How do you backup and restore your hypervisor and virtual machines?

2 Backup tools

Backing up your hypervisor and VMs can be done with different tools, depending on the type and vendor of your hypervisor. Native tools, such as VMware vSphere Data Protection or Hyper-V Backup, are built-in or provided by the hypervisor vendor and typically offer basic backup and restore features. Third-party tools, like Veeam Backup and Replication or Acronis Cyber Backup, are developed by external vendors and usually provide advanced backup and restore features. Cloud tools, like AWS Backup or Google Cloud Backup, are hosted or integrated with cloud platforms and often provide scalable backup and restore services.

3 Backup best practices

To backup your hypervisor and VMs effectively, you should take some best practices into consideration. Plan your backup strategy by defining goals, scope, frequency, retention, and destination. Additionally, consider your recovery objectives such as the recovery point objective (RPO) and the recovery time objective (RTO). Select the backup method that meets your needs and preferences, taking into account the advantages and disadvantages of each method. Additionally, consider the impact of the backup method on the performance and availability of your hypervisor and VMs. Finally, verify that your backup is complete, consistent, and usable. Test your restore process to ensure you can recover your hypervisor and VMs in case of a disaster.

4 Restore methods

There are various ways to restore your hypervisor and VMs, depending on the type and source of your backup. For example, you can revert to a snapshot state from the hypervisor console or tool to restore a VM from a snapshot. This will overwrite the current state of the VM with the snapshot state, but any changes made after the snapshot was taken may be lost and compatibility issues may arise if the hypervisor configuration has changed. To restore a VM from an image, you need to import the image file to the hypervisor console or tool, creating a new VM with the same settings and data as the original. However, you may need to adjust the VM settings or network configuration to match the new host environment. Lastly, copying a file or folder from the backup destination to the VM location will overwrite the existing file or folder with its backup version. You may need to restart the VM or application for changes to take effect and dependency issues may arise if it is part of a larger system.

5 Restore tools

When looking to restore your hypervisor and VMs, the type and vendor of your backup will determine the tools you use. Native tools, such as VMware vSphere Data Protection Restore or Hyper-V Restore, are built-in or provided by the backup vendor and offer basic restore functionality, like browsing and selecting backups, importing and exporting images, or copying and restoring files. Third-party tools, like Veeam Backup and Replication Restore or Acronis Cyber Backup Restore, are developed by external vendors and provide advanced features like granular recovery, instant recovery, verification, or migration. Cloud tools hosted or integrated with cloud platforms like AWS Restore, Azure Restore, or Google Cloud Restore offer scalable services such as automation, recovery, or monitoring.

6 Restore best practices

To restore your hypervisor and VMs effectively, you should prepare your restore environment by ensuring you have enough resources and checking the compatibility and requirements of your backup and restore tools and formats. Additionally, choose the restore method that best suits your needs based on the advantages and disadvantages. Finally, validate your restore by verifying its success, accuracy, and functionality; then test the hypervisor and VMs to ensure they are working as expected.