Category: Synology Active Backup

Prerequisites:

• Make sure Hyper-V Host has CPUs than the combined total of CPUs for all servers being restored as these static until after the VMs are completely restored. If there is not enough CPU resources then the VMs will not boot.
• Make sure Hyper-V Host has more than the combined total of RAM for all servers being restored as these settings are static until after the VMs are completely restored. If there is not enough memory then the VMs will not boot. 
• Create a SET NIC Team on the server (if you have multiple NICs)
  • Open Powershell as administrator
  • User the New-VMSwitch command to setup an external virtual switch to connect to for live connections
    • New-VMSwitch -name “SET team” -NetAdapterName “NIC1″,”NIC2” -AllowManagementOS $True
    • The AllowManagementOS is needed if you are using the same NIC team to access the VM host
• Setup secondary Internal vSwitch to allow for testing before deploying
• Setup Synology LUN targets for each VM to be restored. Make sure that they are big enough to hold all the full uncompressed size of the entire thick provisioned hard drives for the entire server. 
• Connect each LUN to the iSCSI Initiator on the VM Host. Make sure to bring them online, initialize them, and give them a drive letter. Synology needs this because it uses the SMB protocol to transfer the files during restore.
• Make sure to allow the File and Printer Sharing app through the Windows firewall and open port 5986 to allow HTTP traffic for WinRM to allow Synology to query the Hyper-V settings.
• Add the Hyper-V Host to the Active Backup for Business app.

Synology Active Backup Restore to Hyper-V

1. Open the Active Backup for Business app
2. Click on the Physical Server tab on the left
3. Select the server and click the Restore button
4. Select the point in time to restore from 
5. Choose Restore to Microsoft Hyper-V
6. Choose Full Virtual Machine Restore
7. Change the Restore Name
8. Select a folder on the Hyper-V Host to place the configuration files 
9. Select a folder on the Hyper-V Host to place each of the restore VHD files
10. Select a Virtual Switch on the Hyper-V Host to connect the VM to 
11. Confirm the settings by clicking on the Done button.

After:

• The VMs will boot with a single NIC and no network settings. Keep them offline and add additional NICs as needed to match the original setup. Then configure the NICs as before upon reboot. Make sure to connect to Internal Test Switch for initial steps. 
• Check hardware configuration of CPUs and RAM to determine if adjustments can be made. In particular, the RAM settings can be changed to startup, minimum, and maximum to allow for distribution of resources to VMs that have heavier workloads.
• Boot VM to make sure it is functioning correctly.  (first bootup can take upwards of 15 minutes)
• Convert the VM from Gen1 to Gen2
  • Download Windows 10 ISO – https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows10
  • Add Windows ISO to IDE controller as CD 
  •  Set boot to CD in VM Settings 
  • Boot VM to repair section of CD 
  • Boot to command prompt
    • diskpart 
    • list disk   (Make boot disk is in 0 spot)
    • exit
    • X:\>mbr2gpt /validate /disk:0 (select proper disk) 
    • X:\>mbr2gpt /convert /disk:0 
  • Create new VM with Gen2 setting
    • Give the VM a name and Store in appropriate iSCSI LUN drive then Click Next 
    • Select Gen 2 and click Next
    • Give the VM as much startup memory as needed and Use Dynamic Memory then Click Next 
    • Select the Internal Test Switch and click Next
    • Select an existing hard drive and point to boot drive that was converted to Gen 2 then click Next 
    • Click Finish to create
    • Modify to match old VM
      • Check Dynamic RAM settings to make sure the Max / Min is set properly
      • Check Hard drives and add additional as needed
      • Turn off Secure Boot function
• Boot new Gen 2 VM and configure static IP address.
• If booting successfully then delete Gen 1 VM 
• Turn of old server as needed
• Change Gen 2 VM to use SET Team vSwitch 
• Test connectivity to network resources. 

If your company is looking to migrate from physical to virtual servers, then contact us to make the transition easy.