Veritas NetBackup™ for Hyper-V Administrator's Guide

Last Published:
Product(s): NetBackup (8.3.0.1, 8.3, 8.2, 8.1.2, 8.1.1)
  1. Introduction
    1.  
      About Hyper-V
    2.  
      NetBackup for Hyper-V environment
    3.  
      Hyper-V terminology related to backup
    4.  
      Basic phases in a NetBackup backup of a Hyper-V virtual machine
    5.  
      NetBackup administrator tasks for Hyper-V
    6.  
      Quick reference for troubleshooting
  2. Notes and prerequisites
    1.  
      NetBackup for Hyper-V prerequisites
    2.  
      NetBackup for Hyper-V notes and restrictions
    3.  
      NetBackup character restrictions for Hyper-V virtual machine display names
    4.  
      NetBackup character restrictions for vhd or vhdx names and the VM path when the Enable file recovery from VM backup option is used
    5.  
      Notes on Linux virtual machines
  3. Configure NetBackup communication with Hyper-V
    1.  
      Changing the NetBackup Legacy Network Service logon (vnetd.exe) to the domain user account
    2.  
      Setting global limits on the use of Hyper-V resources
  4. Configure NetBackup policies for Hyper-V
    1.  
      Creating a Hyper-V policy from the Policy Configuration Wizard
    2.  
      Creating a Hyper-V policy from the NetBackup Policies utility
    3.  
      Limit jobs per policy on the Attributes tab (for Hyper-V)
    4.  
      Virtual machine host names and display names should be unique if VMs are selected manually in the policy
    5. Backup options on the Hyper-V tab
      1.  
        Optimization options (Hyper-V)
      2.  
        Primary VM identifier option (Hyper-V)
      3.  
        Enable offline backup of non-VSS VMs (Hyper-V with VSS)
      4.  
        Cluster shared volumes timeout (Hyper-V with VSS)
    6. Hyper-V - Advanced Attributes
      1.  
        Provider Type configuration parameter (VSS)
      2.  
        Snapshot Attribute configuration parameter (VSS)
      3.  
        Virtual disk selection parameter (WMI)
      4.  
        Existing snapshot handling parameter (WMI)
      5.  
        Consistency level parameter (WMI)
      6.  
        About the exclude disk options for virtual disk selection
      7.  
        Virtual disk selection options: an example to avoid
      8.  
        Restoring data from the backups that excluded the boot disk or data disks
    7. Browse for Hyper-V virtual machines
      1.  
        About cached names for virtual machine backup
    8.  
      Prerequisites for alternate client backup of a virtual machine (VSS)
    9.  
      Configuring alternate client backup of virtual machines
    10.  
      Requirements for a NetBackup client inside the virtual machine
  5. Configure Hyper-V Intelligent Policies
    1.  
      About Hyper-V Intelligent Policy (automatic selection of virtual machines for backup)
    2.  
      The basics of a NetBackup query rule
    3.  
      Important notes on Hyper-V Intelligent Policy
    4.  
      NetBackup requirements for Hyper-V Intelligent Policy
    5.  
      Setting up Hyper-V Intelligent Policy: Task overview
    6.  
      Options for selecting Hyper-V virtual machines
    7.  
      Creating a Hyper-V policy for automatic virtual machine selection
    8.  
      Editing a query in Basic Mode
    9.  
      Using the Query Builder in Advanced Mode
    10.  
      AND vs. OR in queries
    11.  
      Examples for the NetBackup Query Builder
    12.  
      The IsSet operator in queries
    13.  
      About selecting virtual machines by means of multiple policies
    14.  
      Order of operations in queries (precedence rules)
    15.  
      Parentheses in compound queries
    16.  
      Query rules for virtual machine Notes that contain a newline character
    17.  
      Query Builder field reference
    18.  
      Test Query screen for Hyper-V
    19.  
      Test Query: Failed virtual machines
    20.  
      Effect of Primary VM identifier parameter on Selection column in Test Query results
    21.  
      Effect of Primary VM identifier parameter on VM Name column in Test query results
    22.  
      Restoring a VM that was backed up with a Hyper-V Intelligent Policy and that has a pass-through disk
  6. NetBackup Hyper-V for SCVMM
    1.  
      About backup of virtual machines in an SCVMM environment
    2.  
      Notes on NetBackup for Hyper-V with SCVMM
    3.  
      Creating a query to back up VMs in a localized SCVMM environment
  7. Windows Server failover cluster support
    1.  
      About virtual machines on Windows 2008, 2012, and 2016 failover clusters
    2.  
      Notes on CSV backup and restore
    3.  
      Creating a policy for virtual machines in a cluster
    4.  
      Location of the restored virtual machine in a cluster
    5. Virtual machine maintenance after a restore
      1.  
        Removal of cluster resources during restore
    6.  
      Hyper-V restore may fail if the VM was created on a CSV and the CSV is a reparse point on the destination drive
  8. Back up and restore Hyper-V
    1.  
      Backing up Hyper-V virtual machines
    2.  
      WMI backup method: State of the virtual machine before and after restore
    3.  
      Notes on individual file restore
    4.  
      Notes on full virtual machine restore
    5.  
      About restoring individual files
    6.  
      Restoring individual files to a host that has a NetBackup client
    7.  
      Restore Marked Files dialog for restore of individual files
    8. Restoring individual files to a shared location on the virtual machine
      1.  
        Setting up NetBackup Client Service for restore to a shared location on the virtual machine
    9.  
      Restoring the full Hyper-V virtual machine
    10.  
      Restore Marked Files dialog for restore of the Hyper-V virtual machine
    11.  
      About restoring common files
    12.  
      The BAR interface may list Hyper-V snapshot files when you browse to restore Hyper-V VM files
  9. Use Accelerator to back up Hyper-V
    1.  
      About the NetBackup Accelerator for virtual machines
    2.  
      Accelerator: full vs. incremental schedules
    3.  
      How the NetBackup Accelerator works with virtual machines
    4.  
      Accelerator notes and requirements for virtual machines
    5.  
      Accelerator forced rescan for virtual machines (schedule attribute)
    6.  
      Accelerator requires the OptimizedImage attribute
    7.  
      Accelerator backups and the NetBackup catalog
    8.  
      Accelerator messages in the backup job details log
    9.  
      NetBackup logs for Accelerator with virtual machines
    10.  
      About reporting the amount of Accelerator backup data that was transferred over the network
    11.  
      Replacing the Accelerator image size with the network-transferred data in NetBackup command output
  10. Best practices and more information
    1.  
      Best practices
  11. Troubleshooting
    1. NetBackup logs for Hyper-V and how to create them
      1.  
        Enabling VxFI logging
      2.  
        Configuring VxMS and vhd logging
      3.  
        Format of the VxMS core.log and provider.log file names
    2. Errors during policy creation
      1.  
        NetBackup policy validation failed
    3. NetBackup status codes related to Hyper-V
      1.  
        Snapshot error encountered (status code 156)
    4.  
      Backup job hangs for multiple virtual machines
    5.  
      Viewing or resizing Windows NTFS shadow storage
    6.  
      The Hyper-V integration component is not installed
    7.  
      LDM volumes and status code 1
    8.  
      Hyper-V snapshots (avhd or avhdx files) and status code 1
    9.  
      Unable to log in to the NetBackup Administration Console
    10.  
      When backing up the virtual machines that reside on the same CSV, Windows warning 1584 can be ignored
    11.  
      Problems with alternate client backup
    12.  
      Restored virtual machine fails to start
    13.  
      Problem with a restart of a restored virtual machine: Why did the computer shut down unexpectedly?
    14.  
      Problems with restore of individual files
    15.  
      Problems with restore of the full virtual machine
    16.  
      Unable to change virtual disk settings for a VM after restore if the VM had user checkpoints during a backup that used the WMI method
    17.  
      Increasing the WMI create disk time-out value
    18.  
      Linux VMs and persistent device naming
  12. Appendix A. VSS backup method: Hyper-V online and offline backups
    1.  
      About Hyper-V online and offline backups for VSS
    2.  
      Conditions that determine online vs. offline backup for VSS
    3.  
      Additional notes on offline backups with VSS
    4.  
      Hyper-V 2012 R2 virtual machines may be in the Off state when restored
  13. Appendix B. Hyper-V pass-through disks
    1.  
      About Hyper-V pass-through disks with NetBackup
    2.  
      Configurations for backing up pass-through disks
    3.  
      Requirements for backing up Hyper-V pass-through disks
    4.  
      Restrictions for Hyper-V pass-through disks
    5.  
      Configuring a local snapshot backup of Hyper-V pass-through disks
    6.  
      About alternate client backup of pass-through disks
    7.  
      Configuring an alternate client backup of Hyper-V pass-through disks
    8.  
      Important note on VSS and disk arrays
  14. Appendix C. NetBackup commands to back up and restore Hyper-V virtual machines
    1.  
      Using NetBackup commands to create a Hyper-V policy
    2.  
      Using NetBackup commands to create a Hyper-V Intelligent Policy
    3.  
      The bpplinfo options for Hyper-V policies
    4.  
      bpplinclude options for modifying query rules in Hyper-V policies
    5. Examples of nbrestorevm for restoring VMs to Hyper-V
      1.  
        Hyper-V examples of restore to original location
      2.  
        Hyper-V examples of restore to alternate locations
    6.  
      The nbrestorevm -R rename file for Hyper-V
    7.  
      Notes on troubleshooting the nbrestorevm command for Hyper-V
    8.  
      Logs for troubleshooting the nbrestorevm command

Query Builder field reference

Table: Query Builder drop-down options: Join, Field, Operator, Value(s) describes the drop-down fields and options for creating rules in the Query Builder.

Table: Query Builder drop-down options: Join, Field, Operator, Value(s)

Query Builder drop-down fields

Description

Join

Selects a connector to join rules.

For the first rule, choices are blank (none) or NOT. After you add a rule, the available connectors are AND, AND NOT, OR, OR NOT.

Field

Selects a parameter on which to build the rule.

See Table: For server type Hyper-V Standalone/Cluster: Keywords in the Field drop-down .

Operator

Selects an operator.

See Table: Operators in the Operator drop-down.

Value(s)

Specifies value(s) for the Field parameter.

The value(s) you enter must be enclosed in single quotes or double quotes. You can specify multiple comma-separated values.

See Table: Characters you can enter for Value(s).

Allows browsing for values, depending on the selections that are made in the other drop-down fields. Use the pop-up to select the value(s):

Adds the current drop-down selections to the Query pane as a new rule.

Blanks out the drop-down fields.

Field (keywords)

The following tables describe the keywords available in the Field drop-down. The tables also indicate whether the values for each keyword (in the Values field) are case-sensitive.

Note that the Field keyword does not determine by itself the inclusion or exclusion of virtual machines. Selection of virtual machines depends on the rule you construct: the combination of Join, Field, Operator, and Value(s).

The available keywords depend on the Server Type that is selected:

Table: For server type Hyper-V Standalone/Cluster: Keywords in the Field drop-down

Field keyword

Data type

Description

ConfigurationVersion

Numeric

The configuration version of the virtual machine.

This option requires that the NetBackup master server and the NetBackup client are at 8.0 or later.

Displayname

Alphanumeric string

The virtual machine's display name.

Values are case-sensitive.

HypervServer

Alphanumeric string

The name of the Hyper-V server.

Values are not case-sensitive.

IsClustered

Boolean

TRUE if the virtual machine resides in a Hyper-V server that is in a cluster.

Notes

Alphanumeric string

A note that was recorded about the virtual machine, in the virtual machine's Summary tab in Hyper-V Manager.

Values are case-sensitive.

To make entries in a virtual machine's Notes field: right-click on the virtual machine, then click Settings > Management > Name.

Powerstate

Alphabetic

The state of the virtual machine.

Values are poweredOff, poweredOn, suspended, starting, offCritical.

Table: For server type System Center Virtual Machine Manager: Keywords in the Field drop-down

Field keyword

Data type

Description

BackupEnabled

Boolean

TRUE if the BackupEnabled property is enabled in Integration Services.

Cloud

Alphanumeric string

The name of the SCVMM cloud that the VM is a part of.

Values are not case-sensitive.

CloudVMRoleName

Alphanumeric string

The name of the VM role for the SCVMM cloud.

Values are not case-sensitive.

ComputerName

Alphanumeric string

The network host name of the VM.

Values are not case-sensitive.

CostCenter

Alphanumeric string

The name of the VM's cost center.

Values are not case-sensitive.

Description

Alphanumeric string

The VM's description in SCVMM. This field is similar to the VM's Notes field in Hyper-V.

Values are case-sensitive.

Note:

If the VM's description field contains a newline character, the Query Builder's folder icon for browsing may not return the correct values.

See Query rules for virtual machine Notes that contain a newline character.

DRState

Alphanumeric string

The disaster recovery state of the VM.

Values are Disabled, Enabled.

Generation

Numeric string

The numeric Generation (or type) of the VM that the SCVMM server manages.

HasPassThroughDisk

Boolean

TRUE if the VM has a pass-through disk configured.

HasSharedStorage

Boolean

TRUE if the VM is in a cluster that has shared storage configured.

HasVirtualFibreChannelAdapters

Boolean

TRUE if the VM has virtual Fibre Channel adapters. These adapters enable Hyper-V VMs to have direct access to Fibre Channel SAN array resources.

HostGroupPath

Alphanumeric string

The complete host group path to the VM.

Values are not case-sensitive.

IsDREnabled

Boolean

TRUE if Microsoft Azure Site Recovery Provider (formerly Hyper-V Recovery Manager) manages the VM's disaster recovery.

IsFaultTolerant

Boolean

TRUE if the VM is marked for fault tolerance (if it can run without interruption in the case of a host failure).

IsHighlyAvailable

Boolean

TRUE if the virtual machine resides in a Hyper-V server that is in a CSV cluster.

IsPrimaryVM

Boolean

TRUE if the VM is a primary VM that is configured to be replicated to a secondary VMM site.

IsRecoveryVM

Boolean

TRUE if the VM is a replicated copy (of the primary VM) at a secondary Virtual Machine Manager (VMM) site.

IsTestReplicaVM

Boolean

TRUE if the VM is a replicated copy that is designated in the Microsoft Azure Site Recovery Provider (formerly Hyper-V Recovery Manager) for failover test. Test failover is initiated on a replica VM to test the virtualized workload without interrupting the production site or ongoing replication.

You can exclude such VMs from the backup by creating queries such as: IsTestReplicaVM Equal 'FALSE'

IsUndergoingLiveMigration

Boolean

TRUE if the VM is in migration from one Hyper-V server to another by means of the Hyper-V live migration feature.

Name

Alphanumeric string

The VM's display name in SCVMM.

Values are case-sensitive.

OperatingSystem

Alphanumeric string

The VM's guest operating system.

Values are not case-sensitive.

Owner

Alphanumeric string

The VM owner's name.

Values are not case-sensitive.

RecoveryPointObjective

Numeric

The recovery point objective (RPO) value for this VM.

RPO is the maximum acceptable data loss as measured in time. In backup storage, RPO is the maximum age of the data that is required to resume normal operations if a failure occurs. For example, if the RPO is set to 30 minutes, then a backup of the system is required every 30 minutes.

Tag

Alphanumeric string

The name of the tag. A tag is a string for logical grouping of VMs in the NetBackup Administration Console.

Values are not case-sensitive.

TotalSize

Numeric

The total size on disk (in bytes) of all the VM's VHDs.

UserRole

Alphanumeric string

The user role the VM is a part of, such as Administrator, Fabric Administrator, or Tenant Administrator.

Values are not case-sensitive.

VirtualMachineState

Alphanumeric string

The power state of the virtual machine.

Values are not case-sensitive.

Hyper-V has many possible values for the VM state, such as PowerOff and Running. You can use the browse icon to list the current power states of the VMs in the SCVMM environment:

VMConfigurationVersion

Numeric

The configuration version of the virtual machine.

Note the following:

  • This option requires that the NetBackup master server and the NetBackup client are at 8.0 or later.

  • This option works only with SCVMM 2016 and later. In SCVMM 2012, the VM's configuration version is not available, so NetBackup is unable to retrieve the configuration version.

    If the NetBackup master server protects SCVMM 2016 as well as SCVMM 2012, you can use VMConfigurationVersion with the IsSet operator. For example:

    Name Contains "Production" AND VMConfigurationVersion IsSet AND VMConfigurationVersion Greater "5.0"

    In this example, no VMs in SCVMM 2012 are selected, because the VMConfigurationVersion IsSet rule returns "false." On SCVMM 2016, VMConfigurationVersion IsSet returns "true": The query can select any VM that contains "Production" in its name and is at a configuration version later than 5.0.

VMHost

Alphanumeric string

The name of the Hyper-V host for this VM.

Values are not case-sensitive.

VMResource

Alphanumeric string

The resource for a highly available VM.

Values are not case-sensitive.

VMResourceGroup

Alphanumeric string

The resource group for a highly available VM.

Values are not case-sensitive.

Operators

Table: Operators in the Operator drop-down describes the operators available in the Operator drop-down.

Table: Operators in the Operator drop-down

Operator

Description

AnyOf

Matches any of the specified values in the Value(s) field.

For example: If the display names in the Value(s) field are "vm01","vm02","vm03", AnyOf matches any VM that has one of those names. If the names of your VMs are not identical to any of the specified values, no match occurs. A VM that is named "vm01A" is not a match.

Contains

Matches the value in the Value(s) field wherever that value occurs in the string.

For example: If the Value(s) entry is "dev", Contains matches strings such as "01dev", "01dev99", "devOP", and "Development_machine".

EndsWith

Matches the value in the Value(s) field when it occurs at the end of a string.

For example: If the Value(s) entry is "dev", EndsWith matches the string "01dev" but not "01dev99", "devOP", or "Development_machine".

Equal

Matches only the value that is specified in the Value(s) field.

For example: If the display name to search for is "VMtest27", Equal matches virtual machine names such as "VMTest27" or "vmtest27" or "vmTEST27", and so forth. The name "VMtest28" is not matched.

Greater

Matches any value that is greater than the specified Value(s), according to the ASCII collating sequence.

GreaterEqual

Matches any value that is greater than or equal to the specified Value(s), according to the ASCII collating sequence.

IsSet

Determines whether a value is returned for the Field keyword. Use IsSet with another rule as a condition, to ensure that the query selects the appropriate virtual machines.

Note that you do not make an entry under Value(s) for a rule that uses IsSet.

See The IsSet operator in queries.

See Effect of Primary VM identifier parameter on Selection column in Test Query results.

See Test Query: Failed virtual machines.

Less

Matches any value that is less than the specified Value(s), according to the ASCII collating sequence.

LessEqual

Matches any value that is less than or equal to the specified Value(s), according to the ASCII collating sequence.

NotEqual

Matches any value that is not equal to the value in the Value(s) field.

StartsWith

Matches the value in the Value(s) field when it occurs at the start of a string.

For example: If the Value(s) entry is "box", StartsWith matches the string "box_car" but not "flat_box".

Value(s)

Table: Characters you can enter for Value(s) describes the characters that can be entered in the Value(s) field. The Field keyword determines case sensitivity.

Note:

The character string you enter in the Value(s) field must be enclosed in single quotes or double quotes.

Table: Characters you can enter for Value(s)

Character types

String characters allowed

Alphanumerics

A to Z, a to z, 0 to 9 (decimal), and the following special characters:

, ~ ! @ $ % ^ & * ( ) ' - _ = + [ ] { } | \ : ; , . < > / ?

Note:

If the policy's Primary VM identifier option is set to VM display name, only the following characters are supported in the virtual machine's display name: A to Z, a to z, 0 to 9, hyphen (-), period (.), underscore (_), plus sign (+), left and right parentheses (), spaces.

Wildcards

* (asterisk) matches everything.

For example: "*prod*" matches the string "prod" preceded or followed by any characters.

? (question mark) matches any single character.

For example: "prod??" matches the string "prod" followed by any two characters.

Escape character

\ (backslash) escapes the wildcard or meta-character that follows it.

For example: To search for a string that contains an asterisk (such as test*), enter "test\*"

Quotation marks

Note: The characters you enter in Value(s) must be enclosed in single or double quotes.

To search for a string that contains quotation marks, either escape each quote (\") or enclose the entire string in the opposite type of quotes.

For example: To search for a string that includes double quotes (such as "name"), enter '"name"' (enclosing it in single quotes) or "\"name\"".