Configuring Backups for Hyper-V Virtual Machines

Add a Hyper-V hypervisor to support data protection operations for all virtual machines hosted or managed by the hypervisor.

Before You Begin

• Ensure that the Hyper-V access nodes can communicate with the CommServe computer. If the access nodes or CommServe are behind a firewall, register the access nodes to the CommServe by installing the VSA package with the required firewall settings on each access node.

• Identify the Hypervisor host name. A hypervisor can be either a standalone Hyper-V server or a Hyper-V cluster.

• Even if the nodes are already registered with the CommServe computer, you must complete the full procedure to add the hypervisor.

• Provide credentials for the Hyper-V server or cluster. The user account must have the following permissions:

  • For Hyper-V Server 2016 and later: The account must belong to the Hyper-V Administrators group.

  • For a Hyper-V cluster: The account must have Full Control and Read permissions on the cluster.

  • For standalone Hyper-V setups: Membership in the Hyper-V Administrators group is not required.

Start the Configuration Wizard

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

   The Overview page appears.

2. On the Hypervisors tab, in the upper-right corner of the page, click Add hypervisor.

   The Configure Hypervisor page appears.

3. Select Microsoft Hyper-V.

4. Click Next.

   The Configure Microsoft Hyper-V Hypervisor page appears, displaying the Infrastructure page.

5. Select the MediaAgent that will be used for discovering Hyper-V nodes. This will be used to discover Hyper-V nodes and may be used as a Network Gateway.

6. Click Next.

   The Add hypervisor page appears.

Add Hypervisor

1. For Hypervisor display name, type a descriptive name for the hypervisor.

2. For Hypervisor host name, type the fully qualified domain name or IP address for the hypervisor.

3. For Credentials, select existing credentials or create new credentials.

   Steps to create credentials

   1. Click the add button .

      The Add credential dialog box appears.

   2. From the Account type list, verify that Windows Account is selected.

   3. For Credential Vault, select the credential vault to save the credentials in.

   4. In Credential name, enter a descriptive name for the credentials.

   5. In User account, enter the name of the Hyper-V user account.

   6. In Password, enter the password for the user account.

   7. In Email, enter the email for the user account.

   8. In Description, enter a description of the credentials.

   9. Click Save.

4. For Hyper-V nodes, select one of the following:

   1. Select Automatic to discover the access nodes for data protection operations.

      Note

      When selecting a client manually, make sure it can communicate with the specified Hyper-V host.

   2. Click Discover nodes. The Hyper-V nodes will now contain a list of discovered nodes of the Hyper-V host you are configuring for backup.

      Select one or more existing access nodes for the hypervisor, or create a new one, by manually downloading the Windows Access Node Package and setting up authentication yourself:

      a. Click the add button .

      The Add a New Access Node dialog box appears.

      b. Click the package to download for the platform: Windows (64-bit), and note the authcode.

      c. Copy the downloaded package to the Hyper-V host, and perform an interactive installation.

      d. Click Discover Nodes again to refresh the access node list.

5. Click Next.

   The Add VM Group page appears.

Add VM Group

A VM group is a collection of virtual machines that you want to back up using the same settings. You can define the group's content by applying auto-discovery rules or by manually selecting specific VMs, hosts, clusters, or datacenters.

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 list, select the type of rule to create, and then specify the rule:

      • 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.

      • 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 Replication mode.

      • Storage: Select to sort VMs by storage or specific virtual machines.

      • 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.

   3. 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:

      • System: Displays the data centers.

      • Clusters: Displays specific clusters.

      • Hosts: Displays the Hyper-V hosts.

      • Storage: Displays storage that contains virtual machine data. Select the storage entry to protect all VMs on the storage, or expand the tree to select specific VMs.

      • VMs: Displays specific VMs.

      • Tags: Displays tags. Select a tag to include all VMs that have that tag.

   3. Select the VMs to add to the VM group.

   4. Click Save.

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

5. Click Next.

   The Add Plan page appears.

Add a Plan

1. For Plan, select an existing backup plan or create a new backup plan.

   Steps to create a backup plan

   1. Click the add button .

      The Add plan dialog box appears.

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

   3. For Storage, select the storage pool where you want to store backups.

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

      • To select pre-defined settings, under Retention rules, select one of 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 Snapshot retention, specify the number of snapshots to retain for IntelliSnap backups.

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

        • For Retention monthly full (Secondary copy), specify the amount of time to retain the monthly full backup on secondary copy.

        • For Retention yearly full (Secondary copy), specify the amount of time to retain the yearly full backup on secondary copy.

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

   5. Click Done.

2. Click Next.

   The Summary page appears.

Summary

1. Review the summary.

2. Click Finish.