How to backup my host machine running hyper V

Question

How to backup my host machine running hyper V

Jonathan Priyaraj 160

I have an on premise host machine which is Dell server running hyper v manager. We have around 10 VMs . We are backing up those VMs . But we wanted to backup the host machine separately. What is the solution? Can we use windows server backup to backup host machine (without VM data ? If yes , how can do it ? How can we restore the host machine ? Is there any other options to backup?

2 answers

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Answer 1

Yanhong Liu 14,195 Microsoft External Staff

Hello Jonathan Priyaraj,

Thank you for posting in Q&A forum.

Using Windows Server Backup: You can use Windows Server Backup to back up a Hyper-V host. This backup method backs up the entire system state of the host to the target location, including Hyper-V roles and configuration information, but does not include virtual machine data. This is a good choice if you only want to back up the host's system state, not the virtual machine data. If you need to recover the host, you can use Windows Server Backup to restore the system state.

Back up virtual machine data: If you want to back up virtual machine data, not just the host's system state, you may need to use a specialized virtualization backup solution, such as Veeam Backup & Replication, Altaro VM Backup, etc. These solutions provide complete virtual machine backup and recovery capabilities for Hyper-V environments, including backing up the virtual machine's disk, configuration, and state, and providing flexible recovery options.

Reference link: How to Backup Hyper-V Virtual Machines (Tutorial) | Windows OS Hub (woshub.com)

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/troubleshoot/windows-server/virtualization/back-up-hyper-v-vm-from-parent-partition

Please note that for third-party products, we may not be able to provide detailed technical support directly. However, we encourage you to actively use Internet resources to explore and learn based on your specific needs, or directly contact the developers of related products to obtain professional technical support and services.

Thank you for your understanding. I hope the information above is helpful.

Best Regards,

Yanhong Liu

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Jonathan Priyaraj 160 Reputation points

2024-04-17T08:08:30.76+00:00

Hi Yahong, Thanks for your information.however I have few questions. In the event of host going down, how can I restore the host machine? Can you send me any article for that ? I have a replication host running in the background. And while taking window server backup which options should I choose - System state or Bare metal recovery? Should I enable VSS while taking backups, is it necessary?
Yanhong Liu 14,195 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff

2024-04-17T08:39:43.9433333+00:00

Hello Jonathan Priyaraj,

System State Backup:

It contains core system components such as the operating system, system files, registry, boot files, and system service configurations. This type of backup is mainly used in case of a system crash or when a quick restore of the system configuration is required and does not include user data or applications.

Bare metal recovery backup:

In addition to the system state data, it also includes the entire data of the entire hard drive, including the operating system, applications, user data, etc. This type of backup is used in case of hardware failure, disaster recovery, or when the entire system environment needs to be rebuilt on brand new hardware.

From a security point of view, a "bare metal recovery" backup is more appropriate, as it provides comprehensive system and data recovery capabilities, ensuring that the entire system environment can be rebuilt from scratch if needed.

About VSS (Volume Shadow Copy Service), which is a technology for creating consistent snapshots. Enabling VSS at backup time ensures consistency in backing up data. Therefore, it is recommended that you enable VSS during the backup process.

Backup Restore Links: Back up virtual machines from parent partition - Windows Server | Microsoft Learn, Back up and restore Hyper-V VM with BMR and data backup - Windows Server | Microsoft Learn
Jonathan Priyaraj 160 Reputation points

2024-04-17T09:12:18.28+00:00

Hi Yahong. Thanks . I have a doubt . Doing Bare metal recovery on the windows server backup , won't it backup VM data running on Hyper V manager?

Answer 2

Anonymous

Hi Jonathan,

Hope you're doing well.

You can try to use the Windows Server backup to backup the host machine.

By using WSB, you can choose to do full backup or Custom backup. After backing up the data, if you need to restore the data, just open WSB and then choose "recover".

In addition, you can also choose 3rd-party backup software to backup your data.

Best Regards,

Ian Xue

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