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Alex13's avatar
Alex13
Level 3
7 years ago

replication of hyper-v server

Hello,

I have 2 server that are hosting number of virtual machine using Hyper-V.

I want to replicate number of this hyper-v server to a third host, so that in case of host failure I could immediately put this crucial hyper-v servers online from this third server.

how do I do this using BE16?

what will be the time deference between the replica? and what will be the minimum time that I could replicate?

how demanding will it be on the production server I/O the replication process ?

Thanks:robothappy:

16
BE16
Hyper-V
Replication
Windows Server 2012 R2
  • Colin_Weaver's avatar
    Colin_Weaver
    7 years ago

    You don't replicate the VM - you just start it from the latest backup set so the frequency depends on your backup job's frequency and the speed of power up will depend on the performance of your BE server's storage, the performance of the BE server's OS and the network between the BE srever and the hyper-visor host. Typically it would be slightly longer than the original power on of the virtual server was prior to your disaster.

     

    The running VM should not be affected in a noticeable way during the backup process.

     

    BTW Backup Exec is not a replication product so if you truely are after contiunuous realtime replication of all changes in the VM then you are looking at the wrong product and should be looking a High Availability / Replication Products for the Hypervisor itself and not be looking at "Backup" products - although you will still need a backup product as human errors get replicated and therefore need recovery from a system that is not part of replication. (bear in mind that whatever form of replication gets implemented may need to be confirmed as supported by whichever backup product is in use , for instance if if VSS is affected by replication then this might limit adversely affect a backup product or vice-versa)

  • Colin_Weaver's avatar
    Colin_Weaver
    7 years ago

    I don't think a backup product will help you, you need to look at other types of software. I believe Veeam is a backup product so whilst it might work differently from Backup Exec it may have similar limitations/concepts.

    Something like Veritas Storage Foundation might help you as per:

    https://sort-static.veritas.com/public/documents/sfha/6.0/windows/productguides/pdf/SFW_VCS_HyperV_Solutions_60.pdf

     

    However please note I have no actual training on Storage Foundation and you will have to post any further questions to a more appropriate community forum.

     

    You should probably be aware that what you are trying to do is typically a high end enterprise feature - which kind of means significant hardware and software costs to implement a solution and would normally mean a consultant should be engaged implement a suitable design.

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  • CraigV's avatar
    CraigV
    Moderator
    7 years ago

    Hi,

    Do you want to replicate VMs from 1 H-V host to another? Or the config of the one H-V server to the other? In this case, Hyper-V would start up VMs on surviving nodes so you might not want to replicate VMs as it's going to cause unnecessary resource usage.

    If you want to replicate the config, your question might be more for a Microsoft forum.

    Thanks!

    • Alex13's avatar
      Alex13
      Level 3
      7 years ago

      Thanks for you reply!

      I want to have 2 copies of the vm (the vhd and the config) and replicate it to another host where the VM will be off until I need to fail it over.

      I know you can use the HYPER-V Replication option but I wonder if there is a better option using the BE.

      I hear about the dedup but didn't fully understand what I get from this.

       

      My main goal is to have a DR for my 4 crucial servers that in case of a host failure have the minimal downtime.

       

      Thanks again!

      • LegAEI's avatar
        LegAEI
        Level 5
        7 years ago

        Replication is not a disaster recovery option. Whatever you end up doing, make sure you create actual backups (3-2-1 rule) so you have something for actual disaster recovery.

  • Colin_Weaver's avatar
    Colin_Weaver
    Moderator
    7 years ago

    If you run backup to fixed disk (not to tape, deduplication or Removable Disk Cartride/RDX), then Backup Exec 16 has a feature called Instant Recovery which allows a Hyper-Visor Host (Hyper-V or VMware) to start the backup up virtual machine directly from the backup storage on the BE server (over SMB or NFS shares). It will start the virtual machine with networking disabled (to cover scenarios where your original system is not down) but this is quick to change if original server has suffered a disaster.

    This recovery can be sent to a different host and once running you can use tools within Hyper-V or VMware to migrate the Insantly Recovered Server back to storage owned by the Hyper-Visor host (if this is an actual disater and you want the temporary power up to become permenant.)

    The host you restore to should probably be in same LAN for two reasons:

    1) starting a VM across NFS or SMB shares wil not run as quick as it was in the original production setup and would be slower across a WAN link

    2) The IP addresses inside the VM will be part of the range of the original LAN

    As such you might want to read up/ research this ability to see if it wil help with your thoughts

    • Alex13's avatar
      Alex13
      Level 3
      7 years ago

      Thanks a lot for this replay!

      In this scenario, How often culd I replicate the VM?

      So that the backup could be as close tho the source as possible, like 15-30 seconds.

      Is it possible? and how will this effect the running VM? will it be noticeable slower due to the repeated backing up?

      thank you!

       

      • Colin_Weaver's avatar
        Colin_Weaver
        Moderator
        7 years ago

        You don't replicate the VM - you just start it from the latest backup set so the frequency depends on your backup job's frequency and the speed of power up will depend on the performance of your BE server's storage, the performance of the BE server's OS and the network between the BE srever and the hyper-visor host. Typically it would be slightly longer than the original power on of the virtual server was prior to your disaster.

         

        The running VM should not be affected in a noticeable way during the backup process.

         

        BTW Backup Exec is not a replication product so if you truely are after contiunuous realtime replication of all changes in the VM then you are looking at the wrong product and should be looking a High Availability / Replication Products for the Hypervisor itself and not be looking at "Backup" products - although you will still need a backup product as human errors get replicated and therefore need recovery from a system that is not part of replication. (bear in mind that whatever form of replication gets implemented may need to be confirmed as supported by whichever backup product is in use , for instance if if VSS is affected by replication then this might limit adversely affect a backup product or vice-versa)