Create simultaneous checkpoints of a group of related Virtual Machines

In some cases you may need to checkpoint a group of related VMs at exactly the time, such as a SharePoint farm, or a multi-tiered application. The process includes pausing, saving the VMs, creating checkpoints, restrating, and eventually restoring back to original state. Powershell can help automate the process:

1. Pause and Save:

# Input
$HVHost = “xHost16”
$VMs = “SSTest1″,”V-2012R2-Test1″,”v-2012R2-TW01”

# Pause and Save
Stop-VM -Name $VMs -Save
# Confirm
Get-VM -ComputerName $HVHost -Name $VMs | Select VMName,State,ComputerName | FT -AutoSize

2. Checkpoint:

# Checkpoint
Checkpoint-VM -ComputerName $HVHost -Name $VMs
# Confirm
Get-VMSnapshot -ComputerName $HVHost -VMName $VMs | Select VMName, Name, ComputerName | FT -AutoSize

3. Restart:

# Restart
Start-VM -ComputerName $HVHost -Name $VMs
# Confirm
Get-VM -ComputerName $HVHost -Name $VMs | Select VMName, State, ComputerName | FT -AutoSize

Eventually, when it’s time to restore the group of VMs to their original state:

4. Remove all checkpoints:

# Later on, to remove all checkpoints:
Remove-VMSnapshot -ComputerName $HVHost -VMName $VMs -IncludeAllChildSnapshots
# Confirm
Get-VMSnapshot -ComputerName $HVHost -VMName $VMs | Select VMName, Name, ComputerName | FT -AutoSize

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September 21, 2014 | Categories: Backup and Data Protection, Checkpoints, Hyper-V, Powershell, Windows Server 2012 | Tags: Hyper-V checkpoints, Powershell, simultaneous checkpoints of VMs, VM Checkpoint | Leave a comment