How to Backup Hyper-V VM Using Active Backup for Business

Requirements for Synology Hyper-V Backup

Synology Active Backup for Business eliminates the need for manual Hyper-V export copying to your NAS each day. You can easily download it from the Package Center on your Synology NAS, add the Hyper-V host, and create backup jobs. However, before diving in, it's essential to be aware of certain requirements and limitations associated with using Active Backup for Business. The requirements ensure a smooth and effective backup process. Here's a comprehensive list of requirements for Synology Hyper-V backup:

• Supported backup on Microsoft Hyper-V hypervisor (Windows Server Hyper-V 2019 and 2016).
• Ensure that there is a minimum of 8 GB of available space on both the backup destination and the volume where the package is installed.
• When using Active Backup for Business to back up Hyper-V, a data mover will be installed on the Hyper-V host. Make sure that a host's system volume has a minimum of 512 MB of free space. This requirement is essential as Active Backup for Business installs a data mover for handling backup tasks.
• Ensure that the VM configuration version exceeds 5.0. You can verify this using the command Get-VM * | Format-Table Name, Version. If it falls short of the requirement, consider upgrading it.
• Enable WinRM for remote PowerShell control. This is typically activated by default on Windows Server operating systems. You can confirm its status with the command WinRM enumerate winrm/config/listener or manually enable it using winrm quickconfig.
• Configure WinRM for HTTPS to encrypt data transfer later.
• Enable SMB v2/v3 via PowerShell: Set-SmbServerConfiguration -EnableSMB2Protocol $true. Subsequently, enable File and Printer Sharing to facilitate data transfer through the firewall. Navigate to Control Panel > System and Security > Windows Defender Firewall > Advanced Settings > Inbound Rules, then enable File and Printer Sharing (NB-Session-In) and File and Printer Sharing (SMB-In).
• Ensure that administrative shares of the C drive and the drives storing VM configuration files are enabled.
• Enable PowerShell permission on the Hyper-V host.
• Keep the following ports open: 445, 5510, 5986, 5985.
• Note that pass-through virtual disks and guest disks s connected via in-guest FC or iSCSI might not be backed up.

By adhering to these requirements, you can smoothly use Active Backup for Business to back up your Hyper-V, enhancing data security.

How to Backup Hyper-V with Active Backup for Business

To safeguard your virtual machines, it is essential to set up a backup task that outlines the specifics of how, where, and when the virtual machine data will be backed up. This task can be tailored to process a single virtual machine or multiple ones. Whether you choose to configure and initiate the backup task immediately or save it for later execution, this section will walk you through the step-by-step process of creating backup tasks to ensure the protection of your Hyper-V virtual machines.

1. Ensure that Active Backup for Business is installed on your Synology NAS. You can download and install the package from the Package Center on your Synology NAS.

2. In the Active Backup for Business interface, locate and click on the Manage Hypervisor > Add button to connect to Microsoft Hyper-V.

Note: If your NAS cannot be accessed by the Hyper-V server directly, for example, a NAT router hides the NAS from the Hyper-V server, you can click Connection from Hyper-V to Synology NAS to configure network settings.

3. Go to Active Backup for Business > Virtual Machine > Microsoft Hyper-V, and click Create Task to open the backup wizard.

• Configure the number of concurrent backed up devices. The maximum number of backed up virtual machines is 10.
• Enable Changed Block Tracking: Only transfers the blocks that have changed since the last backup and significantly reduce the transferred data size.
• Enable application-aware backup: Performs an application-aware backup to ensure application data is consistent. Please note that this feature leverages Microsoft's Volume Shadow Copy Service (VSS) to ensure the consistency of the backed-up data for Linux and Windows virtual machines. Therefore, to enable 19 Chapter 4: Backup Task Creation this option, the Windows virtual machine supporting VSS is required.
• Enable data transfer compression: Compresses data during transmission to reduce transferred data size.
• Enable data transfer encryption: Encrypts data during transmission to enhance data security.
• Enable source datastore usage detection: Since taking snapshots may require additional space on the host datastore, insufficient space on the datastore may cause the virtual machine to suspend automatically and lose data. By enabling this feature, the backup job will fail when the host datastore is lower than the certain percentage you have set.
• Enable backup verification: Enable backup verification to enhance backup reliability. By using Synology Virtual Machine Manager (VMM) to boot up a backed-up device and shoot a video, users can make sure that the backup file can be properly executed.
• Take livevideo for … sec.: Specify the duration for your video, which will start shooting once Synology Virtual Machine Manager begins running the backup image. The video will be played at 3x speed.
• Advanced settings: Set up the script and information for individual virtual machines.
• Select single virtual machine or shift + left click to multi-select virtual machines to specify the script or virtual machine information settings for virtual machines.
• Click Script to browse the script executed in the guest OS and specify the script processing mode.
• Required successful processing: Virtual machine backup process will stop if the script failed to be executed.
• Ignore script execution failure and continue the VM backup: Virtual machine backup process will continue even if the script failed to be executed.
• Click VM Information to specify the information for individual virtual machine. You may configure the credential, operating system, and IP address.

4. Set up the backup schedule based on your backup policy.\

5. Set up retention policy.

6. Once satisfied with the settings, initiate the backup job.

Superior Solution for Hyper-V VM Backup to NAS

Active Backup for Business offers support for backing up Hyper-V VMs to Synology NAS, but it comes with various requirements and limitations. Opting for a more advanced backup option allows you to efficiently safeguard your VMs on NAS, surpassing the constraints associated with Active Backup for Business.

AOMEI Cyber Backup empowers businesses with a reliable and user-friendly Hyper-V backup solution, ensuring the resilience of their Hyper-V environments through efficient backup and recovery processes.

Versatility: AOMEI Cyber Backup offers diverse backup options tailored for Hyper-V environments.
Ease of Use: User-friendly interface ensures a seamless backup process.
Efficient Recovery: Swift disaster recovery minimizes downtime for Hyper-V systems.
Scalability: Scales seamlessly to accommodate evolving backup needs.
Centralized Backup: Scheduling and managing backup tasks for a central console easily.
Archive Backup to Cloud: AOMEI Cyber Backup support archive backups to an Amazon S3 for guaranteeing higher data security.

1. Navigate to Source Device > Hyper-V > + Add Hyper-V to add a host, and fill in the information.

2. Navigate to Backup Task > + Create New Task, and specify the Task Name, Backup Type, Device, Target, Schedule on a simple page.

• Device: select the VMs on the host you want to back up.
• Target: You can select to back up to a local path, or to a network path.
• Archive: Select the added S3 bucket to archive backup versions to Amazon S3.
• Schedule: You can schedule backup flexibly, automatically performing full or incremental backups on a daily, weekly, or monthly basis.

3. Click Start Backup: you can select to Add the schedule only, or Add the schedule and start backup now.

📢 While the Free Edition has covered most of VM backup needs, you can also upgrade to enjoy:
Batch VM backup: Batch backup large numbers of VMs managed by hosts.
Backup cleanup: Specify a retention policy, and the old backups that exceed the limit will be auto deleted.
Restore to new location: Create a new VM from the backup to the original or another datastore, host, and reset the RAM and Vital Processor.

Conclusion

The Synology Active Backup for Business is a robust solution for Hyper-V data protection. Businesses can rely on this platform for efficient and secure backup operations. While acknowledging specific requirements and limitations, it stands as a valuable tool for safeguarding critical data. For those seeking unparalleled data protection, you can also try AOMEI Cyber Backup to protect your Hyper-V virtual machines.

Whether it's Active Backup for Business or AOMEI Cyber Backup, the key lies in selecting a solution that aligns seamlessly with your business's virtualization landscape, ensuring data continuity and peace of mind.