Create NFS file share on Hyper-V Server 2016

[Obsolesce]

TL;DR: Is there any 3rd party software that will allow me to host an NFS share on Hyper-V Server 2016, or a better way to run an NFS share on a DAS attached to a Hyper-V Server 2016 host?

Details:
Here is a small piece of some infrastructure, and how this particular part is backed up and replicated:

There are multiple Physical Linux Servers that need to back up to an NFS share on the MD1000 attached to HV06.

All these backup obstacles are due to the backup software being used. I know that, and I know the ideal easy answer: buy / use real backup software, etc...

Unfortunately, in this scenario, it's not (yet) an option. So in the meantime... let's ignore the real problem and help me find a band-aid.

Some key points:

• The MD1000 in bldg1 is the only backup storage / repository I have to work with for these pieces.
• The MD1000 in bldg1 has to be connected to HV06, because the bulk of all data to be backed up is on HV06, and is about 15 TB of data.
  • Attaching the MD1000 on something else means 15TB going across the network through a backup server is out of the question. I've done some math and did some tests and this won't work due to some other irrelevant factors to this topic.
• The rest of the designated backup data going onto the the MD1000 is 1-2 TB.
  • The source of this data comes from over the local network.
  • Most of these sources' backups require an NFS share.
• This NFS share must be located on the MD1000 in bldg1.

The problem:

• HV06 is running Hyper-V Server 2016
  • This means I can't create an NFS share via HV06 on the MD1000.

Possible solutions:

• Create a simple fileserver VM on HV06, serving an NFS share that is located on the MD1000.
  • Because it's on a VM, the NFS share will be inside of a .VHDX file.
    • This makes restorations more time consuming or complex, because first the .VHDX would need to be restored in order to restore the NFS share inside of it... and then the backup data in the NFS share could finally then be recovered.
• Some kind of 3rd party software that will allow me to create and host an NFS share on Hyper-V Server 2016.
  • Should be fine, Datacenter licensing is on the HV06 hardware... so Windows Server features would be covered that way.

[scottalanmiller]

@tim_g said in Create NFS file share on Hyper-V Server 2016:

TL;DR: Is there any 3rd party software that will allow me to host an NFS share on Hyper-V Server 2016,

Yes, that's literally what we are saying to do. A Linux VM is literally "3rd party software that will allow me to host an NFS share on Hyper-V Server 2016". It is, in every way, exactly what you are asking for.

[scottalanmiller]

Why do you want an NFS share at all? I'm missing the purpose of that extra step. Why aren't the backups going to the MD1000 directly?

[Obsolesce]

@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:

TL;DR: Is there any 3rd party software that will allow me to host an NFS share on Hyper-V Server 2016,

Yes, that's literally what we are saying to do. A Linux VM is literally "3rd party software that will allow me to host an NFS share on Hyper-V Server 2016". It is, in every way, exactly what you are asking for.

The NFS share won't be on the MD1000, then. It will be inside of a VHD first, and then on the MD1000. That's the issue. I'm first hoping for NFS share directly on the MD1000, not inside of a VHD, unless there are no other options.

[Dashrender]

A "in the weeds" thing is worrying about the MD1000 as a thing. Simply look at the MD1000 as more internal storage that it just another array on HV06.

[scottalanmiller]

@tim_g said in Create NFS file share on Hyper-V Server 2016:

* The source of this data comes from over the local network.
* Most of these sources' backups require an NFS share.

Ah, here it is, buried in there. NFS is needed for the software chosen.

[Obsolesce]

@scottalanmiller said in Create NFS file share on Hyper-V Server 2016:

Why do you want an NFS share at all? I'm missing the purpose of that extra step. Why aren't the backups going to the MD1000 directly?

Because the MD1000 is attached to HV06. I can't attach it to multiple servers. So all other physical Linux Servers have to do their backups via NFS to the MD1000.

[scottalanmiller]

@tim_g said in Create NFS file share on Hyper-V Server 2016:

The NFS share won't be on the MD1000, then. It will be inside of a VHD first, and then on the MD1000. That's the issue.

How is that an issue? They are one and the same. The VHD is on the MD1000, so it's not one then the other. It's on the VHD, the VHD is on the MD1000, just two different aspects of the same statement.

[Dashrender]

@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:

TL;DR: Is there any 3rd party software that will allow me to host an NFS share on Hyper-V Server 2016,

Yes, that's literally what we are saying to do. A Linux VM is literally "3rd party software that will allow me to host an NFS share on Hyper-V Server 2016". It is, in every way, exactly what you are asking for.

The NFS share won't be on the MD1000, then. It will be inside of a VHD first, and then on the MD1000. That's the issue. I'm first hoping for NFS share directly on the MD1000, not inside of a VHD, unless there are no other options.

The MD1000 is a dumb device, it can't have a NFS share. The NFS share comes from HV06, either via the OS on it, or a VM running on HV06 under a hypervisor.

[scottalanmiller]

@tim_g said in Create NFS file share on Hyper-V Server 2016:

Possible solutions:

• Create a simple fileserver VM on HV06, serving an NFS share that is located on the MD1000.
  • Because it's on a VM, the NFS share will be inside of a .VHDX file.
    • This makes restorations more time consuming or complex, because first the .VHDX would need to be restored in order to restore the NFS share inside of it... and then the backup data in the NFS share could finally then be recovered.

This is the part that is consistently incorrect. You do not need to restore the VHDX first.

[Obsolesce]

@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:

The NFS share won't be on the MD1000, then. It will be inside of a VHD first, and then on the MD1000. That's the issue.

How is that an issue? They are one and the same. The VHD is on the MD1000, so it's not one then the other. It's on the VHD, the VHD is on the MD1000, just two different aspects of the same statement.

This means that ALL physical linux server backups will be inside of that VHD. So in the case I need to restore a single Linux server from Tape, I'd first have to restore the entire VHD.

[Dashrender]

@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:

The NFS share won't be on the MD1000, then. It will be inside of a VHD first, and then on the MD1000. That's the issue.

How is that an issue? They are one and the same. The VHD is on the MD1000, so it's not one then the other. It's on the VHD, the VHD is on the MD1000, just two different aspects of the same statement.

This means that ALL physical linux server backups will be inside of that VHD. So in the case I need to restore a single Linux server from Tape, I'd first have to restore the entire VHD.

Why do you think that? Do you not know you can backup a single file that lives inside a VHD? You can - you can prove that right now - you can copy any file from a Windows VM to another location via the network right now. Nothing says that you can only copy the whole VHD.

[Obsolesce]

@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:

Possible solutions:

• Create a simple fileserver VM on HV06, serving an NFS share that is located on the MD1000.
  • Because it's on a VM, the NFS share will be inside of a .VHDX file.
    • This makes restorations more time consuming or complex, because first the .VHDX would need to be restored in order to restore the NFS share inside of it... and then the backup data in the NFS share could finally then be recovered.

This is the part that is consistently incorrect. You do not need to restore the VHDX first.

Okay, so how do I get the data off of the VHDX, which is on a Tape, without restoring the VHDX?

[Obsolesce]

I don't think the tape software will let me dive into a VHDX to restore a single file from it, if it expands multiple tapes... or even at all.

[DustinB3403]

@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:

TL;DR: Is there any 3rd party software that will allow me to host an NFS share on Hyper-V Server 2016,

Yes, that's literally what we are saying to do. A Linux VM is literally "3rd party software that will allow me to host an NFS share on Hyper-V Server 2016". It is, in every way, exactly what you are asking for.

The NFS share won't be on the MD1000, then. It will be inside of a VHD first, and then on the MD1000. That's the issue. I'm first hoping for NFS share directly on the MD1000, not inside of a VHD, unless there are no other options.

You can expose the storage medium directly to the VM though. . . so it wouldn't be "on" the VM. The VM is literally just creating an NFS share from the available storage.

[stacksofplates]

@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:

Possible solutions:

• Create a simple fileserver VM on HV06, serving an NFS share that is located on the MD1000.
  • Because it's on a VM, the NFS share will be inside of a .VHDX file.
    • This makes restorations more time consuming or complex, because first the .VHDX would need to be restored in order to restore the NFS share inside of it... and then the backup data in the NFS share could finally then be recovered.

This is the part that is consistently incorrect. You do not need to restore the VHDX first.

Okay, so how do I get the data off of the VHDX, which is on a Tape, without restoring the VHDX?

One way is again to mount the VHD on the host and then pull the files out that way. Then it has nothing to do with NFS. Just mounting a drive and reading data.

[Dashrender]

@tim_g said in Create NFS file share on Hyper-V Server 2016:

I don't think the tape software will let me dive into a VHDX to restore a single file from it, if it expands multiple tapes... or even at all.

This isn't an issue because you don't have to backup the VHDX, you can install an agent INSIDE the VM where the NFS is, and backup the files directly.

[scottalanmiller]

@tim_g said in Create NFS file share on Hyper-V Server 2016:

I don't think the tape software will let me dive into a VHDX to restore a single file from it, if it expands multiple tapes... or even at all.

Why is there a VHDX being backed up at all. The issue starts with the fact that you are even talking about the VHDX. Just don't use that, problem solved. There is no reason to be backing up the NFS server's contents in a container like that. You weren't gonig to do that with Hyper-V, so you don't need to do it here.

[DustinB3403]

@dashrender said in Create NFS file share on Hyper-V Server 2016:

@tim_g said in Create NFS file share on Hyper-V Server 2016:

I don't think the tape software will let me dive into a VHDX to restore a single file from it, if it expands multiple tapes... or even at all.

This isn't an issue because you don't have to backup the VHDX, you can install an agent INSIDE the VM where the NFS is, and backup the files directly.

Except his backup solution may not have agents. . . to be installed.

Which If you need a free agent, use UrBackup

[Dashrender]

@stacksofplates said in Create NFS file share on Hyper-V Server 2016:

@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:

Possible solutions:

• Create a simple fileserver VM on HV06, serving an NFS share that is located on the MD1000.
  • Because it's on a VM, the NFS share will be inside of a .VHDX file.
    • This makes restorations more time consuming or complex, because first the .VHDX would need to be restored in order to restore the NFS share inside of it... and then the backup data in the NFS share could finally then be recovered.

This is the part that is consistently incorrect. You do not need to restore the VHDX first.

Okay, so how do I get the data off of the VHDX, which is on a Tape, without restoring the VHDX?

One way is again to mount the VHD on the host and then pull the files out that way. Then it has nothing to do with NFS. Just mounting a drive and reading data.

Well, if the VHDX is on the tape.. I'm not sure how you'd mount it. Though I'm sure some systems probably allow you to do that, then you just wait for the tape to load up - probably have timeout issues though.