> Documentation > Backup and Restore Agents > Virtualization > Virtual Server Agent > Cross-Hypervisor Restores (Virtual Machine Conversion) > Converting from VMware or Hyper-V to Amazon

HotAdd Restores

HotAdd Restores

HotAdd restores for Amazon provide faster performance than traditional restores. By using a VSA proxy running on an Amazon instance, the restore operation can write directly to Elastic Block Storage (EBS) and inject Amazon drivers that are required for destination instances.

HotAdd restores are used for the following operations:

  • Restores

  • Live sync operations

  • Conversion from VMware to Amazon, for the following VMware guest operating systems:

    • Microsoft Windows Server 2019 (Standard, Datacenter) (64-bit only), provided that the OS disk uses Master Boot Record (MBR) partitioning

    • Windows Server 2016

    • Windows Server 2012 R2

    • Windows Server 2008 R2

      Note

      For VM conversion or live sync replication of guest VMs that run Windows Server 2008 R2 and later versions, validation might fail for the converted instance in AWS. To resolve this issue, set the RealTimeIsUniversal registry key on the source VM as described in the AWS article Configure time settings for Windows Server 2008 and later, and then perform a new backup to use as the source for the conversion or replication.

    • CentOS 7.x

    • RHEL 6.x

    • RHEL 7.x

    • Ubuntu 18.x

Requirements for HotAdd Restores

  • The Virtual Server Agent proxy selected for the operation must be an Amazon instance in the same zone as the destination instance.

Note

For cross-hypervisor restores or live sync replication from VMware to Amazon, you must use a VSA proxy that runs on Windows.

Requirements for VM Conversion and Live Sync Replication Operations when Amazon is the Destination

  • On the VSA proxy, create an Amazon folder under the software_install_path/Commvault/ContentStore folder, and extract the contents of the following zip files in the Amazon folder:

  • Make the following changes to source VMs before performing the backup that is used for conversions:

    • When performing conversion or replication for an Active Directory domain controller, upgrade PV drivers as described in Upgrade a Domain Controller (AWS PV Upgrade).

    • Windows source VMs:

      • Install 4.5 or a more recent version of .NET.

      • Enable Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP).

      • Disable Windows Firewall.

      • Disable User Account Control (UAC) in the Windows Control Panel.

      • Ensure that there is a minimum of 2 GB free space on the C: drive.

      • Verify that the Windows AutoAdminLogon feature is not disabled on the source VM, so that AWS drivers can be installed on the destination VM during conversion.

      • HotAdd conversion is not supported if the boot OS for the source VM uses GUID Partition Table (GPT) partitioning. Use the import method instead.

      • If the Windows security banner is enabled on the source VM, install the following components so that the converted instances can pass instance status checks:

        https://s3.amazonaws.com/ec2-downloads-windows/Drivers/AWSPVDriverSetup.zip

        https://s3.amazonaws.com/ec2-downloads-windows/EC2Config/EC2Install.zip

      • To replicate source VMs that run on a version of Windows Server earlier than Windows Server 2012 R2, when the Windows AutoAdminLogon feature is disabled or when a firewall is in place in the environment, install drivers on source VMs before performing the backup that is used for replication, as described in Installing Drivers Manually for HotAdd Replication.

    • Linux source VMs:

      • Enable Secure Shell (SSH) for remote access.

      • The host firewall (such as Linux iptables) must permit access to SSH.

      • Ensure that Xen drivers are installed on the VM:

        xen-blkfront

        xen-netfront

        Installing Xen drivers on Linux guest VMs before backing up the VMs enables the required drivers to be in place when the Amazon instances are created, so that the Amazon instance can be started and users can access the instance.

      • Ensure that Linux VMs use GRUB (GRUB legacy) or GRUB 2 as the bootloader.

      • Linux VMs must use one of the following for the root file system: ext2, ext3, ext4, Btrfs, JFS, or XFS.

      • Linux VM /etc/fstab entries should use UUIDs instead of device names, because device names might change on conversion.

HotAdd Restore Process

Windows:

  1. Create empty EBS volumes.

  2. Attach EBS volumes to proxy.

    Up to 21 volumes can be attached to the VSA proxy during cross-hypervisor restores or live sync replication, occupying device slots xvdf - xvdz.

  3. Restore data to EBS volumes.

  4. Inject AWS components and drivers.

  5. Detach volumes from the VSA proxy.

  6. Create the Amazon instance from the EBS volumes.

  7. Automatically log on to the instance to install PV drivers and EC2 configuration service.

Linux:

  1. Create empty EBS volumes.

    Up to 21 volumes can be attached to the VSA proxy during cross-hypervisor restores or live sync replication, occupying device slots xvdf - xvdz.

  2. Attach EBS volumes to proxy.

  3. Restore data to EBS volumes.

  4. Detach volumes from the VSA proxy.

  5. Create the Amazon instance from the EBS volumes.

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