Connecting a SIRIS to a Hyper-V Hypervisor

Topic

This article describes how to connect a Datto SIRIS to a Hyper-V hypervisor . These instructions apply to virtual and physical SIRIS appliances.

For vSphere instructions, see Virtualize via Hypervisor for VMware environments.

Environment

  • Datto SIRIS
  • Microsoft Hyper-V
    • Windows Server 2012 R2
    • Windows Server 2016
    • Windows Server 2019
    • Windows Server 2022
    • Windows Server 2025

Description

Datto SIRIS appliances can establish connections to Hyper-V environments to offload screenshot and disaster recovery virtualizations to the hypervisor. This connection allows the virtualizations to take advantage of the expanded system resources available on the Hyper-V host, delivering increased virtual machine performance, while decreasing overhead on your Datto appliance.

NOTE  Datto SIRIS does not support taking agentless backups through the Hyper-V connection. Support for agentless pairings is limited to VMware environments only.

Technical Notes

  • The platforms listed in the Environment field of this article all support Hyper-V integration.
  • SIRIS Hyper-V virtualizations are Hyper-V Generation 1 virtual machines.
  • SIRIS shares out backup images for Hyper-V restores via iSCSI.
  • Datto appliances do not currently support Hyper-V Shared Live Migration.
  • iSCSI targets containing underscores (such as backup_device) are not supported.
  • Virtualizations and screenshots offloaded to Hyper-V rely on virtual IDE controllers, which limits virtualizations to the boot volume and a maximum of three attached disks.
  • To prevent blocked connection attempts between your Datto appliance and the target hypervisor, create any necessary network exceptions in your antivirus and firewall solutions before attempting this procedure.
  • To prevent blocked connection attempts between your Datto appliance and the protected system, if your hypervisor is using anti-virus or anti-malware software, you will also need to create an exception for %systemdrive%\Windows\winexesvc.exe

Configuring Hyper-V

If you are setting up a Virtual SIRIS on Hyper-V that has been deployed through Datto RMM,  firewall rules and winrm commands will have already been configured. You can skip to the Setting up the Hypervisor Connection section of the article.

Depending on the configuration of your Hyper-V host, you may need to make changes to allow your SIRIS to connect to the hypervisor. If following the steps do not result in a successful hypervisor connection, follow the steps in the Enabling and configuring winrm and Windows Firewall section.

Setting up the Hypervisor Connection

  1. Access the GUI of your SIRIS over your LAN or through a Remote Web connection.

  2. From the Datto appliance's Overview page, click Configure> Hypervisor Connections.

  3. Click Add Connection.
    Hypervisor_1.PNG

  4. Enter a unique name for the new hypervisor connection, and the IP address, hostname, or FQDN of the Hyper-V host that the Datto appliance needs to connect to. Select Hyper-V from the Hypervisor Type menu.
    H-V-address.PNG

  5. On the Hypervisor Login tab, enter the credentials for a user that has the appropriate permissions to configure and control Hyper-V on your host. You will need the username and password, as well as the domain for the user (if applicable).
    H-V-login-creds.PNG

    NOTE  If you receive an error message stating "Failed to execute command on host," review the Technical Notes section of this article to ensure that your Hyper-V configuration meets the specified requirements.

    X_-_Hypervisor_Failed_-_Check_Requirements.png

  6. If the wizard does not report any errors, click Finish to exit the Hypervisor Connection wizard.

    The Datto appliance will return you to the Hypervisor Connections screen, where you will see the newly-added connection listed in the HyperV Connections pane. Click the radio button under Use for Screenshots if you would like the agent to use the resources of your hypervisor during screenshot verification.

    NOTE  Advanced Backup Verification features of the screenshots do not function on hyperV virtual machines, as it does not support the necessary tools to run the verification.

If you need to update the hypervisor credentials for an existing connection, delete the old one, and then replace it using the *original* connection name and the new credentials. You will not lose data.

If the password for the account used to create the connection changes, you will need to edit the hypervisor connection on the Datto to use the new password.

Additional Resources