> CommCell Console > Backup and Restore Agents > Virtualization > Virtual Server Agent > VMware > Restores

Performing a Restore for VMware

You can restore virtual machines, VM disk files, or guest files and folders from backup. You can also choose to restore a VM disk and attach it to a different virtual machine. Depending on the virtualization platforms (hypervisors) that are available in your environment, you can also choose to convert a virtual machine or VM disk to a different platform as part of the restore.

You can perform in place restores (overwriting the original data) or out of place restores (restoring to a different location).

You can initiate a restore from a backup set to view VM data for all subclients under the backup set, or for a subclient to view only VM data for that subclient.

Notes

  • In most cases, you should only restore a virtual machine to its original location (an in place restore) if the original VM is unusable or if you want to revert a VM to its state at an earlier point in time.

  • If a backup set contains subclients configured for both regular and IntelliSnap backups, guest files and folders on virtual machines might not be displayed when you perform the Browse and Restore operation from the backup set. Perform the operation from the subclient instead.

Before You Begin

  • You must have completed a successful backup for the virtual machine data to be restored.

  • To browse and restore files and folders, you must be able to read file and folder information for the virtual machine.

    • File and folder information is generated during a Live Browse operation using a Windows MediaAgent or a File Recovery Enabler for Linux.

    • File and folder information is collected during backup if the subclient uses the Collect File Details option (disabled by default).

Procedure

Perform the following steps to restore virtual machine data:

  1. From the CommCell Browser, expand Client Computer > virtualization_client > Virtual Server > VMware > backup_set.

  2. Initiate a restore:

    • From a subclient: Right-click the subclient and then select Browse and Restore.

    • From a backup set: Right-click the backup set and then select All Tasks > Browse and Restore.

    • From a completed backup job: Right-click the job from the Backup Job History tab and then select Browse and Restore. For more information, see Browsing and Restoring from Job History.

    • To search for files and folders, right-click a backup set or subclient and then select All Tasks > Find. For more information, see Finding Virtual Machine Files and Folders or Find.

  3. In the Browse and Restore Options dialog box, select the restore type:

    • Full Virtual Machine - Restore one or more complete virtual machines.

      If your environment includes other supported virtualization platforms, you can use the Restore as option to use the VMware virtual machine backup to create a new virtual machine for another platform as described in Virtual Machine Conversion.

    • Virtual Machine Files - Restore one or more virtual machine disks (VMDK files).

    • Attach Disk to Existing VM - Restore one or more VM disks from backup and attach the disks to an existing virtual machine.

    • Guest Files or Folders - Restore files and folders from a virtual machine.

  4. Optionally, you can browse older backup data or specify advanced options:

    • By default, the latest data backed up by subclients is displayed for browse and restore operations. To view older backup data, click the Time Range tab and specify one of the following:

      • Absolute Time - Select the Time Zone; then select either Start Time or End Time, or both, and specify the date and time values. For the Virtual Server Agent, the time zone defaults to the time zone for CommServe host.

      • Relative Time - Enter a number in the Last field and then select Day, Week, Month, or Year.

    • Click List Media to view the source media associated with a backup.

    • Click the Advanced Options tab to specify advanced settings.

  5. Click View Content.

  6. In the Client tab:

    1. Expand the display tree to locate the data to restore.

    2. Select data for the restore type you selected: virtual machines, .vmdk disk files, folders, or files.

    3. Click Recover All Selected.

  7. In the Restore Options for All Selected Items dialog box, the options available depend on the restore type:

  8. Click OK.

  9. From the main window of the CommCell Console, click Home > Job Controller to monitor the progress of the restore job.

Result

Once you initiate a restore operation, a restore job is generated in the Job Controller. See Job Status and Control for more information.

Once the restore job has completed, review the restore history:

  1. Right-click the backup set and select View > Restore History.

  2. Click OK.

You can view the following information by right-clicking the job:

  • Restored items (successful, failed, skipped, or all)

  • Job details

  • Events for the restore job

  • Log files for the restore job

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