FAQ and Knowledge Base

*** Requires ViceVersa PRO 2.5 or any later version ***

With ViceVersa PRO you can backup, copy, mirror "live" Hyper-V machines. The Hyper-V machines do not need to be shut-down or stopped: ViceVersa PRO will use the new Windows 2008 VSS Hyper-V writer directly.

There are two ways to copy Hyper-V machines with ViceVersa PRO.

METHOD 1

With this method you specify in the source the path(s) where the machines and virtual hard disks, that are to be copied, are stored. In the target you enter the folder when the machine needs to be copied to. You then need to activate two options in the profile settings:

• Use 'Volume Shadow Copy' to copy open files. This option is in profile settings->advanced settings. ViceVersa PRO will use the Windows Volume Shadow Copy Service to copy files.
• Create Volume Shadow Copy before comparing source and target. This option is in profile settings->advanced settings->details. This is a new option. By default ViceVersa PRO creates Volume Shadow Copies after having compared source and target and just before file copying starts. With this option you can instruct ViceVersa to create the volume shadow copy before source/target comparison. This is necessary for copying files such as Hyper-V machines and SQL/Oracle databases, because the file timestamps for these files are only updated during Shadow Copy creation by their respective VSS writers. Without this option, the timestamps would not be updated and the files would not be copied. Note that this option is not available with the Synchronization method, but it can be used with all other execution methods (that's because a Volume Shadow Copy is read-only).

You then compare source and target and execute the profile normally.

METHOD 2

With this method, you use the new vss:\\ notation directly in the source path and select the VSS Hyper-V writer, or even a specific Hyper-V machine to copy. ViceVersa PRO will select automatically all the files part of that machine for you, including virtual machines configuration files, snapshots, and virtual hard disks. In the target path, you enter the folder where the machine files need to be copied to.

Watch the Video for METHOD 2:

Detailed information is available in this PDF document:
 BACKING-UP HYPER-V VIRTUAL MACHINES WITH VICEVERSA PRO