curio]

RAID isn't backup, if the controller goes, so does your data so company a are right in what they are saying

Aren't there separate controllers? What's the point in having RAID 10 in a server if there's no redundancy?

 

[Curio]

It's a fine line, but defining the terms I think is what's key. RAID provides redundancy, so when hard drives die etc it still functions. But if the server were to corrupt data in some way or something gets deleted, then RAID will not help with this. This is what a backup is for, a separate point in time copy of the server, ideally sufficiently isolated and removed from it's source to prevent negative causes affecting both live and backup data. I've seen a lot of people mix up the terms backup with redundancy and use them interoperability which causes confusion, even vendors..

Thanks. How is our current ZFS replication different though?

Sorry, this is all very complicated to me and I'm having to get a crash-course in a short space of time!