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NetVault Plug-in for Hyper-V 10.5 - User Guide

Configuring settings for a standalone or clustered deployment

Before you start using the plug-in for backups and restores, you must configure the Working Directory. During backup, the plug-in uses this directory as the mount folder and loads the snapshot onto it. If you are configuring the directory for a Virtual Client, this directory applies to all clients managed by that Virtual Client. In addition, this Working Directory holds all the restored files during image-level restore and recovery. This path should be a directory on the Hyper‑V® Server on which the plug-in is installed.
If you are using a Windows Server® 2012 or 2012 R2 environment, an additional option, Show VMs being managed by a cluster, might be visible on the Plug‑in for Hyper‑V tab. This option is only available for a physical machine if the host is part of a Hyper-V Cluster.
1
In the Navigation Pane, click Create Backup Job, and click Create New next to the Selections list.
2
In the selection tree, open the applicable client node, and select Plug‑in for Hyper‑V.
3
From the Actions list, select Configure.
4
On the Plug‑in for Hyper‑V tab, update the path for the Working Directory if the default — C:\HyperV_APM_Working_Dir — is not acceptable.
Specify a path to store the intermediate data temporarily during backups and restores. Ensure that the specified directory exists and that it has sufficient space to hold the contents of the largest VM that might be restored. The plug-in does not verify that the path exists nor that the available space is sufficient for storing the virtual disk images.
5
If the Show VMs being managed by a cluster option is available, select it only if the host is not managed by a Virtual Client.
 
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IMPORTANT: Dell recommends that you use Virtual Clients to manage clustered hosts and that you do not enable this option.
6
If you are configuring a Virtual Client, click the Cluster Management tab, and enter the following information:
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Cluster Domain: Enter the Windows® domain of the cluster.
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Username: Enter the account name that has the permission and privileges required for administering the cluster and Hyper-V®; that is, a domain-administrator account.
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Password: Enter the password associated with the user specified in the preceding field.
7
To save the settings, click OK.

Enabling communication between hosts in clustered environment

After installing and configuring a NetVault Backup Virtual Client, you must ensure that the Virtual Client can manage all hosts included in a cluster and that each host can access any other host included in the cluster.
 
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TIP: For clusters with many hosts, you can create a script file that contains all the following commands. You can then run the script on each host.
1
From a command prompt on the first host included in the cluster, type:
cd <NetVaultBackupInstallDirectory>\util
The default installation directory is C:\Program Files (x86)\Dell\NetVault Backup\util or the corresponding directory under C:\Program Files.
2
For each host that was added to the Virtual Client, type:
nvclientaccess -client <clientName> -password <clientPassword>
where <clientName> is the name of the next physical client that was added to the Virtual Client and <clientPassword> is the same one that you specified when you added the client to the NetVault Backup Server.
For example, if you have three hosts, run nvclientaccess -client <clientName> password <clientPassword> on Host1 with <clientName> as Host2. Run nvclientaccess -client <clientName> password <clientPassword> again on Host1 with <clientName> as Host3.
3
Repeat these steps for every host included in the cluster.

Backing up data

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Backing up data: an overview
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Performing backups

Backing up data: an overview

Plug‑in for Hyper‑V supports image-level backups and restores. An image-level backup includes all disk and configuration files associated with a given VM, enabling restoration of the entire VM. You can use this type of backup if hardware fails or VM disk files are deleted. Using the file-level indexing feature, you can also back up images with file-level indexing enabled and later perform file-level restores. As described in the next section, there are network-connectivity issues with non-VSS-compliant VMs.
Important considerations
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Do not schedule multiple image-level backups to run simultaneously on the same VM. Running these backup types for the same VMs simultaneously may result in failure of one of these jobs because the plug-in allows only a single snapshot for a VM at any given point.
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Backups cannot be performed if the Hyper‑V® Server or Cluster is in maintenance mode or inaccessible.
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Plug‑in for Hyper‑V supports the backup of databases that reside on VMs provided the databases are in a consistent state. The vendor, such as the VSS Writer for SQL Server and Oracle, must support the handling of consistent data before it provides the data to the plug-in. If an inconsistent snapshot error — VSS_E_WRITERERROR_INCONSISTENTSNAPSHOT — occurs, the plug-in notes this information in the debug trace and continues with the backup process.
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The plug-in uses installed VSS hardware providers on the backup host. If a provider-related error occurs, the plug-in tries to complete the backup using the applicable software provider.
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Online image-level backups are not fully supported for the following VMs:
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Non-VSS-compliant VMs, such as Linux®
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Windows Server 2012 VM hosted by Windows Server 2008 R2
During backup, these VMs are placed in a Saved State, which causes the VM to pause. The VM resumes activity after the snapshot is taken.
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