Hi,

We have several Hyper-V virtual machines running non VSS aware applications. 

A new Windows 2008 VM has just been built and its running a Progress OpenEdge database.  I want to back this up using DPMs Hyper-V protection but it looks like this isnt supported by Progress.

http://knowledgebase.progress.com/articles/Article/P11011

http://knowledgebase.progress.com/articles/Article/000032679?popup=true

With this in mind, would I be safer to install the DPM agent inside these VMs instead and only backup selected files\folders?

Thanks

HI,

You best choice would be to uncheck the integration component option : backup (volume snapshot) for that guest so Hyper-V will place the VM in a saved state before backup.  That way the database integrity is maintained.  Of course that will tale that machine offline for about 1 minute, so schedule the backup time so it will not impact users.

Hi Mike,

Where is the integration component option?  Could you possibly explain how the database integrity is maintained using this option?

Many thanks,  

Hi,

The option is in the settings of the guest.  

 When you uncheck that option, the machines is placed in a saved state (The same as you saving it manually) - then the snapshot is taken of the machine and brought out of a saved state.  The resumed guest will not know anything happened, it's data will be operational and intact.  The condition of the operating system (and database) after restoring the VM from a DPM backup is that of a "Crash Consistent" state, meaning the integrity of the data inside the guest would be the same as if the system had crashed or lost power and was rebooted. It's not exactly a perfect solution, but will be the easiest and quickest way to get the server back up and running should you loose the whole VM and till have a really good chance that the DB integrity is intact.   

Your only other option would be to deploy a DPM agent inside the guest and use a pre-backup script to launch a native backup of the database using vendor tools, then have DPM backup the folder containing the output of that native backup.

Using pre-backup and post-backup scripts
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/jj244602.aspx

HI Mike,

Thanks Mike, a really helpful response.