In this quick article we’ll visit the steps on how to install an Hyper-V Off-Host Backup Proxy. By default Veeam Backup & Replication can take backups and restores of virtual machines sitting onto the Hyper-V Host. In this case the resources from the actual Host will be used to perform such operations. If we prefer, we can delegate these operations to a different Host acting as a Backup Proxy. In this scenario the Hyper-V Off-Host Backup Proxy manages the backup and restore operations directly .
So if we are working with a large Hyper-V deployment we can offload the read/write operations from the Production environment to a specific Host running the operations in the background. This additional Hyper-V Off-Host Backup Proxy needs to connect to the same SAN Storage where the Virtual Machines are located and be capable of managing transportable VSS Shadow Copies. In fact the Production Hyper-V Host or cluster will create this type of Storage Snapshots onto the Production Storage.
When adding a new Hyper-V Off-Site Backup Proxy the following lightweight components will install:
- Veeam Installer Service is an auxiliary service installed and on any Windows (or Hyper-V) server. This service analyses the system and installs the necessary components and services.
- Veeam Data Mover performs data processing tasks on behalf of Veeam Backup & Replication, like reading the VM source data, performing data deduplication and compression, and finally storing backed up data on the target storage.
- Veeam Hyper-V Integration Service is responsible for communicating with the VSS framework during backup, replication and recovery tasks. The service also deploys a driver to handle changed block tracking for Hyper-V.
Another very important requirement is to install the Hyper-V Off-Site Backup Proxy not as a member of the same Hyper-V cluster. In case the Production environment installation uses an Hyper -V Cluster, the Off-Host Backup Proxy cannot be a member of the same cluster. This is due to the fact that when mounting the Production Storage Snapshot this will have the same LUN signature as the current Production LUN. Microsoft doesn’t support this type of configuration.
Install Hyper-V Off-Host Backup Proxy
To install an Hyper-V Off-Site Backup Proxy we can use the wizard from the Backup Infrastructure view in the console as per screenshot below.
To be able to configure Hyper-V as a Backup Proxy we need to add the particular Host as a “Veeam Managed Sever” first. This is because Veeam Backup & Replication will make sure the required components are installed and updated. In alternative we can start the wizard and perform the operation on the fly as per screenshot below. So next step is to hit the Add New button.
Let’s specify the DNS Name or IP address of the Hyper-V Off-Site Backup Proxy Host to add. I would recommend to make sure the FQDN name is working both ways with forward and reverse resolutions.
At this point we need to specify the account with local Admin rights to interact with the Hyper-V Host. In this article I’m showing how to configure Hyper-V 2016 Server settings.
Veeam Backup & Replication will search and install the required components.
At this point the wizard will deploy the required software components as per screenshot below.
The installation is very quick and the summary shows the main details.
Note. The reason why the Chassis Type shows Virtual (VMware) it is because I’m using in this case a nested Hyper-V into VMware.
At this point now that we have the new Hyper-V Host in the list of Veeam Managed Servers we can proceed with the wizard.
In this step we can decide to use dedicated or preferred Networks to transport the Backup traffic. From this wizard also the ability to encrypt an throttle the Network traffic if desired.
A final review before proceeding with the wizard.
The wizard is now ready to apply the configurations.
And a final message reporting the main status of the installation.
When we go back to the Backup Proxies available we can now see the new one just created.
In separate articles we’ll digress more on the Hyper-V Cluster installation and also on how to leverage VSS Software and Hardware Providers. This article is part of the Veeam Backup & Replication features overview series. From the same series the next steps will cover the configuration details for Backup and Backup Copy Jobs. Last but not least how to setup a Linux Backup Repository starting from an Ubuntu installation.
Hopefully this article was informative and looking forward to your feedback and comments also based on your home lab projects!
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