> Essential > Virtualization > Information for All Virtualized Platforms > Restores and VM Conversion > Cross-Hypervisor Restores (VM Conversion)

Converting to VMware

When you restore a virtual machine (VM) from a backup, you can restore the VM as a VMware VM.

Source Hypervisors

You can convert VMs to VMware from the following hypervisors:

  • Amazon streaming backups or IntelliSnap backup copies

  • Azure Resource Manager streaming backups or IntelliSnap backup copies

  • Google Cloud Platform streaming backups or IntelliSnap backup copies

  • Hyper-V streaming backups or IntelliSnap backup copies

  • Nutanix AHV streaming backups or IntelliSnap backup copies

Note

  • You cannot perform conversions from IntelliSnap snap copies.

  • You cannot convert encrypted Azure disks to VMware.

  • For Azure Resource Manager and Hyper-V, you cannot convert Ubuntu 16.x VMs or Ubuntu 18.x VMs to VMware.

  • For Google Cloud Platform, you cannot convert Ubuntu VMs or Debian VMs to VMware.

Before You Begin

  • For Amazon EC2 to VMware conversions, review additional information. For more information, see Required Information for Converting from Amazon to VMware.

  • Make the following changes on source VMs before performing backups that you use for conversions:

    • For Linux VMs, add required SCSI drivers and recompile the initrd file.

      If you do not perform this step for Linux VMs, the converted VMs fail to power on. To enable the VMs to power on, use a live recovery image of the Linux operating system to access the terminal, and then perform this step on the converted VMs.

    • Configure source VMs to use DHCP instead of using static IP addresses. The conversion process does not restore static IP addresses.

  • Configure a VMware hypervisor. For more information, see Configuring Backups for VMware VMs.

  • Install drivers on VMs running CentOS or RHEL. For more information, see Preparing UNIX VMs for Conversion to VMware.

    Note

    You do not need to install drivers on VMs running Windows.

  • As a best practice, configure the server plan that is used for backups to create a backup copy using on-premises storage, and use the backup copy as the source for conversion.

  • When restoring an Azure virtual machine, do the following:

    • For Windows computers: enable the pagefile on the C: drive of the source VM. This will prevent you from receiving an error message when you reboot the destination VM.

    • For Linux computers : Ensure that the fstab entry of the source disk should be based on disk UUID and not disk name. If it is not based on disk UUID, then the restored VM will not boot up.

  • For information about the restore options for the VMware destination, see Options for Conversion to VMware.

Go to the VM Group

  1. From the navigation pane, go to Protect > Virtualization.

    The Virtual machines page appears.

  2. On the VM groups tab, click the VM group.

    The VM group page appears.

Start the Wizard

  1. On the Overview tab, in the Recovery points section, click a date in the calendar that you want to restore for, and then click Restore.

    The Select restore type page appears.

  2. Click Full virtual machine.

    The Full virtual machine page appears.

  3. To select a different MediaAgent or source copy for the restore, do the following:

    1. In the upper-right corner of the page, click the Settings icon.

      The Settings dialog box appears.

    2. For MediaAgent, decide whether to have the system automatically select the MediaAgent or to specify a MediaAgent:

      • Automatic: By default, the Commvault software selects the MediaAgent for the restore operation based on availability and environment.

      • To restore data using a specific MediaAgent, from the list, select a MediaAgent.

    3. For Source, decide whether to have the system automatically select the copy of backup data or to specify the copy:

      • Automatic: By default, the restore operation searches for the requested data in the primary copy and selects a different copy if the data is not found in the primary copy.

      • To restore from a specific copy of backup data, from the list, select a backup copy.

    4. Click OK.

  4. In the left pane, select the VMs you want to restore.

  5. Click Restore.

    The Destination page appears.

Destination: Restoring Out of Place

  1. For Type, select Out of place, which restores the VM to a location other than its original location.

  2. For Restore as, select VMware VCenter selected.

  3. For Destination, select the hypervisor to restore the VM to (the destination).

  4. For Access node, select one of the following:

    • Select an access node or access node group. If you select an access node group, the system distributes the workload (VMs) in the restore job across the access nodes (also called proxies) that are available in the access node group.

    • Select Automatic. If you are restoring multiple VMs, select this option to distribute the VMs in the restore job across the access nodes that are assigned for the destination hypervisor. Note the following:

      • VMs are assigned to access nodes using the round-robin method.

      • The Automatic option is available for full VM restores from streaming backups.

  5. Click Next.

    The Virtual Machines page appears.

Specify the Virtual Machines and Settings

  1. Select the virtual machines to restore, and then click Edit.

  2. If you selected only one VM to restore, the Configure restore options dialog box appears. Do the following:

    1. For VM disply name enter a name for the restored VM.

    2. Click the Destination host field.

      The Select restore destination dialog box appears.

    3. Select the ESX server, and then click Save.

    4. For VM storage policy, select a storage policy to use for the restore. If you select nothing or Source VM storage policy, then the same VM storage policy associated with the backup is used for the restore.

    5. For Datastore, select a datastore for the restored VM and disks.

      Datastores that are incompatible with the selected VM storage policy appear with a warning label.

    6. For Resource pool, select a resource pool.

    7. For Operating system, select the VM operating system.

      The operating system you choose determines the type of SCSI controller that the conversion process selects for the converted VM.

      If you select the Auto option and the disk operating system type cannot be determined from the configuration file, the job fails. Select the correct operating during the restore and resubmit the job.

    8. For Destination folder, select the destination folder.

    9. To specify IP address and network settings, move the Advanced options toggle to the right, and then do the following:

      1. For IP address settings, click Add.

        The IP address settings dialog box appears. Specify the IP address settings. For more information, see IP Address Settings.

      2. For Network settings, click Add.

        The Add network settings dialog box appears. Configure the source and destination network as follows:

        - Source network: Select the source network, or select Any Network to map all network connections for the source VM to a different network for the restored VM.

        - Destination network: Select a network connection for the restored VM, or select No Connection to restore without a network connection.

    10. Click Save.

  3. If you selected two or more VMs to restore, the Configure restore options for multiple VMs dialog box appears. Do the following:

    Note

    If you want to modify network settings for two or more VMs, you must go back and select each VM separately (as in Step 2i, above) and then modify their network settings. Then you can proceed with the sub-steps, below.

    1. To add a prefix to the VM display names, move the Add a prefix to the VM name toggle key to the right and then enter the prefix.

    2. To add a suffix to the VM display names, move the Add a suffix to the VM name toggle key to the right and then enter the suffix.

    3. Click the Destination host field.

      The Select restore destination dialog box appears.

    4. Select the ESX server, and then click Save.

    5. For VM storage policy, select a storage policy to use for the restore. If you select nothing or Source VM storage policy, then the same VM storage policy associated with the backup is used for the restore.

    6. For Datastore, select a datastore for the restored VM and disks.

      Datastores that are incompatible with the selected VM storage policy appear with a warning label.

    7. For Resource pool, select a resource pool.

    8. For Operating system, select the VM operating system.

      The operating system you choose determines the type of SCSI controller that the conversion process selects for the converted VM.

      If you select the Auto option and the disk operating system type cannot be determined from the configuration file, the job fails. Select the correct operating during the restore and resubmit the job.

    9. For Destination folder, select the destination folder.

    10. Click Save.

      The Restore Options page appears.

Restore Options

  1. Specify the following options:

    • Power on VMs after restore: Starts the VM automatically when the restore completes.

    • Unconditionally overwrite if it already exists: Deletes an existing VM that has the same name, and replace it with the restored VM.

    • Reuse existing VM client: Reuses the existing VM client and map its information, such as Client Name, Host Name, and Client ID to the source VM.

    • Notify user on job completion: Receive an email notification that the restore is complete.

    • Generate new GUID for VMs: To generate a new GUID for the restored VM, move the toggle key to the right.

    • Transport mode: Do one of the following:

      • To have the system automatically select the best transport mode for the environment, select Auto.

      • To specify a specific transport mode, select the transport mode.

    • Disk provisioning: Do one of the following:

      • To retain the provisioning method that was used at the time of backup, select Original.

      • To specify a different disk provisioning method, select Thick Lazy Zero, Thin, or Thick Eager Zero.

  2. Click Next.

    The Summary page appears.

Summary

When the Summary page appears, click Submit.

Result

  • If the wrong operating system was selected, you might not be able to start the converted VM.

  • For converted Windows VMs, disks might be offline. You can bring the disks online manually.

  • VMware tools are not installed on the converted VM, and are required to access some services (such as the VMCI driver, which enables high-speed communication between VMs on the same host and reduces latency). Use the vSphere client to install VMware tools on the converted VM.

  • The conversion process does not restore static IP addresses.

What to Do Next

You may need to update disk assignments manually for restored virtual machines that have UEFI boot and multiple type of controllers.

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