Section 13 - Backup / Restore VMware Virtual Machines

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

13.1.7 How to restore virtual machines on VMware ESXi / ESX Server

Refer to the following instructions to restore VM running on VMware ESXi or ESX Server.

VM can be restored to the original location with the following conditions:




• If the VM to be restored does not exist on the original hypervisor, the VM will be restored as a new virtual machine.
• If the VM to be restored still exist on the original hypervisor, the existing VM will be replaced by the backed up version.





Table of Contents:



• 13.1.7.1 How to restore virtual machines to the original hypervisor
• 13.1.7.2 How to restore virtual machines to another hypervisor

13.1.7.1 How to restore virtual machines to the original hypervisor

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• 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.

13.1.7.2 How to restore virtual machines to another hypervisor

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• 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.




• Click on the radio button of the [Alternate location] and select the virtual machines to be restored.
• Click on the drop down button to change to another inventory location or host, or change the directory path which you would like to restore the data to.
• Click the [Start Restore] button to begin the restore process.
• When the restore process is completed, data of the selected virtual machines will be restored to the specific location.
• Register the virtual machines on the new 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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