Best method(s) to backup VMs running on HyperV?

Posted by Kara Marfia on Server Fault See other posts from Server Fault or by Kara Marfia
Published on 2009-05-06T18:38:53Z Indexed on 2010/04/01 22:33 UTC
Read the original article Hit count: 238

Filed under:

hyper-v

|

backup

We're in the middle of P2V'ing most of the network, so the current backup method is likely the worst - the backup agent is still installed on the guest OSs, and the backup device is dutifully pulling them onto tape, one file at a time.

I suspect there's a clever way to script (PowerShell?) a suspend on the VMs, then backup of the .vhd files, and unsuspend the VMs. This seems like it would provide big speed benefits, while losing file-level restore (might be best for things like DCs and app servers).

What methods/policies have you hammered out?

© Server Fault or respective owner

Related posts about hyper-v

HyperV on Domain Controller or DC on HyperV?

as seen on Server Fault - Search for 'Server Fault'
I want to setup a little fileserver/domain controller/sharepoint server. SharePoint shouldn't run on the DC directly, so I want to use HyperV. But I never used it before, so I wonder: Should I install the Domain Controller and HyperV Role and run 1 VM for SharePoint? Or should I run HyperV server… >>> More
Hyper-V and Hyper-threading: On or off?

as seen on Server Fault - Search for 'Server Fault'
Hey all, With the new Xeon CPUs supporting Hyper-threading, what is the current wisdom with regard to using it (or not) on a Hyper-V host machine? I was originally under the impression that turning it on in a virtual host environment could be detrimental as the 'extra' CPUs were not true cores.… >>> More
Migration of VM from Hyper-V to Hyper-V R2 - Pass through disks

as seen on Server Fault - Search for 'Server Fault'
I am trying to migrate a VM which is using two pass through disks from a legacy Hyper-V Cluster to a new R2 cluster. The migrated VM cannot use the pass through disks though. The guest OS (2008 R2) doesn't seem to like the disk and eventually tries to format the disk instead of mounting it. The… >>> More
Comparison of Hyper-V, Hyper-V Server, VMware ESXi, Xen and Parallels Bare Metal (Community Wiki)

as seen on Server Fault - Search for 'Server Fault'
Can we use this question to collect information and the pros and cons of each of the above products? Specifically I am wondering whethere there is any sane reason to use Hyper-V (the role built into Windows Server) over Hyper-V server (the stand-alone product based on the same technology) and what… >>> More
Hyper-V Deployment Options Best Practices

as seen on Server Fault - Search for 'Server Fault'
In what circumstances would you choose each of the following deployment options: Hyper-V installed as the bare bones Windows Hyper-V Server 2008 R2 Hyper-V role installed on a Windows Server 2008 R2 Server Core installation Hyper-V role installed on a Windows Server 2008 R2 Full Installation For… >>> More

Related posts about backup

backup exec - backup to disk offline

as seen on Server Fault - Search for 'Server Fault'
Hi We are running backup exec 9.1 doing a backup to disk to portable hard disk drives. When we run the backup manually it works fine. But when the backup is setup to run in the evening on a schedule it does not run as the backup to disk folders goes offline and therefore has to be switched back… >>> More
Ideal backup appliance for backup software like Bacula?

as seen on Server Fault - Search for 'Server Fault'
I'm at a small company and we (the IT department of two) manage <100 client computers and a handful of servers. Currently we're using a company's appliance to handle backup; it does a small backup every night and a full backup every weekend, and a guy comes on Wednesday to take an offsite backup… >>> More
Symantec Backup Exec Error on backup

as seen on Server Fault - Search for 'Server Fault'
Recently we have moved some of servers from real servers- into virtual servers. Since then, we are getting errors like the following: Error category : Resource ErrorsError : e000fed1 - A failure occurred querying the Writer status. For additional information regarding this error refer… >>> More
Windows Server Backup - Recover only shows the latest backup

as seen on Server Fault - Search for 'Server Fault'
We're having quite some trouble at work using Windows Server Backup. We have a HyperV server (Win 2008) running 8 virtual web servers, these are running a variety of OS'es: Win 2003, Win 2008 and a lone Debian. Each virtual server has a separate partition on the physical HyperV server, so e.g. E:… >>> More
Failed Backup Job With Backup Exec 12 and AOFO

as seen on Server Fault - Search for 'Server Fault'
I am backing up a Windows 2003 Small Business Server with SP2. We are running Backup Exec 12 with SP4. Recently the backup job started failing on backing up the system state with the following error: V-79-57344-34110 - AOFO: Initialization failure on: "System?State". Advanced Open File Option… >>> More