Hello!
Introduction that you might want to skip:
I have recently taken a deep dive into the world of virtualization, starting with VirtualBox and now trying the bare-metal hypervisors.
I am currently evaluating 3 major hypervisors with generous free features: XCP-NG, Hyper-V Server 2019, ESXi.
I have not evaluated ESXi properly yet, because it seemed to have the most limitations on its free version. But I have seen it a bit in action in my workplace.
Getting closer to the question:
So, I am seriously considering to use Hyper-V. I could list here the things that I like, on it or around it (PowerShell, Windows Admin Center, Remote Desktop Connection into the VM even when it is a Linux, etc), but that might be boring.
But there is a serious problem with Hyper-V that makes me hesitant: it is the backups.
I have used XCP-NG previously, together with the free Xen Orchestra (XO) (built from sources) and the backups there where a piece of cake. I could take a VM from XO and back it up on a windows shared folder. And not only that, but I could also have it compressed
automatically! And not only that, but I could schedule backups from the GUI and have them executed automatically (at least, assuming that the XO VM is running 24/7 -- as far as my understanding goes)! I cannot tell you how much I hate the UI of XO, but this
feature was really amazing.
Then I tried to do the same with Hyper-V Server 2019. Backing up (a.k.a. exporting) on the host (or should I call it the "management VM?") file-system seemed to work (I have the impression that the backup was larger than I expected though, but
anyway). But when I tried to back up in a shared windows folder, on a remote PC, it seemed almost impossible. First, the UI in Windows Admin Center was not handling other locations, except for the C: drive. Trying to specify a network path made it fail. Then
I thought to map the network folder to a drive. But again, WAC would not accept that drive, even though the host had access to it! Then I thought to try from PowerShell. Using the `Export-VM` commandlet, the best I could achieve was to trigger errors related
to CredSSP. After googling a bit, I found ways to enable CredSSP on both machines, but the security warnings made me have second thoughts. Then I thought that I could disable authentication altogether in my shared folder, hoping that there would
be no need for any credential considerations from the part of the two OSes. But that didn't help either. Again, I got CredSSP errors.
I have read somewhere about the possibility to switch the winrm to use HTTP or HTTPS, in order to avoid these problems, but then new problems arise: I would either have to lower the security of my computers or deal with internal CAs and certificates.
And not even then I am totally certain that I will find a good solution. Maybe using a domain controller would solve the problem too, but that is (again) extra complexity. It is my home server we are talking about here, not some big enterprise. I might setup
a Domain Controller as a workshop, but managing an extra DC VM, is not something I like.
The question(s):
1) Is there a way to backup a VM in a shared network folder, without enabling CredSSP or doing other things that will either lower the security of my PCs or have consequences unknown to me?
2) Why can't hyper-v do a backup in a mapped network drive?
3) Is there any plan to add a feature for backups on network folders, preferably with the option to compress data? Defining schedules would be great too, but I guess I am asking too much on that... But backing up is a vital to any virtualization setup and having
to do it in the drive of the host seems like a weird restriction.
Maybe I could programatically move the backup folder to a remote PC after the VM exporting is done. But then a new set of problems arise. I have to determine how is the backup named on the disk. And from what I can see, the`Export-VM` command does not return
anything back. Plus, I would have to stress more, a drive that is already under a lot of stress from multiple running VMs. Not to mention that I tend to fill my drives at 90%, making it pretty tight for any room for backups... Also, if the drive is an SSD,
you are essentially killing its long life for storing some data that were not supposed to be there to begin with.
I hope there is nothing obvious that I have missed in my options.
It would be great to have a feature like this, but I understand that as a company you promote Azure and its backups, and also promote your partners that may provide backup products that are complementary to what Hyper-V offers out-of-the-box.
But anyhow, I thought to ask. :)