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NetVault Plug-in for Hyper-V 12.2 - User Guide

Introducing NetVault Backup Plug-in for Hyper-V Installing or removing the plug-in Configuring the plug-in Backing up data Restoring data Troubleshooting

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 topic, 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. 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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In addition to supporting the use of spaces within the name of a VM, the following characters are also supported:: A–Z, a–z, 0–9, ! # % ^ ( ) - _ + = . { } ;
Be aware of the following guidelines and exceptions:
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Names are case-sensitive.
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The plug-in does not support names that end with a whitespace.
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The inclusion and exclusion features do not support the use of spaces at the beginning or end of a VM name pattern.
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The behavior of unsupported characters is unpredictable.
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If your environment uses a Windows Server 2016 and later host or cluster, you can complete Full, Incremental, and Differential Backups. A Full Backup performs a complete backup of the set of items that have been selected. An Incremental Backup backs up the set of items that have changed since the last backup. A Differential Backup backs up the items that have changed since the last Full Backup. The plug-in takes advantage of RCT, which tracks the changed blocks.

Adding patterns to use for inclusion and exclusion of VMs

In addition to selecting VMs from the backup selection tree, you can create and store patterns of VM names for inclusion and exclusion from backup jobs. When you specify VM name patterns to include or exclude, or both, the plug-in stores them with a Backup Selection Set. When you submit a backup job, you can select the set with the stored patterns. The plug-in then populates the backup list with VMs whose names match the specified pattern or patterns.

 
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IMPORTANT: During a backup job, the plug-in gives preference to VMs located under the localhost or <clusterName> node versus information specified using the inclusion and exclusion feature.
To add patterns:
1
In the Navigation pane, click Create Backup Job.
2
Next to the Selections list, click Create New.
3
In the list of plug-ins on the NetVault Backup Selections page, open Hyper-V Plugin.
Below the localhost or <clusterName> node, the plug-in displays two additional items, Specify Inclusions and Specify Exclusions. Clicking Specify Inclusions displays additional options, such as Show include patterns and Add include pattern. After you have selected Show include patterns, the option changes to Hide include pattern. Clicking Specify Exclusion displays additional options, such as Show exclude patterns and Add exclude pattern. After you have selected Show exclude patterns, the option changes to Hide exclude pattern. As you add patterns, the plug-in displays an informational node for each saved pattern.
4
To add a pattern that you want to include in a backup, click Add include pattern.
5
In the Enter include pattern dialog box, type the pattern that you want the plug-in to search for.
Use the asterisk (*) wildcard character as part of the pattern to search for. For example, if you want the plug-in to locate all VMs that start with SQL, type SQL*.
 
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NOTE: If you do not specify an inclusion pattern but you do specify an exclusion pattern, the plug-in automatically assumes that all VMs are included; that is, the plug-in applies an inclusion pattern of *. The plug-in then applies the exclusion pattern to the comprehensive list of included VMs.
6
To save the pattern, click OK.
7
Repeat Step 4 through Step 6 for each pattern that you want to add for inclusion.
8
To add a pattern that you want to exclude from a backup, click Add exclude pattern.
9
In the Enter exclude pattern dialog box, type the pattern that you want the plug-in to search for using the same guidelines described previously for include patterns, and then click OK.
Continuing with the previous example, if you want the plug-in to locate all VMs that start with SQL but exclude specific versions of the SQL Server VMs, type the complete name of the VM that you want to exclude, such as SQLQATest1.
10
Repeat Step 8 and Step 9 for each pattern that you want to add for exclusion.
11
When you are finished, select all required VMs under localhost or <clusterName> node and select the applicable inclusion and exclusion patterns.
12
Click Save, enter a name 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 on all platforms.

Performing backups

The procedure for performing image-level backups, with or without indexing, includes the steps outlined in the following topics.

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Selecting data for a backup
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Setting backup options
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Finalizing and submitting the job

Selecting data for a backup

You must use sets — Backup Selection Set, Backup Options Set, Schedule Set, Target Set, and Advanced Options Set — to create a backup job.

 
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TIP: To use an existing set, click Create Backup Job, and select the set from the Selections list.
1
In the Navigation pane, click Create Backup Job.
You can also start the wizard from the Guided Configuration link. In the Navigation pane, click Guided Configuration. On the NetVault Configuration Wizard page, click Create backup jobs.
2
In Job Name, specify a name for the job.
Assign a descriptive name that lets you easily identify the job when monitoring its progress or restoring data. The job 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.
3
Next to the Selections list, click Create New.
4
In the list of plug-ins on the NetVault Backup Selections page, open Hyper-V Plugin, and expand the localhost or <clusterName> node to display the list of VMs.
5
Select the localhost or <clusterName> node to include every VM that exists at the time of backup, or select individual VMs to back up a specific set of VMs.
 
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IMPORTANT: If VMs are explicitly selected with a green check mark, only the selected VMs are included in the backup, even if new VMs have been added to the Hyper‑V Server since the last backup.

If you are performing an Incremental or Differential Backup for a Windows Server 2016 and later environment, select the Backup Selection Set of the last Full Backup.
6
Click Save to save the set, enter a name 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 on all platforms.
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