• Tylan
    2
    I just moved a customer from a single physical Windows DC to a W2016 Hyper-V server running two VMs. The DC and a File Server / QuickBooks server. We have about 200 GB of Pics / Docs / QB. Previously I only uploaded files, not an entire image.

    Now switching to the VM edition of CBB, I'm not sure I can upload two VMs which total 400 GB data every month. I was hoping to use Wasabi and do synthetic fulls, but that isn't an option with Hyper-V. I think that didn't make the cut for 6.0. The customer only has a 5 mbps upload. Suggestions on how you would do this?
  • David Gugick
    118
    Wasabi is an available target. Make sure the list is expanded if you're not seeing it.

    Having said that, you have some considerations for how to handle this customer given the slow broadband connection. At 5Mbps upstream connection, you're looking at a maximum of around 640 KB/Sec - assuming no other traffic. Assuming 50% compression, the full backup might take a very long time (7+ days).

    This is what I would probably do:
    * Use the VM version to back up the VMs to local storage. Use a low cost 2 mirrored drive NAS at the customer (or whatever local storage you have available that's off the Hyper-V host). That will protect the VMs, but alleviate the broadband speed issues
    * Install CloudBerry on each VM (you only have 2) and run file-based backups, as you've been, to cloud storage. In fact, I'd probably do a hybrid backup so you have local backup copies as well

    The other option is: If you do not need the VM backups (assuming the VM is easy enough to re-create), then just continue to back up the files to local/cloud storage.

    Our Wasabi support does include Synthetic Fulls (as you noted). It's just not clear though how much data will need to be uploaded even with incremental backups (think of the OS changes after a large Windows update). I think even with synthetic fulls, a 5 Mbps connection might be an issue.

    You say this is for a customer, so can I ask if you're using Managed Backup or are you using our stand-alone products with your customers. If the latter, you might find moving to Managed Backup much easier to manage and bill customers since it's a subscription model and provides a thin-client management console.
  • Tylan
    2
    Yes, I'm already using the MBS / MSP edition. Sorry for not being clear.

    I want to backup the VM for sure, especially since the speed of a VM restore is one of the strong points of going virtual. I certainly want to back AD as well. Right now I'm doing a local backup to a USB drive attached to the host. I'm not backing up anything to cloud storage at this point on the new server. It's only been live for a few days.

    If I install CBB on each VM then I assume I'll need more licenses? Or does the VM version of CBB come with extra licences for the VMs for file level? Isn't there any way to do a file level backup of a VM from the Hyper-V host running CBB?

    I certainly could use Windows server backup on the hyper-v host, but I lose my monitoing and management that I get with CBB. I would like to keep everything with CBB so I know what's going on. It's way more likely to have a failed backup than catastrophic failure where I would need something from the cloud restored. The monitoring is just as valuable as the cloud portion... If not more valuable.

    I thought Wasabi synthetic full was only available for physical machines and non-hybrid backup jobs.
  • David Gugick
    118
    That's true. Synthetic Fulls are for our image based backup only. I would speak with your account manager about licensing specifics for your case. You can do file level restores from virtual backups but I think you'd need the agent installed in the OS to perform file level backup.
  • Tylan
    2
    Yes, I'm stuck between a rock and a hard place here. I hate to have to buy extra licenses. I'm very disappointed to find out that the CBB VM edition allows more granular file selection / exclusion on VMware. I hope this feature comes to Hyper-V soon.

    What are your thoughts on backing up those files from the Host serve by UNC? \\GuestVM\Shared
  • Matt
    91
    You mean using file backup plan? That could work. Just make sure you're specifying proper network credentials.

    As for Hyper-V functionality, a lot of improvements are planned for that to bring it closer to VMWare.
  • Tylan
    2
    I did another speed test and the upload came in at 10 Mbps. I have a hybrid hyper-v job running since Friday at 8 PM (2 days 15 hrs). It's at 91% of the last 264 GB VHDX file. It doesn't seem too bad to have a job run for 72 hours once a month. What do you think?

    Are the enhanced features for Hyper-V coming soon? Either the ability to select / exclude files or full synthetic jobs?

    Otherwise I might use CBB VM edition for backup to disk, and install CBB Bare Metal on the guest file server for a files only > cloud job. As for the DC I think a backup of it from the host level to disk should cover us pretty well.
  • Matt
    91
    Yeah, full backup once a month is usually what most of our customers do.

    Regarding Hyper-V functionality: some improvements should already be implemented in April(version 6.1), and then we'll have a big update in Summer(version 6.3), at least that is what on our road map.

    As for configuration you mentioned: it's actually very useful to have an image-based(or VM) backup + file plan that transfers important data to the cloud(not the whole system, obviously), since file backups will have their own versioning and will be easier to restore in disaster recovery situations.
  • Tylan
    2
    Well, it finished. 289.8GB in 2.23:17:41. I throttled it today and no one seemed to notice I stole half the upload. I would love to see the job complete in about half that time. However, a synthetic full would probably solve my issues. The first incremental ran tonight as well with 2.72 GB in 58:59. That's reasonable for nightly backups.

    As for the sending files only to the cloud... That has been our default configuration up until rolling CBB & Hyper-V. On physical servers I always would set them up backing up files to the cloud, and full image jobs locally. We used Rbackup back in the day, and ran our own server. It didn't have a reasonable option for a full server - if I remember. So we often used Windows Server Backup too - - no monitoring. However, I much prefer using CBB for the local backup so that I'm confident of the local full image and the cloud backup.

    I think I'm going to run CBB on the Hyper-V Host for right now... And hope that very soon we have synth full options or more granular selection options. I'd really appreciate those features. I don't know how de-dupe fits into the plans but not backing up Windows system files multiple times would also save time / space.

    Thanks for all your input!
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