Configuring Backups for Hyper-V Virtual Machines

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.

   Steps to create a backup gateway

   1. Click the add button .

      The Add new backup gateway dialog box appears.

   2. Click Download.

      The backup gateway installation file is downloaded.

   3. On the computer that you want to use as the backup gateway, install the software:

      To find the installation authorization code, in the navigation pane, go to Manage > Company, click the company, and in the General section, view the authorization code beside the Requires authcode for installation toggle key.

   Type of installation	Steps
   Interactive	Right-click the installation file, and then select Run as administrator. The Custom Package Manager dialog box appears. Extract the files. The Metallic installer appears. In the Installation Path box, enter a path on the dedicated data disk. For example, enter E:\Program Files\Metallic\ContentStore. Important: Do not install the backup gateway on the C: drive. The backup gateway must be installed on a dedicated data disk. Click the next arrow to start the installation. After the software is installed, the Server Authentication dialog box appears. Select the authentication method that you want to use, and then enter values as necessary. For example, select Authcode, and then enter the authorization code. Click the next arrow. Record the fully qualified domain name (FQDN) of the backup gateway.
   Silent	At the command line, go to the location where you stored the custom package and find the Setup.exe file. If the package consists of only the answer file, find the Setup.exe file from a separate installation package. Run the following command: start /wait Setup.exe /play install.xml /silent /authcode authcode Where authcode is the company authorization code, which is required if you did not enter the installation user's credentials when the package was created

   1. Return to Metallic.

   2. Refresh the list of backup gateways, and then select the backup gateway that you created.

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.

     Steps to create local storage

     1. Click the add button .

        The Add local storage dialog box appears.

     2. In Name, enter a descriptive name for the local storage.

     3. Click Add.

        The Add backup location dialog box appears.

     4. From the Access node list, select the backup gateway to use.

     5. For Type, select whether the storage is local or on a network.

     6. If you selected Network, enter the credentials to access the backup location.

     7. For Backup location, enter the path to store the backup in.

     8. Click Add.

     9. Click Save.

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.

     Steps to create cloud storage

     1. Click the add button .

        The Add cloud storage dialog box appears.

     2. From Type, select the storage provider, and then enter the necessary values.

        Storage provider	Values
        Amazon S3	Name: Enter a descriptive name for the cloud storage. Region: Select the region for the cloud storage. Authentication: Select the type of authentication to use. Bucket: Enter the name of the bucket. Storage class: Select the storage class for the type of access that you want to have for the data.
        Metallic Recovery Reserve	Cloud storage provider: Select Azure Blob Storage or OCI Object Storage. Storage class: Select the storage class for the type of access that you want to have for the data. Region: Select the region for the cloud storage.
        Microsoft Azure Storage	Name: Enter a descriptive name for the cloud storage. Credentials: Select existing credentials or create new credentials. Region: Select the region for the cloud storage. Container: Enter the name of the container. For example, enter bucket_name.
        Oracle Cloud Infrastructure Object Storage	Name: Enter a descriptive name for the cloud storage. Credentials: Select the credentials to use. Region: Select the region for the cloud storage. Compartment name: Enter the name of the compartment. Bucket: Enter the name of the bucket. Storage class: Select the storage class for the type of access that you want to have for the data.

     3. Click Save.

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.

   Steps to create a plan

   1. Click the add button .

      The Add plan dialog box appears.

   2. In the Plan name box, enter a descriptive name for the plan.

   3. For the plan settings, select pre-defined settings or create custom settings:

      • To select pre-defined settings, under Retention rules, select one if the following:

        • Select Standard retention to retain the incremental backups for 1 month.

        • Select Extended retention for optimized storage where the incremental backups of primary and secondary copies are retained for 1 month, and extended retention for monthly and yearly full backups.

          Note: The Extended retention option is available only when the secondary copy backup is selected.

      • To create custom settings, select Custom plan, and then specify the following:

        • For Retention, specify the amount of time to retain the primary copy.

        • For Retention (secondary copy), specify the amount of time to retain the secondary copy.

        • For Backups run every, specify how often to run backups.

   4. Click Done.

2. Click Next.

   The Hypervisor page of the configuration wizard appears.

Hypervisor

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

   Steps to create a hypervisor

   1. Click Add a new hypervisor.

   2. In Host name, enter the fully qualified hostname or IP address for the hypervisor.

   3. In Hypervisor display name, enter a descriptive name for the hypervisor.

   4. To provide access to the hypervisor, select one of the following:

      • Enter credentials: For Username and Password, type the user credentials to provide administrative access to the hypervisor.

      • Use saved credentials: For Credentials, select a credential from the list of those available.

        The credentials listed are applicable to this hypervisor.

        Note: To create a new credential (with Windows account type), to the right of Credentials, click Create new. Enter the name of the new credential and the user name and password to provide administrative access to the hypervisor. For more information, see Credential Manager.

   5. For Access nodes, select an existing backup gateway or create a new backup gateway.

      To create a backup gateway, do the following:

      1. Click the add button .

         The Add new backup gateway dialog box appears.

      2. Click Download.

         The backup gateway installer, BackupGateway64.exe, is downloaded.

      3. On the computer that you want to use as the backup gateway, run the installer:

         1. Right-click BackupGateway64.exe, and then select Run as administrator.

            The Custom Package Manager dialog box appears.

         2. Extract the installation files.

            The Metallic installer appears.

         3. In the Installation Path box, enter a path on the dedicated data disk.

            For example, enter E:\Program Files\Metallic\ContentStore.

            Important: Do not install the backup gateway on the C: drive. The backup gateway must be installed on a dedicated data disk.

         4. Click the next arrow to start the installation.

            After the software is installed, the Server Authentication dialog box appears.

         5. Click Enter Credentials, and then enter the credentials that you use to log on to the Metallic hub.

         6. Click the next arrow.

         7. Record the fully qualified domain name (FQDN) of the backup gateway.

      4. Return to Metallic.

      5. In the Backup gateway hostname box, enter the FQDN of the backup gateway.

      6. Click Submit.

         The backup gateway registers with Metallic.

   6. Click Discover nodes.

      Nodes will contain a list of discovered nodes.

   7. Select the nodes that you want to install the Virtual Server Agent on.

      For a Hyper-V cluster, or to use Changed Block Tracking for Hyper-V 2012 R2, select all nodes in the Hyper-V cluster.

   8. Click Save.

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.