Create NFS file share on Hyper-V Server 2016
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@dustinb3403 said in Create NFS file share on Hyper-V Server 2016:
@tim_g Why not simply have two VHD then?
One that the system boots off of, the other that contains the NFS share. You'd simply mount that drive to literally any other system, browse it, grab what you need all while working on restoring the primary system.
I think you're over complicating this. . .
No, I'm not.
MD1000 is attached to a Hyper-V Server 2016 host. I want to host an NFS share on the MD1000, via "HVhost/NFSshare".
If I need to restore a server, I don't have to do anything at all. I just boot to the restore media on the LinuxServer, and point it to "HVhost/NFSshare". It's all there, no problem.
In the other scenario, I won't be able to get at the NFS share until first restoring the VHD and the VM that can run it. So if that VHD contains a TON of other data from other servers plus older backups, it's going to take a long time to restore that VHD. Then after the VHD is restored, simply mounting the VHD on something won't allow me to remotely browse the NFS share.
With a VHD file, you have to restore the whole thing to get at the NFS share inside of it. If the NFS share is on hardware, you only need to restore what you want.
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@scottalanmiller said in Create NFS file share on Hyper-V Server 2016:
@tim_g said in Create NFS file share on Hyper-V Server 2016:
Lets say I needed to restore something... I'd first have to restore a huge VHD and VM to make the included NFS share available. Then I would be able to restore a piece of data from that NFS share.
That's really saying the same thing twice. You are restoring the one file, that's all. Yes it is large, but it is large regardless of where you put it.
No the VHD is like a big box. Inside that box contains another box (the NFS share).
In a DR scenario, I'd have to restore the big box, just to be able to get at the box inside of it, which then contains the data I want.
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@tim_g said in Create NFS file share on Hyper-V Server 2016:
@scottalanmiller said in Create NFS file share on Hyper-V Server 2016:
@tim_g said in Create NFS file share on Hyper-V Server 2016:
Lets say I needed to restore something... I'd first have to restore a huge VHD and VM to make the included NFS share available. Then I would be able to restore a piece of data from that NFS share.
That's really saying the same thing twice. You are restoring the one file, that's all. Yes it is large, but it is large regardless of where you put it.
No the VHD is like a big box. Inside that box contains another box (the NFS share).
In a DR scenario, I'd have to restore the big box, just to be able to get at the box inside of it, which then contains the data I want.
Right - but in your scenario, what failed?
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In the non-VHD scenario, i could simply just restore THAT ONE LINUX SERVER data from tape onto the NFS share, rather than first restoring that WHOLE VHD.
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@tim_g said in Create NFS file share on Hyper-V Server 2016:
In the non-VHD scenario, i could simply just restore THAT ONE LINUX SERVER data from tape onto the NFS share, rather than first restoring that WHOLE VHD.
How can that change? That makes no sense. If you can back up Hyper-V that way, then you can back up Linux that way.
Sing the song "Anything you can do with Hyper-V, I can do with Linux better..."
What applies to one, applies to the other.
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I'm really confused here. Why is the disk being restored? You run a nix VM with an NFS export. Are you deleting it or something? Just leave the VM on and the data will be there?
What I do with KVM is have the VM running with the NFS export. Then just use
guestmount(part of libguestfs) to mount it locally if I need data from it. -
I want to back up Linux servers to an NFS share on an MD1000. Then back up that MD1000 to tape.
From tape, I could restore a single Linux server back to the NFS share, then on the physical Linux server, run the recovery media and restore the server from that NFS share.
Doing it via VHD through a VM, I'd have to first restore the entire VHD which contains the entire NFS share from tape, which would contain the backups of all Linux servers... all before I can run the recover media and restore that single server.
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@tim_g said in Create NFS file share on Hyper-V Server 2016:
@scottalanmiller said in Create NFS file share on Hyper-V Server 2016:
@tim_g said in Create NFS file share on Hyper-V Server 2016:
Lets say I needed to restore something... I'd first have to restore a huge VHD and VM to make the included NFS share available. Then I would be able to restore a piece of data from that NFS share.
That's really saying the same thing twice. You are restoring the one file, that's all. Yes it is large, but it is large regardless of where you put it.
No the VHD is like a big box. Inside that box contains another box (the NFS share).
In a DR scenario, I'd have to restore the big box, just to be able to get at the box inside of it, which then contains the data I want.
Right, same both ways. You aren't explaining to us the downsides of our approach. We are seeing everything negative that you say about Linux as applying to Hyper-V, and everything positive about Hyper-V applying to the Linux VM. We aren't seeing what aspect is making one better than the other, no negatives that we are finding in the VM approach (which is why it's considered the best practice here.)
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So you have Hyper-V host with NFS share - you back that up to tape - using what? There is no VM in this case, so you have to have some kind of agent that will run directly on Hyper-V.. that agent allows you to take file level backups.
So just use that same software, this time with a Windows Agent, install that agent inside the Windows VM, use that agent to backup to tape the files, not the VM (a good one might do both at the same time).
Then restore from tape just the file itself to the windows VM previously mentioned. Done, no restore of a whole VM on Hyper-V required. -
@tim_g said in Create NFS file share on Hyper-V Server 2016:
Doing it via VHD through a VM, I'd have to first restore the entire VHD which contains the entire NFS share from tape, which would contain the backups of all Linux servers... all before I can run the recover media and restore that single server.
It's the same amount of data. One is stored in a VHD, the other is stored in a file system. You wouldn't be able to restore the Linux machines without having the hypervisor up and the data back on the MD1000 anyway. That extra step seems so insignificant that it's not even worth thinking about.
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@tim_g said in Create NFS file share on Hyper-V Server 2016:
Doing it via VHD through a VM, I'd have to first restore the entire VHD which contains the entire NFS share from tape, which would contain the backups of all Linux servers... all before I can run the recover media and restore that single server.
So let's reword this...
Linux VM Way
You'd have to install Hyper-V, then restore a tiny VM (maybe 10GB or less) or do a built from Ansible or whatever. This is fast and painless no matter how it is handled. Super easy.
Then you'd need to restore the files you want to put back. You can restore only the ones you need to restore right away, then get the rest later.
Hyper-V Way
You'd have to restore Hyper-V, rather than do a plain install or else you'll need to have it backed up. This is also fast, but the same effort as the Linux VM above. No benefits yet.
Then you'd need to restore the files you want to put back. You can restore only the ones you need to restore right away, then get the rest later.
From what I can tell, they are effectively identical.
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I think Tim might believe that the only way to backup a VM on Hyper-V is by backing up the whole VHD. This is not the case. You can install an Agent inside the VM, and do file level backup just like you do a bare metal server.
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There is also the question of... what is the real concern here? That a server will fail, AND the backup server itself will completely fail, all at the same time? That's not an impossible situation, but it is crazy rare. Is that really the only situation that this even brings up concern for?
Certainly under normal backup system failure, you'd want to restore the whole thing before using it again, regardless of where you were storing it, right?
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Let me ask this way...
If I have a simple VM running a NFS share, and the NFS share is stored on a VHD on the Hyper-V host (MD1000)...
I have several physical linux servers (LinuxServ1 to LinuxServ10), backing themselves up to that NFS share (which is in that VHD).
The MD1000 is backed up to Tape, which means that VHD is now on Tape.
Now in a DR scenario, I need to restore LinuxServ3... how do I do that?
Here's how, I now need to restore that whole VHD from tape, which contains 9 other Linux server backups.
Had that NFS share not been on a VHD, I could have simply restore ONLY LinuxServ3 from tape. But because the backup of LinuxServ3 is in a VHD, I have to restore the whole VHD to get at it.
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I see the concern is that perhaps he wants to restore a server from a point that is no longer on the NFS, but there is a 1 yr old tape that does have the Linux backup on it (that was originally saved to the NFS share) and restore it...
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@tim_g said in Create NFS file share on Hyper-V Server 2016:
The MD1000 is backed up to Tape, which means that VHD is now on Tape.
Why? Says who? you don't have to backup the VHD, you can backup the files inside the VHD directly if you rather.
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@tim_g said in Create NFS file share on Hyper-V Server 2016:
The MD1000 is backed up to Tape, which means that VHD is now on Tape.
This is the break. This doesn't mean that. That's not how I would normally do it, and certainly not how I would do it if I had your concern.
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@tim_g said in Create NFS file share on Hyper-V Server 2016:
Here's how, I now need to restore that whole VHD from tape, which contains 9 other Linux server backups.
You only need to do this if you lost the VHD that was running on the Hyper-V host in the first place.
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@tim_g said in Create NFS file share on Hyper-V Server 2016:
Let me ask this way...
If I have a simple VM running a NFS share, and the NFS share is stored on a VHD on the Hyper-V host (MD1000)...
I have several physical linux servers (LinuxServ1 to LinuxServ10), backing themselves up to that NFS share (which is in that VHD).
The MD1000 is backed up to Tape, which means that VHD is now on Tape.
Now in a DR scenario, I need to restore LinuxServ3... how do I do that?
Here's how, I now need to restore that whole VHD from tape, which contains 9 other Linux server backups.
Had that NFS share not been on a VHD, I could have simply restore ONLY LinuxServ3 from tape. But because the backup of LinuxServ3 is in a VHD, I have to restore the whole VHD to get at it.
Why? Just backup the NFS share from the VM like you would the other way? Put an agent on the VM or use whatever tool you're using now to backup just the Linux servers backups.
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Basically, if you put the NFS on Hyper-V you know you are going to back it up file by file. Treat the Linux VM the same, problem solved.
Anything that works for Hyper-V, works just as well or better for the VM.
