Create NFS file share on Hyper-V Server 2016
-
Basically, if you put the NFS on Hyper-V you know you are going to back it up file by file. Treat the Linux VM the same, problem solved.
Anything that works for Hyper-V, works just as well or better for the VM.
-
@tim_g My question is why are you taking your boxes and making one really big box out of everything.
You have your VM's, your MD1000, your physical systems, why not back them up individually? This way you don't have to restore 100TB of of shit, if all you need is 10 gb worth of critical files immediately?
Why are you taking the entire MD1000 and backing that entire thing up to tape as a block device. Rather than doing individual file level backups to tape or cloud provider?
-
Also worth asking, why back up to an NFS device in the middle just to go to the MD1000? Why not go directly to the MD1000 and bypass the middle man?
-
@scottalanmiller said in Create NFS file share on Hyper-V Server 2016:
Also worth asking, why back up to an NFS device in the middle just to go to the MD1000? Why not go directly to the MD1000 and bypass the middle man?
How do you do that over the network?
-
@scottalanmiller said in Create NFS file share on Hyper-V Server 2016:
Also worth asking, why back up to an NFS device in the middle just to go to the MD1000? Why not go directly to the MD1000 and bypass the middle man?
@scottalanmiller he is using the MD1000 as both VHD storage and backup medium. (IE Production drives and backup) and then wanting to backup the entire thing.
Almost IPOD in design. A few servers sitting out somewhere connecting back to the MD1000 to mount VHD's, and then have an NFS share on the same MD1000 to backup to.
And backup the entire MD1000 to protect the data, but not the servers.
-
@scottalanmiller said in Create NFS file share on Hyper-V Server 2016:
@tim_g said in Create NFS file share on Hyper-V Server 2016:
The MD1000 is backed up to Tape, which means that VHD is now on Tape.
This is the break. This doesn't mean that. That's not how I would normally do it, and certainly not how I would do it if I had your concern.
The MD1000 only contains backups. The MD1000 is backed up as a whole to Tape, file by file.
If the NFS share is inside of a VHD, that whole VHD needs to be restored, rather than just the single "LinuxServ3" image file.
From within the simple Linux VM that is hosting the NFS share, I can't back that up to tape directly because the VM doesn't have access to the tape drive, and it woudl be a completely different backup in addition to the MD1000 being archived.
-
What I don't follow is, if you are backing up to the MD1000, why not simply push that backup directly to tape or D2D2T even.
Why use the MD1000 as production disks and backup storage, and then push the entire box to tape?
Really seems like overkill.
-
@dustinb3403 said in Create NFS file share on Hyper-V Server 2016:
Almost IPOD in design. A few servers sitting out somewhere connecting back to the MD1000 to mount VHD's, and then have an NFS share on the same MD1000 to backup to.
I might be wrong, but I think the only thing mounting the VHDs is the Hyper-V that the MD1000 is directly connected to.
-
The NFS VM won't see the MD1000.... only the host sees it.
-
@tim_g said in Create NFS file share on Hyper-V Server 2016:
The NFS VM won't see the MD1000.... only the host sees it.
So mount the VHD on the host and do it that way.
-
@tim_g said in Create NFS file share on Hyper-V Server 2016:
I can't back that up to tape directly because the VM doesn't have access to the tape drive,
Why doesn't it?
-
@tim_g said in Create NFS file share on Hyper-V Server 2016:
If the NFS share is inside of a VHD, that whole VHD needs to be restored, rather than just the single "LinuxServ3" image file.
No, this bit is incorrect and is the crux of your point. This is not a requirement, as you proved by not planning to do this from Hyper-V.
-
@tim_g said in Create NFS file share on Hyper-V Server 2016:
The NFS VM won't see the MD1000.... only the host sees it.
so? you give the VM a VHD that lives on the MD1000. that's how the VM gets access to the MD1000.
-
OK so @Tim_G is this the setup correct, as I think I'm confused (maybe others as well).
Server with local storage acting as hypervisor
Physical Server doing stuff
Another physical server doing stuffMD1000 acting solely as backup medium (no VHD's running from this ever).
-
@stacksofplates said in Create NFS file share on Hyper-V Server 2016:
@tim_g said in Create NFS file share on Hyper-V Server 2016:
The NFS VM won't see the MD1000.... only the host sees it.
So mount the VHD on the host and do it that way.
The host is Hyper-V Server 2016. Although it can have VHDs attached to it, it cannot host an NFS share. Only Windows Server or Linux can do that.
-
@tim_g said in Create NFS file share on Hyper-V Server 2016:
From within the simple Linux VM that is hosting the NFS share, I can't back that up to tape directly because the VM doesn't have access to the tape drive, and it woudl be a completely different backup in addition to the MD1000 being archived.
I think we are missing something. How is data getting to the MD1000 at all? What is the NFS being used for?
How many backup locations do you have, that don't flow from one to another?
-
I have prepared this just incase:
-
@scottalanmiller said in Create NFS file share on Hyper-V Server 2016:
@tim_g said in Create NFS file share on Hyper-V Server 2016:
From within the simple Linux VM that is hosting the NFS share, I can't back that up to tape directly because the VM doesn't have access to the tape drive, and it woudl be a completely different backup in addition to the MD1000 being archived.
I think we are missing something. How is data getting to the MD1000 at all? What is the NFS being used for?
How many backup locations do you have, that don't flow from one to another?
Well based on the last bit at least 2 medium are being used for backups. The MD1000 and Tape.
My critical question is, why perform a block level backup of the MD1000 to Tape, rather than file level backups? That would resolve the entire issue. . .
-
@tim_g said in Create NFS file share on Hyper-V Server 2016:
@stacksofplates said in Create NFS file share on Hyper-V Server 2016:
@tim_g said in Create NFS file share on Hyper-V Server 2016:
The NFS VM won't see the MD1000.... only the host sees it.
So mount the VHD on the host and do it that way.
The host is Hyper-V Server 2016. Although it can have VHDs attached to it, it cannot host an NFS share. Only Windows Server or Linux can do that.
That's not what I'm saying. The VM has the NFS export. Mount the VHD in read only on the host and copy the data that way.
-
TL;DR: Is there any 3rd party software that will allow me to host an NFS share on Hyper-V Server 2016, or a better way to run an NFS share on a DAS attached to a Hyper-V Server 2016 host?
Details:
Here is a small piece of some infrastructure, and how this particular part is backed up and replicated:
There are multiple Physical Linux Servers that need to back up to an NFS share on the MD1000 attached to HV06.
All these backup obstacles are due to the backup software being used. I know that, and I know the ideal easy answer: buy / use real backup software, etc...
Unfortunately, in this scenario, it's not (yet) an option. So in the meantime... let's ignore the real problem and help me find a band-aid.
Some key points:
- The MD1000 in bldg1 is the only backup storage / repository I have to work with for these pieces.
- The MD1000 in bldg1 has to be connected to HV06, because the bulk of all data to be backed up is on HV06, and is about 15 TB of data.
- Attaching the MD1000 on something else means 15TB going across the network through a backup server is out of the question. I've done some math and did some tests and this won't work due to some other irrelevant factors to this topic.
- The rest of the designated backup data going onto the the MD1000 is 1-2 TB.
- The source of this data comes from over the local network.
- Most of these sources' backups require an NFS share.
- This NFS share must be located on the MD1000 in bldg1.
The problem:
- HV06 is running Hyper-V Server 2016
- This means I can't create an NFS share via HV06 on the MD1000.
Possible solutions:
- Create a simple fileserver VM on HV06, serving an NFS share that is located on the MD1000.
- Because it's on a VM, the NFS share will be inside of a .VHDX file.
- This makes restorations more time consuming or complex, because first the .VHDX would need to be restored in order to restore the NFS share inside of it... and then the backup data in the NFS share could finally then be recovered.
- Because it's on a VM, the NFS share will be inside of a .VHDX file.
- Some kind of 3rd party software that will allow me to create and host an NFS share on Hyper-V Server 2016.
- Should be fine, Datacenter licensing is on the HV06 hardware... so Windows Server features would be covered that way.
