Host-based backup of Microsoft Hyper-V VMs.
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DarrenD
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Snapshots being created on repository

Post by DarrenD »

Hi,

We have a 2008R2 cluster being backed up with V8. Veeam is running on a VM in this cluster, with the repository set up on a NAS that is connected via ISCSI.

Everything is backing up OK, but I'm looking at it run now and the disk queue on the ISCSI NAS connection is really high - 50+ - and this seems to be down to the fact that the drive hosting the repository is being used for snapshot storage. I haven't noticed this behaviour before. I can see a large number of writer to the System Volume Information directory - 10s of GB so far.

I was expecting the snapshot to be created on the VM host - what would cause a snapshot to be created on the drive used for the repository?

Thanks
veremin
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Re: Snapshots being created on repository

Post by veremin »

Vitaliy S.
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Re: Snapshots being created on repository

Post by Vitaliy S. »

Hi Darren,

VSS snapshot should be created on the volume running the VMs you backup, in your case it should be a CSV storage. When the backup job is running, can you please check if you have any VSS snapshots created for this disk as well? Also it might be worth checking where VSS snapshot storage redirection is pointed to in the Windows configuration settings.

Thanks!
DarrenD
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Re: Snapshots being created on repository

Post by DarrenD »

v.Eremin wrote:Have you already seen the diagram regarding the way how online backup works? Thanks.
Hi,

Yes, I've taken a look through that but that doesn't explain to me why the snapshot would be stored on the volume that is being used for the Veeam repository, and only the Veeam repository - there are no VM hosted on this volume, and no other volumes have this volume configured as their snapshot storage.
DarrenD
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Re: Snapshots being created on repository

Post by DarrenD »

Vitaliy S. wrote:Hi Darren,

VSS snapshot should be created on the volume running the VMs you backup, in your case it should be a CSV storage. When the backup job is running, can you please check if you have any VSS snapshots created for this disk as well? Also it might be worth checking where VSS snapshot storage redirection is pointed to in the Windows configuration settings.

Thanks!
Hi Vitaly,

I'll check this on the next run. We haven't changed the snapshot storage locations for any of the volumes.

If it continues to happen I'll open a support case - I just wanted to check that I wasn't misunderstanding something in the snapshot creation!

Darren
Vitaliy S.
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Re: Snapshots being created on repository

Post by Vitaliy S. »

You got everything correct. VSS snapshot can only be created if you have any VMs running there. Another reason for this behavior could be a lot of data being written to the repository. What is your backup job bottleneck stats? Is it a repository by any chance?
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Re: Snapshots being created on repository

Post by alanbolte »

I think there may be some confusion in this thread about whether you actually see shadow copies on the repository volume (such as via Diskshadow utility), or if we're talking about some other files/snapshots being created, or if you might be seeing unexpected load for some other reason.

Assuming we are talking about shadow copies, did you check if scheduled shadows have been somehow enabled for that repository NAS volume? In Windows Explorer, right-click the volume name and click 'configure shadow copies'.
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