How to disable CBT (Change Block Tracking) on a specific Hyper-V VM

Question

Hello!

We started backing up a SQL server with Veeam backup and have had performance problems with the SQL server since that point. The performance/latency issue isn't while the backup is running - it's all of the time.

Since Veeam uses the CBT built into Windows Server 2019 Hyper-V, I was thinking that CBT might be the cause of the poor performance.

I couldn't find anything on how to "officially" turn off CBT for a specific VM, so after experimenting, I found that you could shutdown a VM, remove the *.rct and *.mrt files and they wouldn't be re-created once the VM was turned back on. (At least until the next backup which would re-enable CBT).

The problem is that after I deleted the *.rct and *.mrt files from the SQL server, I didn't see any performance improvement. This could be because the problem lies somewhere else (not related to CBT) or it could be that I didn't disable CBT correctly and there is still a performance hit because CBT isn't fully disabled.

Can anyone shed any light on this?

Thanks!

Answer 1

It turns out that the CBT/RCT wasn't affecting the performance of my VM. I'm sure that there is some performance impact, but it wasn't the cause of my specific issue.

At least reading the posts here, there is no "official" way of disabling CBT/RCT for a specific VM. But it seems to work to shutdown the VM and delete the .rct and .mrt manually.

Answer 2

Hi Dave,

CBT or in Hyper-V known as RTC (Resilient Change Tracker) is a mecanisme to track all changes on block level. This way Veeam knows exactly what to backup instead of scanning/looking for the changes which takes way more time. So during backup you should see a performance improvement.

Seems like you can disable CBT in Veeam. CBT is enabled in the Veeam filter driver on the host. So disabling that might not disable RCT or because RTC is on the host it's already bypasses CBT....But I am no Veeam Expert... For what I know there is no way to disable RTC on Hyper-V. It's enabled by default if you meet the criteria.
https://helpcenter.veeam.com/docs/backup/hyperv/changed_block_tracking.html?ver=110

I think however that your probleem lies somewere else. Do other VMs on the host expierence performance issue's? Are the performance issue's on cpu/mem/disk level in the VM or maybe on the host itself?

Answer 3

Hi,

Thanks for your post, based on my understanding, the issue is that Hyper V VM has performance issue when use Veeam backup. Since performance issue need to analyze performance logs, we are limited to collect the performance logs via forum and the issue is also related with third-party application, which will be complex to troubleshoot, I would suggest you open a case with MS for better help.

Below is the link to open a case with MS:

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/gp/customer-service-phone-numbers

Thanks for your time!
Best Regards,
Anne

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Answer 4

Actually, I wasn't looking for help in troubleshooting the performance issues. I would like like someone to comment on how to remove CBT (Change Block Tracking) for a specific VM.

Does anyone know how to do this? Other than just to remove the .rtc and .mrt files?

Thanks!

Answer 5

I’m having a very similar problem with a file server. Are you seeing high disk active time in resource monitor? I’m going to look how to turn off CBT if I find a solution I will let you know.