Upgrade considerations for RCT backups

Before you upgrade to Data Protection for Microsoft Hyper-V Version 8.1.2 or later, review the considerations that apply to virtual machine (VM) backup operations on Windows Server 2016.

• When you upgrade your Hyper-V environment from Windows Server 2012 or 2012 R2 to Windows Server 2016, the VM version of the virtual machines is not updated automatically. The Hyper-V administrator must update the VMs to the new version after the environment is upgraded to Windows Server 2016. Data Protection for Microsoft Hyper-V V8.1.2 or later does not back up VMs that are not updated to the new VM version.

  Ensure that the guest VM is offline before you update the VM version. You can update the VM version in the Hyper-V Manager or the Update-VMVersion cmdlet.

• VM backup operations with resilient change tracking (RCT) require the Hyper-V VM to be Version 6.2 or later.

  Data Protection for Microsoft Hyper-V V8.1.0 and earlier continues to support earlier VM versions by using the VSS backup method.