Hyper-V Backup & Recovery Solution for Microsoft Hyper-V VMs
#1 Cost-Effective Hyper-V Backup Software to Protect Hyper-V Virtual Machines
- Agentless backup & recovery for Hyper-V cluster & standalone host
- Agentless Hyper-V VM replication with instant failover
- Backup Hyper-V VMs running on Local Storage, CSV, S2D, SMB share, SOFS
- Application-aware backup & replication with automatic Log Truncation
- Resilient Change Tracking (RCT) based incremental backup
- Automated Backup Verification to verify the recoverability of backed up VMs
- Instant Boot VM for restoring backed-up data as a ready-state VM instantly
- Instantly restore individual files and folders without restoring the entire VMs
- Granular restore application items such as Microsoft AD, SQL, Exchange, and SharePoint
- Scale-out backup repository feature for flexible scaling as required
- Backup Hyper-V VM data to on-premise or offsite locations such as Remote/Branch office, Cloud, or Tape
Backup upto 10 VMs for Free Forever | Supported Versions: From Microsoft Windows 2012 R2 and above
Deliver Profitable Backup as a Service (BaaS) & Managed Backup Service
Centralized ManagementHybrid Backup (Store Data Anywhere)Multi-tenancyBranding
- Files & Folders Backup
- Disk Image Backup
- SaaS Backup
- Agentless VM Backup
- Cloud VM Backup
- Database/App Backup
Hyper-V Backup & Replication – Feature Highlights
What Our Customers Say
We have been using Vembu for years and the BDR suite is an example of the excellent software we have come to expect from Vembu. It has the features we are looking for, but most important of all, it is stable. We tried multiple vendors through the years until we finally came across his company. We stayed with them because when we need to do a restore and routine check, the backup data is there.
We have used other backup/DR tools in the past which have always failed when you need them most, we ended up doing the backups manually which became too much. We then found and tested Vembu and It’s so easy to use, we can connect remotely to keep an eye on the tasks and the whole setup is a joy to use. Support is also fantastic, they are quick at responding and very helpful and informative.
Backup for Hyper-V: Protect VMs with BDRSuite’s Hyper-V Backup & Replication Solution
With each new release of the Windows Server Hyper-V platform, Microsoft has shown that Hyper-V is a major contender in the virtualization space. More and more businesses are utilizing Hyper-V as the platform to host either production or development/stage/test workloads. Even though Hyper-V contains mechanisms built into the platform to take production snapshots and replicating Hyper-V VMs to disaster recovery environments, it still lacks the features and capabilities required by the businesses to confidently protect Hyper-V production workloads.
BDRSuite for Hyper-V is the effective solution for data protection gaps that businesses experience every day while protecting their virtual machines running on their Hyper-V environments. Businesses can now use BDRSuite for Hyper-V to implement a robust and comprehensive data protection solution that supports Hyper-V Cluster, SMB share, Hyper-V Cluster Shared Volumes, Resilient Change Tracking (RCT), and much more.
High-Performance Hyper-V Backup and Restore
Meet Business demands of high performance Hyper-V environment with Vembu Hyper-V Backup software.
- Near Continuous Data Protection for your Hyper-V environment with RPO & RTO less than 15 minutes
- Integration of Microsoft’s Resilient Change Tracking (RCT) technology with Vembu aids it to provide Changed Block Tracking (CBT) based incremental backups on Microsoft Hyper-V 2016 and its later versions
- Vembu’s own proprietary CBT driver assists in tracking the changed blocks on Microsoft Hyper-V hosts
- Instant Boot VM to ensure Business Continuity and granular-level restore of files/apps to get instant access to the required data
– Unleash the true performance potential of your Hyper-V environment with Vembu BDR Suite!
Hyper-V Backups Focused on Security
Vembu’s Hyper-V backup tool interacts with Hyper-V environments using Microsoft’s secured authentication mechanism to bolster the overall data security.
- Hyper-V backups are encrypted in-flight and at-rest through custom/system-generated password using AES 256-bit encryption
- Backups are stored on Vembu’s proprietary patented file system – VembuHIVE, built for efficient performance and security
– Vembu BDR Suite for Hyper-V provides the means to make data protection central to security
Restore, Migrate, Convert Hyper-V Backups
Vembu’s Hyper-V backup & recovery software provides unrivaled flexibility to restore, migrate, or even convert data contained in their Hyper-V backups.
- Easily migrate Hyper-V backups to VMware, KVM or any other hypervisors
- VembuHIVE File system allows quick conversions between VHD, VHDX, Flat-VMDK, VMDK, or RAW formats
– Vembu provides hypervisor agnostic backups and restores, truly empowering organizations to have control of their data!
Easily Achieve and Maintain Compliance and Regulatory Requirements
Vembu’s Hyper-V backup solution empowers organizations to accomplish data and regulatory compliance demands seamlessly while protecting Business-Critical data in Hyper-V environments.
- Hyper-V backups are encrypted in-flight and at-rest for all-round security and protection using industry-standard AES-256 encryption
- Basic & GFS Retention policies to ensure data is not kept around unnecessarily on disk for an undetermined amount of time
– Vembu BDR Suite empowers organizations to meet and exceed these often very complex compliance demands
Hyper-V Backups Built for the Cloud
Microsoft has engineered Hyper-V to include very strong “cloud” features. Vembu BDR Suite allows businesses today to utilize cloud and hybrid cloud configurations to protect Hyper-V workloads.
- Replicate Hyper-V backup data to your DR site or to the public cloud with Offsite DR provisioned in any public cloud environments including AWS, Azure, and GCP
- Make use of Vembu Offsite DR and Vembu Cloud for a fully managed cloud DR solution
– Embrace the public cloud with Microsoft Hyper-V and Vembu BDR Suite
Hyper-V VM Replication with BDRSuite
Ensure business continuity and near-continuous data protection for your Hyper-V environment with BDRSuite’s Hyper-V VM Replication feature.
- BDRSuite supports agentless VM replication for virtual machines running on Standalone Hyper-V Host & Hyper-V Cluster
- Hyper-V VM Replication provides near-continuous data protection, ensuring business continuity in case of any disruptions
- Replicate VMs as often as every 15 mins or on an hourly/daily/weekly basis
- Microsoft’s Resilient Change Tracking (RCT) technology and BDRSuite’s proprietary CBT driver helps in tracking the changed blocks on Hyper-V hosts, enabling efficient incremental replication of VMs
- VM Failover for quick recovery of VMs in case of any failures, ensuring minimal downtime
- Granular-level restore of files and apps enables quick access to required data
– With BDRSuite’s Hyper-V VM Replication, you can ensure uninterrupted business operations.
Optimize Your Hyper-V Backup Strategy with BDRSuite
In today’s dynamic virtualization world, Microsoft Hyper-V stands out as a robust hypervisor-based technology. It facilitates the creation and maintenance of virtual machines (VMs) on Windows servers, allowing businesses to consolidate workloads, optimize resource consumption, and achieve scalability. However, with great power comes great responsibility, particularly when it comes to protecting sensitive data and guaranteeing flawless recovery in the event of a breakdown. Optimizing your Hyper-V backup strategy is more than simply a checkbox; it is your protection against data loss.
Here are the primary considerations for an effective Hyper-V backup approach:
- Backup Frequency: Maintaining the proper balance between daily full backups and incremental backups is critical. Full backups capture the whole VM state, whereas incremental backups focus on changed blocks. Regular backups—daily, weekly, and monthly—serve multiple purposes
- Offsite Storage: Storing backups away from production servers is crucial. Follow the 3-2-1 rule. Keep three copies of your data (original plus two backups) on diverse media (local storage, cloud, tape), with at least one copy offsite
- Performance Optimization: Leverage deduplication, compression, and strategic scheduling to enhance backup efficiency
BDRSuite for Hyper-V ensures complete data availability in Hyper-V environments, including scenarios where you have multiple Hyper-V hosts or Windows Server Failover Clusters hosting the Hyper-V role. Even when virtual machines are moved to different Hyper-V hosts, the incremental backup continues to function without interruptions.
Automated Backup for Hyper-V Virtual Machines with BDRSuite
Agentless Host Level/Cluster Level Backups
Vembu BDR Suite allows effective backing up of virtual machines at both Hyper-V host or Cluster level.
- Hyper-V virtual machines require no agents for backups
- Backup can be done every 15mins/hourly/daily and weekly basis
- Manage all Hyper-V backups directly using the BDR backup server console
Near Continuous Data Protection (CDP)
Protect your Hyper-V Servers with 15 minutes RPO with flexible scheduling policies.
- Backup every 15 mins or hourly/daily/weekly basis
- Vembu utilizes Microsoft’s RCT, proprietary CBT and checksum based methods to perform Hyper-V Incremental backups
Application-Aware Backups
Businesses today run services and data on top of business-critical applications and the data protection solutions need to have the ability to incorporate with the application for consistent backups.
- Leverages Microsoft VSS technology to create consistent application state
- Supports for Microsoft Exchange, SQL, SharePoint, and Active Directory
- Transaction Log Truncation
Automated Backup Verification
Vembu BDR Suite takes the heavy lifting out of the backup verification process by providing an automated process for verifying Hyper-V Server backups.
- 3-tier backup verification – Boot test, Mount test, and Data Integrity test
- Automatically boots and tests the backed-up Hyper-V VMs
- Screenshot of the booted VM is captured and sent via email
Retention Policies
Data retention allows organizations to have total control over data and purge unneeded restore points from the backup repository. Having a way to automatically apply retention policies is an important part of virtual machine backup.
- Vembu offers Basic and GFS Retention Policies to retain multiple recovery points that span days and years
- Depending on business SLAs the retention policy can be adjusted by selecting the number of versions to be kept for restoration
Flexible Hyper-V Recovery options to meet your business SLAs
Instant Boot VM
Restoring access to services and data quickly is key to ensuring and maintaining Business Continuity. Vembu BDR Suite allows recovering Hyper-V virtual machines instantly.
- Meet RTO less than 15 minutes
- Boot Virtual Machines directly from backup storage
- Instantly recover backed up Hyper-V VMs on Hyper-V/VMware/KVM hypervisors
Instant File-Level Recovery
The most basic and elemental recovery operation is file level restore. Vembu BDR Suite allows quick and easy recovery of files and folders directly from the backup data.
- Supported for Hyper-V Windows VMs
- Restore files/folders to the same or different location
- Restore the file permissions
Granular Recovery of MS Applications
Vembu provides the ability to perform application item-level recovery allowing organizations to have granular control over data.
- Supported for Microsoft Exchange, SQL, Sharepoint, and Active Directory
- Mount the backup data, browse and restore the application items directly from the BDR Backup Server
Flexible Restores and Migration
Vembu BDR Suite contains powerful flexibility that allows instant migration of Hyper-V VMs to other hypervisors.
- Easily convert Hyper-V VMs into various virtual formats – VHD, VHDX, VMDK, Flat-VMDK, or RAW
- These virtual formats can later be used for V2V migration scenarios
Ensure Advanced Data Security and Maximum Storage Efficiency
Backup Security and Encryption
Vembu allows the organization’s data to have protection, full-circle and meet the standards of today’s compliance regulations.
- Backup data is encrypted both at-rest and in-flight using industry-standard AES-256 bit encryption
- Protect your backup data with custom or system-generated passwords
Scale-Out Backup Repository
Vembu BDR backup server provides the flexibility to scale the storage repositories as and when required without any limitations.
- Supports different storage media such as Local drives, NAS (NFS and CIFS) and SAN (iSCSI and FC) as backup targets
- Automatically uses the newly added storages to save incremental data
Software Defined Backup Storage
Vembu BDR Suite allows creating software-defined logical storage pools that make efficient use of all available storage provisioned for backup purposes.
- Easily add or group new storage into the storage pool
- Supports built-in Compression and Deduplication for effective usage of backup storage
Build Virtual Lab Environments
The ability to boot VMs directly from backup storage enables businesses to effectively build out virtual lab environments that allow efficient provisioning of DEV/STG/Test environments on the fly.
Hyper-V Backup with DR Support to Keep your Business Disaster Ready
Hyper-V Backup to Offsite locations
Copying backup data offsite is an essential part of protecting Business-Critical data. Vembu Offsite DR allows businesses to easily copy backups offsite to either an on-premise server in a remote site or in the AWS/Azure/Google Cloud.
- Instant VM Recovery & Granular Recovery of Files/Apps
- WAN Acceleration & Bandwidth Throttling
Hyper-V Cloud Backup
Organizations using Hyper-V often want to leverage the power of the cloud or hybrid cloud configurations. Vembu BDR Suite makes this possible through:
- Offsite DR server hosted in the Public Clouds like AWS, Azure and Google
- Vembu Cloud
Hyper-V Backup to Tape
Vembu BDR Suite allows organizations to effectively use the still very cost-effective tape backup medium.
- Effective long-term archival storage
- Meet the best practice 3-2-1 backup strategy
Free Hyper-V Backup Software
Comprehensive Hyper-V backup without any cost for up to 10 VMs with our free Hyper-V backup solution – BDRSuite.
Supported Platforms for Hyper-V Backup
Hypervisor
- Microsoft Hyper-V 2019
- Microsoft Hyper-V 2016
- Microsoft Hyper-V 2012 R2
- Microsoft Hyper-V 2012
Platforms
- Microsoft Windows Server 2022
- Microsoft Windows Server 2019
- Microsoft Windows Server 2016
- Microsoft Windows Server 2012 R2
- Microsoft Windows Server 2012
Hyper-V Backup FAQ
Hyper-V is a hypervisor-based virtualization technology developed by Microsoft. It allows you to create and run multiple virtual machines on a single server.
Hyper-V enables efficient utilization of server resources, providing a platform for hosting multiple operating systems and applications simultaneously. It offers features such as high availability, live migration, etc, making it a popular choice for virtualization for businesses.
Backup of Hyper-V servers using Hyper-V backup solutions like BDRSuite is a recommended practice to protect your VMs & its data.
Hyper-V Backup refers to the process of backing up and protecting virtual machines and its data running on Hyper-V Cluster & Standalone host.
Microsoft allows you to backup virtual machines from the host operating system without running any custom software within the virtual machine. There are two primary techniques to Hyper-V backup:
- Hyper-V VSS Writer – Hyper-V includes a VSS writer with all versions of Windows Server that support Hyper-V, letting users to use the existing VSS infrastructure to backup virtual machines. However, this method is intended for small-scale backup operations in which all virtual machines on a server are backed up concurrently
- Hyper-V WMI-Based Backup – Starting with Windows Server 2016, Hyper-V enables backup using the Hyper-V WMI API. This approach continues to use VSS within the virtual machine for backup purposes, but no longer uses VSS in the host operating system. Instead, reference points and resilient change tracking (RCT) are utilized to help users efficiently access the backed up virtual machine information. This method is more scalable than utilizing VSS on the host, but it is only accessible on Windows Server 2016 and later
Hyper-V backup software like BDRSuite provides automated, agentless backup with multiple restore options
- Backup of Hyper-V VMs ensures that critical data and configurations are securely stored ensuring data protection against accidental deletion, hardware failures, or system crashes
- Reliable VM backup and replication enables instant recovery, business continuity and minimizes the downtime in case of VM or server failures
- Hyper-V Replication provides high availability by creating replica VMs on different hosts or locations and supports instant VM failover when required
- Regular Hyper-V backup and replication help meet compliance requirements
1. Agentless Host Level Image Backups: Agentless host-level image backup for Hyper-V eliminate the need for backup agents in each VM. Instead, the backup software interacts directly with the Hyper-V host to capture complete images of VMs, including their configurations, operating systems, and data. This process simplifies backup management, reduces resources, and is a popular choice for Hyper-V backups.
2. Hyper-V Offsite Backups: Having a copy of your Hyper-V VMs in an offsite location provides an additional layer of protection. By maintaining copies of hyper-v virtual machines in a remote location or in the cloud, you can ensure that your data remains safe even if the primary Hyper-V server fails.
3. Hyper-V Backup Copy: By creating a backup copy, you ensure that you have an extra layer of redundancy in case the primary backup becomes corrupted, damaged, or inaccessible. This practice helps protect your data and improves the overall reliability of your Hyper-V backup strategy by keeping an additional copy that can be used for disaster recovery or other purposes.
4. Hyper-V Replication: Hyper-V VM replication involves replicating the entire VM, including its configuration, virtual hard disks, and memory state. Changes made to the primary VM are asynchronously replicated to the secondary VM, ensuring that the two VMs remain in sync. In the event of a primary site failure or planned maintenance, you can initiate a failover to the secondary VM, allowing the replicated VM to take over seamlessly.
- Download & Install BDRSuite: Download BDRSuite 30-day free trial and setup in your environment
- Add Microsoft Hyper-V: Add Hyper-V servers & Hyper-V clusters as Data Sources on BDRSuite, from which you want to backup virtual machines
- Configure backup storage: You can store the backed up Hyper-V VM data on NAS, SAN, S3, Azure Blob, Google Cloud, S3 Compatible storage – Wasabi, MinIO, Backblaze, etc
- Configure backup job:
- Select VMs to backup
- Enable application-consistent backups
- Automate backups at specific intervals
- Configure Retention & Encryption settings
- Save & Run the Backup Job: Backups will start to run as per the schedule
For detailed configuration, refer to Hyper-V VM Backup User Guide.
BDRSuite stands out as the best Hyper-V Backup Software for several reasons:
- Comprehensive Hyper-V Backup and Replication: BDRSuite provides a wide range of advanced backup and replication features tailored for Hyper-V. It allows you to schedule automated backups, and replicate VMs for added data protection
- Efficient Backup Performance: BDRSuite optimizes the backup process, ensuring minimal impact on system resources and achieving fast backup speeds
- Flexible Recovery Options: With BDRSuite, you can restore entire VMs, individual files, or specific application items with ease, and achieving RTO < 15mins
- Cost-Effectiveness: BDRSuite offers a comprehensive set of features at a competitive price, making it an excellent choice for organizations of all sizes
- User-Friendly Interface: BDRSuite’s intuitive and user-friendly interface requires only minimal learning, simplifying the backup and recovery process
- 24/7 Support: BDRSuite team provides excellent customer support, assisting with any queries or technical issues round the clock
Overall, BDRSuite’s combination of powerful features, efficiency, cost-effectiveness, & user-friendliness, make it the best Hyper-V Backup Solution available in the market. Download BDRSuite 30-day free trial.
To backup a Hyper-V cluster, a backup solution must support Hyper-V cluster features and configurations. This includes Cluster Shared Volumes (CSV) support, handling live migrations, and providing consistent backups of virtual machines across cluster nodes.
BDRSuite is an agentless backup solution for virtual machines running on Hyper-V clusters, simplifying backup while providing comprehensive protection for your clustered environment.
A hypervisor backup is the act of securely copying and storing the whole virtualization infrastructure, including virtual machines, configurations, and associated data. This virtual environment snapshot is critical for disaster recovery, preventing data loss, and assuring continuity in virtualized environments.
Backup solutions for hypervisors, such as BDRSuite, capture a snapshot at a specified point in time, allowing the entire virtualized environment to be restored in the event of hardware failures or other unforeseen situations.
- Step 1: Login to the BDRSuite Backup Server, then go to Recovery -> Restore Backup Data and choose the backup job from which you wish to recover the VMs
- Step 2: Choose the VMs you want to restore
- Step 3: Choose the restore type as per your requirements
- Step 4: Configure the restore options
- Step 5: Finally review and initiate the restore process
For more information refer to the Hyper-V recovery section
| Feature | Hyper-V Snapshot | Hyper-V Backup |
|---|---|---|
| Purpose | Convenience and quick revert to a previous state | Comprehensive data protection and disaster recovery |
| Data Copy | No actual copy of VM or its data | Creates a copy of the data being backed up |
| Disk Operation | Creates a differencing disk during snapshot | Creates a full copy of data during backup |
| Restoration Process | Deletes differencing disk, making the original disk read/write | Restores data from the backup storage |
| Data Consistency | Can cause data consistency issues | Provides data consistency and integrity during backup |
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