Best Method to Backup Hyper-V Servers

[Zoom7000]

I've just commissioned a new server and domain. The setup consists of the following:

 

HOST01 (Physical Server)

Windows Server 2016

Dell PowerEdge T430 (I think off the top of my head!)

32GB RAM

4 x 4TB HDDs (RAID 5)

Partitions:

C:\ Drive: 500GB

H:\ Drive (Hyper-V): 4TB (Might extend to 5TB)

Unallocated: ~6.5TB

 

DC01 (Domain Controller - Virtual Server)

Windows Server 2016

8GB RAM

VHD1: C:\ Drive - 500GB

VHD2: 1.5TB (H:\ Drive - Home Folders: 1TB) (F:\ Drive - WDS: 500GB)

VHD3: W:\ Drive (WSUS) - 500GB

 

MIS01 (SIMS Server - Virtual Server)

Windows Server 2016

8GB RAM

VHD1: C:\ Drive - 500GB

VHD2: D:\ Drive (SIMS Data) - 500GB

 

The question I have is what is the best way to back this up? All our user data is now stored in Google Drive. The home folder shares is simply to give the users a working area for files that aren't compatible with Google Drive (ActivInspire etc). Staff have been warned that files won't be backed up, so it's not high on my priority list.

 

Would the best way be to take snapshots every night and back them up to LGfL Gridstore? I have 2TB space allocated, so I won't be backin up all the VHDs, only the most vital to recover from a disaster. I've been told to look at Veeam, but I haven't had a proper look yet.

 

What you you guys suggest?

[localzuk]

Look at Veeam. That's my recommendation.

[Zoom7000]

Look at Veeam. That's my recommendation.

 

lol, thanks! It's on the to do list.

 

A few questions, which version and roughly, what kind of costs am I looking at. What will Veeam achieve that a simple screenshot backup to USB won't?

[Guest kiest90]

We use Altaro and never had any issues with it

[localzuk]

Veeam is licensed by number of processors, and has a yearly maintenance cost. It depends what features and capabilities you need. Difficult to give you any ideas on that - better to simply have a look at their site, see what edition you'd want, then contact a reseller for a price, telling them how many CPUs you have in your machine.

 

Veeam is good at the following:

 

Fast backing up - backing up 4TB of stuff takes a while.

Compression - the end result is compressed very well, so takes up a lot less space.

Differential backup - very quick and effective.

Scheduling - you can set and forget.

[ntoupin]

We use Altaro and never had any issues with it

 

We use the same, haven't had to use any of the backups but it works simply and is free depending on your needs.

[Parm79]

We use Veeam we pay for the virtual servers the cost is not to much and the hyper v host we use veeam backup for Windows so all our servers are covered on top we keep everything in house so I does not tie us down to any company for storage we got a couple qnap boxes that replicate between each other. So far we can go back 6 months :-) and the qnaps come in handy to archive old data off..

[Tefters]

Veeam all day every day !

Been using the product for 7 years across multiple sites on anything from a 1 host server to a 6 host cluster.

Incredibly powerful, incredibly simply, incredibly efficient!

In DR it's fantastic (3 server cluster recovered in 2 days, includes ordering new HW on next day!) and is also dead handy for when upgrades/migrations go south and you can spend XX hours trying to fix a mess or simply just 1 click restore in minutes!

[newpersn]

Just to add/ask

 

Has anyone played with server 2016 server backup? Has hyper-v options?

[Zoom7000]

When everyone says they're using Veeam. What product are they using. I ended up using Veeam Endpoint Backup Free, after having Google'd "Veeam Free" and ended up with Veeam Backup and Replication Free, which promptly killed my domain controller VM!

 

I'm now using the Endpoint Agent to backup my DC VM to a file and then manually copying it to a USB hard drive.

[vizubeat]

Veeam is superb.

 

Also, a mention for https://www.nakivo.com/ - we use this and it's similarly excellent. Very similar feature set to Veeam, for less money.

 

We use is with VMware, but they also support Hyper-V.

Edited August 16, 2017 by vizubeat

[Arthur]

When everyone says they're using Veeam. What product are they using.

Veeam Backup Essentials Enterprise (6 Sockets) plus 4 years maintenance which cost us £4,871.61 + VAT.

 

As you have found out the free version isn't really suitable...

 

www.veeam.com/veeam_backup_9_5_free_vs_paid_comparison_ds.pdf

[Tefters]

Arthur's a man after my own heart except I just took out 5 years before the price jump, again Essential Enterprise all the way.

I also use the endpoint to backup a few crucial machines such as our eCopy Pod (used for Sharescan to Sims) and our Finance managers PC which had all the NatWest and other banking software on (Sage etc...), what's great is a link the endpoint to our Veeam Proxy and it all goes through that to our NAS boxes.

[geezersoft]

Veeam is a really strong product. I would recommend it. You can get a free trial to see if it is right for you.