Vista - Hyper-V Server 2008 Backup

We're playing with Hyper-V Server 2008 (the free small footprint bare metal
hypervisor not WS2008 with Hyper-V role) in the lab, and the first question
I've come up with how the heck to I back up the VMs? I've looked around a
bit, but no luck. The server in the has an ESATA card -- I was thinking I
could use an external drive. Can anyone point me in the right direction?
--
Dan G.

If the virtual machines can be stopped for the backup the easiest way is
just copy the .vhd file. You should also perform normal backups from within
the virtual machine OSs just as if they were real servers. You can also use
the Windows Server Backup

http://social.technet.microsoft.com/...-dd6be9b0af28/

--
Kerry Brown
MS-MVP - Windows Desktop Experience: Systems Administration
http://www.vistahelp.ca/phpBB2/


"DanGen" <DanGen@xxxxxx> wrote in message
news:840218A1-16DB-45A5-81FA-2267406664D6@xxxxxx

I guess I should elaborate a bit. In a Full blown Windows Server 2008 with
HyperV installation we run a set of scripts using task scheduler to back up
our Vms to disk as described here:
http://virtuallyaware.spaces.live.co...0&sa=104549535

The scripts leverage VSS by invoking DISKSHADOW to take a Snapshot of the
volume(s) that contain the HyperV virtual machines and then invokes robocopy
to copy them to an external disk. Will this strategy work in the Standalone
HyperV Server installation? Does HyperV Server 2008 have Diskshadow? Does
it have a task scheduler?

Thanks for your response.
--
Dan G.


"Kerry Brown" wrote:

I don't have Hyper-V server on any of my test computers right now so I'm not
sure. This link explains how to set up VSS on server core.

http://blogs.technet.com/askcore/arc...ss-writer.aspx

Let us know if it works on Hyper-V server.

--
Kerry Brown
MS-MVP - Windows Desktop Experience: Systems Administration
http://www.vistahelp.ca/phpBB2/




"DanGen" <DanGen@xxxxxx> wrote in message
news:5BBF8C16-F4A8-45AE-845A-1CD472BF99D4@xxxxxx

Thanks for posting Kerry. We're not running 2008 Core. We're running
Hyper-V Server 2008
(http://www.microsoft.com/servers/hyp...r/default.mspx). It's
competing with ESXi and we're evaluating it as such and doing some proof of
concept work. Anyone out there have Hyper-V Server 2008 running?

How are you backing up your VMs?
--
Dan G.


"Kerry Brown" wrote:

I have tested Hyper-V Server. I just don't have it up and running right now.
For the most part it acts as if it's Server 2008 Core except you can't
install some roles. Try the setup for Server Core I posted.

I use a combination of methods to backup vm's depending what's running in
them. I always use a backup system within the vm just as if it was a
physical server. If the vm is a DC, running SQL, Exchange, etc. I do a cold
copy of the .vhd whenever there is a change to the system. If it's none of
the above Server 2008 Backup works.

--
Kerry Brown
MS-MVP - Windows Desktop Experience: Systems Administration
http://www.vistahelp.ca/phpBB2/


"DanGen" <DanGen@xxxxxx> wrote in message
news:423BCC66-0BA0-4CE1-9A9B-52CE503C7C9D@xxxxxx