Hardware VSS question

[hkanthony]

We are planning to use hardware VSS to perform Hyper-V CSV backup. We are using EMC Clariion SAN storage now.
I know that the EMC Hardware VSS providers should be installed on all Hyper-V cluster node servers.
However does this VSS providers require to install on the Veeam server and the off-host proxy server?

[Gostev]

Hi Anthony,

You definitely do not need to install hardware VSS provider on the Veeam backup management server. However, you do need to install them on your off-host backup proxy server, this is what will enable the server to mount the SAN snapshot.

Thanks!

[pluke]

Trying to accomplish something similar with a Nimble SAN. Specifically want to use an offhost proxy server to grab the VHDs directly off the Nimble volumes that the HyperV server uses.

Installed Nimble's hardware VSS provider on the offhost proxy server (happens to be the Veeam mgmt server as well) and used "vssadmin list providers" to confirm I see it.

Made iSCSI connection from Veeam server to the volume that holds the guest VHDs. Under the offhost proxy settings for Connected Volumes, I can see this volume on my HyperV server. However when I run a job it fails in 23 seconds with
Unable to allocate processing resources. Error: No offhost Hyper-V backup proxies are avaliable

Do I need to install the hardware VSS provider on my HyperV server too? Do I need to mount the volume as a drive on the offhost proxy server?

[foggy]

Luke, yes, hardware VSS provider should be installed on all Hyper-V servers you want to back up using offhost proxy.

[collinp]

I am trying to accomplish this same thing by using the Hardware VSS Provider with an EMC Clariion array. I am having a hard time finding documentation on what piece of software actually coordinates the snapshot on the storage array. I am assuming Veeam itself wouldn't be responsible for coordinating with the Clariion to perform a SAN snapshot and backup via the proxy. I know that EMC has a tool called"navicli" which can be installed on a client and you can use this tool to coordinate snapshots with the storage array. Is the assumption that we need to work with the SAN vendor to create a script to snapshot the Hyper-v LUN via scheduled task before Veeam tries to backup from the snapshot?

[Gostev]

No, you do not need to do anything like that. Veeam will manage SAN snapshots for you, using Clariion's Hardware VSS Provider (which is the piece that will actually create and remove SAN snapshots).

[markharford]

Hi
I was hoping someone could clarify what EMC software/components need to be installed and on which servers?
Environment:
EMC Clariion AX4-5F SAN
3 Windows 2008 R2 Hyper-V hosts - all connected to SAN via Fibre with Powerpath installed. (Qlogic HBAs and switches)
1 Windows 2008 R2 Management server running Veeam Backup and Replication & System Center VMM - also connected to SAN with Fibre
Failover Clustering set up and working using Cluster Shared Volumes.

I'm a little confused over the exact software I need to download from EMC and where to install it.

Thanks

Mark

[foggy]

Mark, you need to download and install EMC Hardware VSS provider on all Hyper-V hosts you are going to backup VMs from. Also, in case you are going to use offhost backup mode, you need to install the same software on your off-host backup proxy server(s).