13 Hyper-V Cluster Shared Volume Tips & Tricks

Things to consider when setting up cluster shared volume backup tasks using Hyper-V backup software:

1. Don’t use file based methods (such as backing up files directly). Use the Hyper-V backup function instead
2. Don’t run backups on several nodes at the same time or you’ll get errors (Windows Server 2008 R2, this has been improved by Microsoft in Windows Server 2012)
3. Don’t spread VHD, AVHD, AVHDX, and VHDX files across several cluster volumes. A big no-no. This won’t work. All files need to be in one volume
4. Don’t involve more than one volume. All VM files including its config files have to be stored on the same volume
5. Don’t select several VM for concurrent backup if they are located on different volumes
6. Isolate backup traffic from cluster management traffic. This is extremely important
7. Use separate NICs and switches to isolate traffic from cluster management traffic
8. Use Jumbo packets
9. Install at least 1 GBPS Ethernet or faster
10. Don’t install too many nodes on the same bus
11. Use fixed sized VHDs, not dynamically expanding
12. Do not use Hyper-V snapshots. They tremendously impact performance
13. Use 64 KB cluster size for NTFS inside VMs as well as on the host volume to reduce overhead

About BackupChain

As a Windows backup solution, BackupChain offers virtual machine backup and many other features, including cloud backup, live backup of virtual machines, FTP backup, and much more.
Hyper-V and other virtual guests can be backed up using incremental backup or differential backup using deduplication techniques that save valuable storage space.
BackupChain also offers various freeware software for Windows Server, including DriveMaker, which maps an FTP site to a drive letter.