Hyper-V backup support limitations

Because of the tight integration of Microsoft Failover Clustering with Cluster Shared Volumes and Hyper-V, the following limitations apply when you are using Tivoli® Storage Manager.

Microsoft Hyper-V support is provided for the following configurations:

• A dedicated Hyper-V system
• A Hyper-V configuration that is part of Microsoft Failover Clustering
• A Hyper-V configuration that is part of Microsoft Failover Clustering with Cluster Shared Volumes

For Windows Server 2008, VM backups can be performed only by a backup-archive client that is installed on the cluster node that is the current owner of the VM. To see which VMs are owned by the node, select ServerManager > Roles > Hyper-V Manager. This restriction does not exist for Windows Server 2012 hosts.

For Windows Server 2008, a VM should be restored only by a backup-archive client that is installed on the cluster node that is the current owner of the VM. To determine the VM configurations of the cluster, select ServerManager > Features > Failover Cluster Manager > cluster name > Services and Applications.. Use the Services and Applications window to change which node is the owner of the VM before you restore the VM. This restriction does not exist for Windows Server 2012 hosts.

For Windows Server 2008, VMs that are currently owned by different nodes, and that have files on a common Cluster Shared Volume, cannot be simultaneously backed up, using the default system VSS provider. The second backup fails because the shared volume is owned by the first node. You can significantly reduce the amount of time that the first node owns the shared volume by using hardware snapshots through the VSS provider that is supplied by your storage hardware vendor. After the hardware snapshot is completed, the backup process can be initiated from the second node, therefore the backups can be running concurrently from both nodes. To determine which node owns the volume, select ServerManager > Features > Failover Cluster Manager > cluster name > Cluster Shared Volumes. The Cluster Shared Volume windows displays the status of the volume, including ownership, and if a backup is in progress (with redirected I/O enabled). This restriction does not exist for Windows Server 2012 hosts.

If your cluster environment typically has all VMs owned by a single node, and other nodes provide only failover support, the following applies:

• Consider setting CLUSTERNODE YES for backups from the active node and restore to failover nodes (if needed).
• Consider running the Tivoli Storage Manager scheduler as a failover service to periodically back up all VMs. For example: dsmc backup vm * -vmbackuptype=hypervfull. A failover starts the scheduler on the failover node.

If your cluster environment typically has some VMs owned by one node, and other VMs owned by other nodes, the following applies:

• Consider using the Asnodename option to allow for backup from multiple nodes and restore to failover nodes (if needed).
• Consider running the Tivoli Storage Manager scheduler as active on each node to periodically back up the VMs owned by each node. The schedules must be defined with non-overlapping start times to avoid contention for common shared volumes. If the scheduler on each node backs up with -vmlist=*, there is no need for the scheduler service to failover since the scheduler service on the other node will automatically pick up nodes that move over on the next backup.