Section 13 - Backup / Restore VMware Virtual Machines

This section describes how to backup and restore virtual machine running on VMware.

13.1.7.1 How to restore virtual machines to the original hypervisor

• Login to the backup application's user interface.


• For backup client computer on Windows, double-click on the OBM desktop icon or right-click on the system tray icon:




• For backup client computer on Mac OS X, double-click on the OBM desktop icon.


• For VMware Server installation on Linux, enter the following command to start the OBM graphical user interface:

# sh /usr/local/obm/bin/RunOBC.sh &



• Select the [Restore] button and the corresponding backup set.




• Select the virtual machines to be restored and choose [Original Location] for restore files to.




• Click the [Start Restore] button to begin the restore process.



• User will be prompted if a virtual machine selected to be restored exist on the hypervisor.





• When the restore process is completed, the virtual machines will be restored to the original hypervisor.


• For any virtual disk that was not restored (e.g. original backup source did not include all hard disks configured for the VM).


• Continue to the next steps for instruction to remove the missing hard disk from the virtual machine's configuration.



For original virtual machine with no snapshot




• Open VMware vSphere Client.

• Under inventory, right click on the newly restored virtual machine, select [Edit Settings].






• For each virtual disk that was not restored, remove the corresponding [Hard disk] from [Hardware].





• Start the virtual machine afterward.



For original virtual machine with snapshot (non-VDDK mode)




• Open VMware vSphere Client.

• Under inventory, right click on the newly restored virtual machine, select [Edit Settings].






• For each virtual disk that was not restored, remove the corresponding [Hard disk] from [Hardware].





• Remove the VM from inventory.

• Right click on the newly restored virtual machine; select [Remove from Inventory].





• Locate the virtual machine's folder location on the hypervisor.



Important
Serious problem may occur if the configuration files are incorrectly modified; it may prevent the virtual machine from starting.


Please only perform the following procedures if you have in-depth knowledge on VMware product.



• Delete the lines of the removed virtual disk.


• Open the corresponding ${VM-Name}.vmsd file at the following location with a text editor.

${VM-Location}\${VM-Name}.vmsd



• Locate the line of all non existing virtual disk.



Example:

Snapshot 1, SCSI (0:2) Disk 2 is removed.




.encoding = "UTF-8"
snapshot.lastUID = "1"
snapshot.numSnapshots = "1"
snapshot.current = "1"
snapshot0.uid = "1"
snapshot0.filename = "Windows 2008 Snapshot1.vmsn"
snapshot0.displayName = "Snapshot1"
snapshot0.description = ""
snapshot0.createTimeHigh = "309233"
snapshot0.createTimeLow = "1291281261"
snapshot0.numDisks = "3"
snapshot0.disk0.fileName = "Windows 2008-1.vmdk"
snapshot0.disk0.node = "scsi0:0"
snapshot0.disk1.fileName = "Windows 2008-1.vmdk"
snapshot0.disk1.node = "scsi0:1"
snapshot0.disk2.fileName = "Windows 2008-2.vmdk"
snapshot0.disk2.node = "scsi0:2"



• Remove the corresponding lines.

.encoding = "UTF-8"
snapshot.lastUID = "1"
snapshot.numSnapshots = "1"
snapshot.current = "1"
snapshot0.uid = "1"
snapshot0.filename = "Windows 2008 Snapshot1.vmsn"
snapshot0.displayName = "Snapshot1"
snapshot0.description = ""
snapshot0.createTimeHigh = "309233"
snapshot0.createTimeLow = "1291281261"
snapshot0.numDisks = "3"
snapshot0.disk0.fileName = "Windows 2008-1.vmdk"
snapshot0.disk0.node = "scsi0:0"
snapshot0.disk1.fileName = "Windows 2008-1.vmdk"
snapshot0.disk1.node = "scsi0:1"

• Perform the same steps for each snapshot.
• Save the changes afterward.



• Update the number of virtual disk.



• Open the corresponding ${VM-Name}.vmsd file at the following location with a text editor.

${VM-Location}\${VM-Name}.vmsd



• Locate the numDisks parameter.



Example:

Snapshot 1, if one of the disks is removed, updates the value of snapshot0.numDisks

.encoding = "UTF-8"
snapshot.lastUID = "1"
snapshot.numSnapshots = "1"
snapshot.current = "1"
snapshot0.uid = "1"
snapshot0.filename = "Windows 2008 Snapshot1.vmsn"
snapshot0.displayName = "Snapshot1"
snapshot0.description = ""
snapshot0.createTimeHigh = "309233"
snapshot0.createTimeLow = "1291281261"
snapshot0.numDisks = "3"
snapshot0.disk0.fileName = "Windows 2008-1.vmdk"
snapshot0.disk0.node = "scsi0:0"
snapshot0.disk1.fileName = "Windows 2008-1.vmdk"
snapshot0.disk1.node = "scsi0:1"



• Modify the line from:

snapshot0.numDisks = "3"

To

snapshot0.numDisks = "2"

.encoding = "UTF-8"
snapshot.lastUID = "1"
snapshot.numSnapshots = "1"
snapshot.current = "1"
snapshot0.uid = "1"
snapshot0.filename = "Windows 2008 Snapshot1.vmsn"
snapshot0.displayName = "Snapshot1"
snapshot0.description = ""
snapshot0.createTimeHigh = "309233"
snapshot0.createTimeLow = "1291281261"
snapshot0.numDisks = "2"
snapshot0.disk0.fileName = "Windows 2008-1.vmdk"
snapshot0.disk0.node = "scsi0:0"
snapshot0.disk1.fileName = "Windows 2008-1.vmdk"
snapshot0.disk1.node = "scsi0:1"

• Perform the same steps for each snapshot.
• Save the changes afterward


• Add the VM back into the inventory.




• Remove any existing snapshot.



Important:
The restored virtual machine does not support the reversion of previous snapshots if they contain virtual disks not restored.




• Start the virtual machine.



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