Configuring Backups for Hyper-V Virtual Machines

Updated

You can configure backups for Hyper-V virtual machines. The configuration wizard guides you through the configuration process, which includes creating any new entities that are needed, such as a plan, a hypervisor, and a VM group.

Start the Configuration Wizard

  1. From the Command Center navigation pane, go to Protect > Virtualization.

    The Virtual machines page appears.

  2. In the upper-right area of the page, click Add hypervisor.

    The Configure Hypervisor page appears.

  3. Select Hyper-V.

  4. Click Next.

    The Hyper-V deployment model overview page of the configuration wizard appears.

  5. Review the information.

  6. Click Next.

    The Backup Gateway page of the configuration wizard appears.

Backup Gateway

A backup gateway is required to back up VMs without egress charges. Backup gateways run backups and other operations. See System Requirements for Metallic Backup Gateway.

  1. Select an existing backup gateway or create a new backup gateway.

  2. Click Next.

    The Local Storage page of the configuration wizard appears.

Local Storage

For optimal performance, store a primary copy locally and a secondary copy in a cloud location. If you back up directly to cloud, without a local copy, you might experience sub-optimal performance.

  1. Decide whether to use local storage:

    • To store the primary backup only in the cloud, move the Backup to cloud storage only toggle key to the right.

    • To store the primary backup locally, select existing local storage or create a new local storage location.

  2. Click Next.

    The Cloud Storage page of the configuration wizard appears.

Cloud Storage

  1. Decide whether to use cloud storage:

    • If you specified local storage, and you don't want to use cloud storage, move the Only use on-premises storage toggle key to the right.

    • Select existing cloud storage or create new cloud storage.

  2. Click Next.

    The Plan page of the configuration wizard appears.

Plan

A plan specifies the storage to back up the data to and other settings such as recovery point objective (RPO) settings.

  1. Select an existing plan or create a new plan.

  2. Click Next.

    The Hypervisor page of the configuration wizard appears.

Hypervisor

  1. Select an existing hypervisor or create a new hypervisor.

  2. Click Next.

    The Add VM Group page of the configuration wizard appears.

Add VM Group

A VM group is a set of VMs that you want to back up with the same settings.

You can add content to the VM group by using rules that auto-discover VMs and/or by selecting specific VMs.

  1. In Name, enter a descriptive name for the VM group.

  2. To create rules that auto-discover and select VMs to back up, do the following:

    1. Click Add, and then select Rules.

      The Add rule dialog box appears.

    2. From the first list, select the type of rule to create:

      • Browse: Select specific VMs. (Selecting this option changes the Add rule dialog box to the Add content dialog box.)

    • Guest DNS hostname: Select VMs based on a hostname or a domain. For example, to select hosts on the "mycompany.com" domain, enter Guest DNS hostname | Ends with | mycompany.com.

    • Guest OS: Select VMs based on operating system. For example, to select VMs that are not Windows, enter Guest OS | Does not contain | Windows.

    • Host: Select VMs based on hostname. For example, to select VMs that are on hosts that include "acme" in their names, enter Host | Contains | acme.

    • Notes: Select VMs based on notes contained in annotations for the VM summary. For example, to select VMs that have notes that begin with "Test", enter Notes | Starts with | Test.

    • Power state: Select VMs based on a power status of On, Off, or Other. (Other includes statuses such as Suspended).

    • Replication mode: Select VMs based on the replication mode that is used.

    • Storage: Select VMs based on the name of the storage that they are stored in.

    • Virtual machine name or pattern: Select VMs based on their names. For example, to select VMs that have a name that includes "east", enter Virtual machine name or pattern | Contains | east.

    1. Click Save.

  3. To select VMs in other ways, do the following:

    1. Click Add, and then select Content.

      The Add content dialog box appears.

    2. From the Browse and select VMs list, select one of the following:

    • VMs: Select specific VMs.

    • Group by host: Backs up the VMs that are on the hosts that you select. Or you can select specific VMs.

    • Storage: Backs up the VMs that are on the storage that you select. Or you can select specific VMs.

    1. Click Save.

  4. To see the VMs that are selected for the VM group, click the Preview button.

  5. Click Next.

    The Summary page of the configuration wizard appears.

Summary

  1. Review the summary.

  2. Click Finish.