NetVault Plug-in for Hyper-V 12.2

There are multiple options available: Backup Type, Maximum Number of Parallel Streams, Enable indexing for File Level Recovery, and Enable Active Block Mapping.

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The Backup Type section is available if the Backup Selection Set is based on a Windows Server 2016 and later host or cluster. Because the plug-in uses RCT to ensure that only changed blocks are sent to the Incremental or Differential Backup stream, you can indicate whether you want to complete a Full, Incremental, or Differential Backup. A Full Backup performs a complete backup of the set of items that have been selected. A Full Backup does not depend on any other backup and can be restored in a single step. An Incremental Backup backs up the set of items that have changed since the last backup. A Differential Backup backs up the set of items that have changed since the last Full Backup.

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The default for Maximum Number of Parallel Streams is 4 for Windows Server 2012, 2012 R2, 2016,and 2019 and 1 for Windows Server 2008 R2. If your environment uses Windows Server 2012, 2012 R2, 2016, or 2019 you can increase the setting up to 32.

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The Enable indexing for File Level Recovery option is disabled by default. Indexing lets you restore individual files and directories from image-level backups of VMs.

File-level indexing is available to VMs that use the following file systems:

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Windows: NTFS

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Extended file systems: EXT2, EXT3, and EXT4

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XFS on Linux and UNIX

File-level indexing does not affect the size of the backup. However, it increases the size of the backup index and the total backup time. The amount of time taken to perform file-level indexing depends on several factors. These factors include the number of files, fragmentation of files on the volumes, network traffic, and load on the Hyper-V Server.

The plug-in also supports volumes managed by Logical Volume Manager (LVM) on Linux-based systems and Logical Disk Manager (LDM) on Windows-based systems as single or spanned disks. It does not support Windows Server 2012, 2016,or 2019 ReFS (Resilient File System) and Striped Disks or Storage Spaces.

If you intend to use file-level recovery for Linux- or UNIX-based VMs hosted on Windows Hyper-V Servers, the names of files, directories, and volumes cannot contain keyboard combinations of Alt+0 through Alt+32, nor can they contain the following characters: \\ \\ / [ ] : | < > + ; = . ? " (For more information, see https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc956689.aspx.)

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The Enable Active Block Mapping option is enabled by default. To reduce network and storage requirements, ABM technology provides filters to remove zeroed blocks during backups. Removing these blocks reduces the backup size and the amount of data transferred over the network. If you disable ABM, the plug-in automatically uses zero-block exclusion to ensure that the zeroed blocks are excluded during backups.

ABM is available to VMs that use the following file systems:

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Windows: NTFS

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Extended file systems: EXT2, EXT3, and EXT4

To select the backup options:

Next to the Plugin Options list, click Create New.

If your environment uses Windows Server 2016 or later, in the Backup Type section, select Full, Incremental, or Differential, whichever is applicable.

In the Maximum Number of Parallel Streams box, enter the applicable number.

If your environment uses Windows 2012, 2012 R2, 2016, or 2019 you can enter up to 32 to improve load balancing or performance, or both. However, if you are using tape drives, the number of parallel backup streams selected must be equal to or less than the number of available drives.

If you might want to perform restores at the file level, select the Enable indexing for File Level Recovery option.

If you want to disable ABM for any reason, clear the Enable Active Block Mapping option.

Click Save, specify a name for the set in the Create New Set dialog box, and click Save.

The name can contain alphanumeric and nonalphanumeric characters, but it cannot contain non-Latin characters. On Windows, there is no length restriction; however, a maximum of 40 characters is recommended.

Finalizing and submitting the job

Use the Schedule, Target Storage, and Advanced Options lists to configure any additional required options.

Click Save or Save & Submit, whichever is applicable.


	TIP: To run a job that you have already created and saved, select Manage Job Definitions in the Navigation pane, select the applicable job, and click Run Now.

You can monitor progress on the Job Status page and view the logs on the View Logs page. For more information, see the Quest NetVault Backup Administrator’s Guide.

NOTE: If you add a VM to the Backup Selection Set after the initial Full Backup or any subsequent Incremental or Differential Backup, the plug-in does the following:

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Creates a Full Backup of the new VM if you run an Incremental or Differential Backup.

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For subsequent Differential Backups, runs a Full Backup of the new VM if RCT is supported for the VM disks.

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For subsequent Incremental Backups, runs an Incremental Backup of the new VM if RCT is supported for the VM disks.

Example:

Select any VM, for example, MyVM1, and create a Backup Selection Set, for example, MySelectionSet.

Run a Full Backup using MySelectionSet.

Modify MySelectionSet, and add a VM, for example, MyVM2.

Run an Incremental or Differential Backup using MySelectionSet.

Run another Incremental Backup or Differential using MySelectionSet.

As a result, when you select Incremental Backup for the Backup Type, the plug-in creates a Full Backup of MyVM2 in Step 4 and an Incremental of that VM in Step 5. When you select Differential Backup for the Backup Type, the plug-in creates a Full Backup of MyVM2 in Step 4 and Step 5.

Using backup policies

You can use policies to submit one or more jobs that target one or more similar clients. The following procedure outlines the basic process. For more information, see the Quest NetVault Backup Administrator’s Guide.

In the Navigation pane, click Manage Policies.

On the Manage Policies page, click the browse button, and select Add.

Enter a Policy Name, and click Add job.

On the Create Policy Job page, complete the applicable sections, and click Save.


	TIP: You can use the inclusion- and exclusion-pattern feature to select which VMs to back up. For more information, see Adding patterns to use for inclusion and exclusion of VMs.