backing up a hyper-v based server

MassiveJim · 1 Jul 2019 at 14:01

Recently upgraded my ageing poweredge 2900 for a used R720.

am now using a hyper visor for the first time in my life which has been a learning experience in itself.

Hyper-V installed on a RAID-1 array (2 x 278GB 15k SCSI)
All VMs stored on this array also.
running 2012 Hyper-v
currently running 4 VMs in total
3 x 2012 R2 for various functions
1 x DHCP, AD, DNS Server
1 x File server
1 x backup file server
1 x W10 Pro for convenient off site network access

the file server VM has a VHD on a RAID 10 array for local network storage (4 x 278GB SCSI 15k, with a hot swap drive)
1 of the VMs is a kind of backup server, it has pretty much everything backed up to a pass through 8TB WD Gold drive, pass through so that in the case of emergency I can pull the drive from the server is needed and throw it in any windows machine and get the data off it.

So now that is all out of the way (anything dumb that I should be changing above ?)

I haven't run hyper-v before, what is the best way to go about backing this lot up reliably ?
and any best practices that I should be employing that a noob wouldn't necessarily thing about ?

Rabtech · 1 Jul 2019 at 17:17

Veeam Community Edition - you could also replicate irreplaceable files encrypted via Duplicati to a cloud service such as your google/live account.

Throrik · 1 Jul 2019 at 23:34

I would second VEEAM. You could even create an SOR in Azure for off-site redundancy if needed.

MassiveJim · 2 Jul 2019 at 10:31

Thanks guys I'll look in to VEEAM.

As for redundancy
I have a machine I built at home for my NAS, it is running a supermicro motherboard in a rackmount chassis with 16GB ECC RAM, currently only running XigmaNAS on it but I could have a tinker and get a hyper-v running on it so that I can use it as offsite redundancy.

That would be a challenge for me in terms of getting it all working, probably not at the stage i want to mess around with that currently however, I have only just got my head around hyper-v and it is running in a live environment as well.

brendy · 2 Jul 2019 at 22:08

Veeam or BackupAssist, any hyper-v aware app should do the job depending on whether you need basic backups, granular restores, bare metal etc.

Liquidfox · 3 Jul 2019 at 16:55

As above, another vote for Veeam Community Edition. I still can't quite believe they've provided software for free which is normally worth around £1,500. I'm aware there's limitations in that you don't get support and VM numbers are limited, but it's a brilliant piece of software.

Trig · 6 Jul 2019 at 14:05

Veeam, all day..

Armageus · 6 Jul 2019 at 14:23

Liquidfox said:
As above, another vote for Veeam Community Edition. I still can't quite believe they've provided software for free which is normally worth around £1,500. I'm aware there's limitations in that you don't get support and VM numbers are limited, but it's a brilliant piece of software.

Just deployed it at work as didn't have any backup option for our few hyperv vms. Dead easy and just works.

soisix · 8 Jul 2019 at 02:52

Another option is Altaro - been using this for 6 years to backup our Hyper-V estate, and it now also backsup VMWare.

Have used the restore fucntion many times and never failed.

Nice and simple to use

D

Liquidfox · 8 Jul 2019 at 09:49

soisix said:
Another option is Altaro - been using this for 6 years to backup our Hyper-V estate, and it now also backsup VMWare.

Have used the restore fucntion many times and never failed.

Nice and simple to use

D

The free version is missing major features, Veeam's community edition is fully featured.

MassiveJim · 8 Jul 2019 at 11:01

Veeam up and running, managed to get it to push out the agent to 2 workstations as well. W7 workstation not playing ball for some reason. Think it might have s problem anyway, always takes ages to login.

It seems fairly straight forward though, had a small issue where it wouldn't install but when I came back to it next day it was fine

CrimsonAvenger · 10 Jul 2019 at 06:45

soisix said:
Another option is Altaro - been using this for 6 years to backup our Hyper-V estate, and it now also backsup VMWare.

Have used the restore fucntion many times and never failed.

Nice and simple to use

D

Another vote for Altaro here.

I had issues getting VEAM running on some existing VMs and couldn't get them resolved just went around in circles. Probably me rather than the product I may add. Altaro installed and up and running in a few hours.

ChrisD. · 10 Jul 2019 at 09:26

100% Veeam. I work in enterprise and out of all he backup products I've used, Veeam if by far the simplest to set up.

Armageus said:
Just deployed it at work as didn't have any backup option for our few hyperv vms. Dead easy and just works.

If it's work/production and you're using the community edition then I'm fairly sure you're in breach of the EULA.

Armageus · 10 Jul 2019 at 09:55

ChrisD. said:
100% Veeam. I work in enterprise and out of all he backup products I've used, Veeam if by far the simplest to set up.

If it's work/production and you're using the community edition then I'm fairly sure you're in breach of the EULA.

Use Veeam Backup & Replication Community Edition to protect up to 10 VMs — or a combination of VMs, cloud instances, physical servers or workstations. You can protect your production environment, use it in your home lab or use it for migrations at no cost.

ChrisD. · 10 Jul 2019 at 10:02

Wow, that's new to me, thank you. That might help me out with a project I'm working on.