5 2 0:VMware Restore

Are you looking for an alternative for your VMware environment? SEP supports a range of hypervisors, offering snapshot-based online backup of VMs. Click HERE to get an overview of the available SEP modules and explore supported features like CBT, Single File Restore, and more.

Overview

SEP sesam integrates with VMware vSphere Storage APIs – Data Protection and uses Change Block Tracking (CBT) for efficient backups and restores. For details on how to configure a VMware client and prepare it for backup, see VMware Backup.

Restore options

There are more options for restoring a VM, from critical restore to performing tests. Check the following features to select the best option for your restore. Note that only one virtual machine can be restored at a time.

• Complete restore
You can restore a VM to the original or a different location with the same or a different VM name, MAC address and UUID. A VM can be restored to the same or a different vCenter server. For details, see also Standard Restore Procedure.
• Single file restore (SFR)
You can restore a single item from copy/full/differential/incremental backups without any special backup preparation. To learn about SFR and and how it relates to the disk size usage, see SF & IR support matrix.
• Instant Recovery (IR)
You can perform an instant recovery for VMware, allowing you to power on a virtual machine without waiting to restore it. This way, your VMware data is instantly accessible from your backup source. To find out what applies to IR and how it relates to the disk size usage, see SF & IR support matrix.
• VMware Sandbox Restore
You can use online VMware sandbox restore to run tests in an isolated virtual environment, restore virtual machines (VMs), troubleshoot VMs, install new software, updates and patches, verify VM backups, etc.

Prerequisites

Before you perform VMware restore, check the following prerequisites:

• Depending on what you want to restore, make sure that you have the proper restore permissions and access rights.
• Make sure that there is sufficient free space on the target system to which you are restoring your data.
• During restore, it is recommended that you stop all activities on the target VM.

Note

The restore steps differ depending on what you want to restore. This article provides information on a complete VMware VM restore. For details on how to perform SFR (restore a single file from a vSphere backup) and VMware VM instant recovery (IR), see Single File Restore and VMware Instant Recovery. VMware sandbox restore can be used as a test environment for restoring, testing and troubleshooting VMs. Online sandbox restore is available only in Restore Assistant using Advanced View (advanced UI mode).

Restoring a VMware virtual machine

The following steps are performed in basic UI mode. They cover the most common restore cases and are the recommended method for performing a restore. For more experienced users, some additional restore options are available in advanced restore mode. For details, see Standard Restore Procedure.

Note

If you cannot access the web Restore Assistant, check if you have received the appropriate permissions for online restore. The operations and options available after logging in may differ depending on the user type. Other Web UI display restrictions may depend on the custom roles with specific permissions and the UI mode. For details, see About Authentication and Authorization and User Roles and Permissions.

1. Open the Restore Assistant in the browser.
2. In the start window, select VMware VSphere and click Next.

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3. In the Virtual Machine window, under Selection of the server, select your target server to which the data will be restored.
   Then, under Selection of the virtual machine select the VM you want to restore and click Next.

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4. In the Task window, under Task selection, select your source backup task.
Then, under Backup selection, select the exact backup version you want to restore. Note that Generation restore is selected by default. You can use the calendar function in the upper right corner to set a date range for the backups. Click Next.

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5. In the Files window, under the Virtual disk (VMDK) selection enable or disable the target VM disk(s) and/or Configuration you want to restore.
Click Next.

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6. In the Target window, under the Target selection select your target environment for restore. You can use the drop-down list to check virtual machines.
Then set additional restore options under the Execution options:
• Do not overwrite an existing virtual machine: The VM is restored only if it does not already exist on the target system.
• Restore an existing virtual machine with a new name: The VM is restored with a new name, MAC address and UUID.
• Overwrite an existing virtual machine: If the VM exists on the target server, it will be replaced with the restored version. The original MAC address and UUID of the VM are preserved.
Click Next.

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7. Modify or set additional restore options under the Virtualization restore options:
• Data mover: Select the data mover.
• Recovery options: Specify whether or not to start the VM after restore.
• Under Target options of the virtual machine from the drop-down lists select ESX server and Datastore.
Click Next.


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8. In the last step, check the summary of your restore task (restore type (based on task type, selected backup, its date and details, restore options, etc.) and click Start restore.

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Monitoring restore

You can monitor the restore progress using the Web UI (Monitoring -> Restores) or view the status in the GUI (Main Selection -> Job State -> Restores). The restore overview provides detailed information on the last run of restore jobs, including task name, status (successful, error, in queue...), start and stop time of the last backup, data size, throughput, etc. For details, see SEP sesam Web UI.

See also

VMware Instant Recovery – VMware Sandbox Restore – Standard Restore Procedure – Advanced Backup and Restore Options – Scheduling Restore – VMware Requirements & Restrictions – VMware Backup – Troubleshooting

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