Add new Hyper-V host to existing cluster

[ejenner]

Hi guys.

Trying to add a new Hyper-V node to an existing cluster but it appears with a red-X over it.

I can't delete the whole cluster as I get a warning about jobs being associated with it. I was thinking of deleting and re-adding as a possible workaround.

How is this supposed to be done. I've found the instructions for adding a new Hyper-V cluster or standalone from scratch. But not sure about adding a new server to an existing cluster.

[Mike Resseler]

Hey EJ,

How did you add it? I wonder if a simple rescan would not have fixed this issue?

[ejenner]

I followed this guide: https://helpcenter.veeam.com/docs/backu ... l?ver=95u4

[ejenner]

Furthermore, if I perform a rescan of the "SCVMM Servers" container under Microsoft Hyper-V in Backup Infrastructure it rescans all the existing servers but misses out the new one.

There are no problems when adding the new host. Just that it appears with a red-X over it and won't let you manage the volumes. It might be a problem with the installation of the VSS Provider perhaps

Here's how it looks:

[ejenner]

I think I can rule out any problem with the VSS Hardware Provider.

I should clarify, when I first started looking at this the new host was already listed under the cluster with the red-X over it. It appeared by itself (presumably after a automatic rescan)

You can add it a second time as a 'Hyper-V standalone' without any errors. i.e. you can add it twice.

When you look at the newly added standalone Hyper-V you are able to Manage Volumes and when you manage you can see HP 3PAR VSS Provider

[Mike Resseler]

So, normally, because you have an SCVMM server, the host should have been added automatically (as you stated) but not with a red cross, and it should all be automatically. By adding it as you did in the above method, you added a standalone and it appears twice in there. At this moment, I think you should remove it from the standalone host but I fear that might do something bad.

So in this case, to clean it up, I suggest you contact support to make the DB fully clean with no leftovers.
As always, please post the support case ID and the outcome afterwards

[ejenner]

I already removed it a while ago. Does not seem to have caused any problems.

I'm going to wait until after the Easter break to log a ticket.

[Mike Resseler]

OK. Did the red cross disappear now from under SCVMM?

[ejenner]

Worth noting I suppose... although it had been added automatically, none of the Veeam components had been installed. Hence my decision to try and push some components to it by adding it manually.

In fact, since I have removed the second manually added instance of this server the Veeam components have been removed. It still has the Veeam agent for Windows, but apart from that... all other components were de-installed when I removed it from backup infrastructure.

[ejenner]

Answer to your question = no. Still there with the red-X

[nmdange]

When you add a host in SCVMM, you have to update SCVMM. So just right-click the SCVMM host itself in Veeam, go to properties and go through the wizard. It will re-discover and update any hosts that have changed.

[ejenner]

nmdange = 1
Mike Resseler = nil

That fixed it.

So the answer for anyone else who runs into this issue is to run through the properties for the SCVMM if you're trying to add a new host to an existing cluster.

[Mike Resseler]

EJ,
Ouch... That hurts

I think this should be something that needs to be added to the documentation

[ejenner]

I'm not sure how complicated it would be to change the way this works. I'd say very...

What stumped me was the fact it had already been automatically added but without any of the necessary components having been installed. Maybe some text should appear beside the automatically added host explaining that the SCVMM properties wizard should be re-run to push out the components to the new server instead of just a red-X.

[Mike Resseler]

Yep, that might be enough already. Still kind of thinking that once it gets detected, you want to have the components installed automatically, on the other hand... I think the reason behind it might have been that you suddenly don't want to run out of licenses.

[nmdange]

I definitely don't want Veeam to install components to every Hyper-V host managed by SCVMM automatically. I only want Veeam components installed on Hyper-V hosts that contain VMs Veeam is backing up.

[Mike Resseler]

Yep, I agree with that, but that said, I am still thinking how we can improve the "rerun" wizard to add hosts when needed. I am open for suggestions

[nmdange]

What confused me at first is that if you right click the SCVMM server, you see a "Rescan" option and "Properties". But Rescan just looks for storage volumes (not even sure what the purpose for that is). Maybe having an option in the right-click menu named "Rescan Storage" and "Rescan Hosts" to make it more obvious what to do.

[ejenner]

Perhaps the most sensible place to add functionality would be on the node with the red-X on it. "Add to Cluster" on the right-click menu or something like that.

[Mike Resseler]

Thanks for the feedback all,

FYI, we updated the documentation with a note: https://helpcenter.veeam.com/docs/backu ... l?ver=95u4