Known Issues and Limitations: Data Protection for Microsoft Hyper-V V7.1

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Tip: Beginning with Version 7.1.3, IBM Tivoli® Storage Manager for Virtual Environments is now IBM Spectrum Protect for Virtual Environments. Some applications such as the software fulfillment systems and IBM License Metric Tool use the new product name. However, the software and its product documentation continue to use the Tivoli Storage Manager for Virtual Environments product name. To learn more about the rebranding transition, see http://www.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=swg21963634.

• Data Protection for Microsoft Hyper-V does not back up Hyper-V virtual machines with attached iSCSI disks (internal reference #122752)
  Backups of Hyper-V virtual machines that have iSCSI disks attached are not supported because Data Protection for Microsoft Hyper-V uses Volume Shadow Copy Service (VSS) for backups and VSS cannot create a snapshot of the iSCSI disks. If you try to back up a virtual machine with attached iSCSI disks, the operation fails.

• SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 12 (SLES 12) virtual machine backup failure

In this scenario, a SLES 12 virtual machine fails during an online backup. This issue was reported to SUSE support.

Workaround: To avoid this issue, complete either of the following tasks:
• Disable Linux Integration Services (LIS).
• Shutdown the virtual machine before running a backup operation.

• Linux virtual machine reboot failure

In this scenario, a Linux virtual machine configured with a logical volume manager (LVM) boot volume might not reboot after a restore operation.

Workaround: To avoid this issue, complete the following tasks:
1. Boot the virtual machine from recovery media or installation .ISO image.
2. During the boot operation, let the recovery tools complete the necessary steps.
3. After recovery steps complete, delete entries with text strings like /dev/disk/by-id/scis-{some volume id}-part1 from the /etc/fstab file.
4. Reboot the virtual machine in normal mode. The LVM rebuilds itself during the boot operation.

• Delete Backup command is not supported (internal reference #159309)

In this scenario, a delete backup command is issued for an existing virtual machine backup. However, the following message displays:

ANS2314E No VM backup exists for <vmname>

This error displays for an existing virtual machine backup because the delete backup command is not supported. This is a known limitation.

Workaround: None.

• Memory leak is observed when backing up a virtual machine

In this scenario, a Hyper-V virtual machine was backed up with Data Protection for Microsoft Hyper-V 7.1.2 in loop mode. The loop command starts an interactive command line session that is maintained until you enter quit. When the backup operation completes, a loss of available memory occurs. The loss of memory can be viewed by starting the Windows system Task Manager and going to Performance -> Available Memory after each backup operation completes. However, the memory is freed after the dsmc loop mode exits.

This is a known issue.

Workaround: To prevent memory leaks, back up the Hyper-V virtual machine without using loop mode. This is the best practice when using Data Protection for Microsoft Hyper-V 7.1.2.

• Data Protection for Microsoft Hyper-V supports back ups of VMs on SMB3 (internal reference #159308)

However, there is an exception for Linux and FreeBSD VMs. For more information, see the following Microsoft TechNet article and excerpt under "Storage -> Live virtual machine backup":

Feature Descriptions for Linux and FreeBSD virtual machines on Hyper-V
https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dn531031.aspx

Storage -> Live virtual machine backup
"Note that the backup operation does not succeed if the virtual machine has virtual hard disks (VHDs) that are hosted on remote storage such as a Server Message Block (SMB) share or an iSCSI volume. Additionally, ensure that the backup target does not reside on the same volume as the volume that you back up."