Really no need to image Hyper-V host?

[StefanoFereri]

Hi forum,

most people say that host doesn't need to be backuped, because it's simple to recreate it in case of disaster. But to me it takes about two hours to set it up again. Precisely:

1. Setup 2012 R2 core on Proliant ML150 G9 from remote share (no DVD drive, this machine does not boot from USB in it's default UEFI mode): 45 Minutes
2. Deploy HP drivers (after initial setup the system has no working NIC): 20 Minutes
3. Run Windows Update: 30 Minutes
4. Ad Hyper-V-Role via powershell (it's a core) and run several dozens additional commands 30 Minutes

To restore an image, that was created from drive C: (host partition), should be much faster and easier, right?

Could someone please comment on that - what am I misunderstanding? If there's some Proliant specialist who would say "Why don't you..." would be appreciated too, of course...

Thanks in advance,
Stefano

[StefanoFereri]

Hi forum,

just installed B&R on administrator's workstation for the very first test of Hyper-V backups. First encounter with GUI is not bad, looks clean and I was able to connect to the host, everything was shown as green. But on the first look cannot find a way to take an image from host partition (up to now there are no VMs, I'm just testing). How does B&R achieve DR backup of host? Or does that only work with licensed version?

Thanks and regards,
Stefano

[Vitaliy S.]

Hi Stefano,

Veeam B&R allows backing up VMs only. If you need to backup your Hyper-V host, then I would suggest using Veeam Endpoint Backup FREE.

Thanks!

[PTide]

Hi,

most people say that host doesn't need to be backuped

I believe that holds if you have a spare host that has been fully equipped so it just sits somewhere ready to get connected to your production storage. If it wasn't Core you could back it up with an Endpoint. I think a good option would be to have another drive with OS installed so in case of failure you just swap drives.

Thank you.

[StefanoFereri]

Hi Vitaliy,

just installed VEB, but can't detect any way to remotely backup my Host?

Thanks and regards,
Stefano

[StefanoFereri]

Should have mentioned, that it's a Hyper-V core, so I cannot run VEB onto the host itself. Is a remote backup of Hyper-V host possible with VEB?

Thanks!

[veremin]

Nope, as VEB should be installed on a machine itself. Just wondering whether there is a real necessity to backup a core server itself, when all VMs residing on it are already protected via VB&R. Thanks.

[StefanoFereri]

That's what most people say: No necessity to backup host, because it's recreated within short time. But I'm not sure. Setting up a new host in case of DR will take hours: Windows setup, then HP drivers, then Windows Updates, then all the powershell commands to setup network and other configuration. I'm not experienced with that, but from my point of view I an image of host partition would give me a good feeling.

Thanks for contribution,
Stefano

[foggy]

If you feel having a host image would allow for faster restore, you can use any of the 3d party tools allowing to do that in cooperation with Veeam B&R backing up VMs running on this host.

[nmdange]

You can also use the native Windows Server Backup feature to do an image backup of the physical server. Just make sure you don't accidentally include all the VMs in the backup!

[GladstoneRC]

HI Stefano,

The idea behind not backing up hosts comes from having your hosts clustered so the working hosts will run your VM's while you rebuild your sever. We have 12 hosts in our cluster over two locations and can loose 3 in total before running out of resources.

If you only have a single host for your VM's then you only have a single point of failure. At least core has a smaller attack footprint, but you still have hardware failure.

[marcinbojko]

Stefano,
if you're in real need for quick restore - try CLonezilla approach. You can make an device-image in a matter of minutes, and restore even faster.
Just try to separate disk/partition with OS from VM's partition/disk.
Hyper-V uses fair amount of storage space (in my case, 6-10 GB), CLonezilla skips hiberfile and pagefile processing, so it is just lazy and cheap solution
If you're using AD for managing you host, try to manage/change all things through GPOs - restoring whole image and applying changed items would be really quick.
Just remember to to an image after every big WIndows Update session - and that's all.

[mkaec]

The idea behind not backing up hosts comes from having your hosts clustered so the working hosts will run your VM's while you rebuild your sever...

It's still two hours of wasted time to rebuild the server. I'd much rather have a backup to restore from. We use VEB or Windows Server Backup for our physical servers.

I personally think the real reason for the recommendation for not backing up hosts is that Veeam couldn't do it and the sales guys needed to be able to say something. Plus, I have a feeling a VMware host is a lot quicker to set up than a Hyper-V host. (Veeam was a VMware-only product in the beginning.)

[dannyt65]

Hi All,

Silly question... But how does everyone backup their physical Hyper V Host servers?

Thanks

Daniel

[Vitaliy S.]

You can use Veeam Endpoint Backup FREE for that. Thanks!

[dannyt65]

Thanks is that fully supported for a clustered host? i heard there was previously problems with the c:\clustered storage and redirected access?

Thanks

Daniel

[Vitaliy S.]

Unfortunately, no. VEB currently doesn't support protection of Microsoft Clusters, but does allow you to protect single nodes.

[frankive]

will VEB exclude CSV as default or do we need to exclude them manually?

[spgsit5upport]

There is nothing that needs to be excluded
C:\clusterstorage mount point is just ignored during backup

I never had to restore HV host server, so can not comment on what happens ion that scenario, but backup itself works perfectly fine

Seb