Veeam Backup & Replication allows you to connect standalone Hyper-V hosts, Hyper-V clusters or SCVMM servers.
Before adding Hyper-V servers, check the following prerequisites:
1. Make sure that SCVMM Admin UI is installed on the Veeam Backup & Replication server.
Otherwise, you will not be able to add SCVMM servers to Veeam Backup & Replication. For details, see the System Requirements section.
2. On every connected Hyper-V server, Veeam Backup & Replication deploys a set of components – Veeam Installer Service, Veeam Transport Service and Hyper-V Integration Service. Ensure that File and Printer Sharing is enabled in the network connection settings of the server; otherwise, the components will not be installed.
To add Hyper-V servers, follow the next steps.
Step 1. Launch the New Hyper-V Server Wizard
To launch the New Hyper-V Server wizard, do one of the following:
• Open the Backup Infrastructure view, select the Managed servers node in the inventory pane and click Add Server on the toolbar or right-click the Managed servers node and select Add server. In the Add Server window, select Microsoft Hyper-V.
• Open the Virtual Machines view, select the Microsoft Hyper node in the inventory pane and click Add Server on the toolbar or right-click the Microsoft Hyper node in the inventory tree and select Add Server.
• Open the Virtual Machines or Files view, right-click anywhere in the inventory pane and select Add server. In the Add Server window, select Microsoft Hyper-V.
Step 2. Specify Server Name or Address
Enter a full DNS name or IP address of the standalone Hyper-V Server, SCVMM or Hyper-V cluster.
Provide a description for future reference. The default description contains information about the user who added the server, as well as the date and time when the server was added.
Step 3. Specify Server Type
Select what type of server you want to add:
• Microsoft System Center Virtual Machine Manager (SCVMM). Select this option if you are using SCVMM to manage multiple Hyper-V servers. Veeam Backup & Replication will pull information about the Hyper-V hosts and clusters managed by SCVMM to add them to the console as part of the SCVMM hierarchy.
• Microsoft Hyper-V Cluster. Select this option if you want to add a Hyper-V cluster not managed by SCVMM. Adding a Hyper-V cluster instead of separate cluster nodes allows for greater flexibility at work.
• Microsoft Hyper-V Server (standalone). Select this option to add a standalone Hyper-V server that is not a part of a Hyper-V cluster and is not managed by SCVMM.
Step 4. Specify Credentials
Specify credentials for the user account with local administrator privileges on the server you are adding. The user name should be specified in the DOMAIN\USERNAME format.
Veeam Backup & Replication will use provided credentials to deploy its components on the added server (Veeam Installer service, Veeam Transport service and Hyper-V Integration service). If you are adding SCVMM, the same credentials will be applied to all managed hosts.
Note If any host uses its own credentials different from those you provide, no components will be deployed on this host. In this case, you will need to specify credentials for such hosts separately.
After you connect SCVMM, expand it to see the list of managed servers, right-click the required node, select Properties from the shortcut menu and use the Edit Hyper-V Server wizard to specify credentials.
To customize network ports used by Veeam Backup & Replication components, click Ports.
• Veeam Installer Service is responsible for deploying and updating other Veeam components on the Hyper-V host. By default, the Veeam Installer Service uses port 6160.
• Veeam Transport Service is responsible for managing Veeam agents during backup and replication processes. By default, the Veeam Transport Service uses port 6162.
• Hyper-V Integration Service is responsible for snapshot operations and deploying a driver that handles changed block tracking for Hyper-V. By default, the Hyper-V Integration Service uses port 6163.
In the Data transfer options section of the Network Settings window, specify connection settings for file copying operations. Provide a range of ports to be used as transmission channels between the source host and the target host (one port per task), and define the size of transmitted packets. By default, the port range is set to 2500-5000. However, depending on your environment, you can specify a smaller range of ports, for example, 2500-2510 to be able to run 10 concurrent jobs at a time.
If the Hyper-V host is deployed outside NAT, select the Run the server on this side check box in the Preferred TCP connection role section. In the NAT scenario, the outside client cannot initiate a connection with the Veeam Backup server on the NAT network. Therefore, services that require the initiation of connection from outside can be disrupted. With this option selected, you will be able to overcome this limitation and initiate a “server-client” connection, that is, a connection in the direction of the Hyper-V host.
Step 5. Review Components
At this step, you can review the list of components to be installed on the Hyper-V server.
If you add a SCVMM server, Veeam Backup & Replication will check every managed Hyper-V host to install or update the components. You can clear check boxes next to hosts that will not be used for Veeam Backup & Replication operations. No components will be deployed or updated on the excluded hosts, although such hosts will be available in the SCVMM hierarchy. Later on, you can add Veeam Backup & Replication components to a host that was initially excluded. To do so, right-click the host in the hierarchy and choose Properties.
If you add a standalone Hyper-V host, in the Max concurrent tasks field, specify the number of tasks the Hyper-V host can handle in parallel. If this value is exceeded, the Hyper-V host will not start a new task until one of the current tasks is finished. Limiting the number of concurrent tasks may be necessary if you plan to work in the onhost backup mode (where the Hyper-V host performs the role of the default backup proxy), and want to balance the workload in your backup infrastructure. To learn more, refer to the Limiting the Number of Concurrent Tasks section.
Hyper-V hosts with multi-core CPUs can handle more concurrent tasks. For example, for 4-core CPU, it is recommended to specify maximum 2 concurrent tasks, for 8-core CPU – 4 concurrent tasks. However, when defining the number of concurrent tasks, you should keep in mind the network traffic throughput in your virtual infrastructure.
Note In the New Hyper-V Server wizard, the Max concurrent tasks field is available only for standalone Hyper-V hosts. To limit the number of tasks for SCVMM or Hyper-V cluster, you need to set this value in properties of each Hyper-V host in the SCVMM hierarchy or cluster separately. To do that, open the Backup Infrastructure view, select the added SCVMM or Hyper-V cluster in the
inventory pane, right-click the necessary Hyper-V host in the working area and select Properties.
Step 6. Assess Results
At this step of the wizard, Veeam Backup & Replication will install the components on the added Hyper-V server(s). You will see real-time processing results for each server which is being added to the list of managed servers. Wait for the required operations to be performed. At the end, you can assess the results of processing and click Next to continue.
Step 7. Finish Working with the Wizard
Review the configuration information and click Finish to exit the wizard.
Step 8. Configure Connected Volumes
After you have added a Hyper-V server, you can configure settings for volumes connected to the server. Right-click the server in the management tree and select Manage Volumes from the shortcut menu. As a result, a window with the list of volumes connected to the server will be displayed.
Veeam Backup & Replication automatically rescans the list of volumes managed by the server once a day. You can also start the rescan operation manually:
1. Open the Backup Infrastructure view.
2. Click the Managed Servers node in the inventory tree.
3. Select the necessary server in the working area and click Manage Volumes on the toolbar. Alternatively, you can right-click the necessary server in the working area and select Manage Volumes.
Veeam Backup & Replication will retrieve information about newly connected and disconnected volumes, update the list of volumes and write this information to the Veeam Backup & Replication database.
By default, Veeam Backup & Replication enables changed block tracking for processing all Hyper-V VMs. To disable changed block tracking on volumes managed by the host, clear the check box at the bottom of the Manage Volumes window.
In addition to settings common for all connected volumes, you can also define volume-specific settings, such as VSS provider. To take a VSS snapshot of a specific volume,
Veeam Backup & Replication uses one of VSS providers available for the volume. To explicitly define a VSS provider that should be used on a particular volume, select the necessary volume in the list, click Edit and choose a provider from the list in the displayed window. If a provider is not set explicitly, Veeam Backup & Replication scans the list of available providers and selects the most appropriate one automatically. For details, see the Choosing a VSS Provider section.