Strangers by night: ViceVersa / VSS / Server2012R2

[VXPERT]

Hello,

a full backup according to the provided ViceVersa HyperV manual result in a strange behaviour:

- Several online VMs are shown as offline in the HyperV VSS-Writer component which is shown by ViceVersa

- From 12 active VMs with at least Win7x64 are only 9 VMs backed up by ViceVersa although all VMs are appearing in the VSS-Writer list

- Some VMs have strange files in the backup, for example:

Original files:

c_searchserver.vhdx
d_searchserver.vhdx

Files in the backup:

c_searchserver.vhdx
c_searchserver-AutoRecovery.vhdx
d_searchserver
d_searchserver-AutoRecovery.vhdx

What's going wrong with this brand new Win2012R2 Standard Server installation and ViceVersa 2.5 Build 2513 64 Bit Server Ext-VSS?

Are they acting like "Strangers by night"...?

Thanks for any replies who will enlighten this dark

Best regards,

VXPERT

[TGRMN Software]

Hi, regarding the "auto-recovery" issue, do you have events in the Windows Event Log related to the Microsoft Hyper-V VSS Writer ? thanks
_________________
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TGRMN Software Support
http://www.tgrmn.com
http://www.compareandmerge.com

[VXPERT]

Dear TGRMN,

there are no special events in the Windows Event Log regarding this issue. What we can say is, that ViceVersa seems not to be able to work properly with WinSrv2012R2. All VSS backups from ALL virtual machines seems not to be consistent since the backup result on the target medium (RDX) is ALWAYS like that

c-server1.vhdx
c-AutoRecovery.avhdx
d-server1.vhdx
d-AutoRecovery.avhdx

Same VMs on Server 2012 have been hot [VSS] backed up by ViceVersa with consistent result like

c-server1.vhdx
d-server1.vhdx

What to do to get consistent VSS HyperV backups with Srv2012R2 and ViceVersa?

Thanks for yopur appreciated help!

Best regards

[Guest]

Dear TGRMN,

I just looked around regarding this issue and easily found the reason for the compatibility issues between Server 2012R2 HyperV backup function and ViceVersa:

"...In the past, VSS is used to create a VSS snapshot of the volume(s) containing the files of a VM that is to be backed up. The snapshot was mounted and the required files (identified by the Hyper-V Writer) were backed up. The process was pretty complex and could lead to problems for some customers. The quality of storage hardware VSS writers had too much impact on the process. Once you have a pretty clean environment (network/storage design, patching, drivers and firmware), backup was the one problem that could hurt. CSV 2.0 sorted out most of that, but Microsoft wanted to simplify the backup process.

Thanks to live merging of checkpoints (snapshots) that was added in WS2012, and the experience Microsoft has gained by using checkpoints (snapshots) for other features (such as Hyper-V Replica), WS2012 R2 Hyper-V has switched to using checkpoints instead of VSS snapshots.

Now a checkpoint is created of every virtual machine that is to be backed up. Writes are temporarily redirected to the checkpoint’s AVHDX/AHVD file(s). This gives the backup requestor a clean & crash consistent copy of the virtual machine’s VHD or VHDX files that are safe to read. After the backup, the checkpoint is merged and the job is done.

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So I really ask myself if we are the only company which uses Server 2012R2 in combination with ViceVersa. And I ask myself why TGRMN seems not to know anything about this changing technology and won't develop their product for compatibility with the current Server OS.

Best regards

[TGRMN Software]

Hi, I will investigate and let you know, thanks.
_________________
--
TGRMN Software Support
http://www.tgrmn.com
http://www.compareandmerge.com

[Guest]

Any news regarding this issue?

Best regards

[TGRMN Software]

Hi, sorry for the delay, still gathering info on this. thanks
_________________
--
TGRMN Software Support
http://www.tgrmn.com
http://www.compareandmerge.com