Restoring Full Virtual Machines Out of Place

You can restore virtual machines to the original location or to a different location. By default, a virtual machine is restored to the original hypervisor (host), using access nodes (also called proxies) at the vm level (access nodes of the virtual client).

Before You Begin

If you want to restore data using a specific MediaAgent and/or copy, review the information in MediaAgent and Copy Precedence Considerations for Virtualization Restores.

Procedure

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

   The Virtual machines page appears.

2. Click the VM groups tab.

   The VM group page appears. The VM groups area displays summary information for any existing VM groups.

3. On the VM groups tab, in the row for the VM group, click the action button , and then click Restore.

   The Select restore type page appears.

4. Select Full virtual machine to restore one or more full virtual machines.

   The Restore page appears.

5. Expand the tree on the left and select the objects to be restored on the right. Select an item or click on an entry in the Name column to browse within an item.

   In the top right corner of the page, a "Showing" message indicates what backup data is being displayed. You can click the down arrow beside this message and select any of the following options:

   • Show latest backups: Only display data for the most recent backups.

   • Show backups as of a specific date: Only display data up to the date you specify.

   • Show backups for a date range: Only display data within the data range you specify.

6. To choose a different MediaAgent or source copy for the restore, do the following:

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

      The Settings dialog box appears.

   2. For MediaAgent, decide whether to have the Commvault software 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 Commvault software 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 Save.

7. Click Restore.

   The Restore options dialog box appears.

8. For Type, select Out of place.

9. Provide the requested information:

   • Destination client: To restore to a different cluster, select the virtualization client for the cluster from the list.

   • Access node: To use a different access node (also called a proxy) for the restore, select it from the list.

     When you restore multiple VMs, select Automatic to distribute the workload (VMs) in the restore job across the access nodes (also called proxies) that are assigned for the destination hypervisor.

     The VMs are assigned to access nodes as follows:

     • If the destination folder is on Cluster Shared Volumes (CSV), the VMs are assigned to access nodes by a CSV owner match.

     • If the destination folder is on a local drive or Server Message Block (SMB), the VMs are assigned to access nodes by a host match.

     • During an in-place restore, if the VM has multiple disks spanning across multiple CSV owned by multiple hosts, then the VMs are assigned by a host match.

     The Automatic option to distribute the workload is available for full restore and conversion operations both from streaming backups and IntelliSnap backup copies.

   • VM display name: Type a new virtual machine name in the box.

     This option does not display if you are restoring multiple VMs. If an existing VM with the same name exists on the destination host and you do not select Overwrite VMs if they already exist, the restore job fails.

   • Restore location: Select one of the following options:

     • Original folder

     • Select a folder

     • Hyper-V default folder

   • Destination Hyper-V host: From the list of hypervisors, select a destination host.

   • Destination folder: Select a new folder from the list.

   • Network adapter: Select an available network adapter from the list.

     By default, the network adapter of the original VM is selected automatically if the same network adapter is available on the Hyper-V Server.

     If you select Not Connected, the virtual machine is restored without a network connection.

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

   • Unconditionally Overwrite VMs if they already exist: Delete an existing virtual machine that has the same name and replace it with the restored VM.

   • Register virtual machine with failover cluster: Enable the restored VM to migrate to another node in the cluster.

10. Additional options:

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

    • Reuse existing VM client: To redirect the restored VM client to the source VM, move the toggle key to the right. Enabling this option will map all information, such as Client Name, Host Name, and Client id of the VM client to the source VM.

11. Click Submit to run the restore job.