Best way to backup and restore HyperV Servers?

[Sonic007]

Hi everyone,

 

What is the best way to quickly backup and restore a virtual server in HyperV?

 

Is it better to do a Windows Server Backup or use HyperV and do a server Export and Import?

 

Thankyou.

[birchanger]

Use a backup system that backs up the VM as a VM, not a bunch of files. Veeam for example.

[3s-gtech]

We use Windows Server Backup on the host. Works well in my testing, when I’ve needed it. Can be flexibly scripted if the MMC doesn’t give enough scope.

[Sonic007]

Thanks.

 

I'd like to keep using the built in tools if possible.

[Sonic007]

We use Windows Server Backup on the host. Works well in my testing, when I’ve needed it. Can be flexibly scripted if the MMC doesn’t give enough scope.

 

 

I've currently got the servers backing up using Windows Server Backup each night and until now havent tried restoring.

 

Got a bit of free time and thought I'd test it out and check it all works. Is it quick to restore from this?

[MatthewL]

Veeam all the way for me personally.

[round2it]

if you want a fairly cost effective hyper v backup you can try altaro vm backup i have been using for 2 yeras and it has proven to be a good purchase

[3s-gtech]

I've currently got the servers backing up using Windows Server Backup each night and until now haven't tried restoring.

 

Got a bit of free time and thought I'd test it out and check it all works. Is it quick to restore from this?

Surprisingly so. Mine back up to an iSCSI attached Synology NAS on 1Gb link, I recently restored a 100GB or so VM (to roll back changes) and it took a few hours.

[Steve21]

Aye we used to use Windows Server ones for schools that didn't want to pay for other software (mainly smaller primaries), and time wise it obviously depends on the storage/network between the devices, it's not going to be quick if you're restoring an entire VM unless they're small ones.

 

On a side note, we found (unless it's been updated in 2019) that you really do need to script/schedule backups away from MMC to get a proper setup going, so takes a bit of tuning but works a lot better that way

 

Steve

[TwistedHelixis]

I have always used Windows server backup to backup all VM's across my schools. Has never let us down (yet). I normally do a test restore every month and not had an issue in over 7 years. I seem to remember you can also mount the vm file and get at the files if needed.

[Sonic007]

I have always used Windows server backup to backup all VM's across my schools. Has never let us down (yet). I normally do a test restore every month and not had an issue in over 7 years. I seem to remember you can also mount the vm file and get at the files if needed.

 

 

Can I ask how do you normally go about restoring it?

[Steve21]

I seem to remember you can also mount the vm file and get at the files if needed.

 

You can do individual file/folder restores now too, it just doesn't seem very logical on the restore wizard. When you tell it to restore a server, the next screen is something like pick whether it's whole machine/drive/folder etc now. (Obviously check on your version of server/windows before doing it live but should still work)

 

Steve

[TwistedHelixis]

Can I ask how do you normally go about restoring it?

I normally backup to an iscsi server, every few days I use Windows task to copy the iscsi backup to a USB drive.

 

To restore I normally plug the USB drive in to the schools spare server, open Windows backup and do a restore. I normally dont restore the hyper-v config as it only takes 30 secs to create this in hyper-v.

 

If needed I can also connect directly to the iscsi server and do a restore.

 

EDIT - Its all very simple and all built in

Edited May 19, 2020 by TwistedHelixis

[Jcx500]

Using redstor here , client on each vm and then a central management console, works great !

[Guest Guest]

We're using Veeam to 2 onsite respositories and soon to backblaze

 

We're paying £450 a year for 8 VMs over 2 HyperV hosts

[mavhc]

If you're backing up within Windows, Windows Server Backup.

 

Backing up VMs from the hypervisor is slightly trickier, WSB supports it, as does wbadmin cmd line for Hyper V Server. Main issue come when restoring.

 

There's free options like https://www.vembu.com/vembu-bdr-suite-free-vs-paid-edition/ and https://www.veeam.com/virtual-machine-backup-solution-free.html?ad=menu-products for up to 10 VMs and Free Hyper-V Backup | Hyperoo Backup

[TwistedHelixis]

If you're backing up within Windows, Windows Server Backup.

 

Backing up VMs from the hypervisor is slightly trickier, WSB supports it, as does wbadmin cmd line for Hyper V Server. Main issue come when restoring.

 

What issues? Not had any issues restoring VMs

[BroganOs]

I’m using Veeam free and it works great. I had to do a full vm restore the other day and it worked easily and more importantly perfectly. It restored it back into production and started the vm up straight away.

[mavhc]

IIRC there's no built in method of restoring files from within the VM, there's no verification of the backup, can't have >1 backup in a smb mount, and it won't tell MSSQL that it's been backed up so it can remove its transaction log

[ITGURU]

Varies for me across our sites. One uses Veeam (Vmware hosts), but for other (hyper-v) windows server backup. However it's scripted, I have 3 folders, Today, Yesterday and older, which each day it rotates round so i can restore an entire VM back up 3 days ago, and then have a separate file level backup daily on a longer rotation schedule.

[ADMaster]

I use DPM for regular backups, but I've also had success with powershell. If you need a quick one off backup look into the export-vm cmdlet.

 

I basically loop though the VMs I want to backup, export them and zip them with a date.

 

Which reminds me it has been a while since I've pulled these out of band backups.

[DWakely]

+1 for Altaro. Good product and their support is very good. You get a chat window in the app so you can talk to support directly which is nice. Used Veeam previously but worked out way too expensive for our setup even with the edu discount.