Leveraging VSS on File Servers - VMs

nicholsongc — Wed, 04 Jun 2025 09:39:41 GMT

Is it possible to leverage VSS/Previous Versions on Windows Servers that are hosted on Vmware datastores via NetApp FC LUNs?

I know this works well when the files are in CIFS shares and volume snapshots are accessible. But can a file server that is a VM hosted on NetApp storage (FC or NFS) leverage VSS to allow "Previous Versions" restores?

Re: Leveraging VSS on File Servers - VMs

cedric_renauld — Sat, 30 Mar 2024 13:10:07 GMT

Sorry, No isn't possible the file system is managed by the Windows Host, on the VMware datastore

And isn't possible to see NetApp SnapShot

The only solution you have is to mount a Raw device from your NetApp to your VM, in this case the guest VM manage the file system and can shos the NetApp Snapshot un the VSS to restaore file

If you need to restore some files by admin, you can install NetApp Snapcenter PlugIn for VMware and with this tools your are able to restore from VMware to your Windows VM, with the guest file retrore option

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Leveraging VSS on File Servers - VMs

Re: Leveraging VSS on File Servers - VMs