Recommendations and considerations for protecting Hyper-V VMs at the guest OS level

The table below describes specific instances when you might want to protect VMs at the guest OS level instead of running Hyper-V backups. To protect a VM at the guest level, you protect it the same way you would protect a physical machine. You must install the appropriate agent and add the VM to the Unitrends appliance using the instructions described in About adding clients. See Backups Overview for details on running backups for VMs that you protect at the guest OS level.

Important! Do not run Hyper-V backups for VMs that you are protecting at the guest level. Doing so can lead to undesirable results.

VM configuration

Protection considerations

VMs configured with pass-through disks

Hyper-V backups do not support VMs configured with pass-through disks. To protect a VM with pass-through disks, install the appropriate agent in the guest operating system, add the VM to the backup system as you would add a physical machine, and protect it with the appropriate file-level and application backups. Use bare metal protection for the VM’s operating system. For details, see Backups Overview.

VMs configured with shared VHDXs

Due to a Microsoft limitation, Hyper-V backups cannot protect VMs configured with shared VHDXs. To protect a VM with a shared VHDX, install the appropriate agent in the guest operating system, add the VM to the backup system as you would add a physical machine, and protect it with the appropriate file-level and application backups. Use bare metal protection for the VM’s operating system. For details, see Backups Overview.

Virtualized Active Directory (AD) servers for which you are not following Microsoft’s best practices

Add these VMs to the appliance and protect them with the appropriate file-level and application backups. Use bare metal protection to protect the operating systems. For details, see Backups Overview.

VMs in Distributed File System environments for which you are not following Microsoft’s best practices

Add these VMs to the appliance and protect them with the appropriate file-level and application backups. Use bare metal protection to protect the operating systems. For details, see Backups Overview.

VMs hosting Oracle databases

Add these VMs to the appliance and protect them with the appropriate file-level and application backups. Use bare metal protection for the operating systems. For details, see Backups Overview.

VMs running operating systems that are not supported by Integration Services

It is recommended that you add these VMs to the appliance and protect them with the appropriate file-level and application backups. Use bare metal protection for the operating systems. For details, see Backups Overview.

VMs hosting applications or application versions that are not supported by Integration Services

It is recommended that you add these VMs to the appliance and protect the databases using the appropriate application backups. Use file-level backups for the VMs’ file systems and bare metal protection for the operating systems. For details, see Backups Overview.

VMs hosting SQL databases configured in full or bulk-logged recovery models

For SQL databases configured in full or bulk- logged recovery models, you must schedule regular transaction log backups to truncate the logs and prevent them from growing unchecked. For details, see KB 1121. To schedule transaction log backups for these VMs, you must protect them as if they are physical machines and run SQL backups. Use file-level backups for the VMs’ files systems and bare metal protection for the operating systems. For instructions, see About SQL Server protection.

VMs in a cluster configuration with only one cluster shared volume

It is recommended that you add these VMs to the appliance and protect them with the appropriate file-level and application backups. Use bare metal protection for the operating systems. For details, see Backups Overview.

VMs with disk storage located on SMB 3.0 shares

Unitrends releases 8.0 and higher support Hyper-V backups of VMs with disk storage located on SMB 3.0 shares. For earlier releases, you must install the appropriate agents and protect these VMs as if they are physical machines. For details, see Backups Overview.

VMs for which you would like to exclude volumes or large numbers of files when running backups

Protect these VMs as if they are physical machines using file-level backups and apply selection lists. For details, see File-level Backups. Use bare metal protection for the operating systems. For details, see Bare Metal Protection Overview.

VMs functioning as large file servers for which you may need to perform a large number of restores

Protecting these VMs as physical machines enables you to take advantage of the file search feature when performing restores (see Searching for a file to restore). Install the appropriate agent on each VM, add it to the backup system, and protect it using the appropriate file-level and application backups. Use bare metal protection for the operating system. For details, see Backups Overview.

VMs hosting applications for which you need granular control of backups and restores

Protect the VMs as if they are physical machines by installing the Windows agent, adding them to the backup system, and protecting the databases using the appropriate application backups. This will enable you to select individual databases to back up. Use file-level backups for the VMs’ file systems and bare metal protection for the operating systems. For details, see Backups Overview.

Windows VMs that you would like to protect with the Windows instant recovery (WIR) feature

Install the Windows agent on the VMs, add them to the backup system, and protect them using the appropriate file-level and application backups. Use bare metal protection to protect the operating systems. For details, see Backups Overview. For details about WIR, see Windows Instant Recovery.