Hyper-V 2008 VM System State Backup to USB
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So some how our MSP is weaseling their way out of more work, and now it's on my plate to backup our Hyper-V VM from 2008 (which is also a dc).
To do so I've been told to learn this presumably I can mount a USB to Hyper-V and then share that USB directly with the VM.
Is anyone able to confirm or provide guidance on this?
Any pitfalls I might come across doing this?
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Just be sure to test restoring it somewhere, looks like good advice. Though I'd want some sort of automatic scheduled backup. Why is this not a part of whatever backup system that is already in place?
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Should work, I think. But pretty cheesy.
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I have successfully passed through a USB HDD to a VM in Hyper-V but it was a pain in the ass. I removed that setup as soon as I could.
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I found a way to do this without having to pass the USB to the VM (at least through Hyper-V)
I connected the USB to the hyper-v host, from within the Hyper-V host I shared the drive out.
From within the VM I'm running this process to the UNC path of the USB.
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@DustinB3403 said in Hyper-V 2008 VM System State Backup to USB:
I found a way to do this without having to pass the USB to the VM (at least through Hyper-V)
I connected the USB to the hyper-v host, from within the Hyper-V host I shared the drive out.
From within the VM I'm running this process to the UNC path of the USB.
Still painful but at least it works... also makes it easy to migrate the VM to anothe rhost if you need to do so.
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@dafyre Yeah, not as painful as I figured it would be.
The end goal is to migrate this VM into XS come Saturday. Having the system state if something goes sideways we can turn it back on, and let it replicate any changes.
Which we aren't making any changes.
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What about a traditional backup? Something like Veeam?
Just to clarify
- Your host is 2008
- is the host DC at the same time or is the DC a VM (this might not be supported by MS)
- And there are some additional VMs?
- Any other DCs around? Creating a new DC is way simpler and less dangerous than restoring a DC from backup
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@thwr the vm is a DC.
The system state backup method was "approved" by our MSP, so if it blows up I'm placing it at their feet, and ask why they skirted their responsibility.
They are contracted to move this VM into the XS pool, I've expressly said that I don't want to deal with their mess, numerous times.
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@DustinB3403 said in Hyper-V 2008 VM System State Backup to USB:
@thwr the vm is a DC.
The system state backup method was "approved" by our MSP, so if it blows up I'm placing it at their feet, and ask why they skirted their responsibility.
They are contracted to move this VM into the XS pool, I've expressly said that I don't want to deal with their mess, numerous times.
Wow. DC VMs are only supported on Hyper-V 2012R2 AND 2k12r2 guests and up afaik. Not sure if this is just about single and fully virtualized DCs.
Anyway, it's probably better to install a new VM on Xen, let it join the domain and install AD roles on the new one. Carry over FSMO/PDC emulator roles to the new one in case the old one is running them. Don't forget DNS etc.
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@travisdh1 said in Hyper-V 2008 VM System State Backup to USB:
Just be sure to test restoring it somewhere, looks like good advice. Though I'd want some sort of automatic scheduled backup. Why is this not a part of whatever backup system that is already in place?
The hypervisor vms are backed up using shadow protect, the concern the MSP has (and this is fair) is the vm being a DC might not get backed up rapidly enough.
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This VM is running federated services for o365 as well... so yeah... that's probably why they don't want to touch it again.
More of their mess.
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@DustinB3403 said in Hyper-V 2008 VM System State Backup to USB:
This VM is running federated services for o365 as well... so yeah... that's probably why they don't want to touch it again.
More of their mess.
Sounds like fun... not.
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Exactly, I didn't set it up, and I've said I don't want to deal with these systems, yet this job keeps coming back to me.
I get limiting the MSP's hours for the job to try and save cost, but damn it they should have to clean up this mess.
Now I'm not doing anything with SP or the federated services, so if all goes smoothly (export > import) then fine. But these guys suck.
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PS if anyone wants to know who this MSP is, PM me and I'll let you know.
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Wait... this is a DC? Why not bring up a new DC on the XS pool and take down the old one. What benefit does moving it and potentially having it blow up have?
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@coliver said in Hyper-V 2008 VM System State Backup to USB:
Wait... this is a DC? Why not bring up a new DC on the XS pool and take down the old one. What benefit does moving it and potentially having it blow up have?
Simply put we don't have any licensing available to do this, and the MSP is being a little bitch about it.
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@DustinB3403 said in Hyper-V 2008 VM System State Backup to USB:
This VM is running federated services for o365 as well... so yeah... that's probably why they don't want to touch it again.
More of their mess.
Ouch, we normally recommend not federating with O365 unless there is just no other option, just makes everything so fragile.
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Are you doing SSO or just password syncing with O365?
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@coliver SSO...
