Best way to backup Hyper-V machines?

[IceDigger]

What is the best way to backup your Hyper-V virtual machines?

 

[peanuthead]

Are you looking for a paid or free solution? What kind of backup management are you looking for?

 

[sybreeder]

Also it'd be good to know how many VMs you want to backup - altaro backup is great but free version works with only 2 VMs

 

[IceDigger]

I only have 2 winxp vm's so far. Nothing fancy.

 

[Child of Wonder]

This isn't the best way, but works in a pinch and is free. If you're running the VMs on local storage or CSVs, you can always install Windows Server Backup feature on the host and backup the VMs that way. Either point the backups at a separate volume, file share, or dedicated disk.

 

[Nate7311]

Best way, or cheapest way? Altaro Hyper-V Backup works great as an official solution, or I've created a few scripts that launch a shadow copy and then copy the entire VHD out of that shadow copy to a destination. What fits your needs/budget?

 

[ciggwin]

Veeam also has a free version - we use the paid version and it works well for Hyper-V.

 

[dobieg2002]

I use DPM in my environment as it is part of the System Center Suite

For free use we used this script: http://poshcode.org/3927, it worked very well

 

[rosco]

Anyone have a good summary of the free Altaro version vs the free Veeam version? I'm leaning towards veeam because I also plan on using them for esxi backups but didn't know if Altaro was a better choice for hyper-v systems.

 

[Nate7311]

Last time I looked, Veeam-Free didn't have scheduling built in. meaning everything was a manual backup.

 

[swatbat]

Best way, or cheapest way? Altaro Hyper-V Backup works great as an official solution, or I've created a few scripts that launch a shadow copy and then copy the entire VHD out of that shadow copy to a destination. What fits your needs/budget?

Yea I haven't used the free version of Altaro but the paid one works well. OP for the 2 vm's now I'd say give it a try.