Quote:
Originally Posted by justinm
Thanks for the further input vzAddict,
The answer seems to be that there's currently no solution for taking 'snapshot' backups of my Hyper-V VPS hosted with you? These require installation/management from the parent machine and this is not a service you offer?
I understand I can backup data etc, as per my original post I already do. What I'm uncomfortable with is not being able to backup an image of my VPS, including all installed programs/configuration, should I ever need to do a complete re-install due to major problems etc.
A number of your competitors appear to offer this option on Hyper-V. Before I consider a move elsewhere does Eukhost plan to offer this facility in future?
Thanks,
Justin
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Hi Justin,
I think there's been a misunderstanding somewhere, let me clear out few things. We do have the Snapshot feature available on our Hyper-V servers & can take one of your VPS/VM by logging into the server remotely using RDP & from the Hyper-V Management Console.
Hyper-V Snapshot - is a manual snapshot created by the user from the parent server, to allow you to roll back the entire VM to a past point in time. A snapshot is not a backup, it's a tool designed to apply a change or update, then either revert [in case if failures] or merge [in case of success] the VM's snapshots from the host/parent server. These are only recommended for special occasions - e.g. before a risky operation like attempting an application upgrade, etc.
The actual working of Snapshots is through the use of differencing disks. The modifications to the VHD stops & a differencing disk is attached at the time the snapshot is taken. When you return to the point in time the snapshot was taken (revert), the differencing disk is thrown away & a new one is created. Thus you start right where you left off - the same point in time. You'd be familiar with the Windows XP System Restore "Restore Points", a snapshot is quite similar..
Please find more info on the Hyper-V snapshot feature here :
Virtual PC Guy's WebLog : Managing Snapshots with Hyper-V
Snapshots are not a copy of the VM but just the difference in the disk & the amount of disk space that one snapshot can take varies on how much the VM changed after one particular snapshot was taken. If you take a snapshot of a running VM the snapshot is far larger as all of the running memory space is written out as well. Furthermore merging the snapshots creates downtime for the VM hence such moves are needed to be planned & scheduled.
The alternative to HyperV Snapshots is backups using any 3rd party software such as BackupAssist, Acronis True Image, Symantec Backup Exec, etc. But these need to be installed & run from the host/parent server itself. We're working on the remote backup feature which isn't available with the HyperV application software, but also with the aforementioned 3rd party ones.
As of now, if you want to create a snapshot of your VPS, please contact our Live chat support to get it done quickly. We highly recommend that you do not use Hyper-V snapshots, or if you must, that you use them for as little time as possible, & then delete the snapshots when finished. Hyper-V Snapshots will slow performance, & also make the recovery process a little more tedious (but certainly not impossible!). Let me know if you have other questions..
