NetBackup™ for Hyper-V Administrator's Guide

Last Published:
Product(s): NetBackup (10.5)
  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
    2.  
      Limit jobs per policy on the Attributes tab (for Hyper-V)
    3.  
      Virtual machine host names and display names should be unique if VMs are selected manually in the policy
    4. Backup options on the Hyper-V tab
      1.  
        Backup method (Hyper-V)
      2.  
        Optimization options (Hyper-V)
      3.  
        Primary VM identifier option (Hyper-V)
      4.  
        Enable offline backup of non-VSS VMs (Hyper-V with VSS)
      5.  
        Cluster shared volumes timeout (Hyper-V with VSS)
    5. 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
    6.  
      Browse for Hyper-V virtual machines
    7.  
      Prerequisites for alternate client backup of a virtual machine (VSS)
    8.  
      Configure an alternate client backup of virtual machines
    9.  
      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.  
      Edit or remove 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 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
  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 Hyper-V files to a host that has a NetBackup client
    7.  
      Restore options for restore of Hyper-V individual files (NetBackup web UI)
    8. Restoring individual Hyper-V 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 Options
    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.  
      When backing up the virtual machines that reside on the same CSV, Windows warning 1584 can be ignored
    10.  
      Problems with alternate client backup
    11.  
      Restored virtual machine fails to start
    12.  
      Problem with a restart of a restored virtual machine: Why did the computer shut down unexpectedly?
    13.  
      Problems with restore of individual files
    14.  
      Problems with restore of the full virtual machine
    15.  
      Increasing the WMI create disk time-out value
    16.  
      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.  
      Notes on Hyper-V policy attributes when you use the NetBackup commands
    4.  
      The bpplinfo options for 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

Accelerator notes and requirements for virtual machines

Note the following about Accelerator for virtual machines:

  • Accelerator for Hyper-V is available for virtual machines on Hyper-V Server 2016 and later. In the web UI open the Hyper-V policy. Click the policy's Hyper-V tab and select Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI). Then select Enable block-level incremental backup and Use Accelerator.

  • Accelerator for virtual machines uses Hyper-V resilient change tracking (RCT) to identify the changes that were made within a virtual machine.

  • After the first Accelerator backup: If you create a checkpoint on the VM (or delete a checkpoint), the next backup from that policy is a full backup. That is, the backup processing for the second backup is not limited to changed blocks: Under Accelerator Optimization in the NetBackup Activity Monitor, the optimization rate is 0%.

    If you create another checkpoint and run a third Accelerator backup: The optimization rate may increase, depending on the amount of data that is captured in the checkpoint (the size of the checkpoint file). The smaller the checkpoint file, the higher the rate of optimization in the third backup.

    Similarly, if a checkpoint is deleted after the second backup, the optimization rate in the next backup depends on the size of the virtual disk that was affected by the checkpoint deletion.

  • Supports the disk storage units that have the following storage destinations:

    • Cloud storage. Storage that a supported cloud storage vendor provides.

    • NetBackup Media Server Deduplication Pool. In addition to NetBackup media servers, NetBackup 5200 series appliances support Media Server Deduplication Pool storage.

    • Qualified third-party OpenStorage devices.

    To verify that your storage unit supports Accelerator, refer to the NetBackup hardware compatibility list for the currently supported OST vendors:

    NetBackup Compatibility List for all Versions

  • It is recommended that you do not enable Expire after copy retention for any storage units that are used with storage lifecycle policies (SLP) in combination with Accelerator. The Expire after copy retention can cause images to expire while the backup runs. To synthesize a new full backup, the SLP backup needs the previous backup image. If the previous image expires during the backup, the backup fails.

  • Update the NetBackup device mapping files if needed.

    The NetBackup device mapping files contain all storage device types that NetBackup can use. To add support for the new devices or upgraded devices that support Accelerator, download the current device mapping files from the Veritas Technical Support website.

    See the NetBackup Administrator's Guide Volume I for information on the device mapping files and how to download them.

  • Storage unit groups are supported only if the storage unit selection in the group is Failover.

  • Supports the full backups and incremental backups. Every Accelerator backup (from a full schedule or incremental schedule) results in a complete image of the virtual machine.

  • You can use incremental backups (cumulative or differential) as follows: To reduce the file-mapping overhead and to reduce the number of files that are recorded in the NetBackup catalog. Cumulative backups may involve more file-mapping because they do not use the random indexing method to determine which files have changed. In some cases, differential backups may be faster than cumulative backups.

  • If a backup of the virtual machine does not exist, NetBackup performs a full backup. This initial backup occurs at the speed of a normal (non-accelerated) full backup. Subsequent Accelerator backups of the virtual machine use resilient change tracking (RCT) to accelerate the backup.

  • If the storage unit that is associated with the policy cannot be validated when you create the policy, note: The storage unit is validated later when the backup job begins. If Accelerator does not support the storage unit, the backup fails. In the bpbrm log, a message appears that is similar to one of the following:

    Storage server %s, type %s, doesn't support image include.
    Storage server type %s, doesn't support accelerator backup.

  • Accelerator requires the storage to have the OptimizedImage attribute enabled.

    See Accelerator requires the OptimizedImage attribute.