Server Virtualization is one of the most disruptive technologies that has hit the industry the past 20 years. Arguably, the only thing that comes to it, is the transition from Mainframes to Open Systems.
That said, server virtualization also presents some challenges that require customers to re-think their infrastructures because some things tend to become challenging. Backup and Recovery is an example of that.
Server Virtualization challenges that I/O limitations of Physical servers and can introduce new bottlenecks which can make it rather difficult to backup the large amounts of data now residing on the physical. Although traditional backup methods have served us well for years, unfortunately, in server virtualization environments don't scale particularly well, never mind that in some cases, they contradict the most basic values of server virtualization technology.
Continuing our integration theme with various server virtualization technologies, today i'm going to show you what we're doing in order to accelerate Backup and Recovery of Virtual Machines in Microsoft Hyper-V R2 environments and do so in manner where we do not impact the performance of the VM, the physical server host itself or the array.
What is SnapManager for Hyper-V?
SMHV is NetApp Backup and Recovery Software leveraging our industry leading, unique and space efficient Snapshot technology to provide rapid backup and recovery of Virtual Machines in a Hyper-V R2 environment. It enables you to perform dataset backups according to protection policies set by the backup administrator as well as recover these Virtual Machines.
What is a Dataset?
It is a grouping of one or more objects, VMs in this case, that are being protected using specific backup, retention, scheduling and replication policies. These VMs are then, backed-up as group but can be individually recovered.
What are Retention Policies?
You can leverage retention policies to specify how long you want to keep backup based on either time or number of backup copies. The backup policies are integrated with the Windows Scheduler.
SnapMirror Integration
Similarly with to the rest of our SnapManager products, SMHV provides integration with our Replcation engine and in addition, it provides the ability to execute pre-post backup scripts.
Reporting
Each successful or unsuccessful backup has a report associated with it describing the step-by-step process of executing the backup., what has been backed-up, whether the retention policies have been applied, as well as the calls made to various other components involved in the backup process such as VSS. Extremely useful also in scenarios of failed backup in that one can quickly determine the step in which the backup failed. The Reports can be simply printed or if you'd like to save some trees, you can export them as PDFs, Word docs, simple Text files, HTML files or as images.
VSS Integration
I mentioned above VSS so I need to expand on this because is important. SMHV allows backup administrators to take hardware assisted backup and restore of Hyper-V virtual machines running on the NetApp Storage.
It provides integration with Microsoft Hyper-V VSS writer to quiesce the Hyper-V VMs before taking a consistent Snapshot of the target virtual machines. We implement a VSS requestor component that coordinates the backup process and creates a consistent snapshot using a DataONTAP VSS Hardware Provider therefore we are able to guarantee Application and File system consistency inside the VM.
Restore
The restore process requires that you select the appropriate VM from a previously successful backup and point to the Restore button. That will take you onto a screen and will ask you whether or not you would like to run any post-backup scripts. If yes, the you point the Restore to your script. You also have the option to verify the start-up the VM after it has been restored. If the VM you want to restore is already running, SMHV, will power it off and remove it. It will then restore it from the backup, re-register with SCVMM and Hyper-V Manager.
Powershell
SMHV provides powershell cmdlets for the following operations
- Backup a Dataset
- List backups of a Dataset or a VM
- Restore a backup from a VM
- Delete backup of Dataset or a VM
Detailed help of each command can be seen by providing 'get-help' command and the <command name> as shown below:
-
- get-help new-backup -detailed
The output of the 'get-help' command for 'new-backup' is given below: This command provides details of all the supported parameters and its shortcuts, some examples of the usage etc.. You can use common parameter '-verbose' with SMHV cmdlets to see the progress SMHV cmdlet of the operation. Usage of common parameter '-debug' with SMHV cmdlets provides more debug information.
Requirements
DataONTAP 7.3.2 or later.
Windows 2008 Hyper-V R2
SnapDrive 6.2
Although, NOT a requirement, SMHV supports Clustered Shared Volumes (CSV) and Windows Failover Clusters. For more on CSVs, you may want to take a look at Chaffie McKenna's blog post which does an great job explaining what they are and how they function as well as the benefits of deploying CSVs.
Licensing Options:
Licensing is identical to the other SnapManager products.
Host Based: Each Hyper-V parent will require a license
Storage System Based: Single license enables you to run unlimited copies
Status
Currently both SMHV and SnapDrive 6.2 are undergoing Beta at various customer sites. For NetApp customers or partners interested in beta testing SMHV you can request the binaries and documentation at the NetApp Communities Beta Programs section or via your NetApp or NetApp Partner SE.
Conclusion
Backup and recovery is a significant issue in server virtualization environments. We strongly believe, and our customers agree, that we provide deployable options, architectural flexibility, operational and process efficiency and various other ways that not only can extend our storage arrays beyond their physical limitations but also minimize the tradeoffs made when compared to competitive alternatives.
Will there be any kind of Protection Manager Integration and support for Weindows 2008 DCE? SnapDrive 6.1 lacked support for Windows 2008 DCE.
-Robert
Posted by: Robert Graves | October 15, 2009 at 05:29 PM
SDW 6.2 fully supports Windows 2008 DCE. As far as PM goes integration is definately something we're interested in doing, however it will not be part of the 1st release.
Posted by: Nick Triantos | October 16, 2009 at 05:30 AM
When will SnapDrive support Windows 2008 R2?
Posted by: Martin | October 24, 2009 at 06:47 AM
SnapDrive 6.2 which is currently in Beta fully supports Windows 2008 R2 and provides the option upon LUN creation to make the LUN a CSV.
Posted by: Nick Triantos | October 24, 2009 at 08:12 AM
Okay, but when does it go from beta to final release.
Posted by: Martin | October 24, 2009 at 11:59 AM
Martin,
If I answer this question in a public forum, I'd be breaking Non-Disclosure rules.
However, If your company has a verifiable NDA agreement with NetApp please contact me offline and we'll talk.
Thanks
Nick
Posted by: Nick Triantos | October 24, 2009 at 02:06 PM
The company I work for just bought an Nseries 3600 and we're waiting for SnapDrive to support Windows Server 2008 R2.
Our new infrastructure will be based on many of the new Microsoft technologies like server 2008 R2, Hyper-v 2, Exchange 2010.
As you know Server 2008 R2 is now officially released ( 22. oktober ) so we're just waiting for NetApp to fully support server 2008 R2 and Hyper-v 2.0 so I can start building our virtual HA infrastructure with SnapDrive and SMHV.
Was hoping NetApp would state something soon about these products since they have a close partnership with Microsoft (2009 storage award).
Posted by: Martin | October 24, 2009 at 03:07 PM