In most cases, Unitrends recommends that you use host-level backups to protect your Hyper-V virtual machines. However, in some instances, you might wish to protect your VMs at the guest level in the same way you would protect physical machines, using asset-level backups. Host- and asset-level backups provide you with different options.
Use the following topics to determine whether to run host- or asset-level backups of Hyper-V virtual machines:
General features of Hyper-V host-level and asset-level protection are given here:
Hyper-V protection strategy |
Considerations |
||||||||||||||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Host-level backups |
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||
Asset-level backups |
|
Specific instances when you might want to protect VMs at the asset level are described below. For instructions on setting up asset-level protection, see Protected assets.
Important! To protect a VM with both host-level and asset-level (agent-based) backups, be sure to adhere to the following:
• | Ensure that the VM's host-level and asset-level jobs do not overlap. Running both simultaneously may lead to undesirable results. |
• | If protecting hosted SQL or Exchange databases with agent-based application backups, do not use application-aware protection for host-level backups. Doing so may compromise log truncation changes and lead to other undesirable results. |
VM configuration |
Protection considerations |
---|---|
Hosted applications |
|
Hosted applications for which you need more granular control. |
Use asset-level application backups to select individual databases to back up and recover. |
Application versions that are not supported by Integration Services |
Use asset-level application backups to protect the databases. Use asset-level protection for the VMs’ file and operating systems. |
Exchange |
Use either host-level or asset-level protection. |
SQL |
For simple recovery model databases, use either host-level or asset-level protection. For full or bulk-logged recovery model databases, use asset-level protection. (Host-level protection is not supported.) |
SharePoint |
Use asset-level protection. (Host-level protection is not supported.) |
Oracle |
Use asset-level protection. (Host-level protection is not supported.) |
VMs running operating systems that are not supported by Integration Services |
With host-level backups, these VMs are temporarily put in a saved state for a brief time during the backup. If you cannot permit a brief VM downtime during the backup,use asset-level protection instead. |
VMs in a cluster configuration with only one cluster shared volume |
Unitrends recommends that you use asset-level protection. |
VMs for which you would like to exclude volumes or large numbers of files when running backups |
Use asset-level protections and exclude files from backups. |
VMs functioning as large file servers for which you may need to frequently recover files. |
Use asset-level protections so you can search for files to recover by name. |
Windows VMs that you would like to protect with the Windows instant recovery (WIR) feature |
Use asset-level protection. |