Host-based backup of Microsoft Hyper-V VMs.
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danoarx
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Backup problem with VM with Spanned Volume on VHD and VHDx

Post by danoarx »

We have a setup where we have a few VMs that have bigger than 2TB volumes. Since they are running Windows 2008 R2 so we had to create spanned volume on multiple VHDs. The first disk where the spanned volume exists is VHD and other disks are VHDx. After upgrading to Veeam 8 we had some requests to restore a couple of these VMs and we found out that after restoring the spanned does not come online. Inside the OS the disks that reside on VHDx are showing as invalid. We did some testing and found out that the backups made with Veeam 7 are restoring fine but the backups made with Veeam 8 have this problem.

Have been working with Veeam support since a couple of weeks and still don't have a resolution. Instead of fixing this bug that was introduced in Veeam 8, they keep on telling us to convert our disks to VHDx and not to use VHD/VHDx combination. When we purchased Veeam a couple of years ago, we worked with Veeam support many times on some issues with CSVs etc and they were quick to resolve the issues. We were impressed. I know some of those engineers have left Veeam now and the level of support we are getting now is really not good.

They keep on telling us VHD/VHDx is not a good setup and we should convert our VHDs to VHDx. We understand that but they are yet to understand our point that "Why was it working fine in Veeam 7?". The newer version is supposed to be better, right?

We think it is a bug in Veeam 8 and they should fix it.

Anyone has any idea what might be going on????
Shestakov
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Re: Backup problem with VM with Spanned Volume on VHD and VH

Post by Shestakov »

Hello Adnan,
Could you provide the mentioned support case number, so we can take a closer look?
Thanks!
danoarx
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Re: Backup problem with VM with Spanned Volume on VHD and VH

Post by danoarx »

Hi,

The Case No. is 00892156


Thanks
foggy
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Re: Backup problem with VM with Spanned Volume on VHD and VH

Post by foggy »

Converting to VHDX looks like a good recommendation in this case. Remember, due to a Microsoft limitation, the VM guest OS with dynamic disks can be backed up using saved state only. So with a spanned disk you have only crash-consistent backup of those VMs that can actually lead to undesired consequences (due to inability to use VSS and properly quiesce the VM before backup). Restoration from such backups is like Russian roulette, any sort of corruption is possible (think taking the plug off the socket each time). With VHDX in place, you can easily have a disk up to 64TB in size without spanning and have consistent backups of it.

That said, if you're not satisfied with the support you're being given, don't hesitate to use the Talk to a Manager button available on the support portal.
danoarx
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Re: Backup problem with VM with Spanned Volume on VHD and VH

Post by danoarx »

Thanks. We can convert to VHDx but we will have to shutdown the VMs first. Secondly as this was working fine with Veeam 7, so this means this is a bug in Veeam 8 and it should be fixed instead of using workarounds.

We have already involved Managers, lets see. But one think for sure, the level of support is not as good as it was a couple of years ago.
foggy
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Re: Backup problem with VM with Spanned Volume on VHD and VH

Post by foggy »

danoarx wrote:Secondly as this was working fine with Veeam 7, so this means this is a bug in Veeam 8 and it should be fixed instead of using workarounds.
The fact it worked with v7 does not actually tell this is a v8 bug. As I've already mentioned, recovery from crash-consistent backup is not highly predictable and you could just be lucky to avoid issues while working with previous version. As far as I know, nothing has changed in v8 in terms of working with dynamic disks.

Anyway, I think converting disks is a more effective way of addressing this issue than waiting for the fix (if there is something to fix, of course; all that said, I can guarantee that support will try to track this down further).
danoarx wrote:We have already involved Managers, lets see. But one think for sure, the level of support is not as good as it was a couple of years ago.
I believe this is your personal perception that is based on your own experience with support so far. I fully admit one's experience can be negative, however there are numerous posts here where people are extremely pleased with our support team and the service they provide.
danoarx
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Re: Backup problem with VM with Spanned Volume on VHD and VH

Post by danoarx »

Let me explain you a bit more. We have tried restoring many backups that were made by Veeam 7, and all worked fine. It can't be luck. The problem is with the VMs that have VHD and VHDx both. We have other large VMs that have spanned volumes on VHDs only, they are still restoring fine. Again these VMs that have VHD and VHDx both restore fine from Veeam 7 backups.
I do not believe it was a luck, there is something changed that is causing this.

About the support, like you are not accepting there can be a bug, this is the same behavior we are getting from support. I don't think it is the right thing.

I have personally worked with Veeam many many times before. and yes they were very good. When we moved from VMware to Hyper-V about 2-3 years ago and evaluated Veeam as a backup solution. There were alot of issues as Veeam said we are their only customers who have big Hyper-V setup and they worked for few weeks with me to test things and resolve issues. They were quick to accept the problem and therefore worked on resolving them. during that time they built a few patches, had us test them and then released them. But this time they are not even accepting it is a problem.

Maybe the support person assigned to us this time is good enough.
foggy
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Re: Backup problem with VM with Spanned Volume on VHD and VH

Post by foggy »

Adnan, I'm not ruling out the probability of a software issue, my initial point was that currently you're having crash-consistent backups for those VMs only, which is not the best practice (however can be acceptable, depending on what applications do these VMs run) and can be easily avoided.

As far as I know, you're going to have a webex session with our tech guys today, let's see whether they find something in your environment that leads to the behavior you're seeing.
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