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Hyper-V Redirected Restore Woes

Frank_Lesniak
Level 3
Hello,

I'm testing out the restoration of a Hyper-V virtual machine (VM) and having some issues. The virtual machine was backed up while it was running from HYPERVHOSTA. I'm attempting to perform a redirected restore to HYPERVHOSTB, but the job is failing. I'm seeing the exact symptoms noted here:

http://seer.entsupport.symantec.com/docs/308410.htm


OK, so simple enough... I go into the directory containing the VSV file:
D:\RedirectedRestore\Microsoft Hyper-V\<Original Drive Letter>\<VM Name>\<Virtual Machines>\<GUID>
and then delete the VSV. There's also a large BIN file in this folder, which I think *is* the actual point-in-time snapshot of the system's memory.

So, my question is: how exactly do I load the virtual machine after I delete the VSV file? Import doesn't work, as far as I can tell.

Can someone explain to me how I can perform a redirected restore and get the virtual machine registered in Hyper-V? I need to have this working in order to prove that I can restore a VM to dissimilar hardware (which is very realistic in a disaster scenario).

Also, a side note -- why doesn't Backup Exec just delete the VSV file in the event of a redirected restore? This seems like something that may have been overlooked.

Thanks!
Frank
3 REPLIES 3

Frank_Lesniak
Level 3
Anyone out there backing up Hyper-V? Have you tested a restore? What have you done to get around this issue?

SteveSON
Level 3
Are you using the Backup Exec Hyper-V agent to do the backup or are you doing a file-level backup?

SteveJHU

CarolineKiel
Level 6
Partner    VIP    Accredited Certified
Hi Frank,
the article you found when searching for you error code was written in Nov 2008 and is related to Microsoft Virtual Server 2005 and not to Hyper-V. The BIN file you find inside your VM's folder is something that didn't exist in MSVS but is new in Hyper-V.
If you create a snapshot of a running VM in Hyper-V, there are two files created: a .vsv and a .bin, where the .bin file is containing the memory information of th machine and the .vsv contains special informations about the processes and so on. So deleting one of them brings the VM in an instable state. If you want to delete one, you need to delete both files. This means, that everything is lost, taht was in the memory of the VM and was not written to its hard drive.
If you delete both files, you can use the remaining.vhd file to point a newly created VM to it. This will work, no matter what hardware you are using. You can even "move" a .vhd from MSVS to Hyper-V or from Hyper-V R1 to R2.
One thing, you should be aware of, is, that moving VHDs between different versions of virtualisation plattforms can lead to a problem with the integration services inside the VM. So you may need to uninstall and reinstall them.

If you need further information about this, here is a very good blog entry: http://blogs.technet.com/roblarson/archive/2008/04/26/virtual-machine-snapshots-with-hyper-v.aspx

Hope that helps. If not, give me a call.

Best regards from good old Germany,
Oliver
Save the Earth, it's the only planet with chocolate.