Create a Live Backup of a Virtual Machine While Running
This article outlines how to back up virtual machines while running and create an incremental or differential backup of virtual machines in just two minutes.
The file-based backup task procedure is the same for all virtual host platforms (Hyper-V Server 2008 R2, VMware Server, Microsoft Virtual Server 2005, and Virtual PC).
Our feature Single Click Virtual Machine Backup automates the steps below for Hyper-V.
Step 1: Create a New Task
Create a new task and select the type of virtualization platform you are using. In our example, we'll use VMware. For a walkthrough for Hyper-V Servers, click here. The steps for Microsoft Virtual Server are the same as shown in this example walkthrough.
Step 2: Select Folder Containing Virtual Machine Files
Create a new Backup Task for your virtual machine backup and select the folder containing your image files (.VHD, .AVHD, .VMDK, etc.) Click on image to zoom in.
Step 3: Select a Target Folder for your Backup
Proceed with the backup wizard to the point where you specify the backup target. You can either store your backup locally, on an external drive (USB), on the network via a network share, or to an FTP/FTPS location. In this example, we choose an FTP target, our BackupChain FTP Server running on another machine:
Once saved, the setting should appear under the Backup Target tab:
Step 4: Enable Compression and Encryption
Because virtual machines generally compress well, it makes sense to turn on ZIP compression. The Delta Compression (deduplication) algorithm will not compress the inner blocks of files unless this setting is checked. Note: the delta algorithm will only save compressed blocks if they actually compress to a smaller block length than the original. This feature helps you save even more space and restore time.
Turning on encryption and entering a password will protect your files using military strength encryption (256 bit AES):
Step 5 (optional): Set Schedule Options
Now you're ready to start the backup task. If you want to schedule this task to run repeatedly, you can switch to Continuous, Daily, Weekly, Monthly, or other scheduling modes. The following illustrates how to set up a VM backup to run on selected months, on the first Sunday.
Congratulations: Your Hyper-V, VMware, or Virtual PC/Server 2005 Backup is Complete!
We hope this walkthrough illustrated how simple it is to create a virtual machine backup with BackupChain. Because this tool saves you storage space and backup time, it is well suited to serve as a remote backup software for your Hyper-V Server, VMware Server, and Microsoft Virtual Servers.
Download a 20-day trial of BackupChain Server Edition from our backup software download page.
Also recommended: This online backup tutorial article explains how to set up the integrated FTP Server and back up your virtual machines over the Internet.
Please email us your support requests, questions, and comments to: support@backupchain.com