About the Agent for Microsoft Hyper-V

The Symantec Backup Exec Agent for Microsoft Hyper-V (Agent for Microsoft Hyper-V) lets you back up and restore the following resources:

  • Microsoft Windows Server 2008/2008 R2 Hyper-V hosts.

  • All virtual machines that reside on the Hyper-V hosts.

  • Clustered Hyper-V hosts, including virtual machines that reside on cluster shared volumes (CSV).

Backup Exec performs a single-pass backup to protect the host configuration data, all virtual machines, and VSS-aware applications that are installed on the virtual machines. Backup Exec’s Granular Recovery Technology (GRT) is enabled by default for backup jobs. You can use a GRT-enabled backup to restore individual files and folders from a Windows virtual machine without restoring the entire virtual machine. In addition, you can restore individual items from Microsoft Exchange and Active Directory applications that reside on virtual machines. You can also restore individual databases from Microsoft SQL when it resides on virtual machines.

Note:

You must have the appropriate Backup Exec agent for Microsoft Exchange, SQL, or Active Directory on the virtual machine to perform GRT.

Backup Exec can back up virtual machines that are online or that are in an offline state or a saved state. Virtual machines that use Microsoft Windows 2003 (with Hyper-V Integration Services) or later can be backed up while they are online. You can include both online and offline virtual machines in the same backup job. During the backup of an online virtual machine, Backup Exec takes a snapshot backup of the Hyper-V host. The host in turn takes a snapshot of the virtual machines on the host. This process enables Backup Exec to back up virtual servers without any downtime. If an online backup cannot be performed, then an offline backup is performed. With an offline backup, the virtual machine is placed briefly in a saved state. However, the virtual machine does not remain in the saved state for the entire backup job.

The amount of downtime for a saved state backup job depends on the following:

  • The amount of memory that is allocated to the virtual machine.

  • The current load on the host’s operating system.

See Requirements for using the Agent for Microsoft Hyper-V.

See Backing up data by using the Agent for Microsoft Hyper-V.

See Restoring data to the Hyper-V host.

About the Agent for Microsoft Hyper-V