Hyper-v Backups
2009 September 25 – 5:26 pm
There are a few different ways you can backup your virtual servers from Hyper-v, in older version’s of Symantec Backup Exec you could backup the virtual server hard drive files just like any other files. Symantec more recently released a Virtual Server agent, it allows you to backup virtual servers while adding the ability to restore files from within the virtual server with out having to retore the entire vhd.
The main problem with the Virtual Server agent is that it costs just over £1000, almost twice as much as Backup Exec itself. The other way is to copy the virtual server hard drive files either manually or using a script, we have tried this in the past and found it to not be 100% reliable.
The way we do it now is using scripts that use the hyper-v volume shadow copy service, this can backup all virutal servers with out causing any problems.
There are 3 scripts -
1.Main.bat
set srca=V:\Data\VServers set srcb=V:\Data set bkf=E:\ set log=C:\Data\Scripts C: CD %log% echo ======== Job Start ======== > backup.log echo Source A : %srca% >> backup.log echo Source B : %srcb% >> backup.log echo Backup Location : %bkf% >> backup.log echo %date% %time% >> backup.log IF NOT EXIST E:\ GOTO NOUSBDRIVE echo Starting backup E: DEL *.* /S /Q C: CD %log% diskshadow /s 2.Shadow.dsh >> backup.log CD %log% del *.cab echo %date% %time% >> backup.log echo ====== Complete Copy ====== >> backup.log exit :NOUSBDRIVE C: CD %log% echo NO USB drive found! >> backup.log
2.shdow.dsh
set context persistent
set verbose on
begin backup
add volume C: alias systemvolumeshadow
add volume D: alias datavolumeshadow
writer verify {66841cd4-6ded-4f4b-8f17-fd23f8ddc3de}
create
expose %systemvolumeshadow% v:
exec 3.CopierA.bat
unexpose v:
expose %datavolumeshadow% v:
exec 3.CopierB.bat
unexpose v:
end backup
delete shadows id %systemvolumeshadow%
delete shadows id %datavolumeshadow%
3.CopierA.bat
xcopy %srca% %bkf% /Y /E
A quick EDIT … check out this new post for how to make these scripts copy your data quicker.
So firstly what’s an SSD. In your computer you have a HD (hard disk drive) that is effectively some mini CDs spinning very quickly. These mini CDs store all your data and run your OS (Windows or OS X for the majority of us). They’ve been around for over 10 years and today you can pick up a 1Tb drive for under £60 delivered. Those spinning HDs run noisy, hot, slow and really don’t like to be bumped. SSDs however solve all those problems.
Well Snow Leopard has been out for a few days now and it looks like there’s alot of happy people out there. The upgrade process is very simple and from the looks of it, it works 99% of the time which is pretty impressive.
