Commvault

VSA Recovery - CommCell® Console

Owned by Carl Brault (Unlicensed)
Last updated: Nov 30, 2021 by tdopko@commvault.com (Unlicensed)
8 min read

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Full Virtual Machine

Right-click the desired subclient or backup set | Click All Tasks | Browse and Restore | Virtual Server tab

When restoring a full virtual machine, you can restore data to the same destination host and place all disks back to their original Datastores; this is an in-place restore. Virtual machines can also be restored to a different location than where they existed at the time of backup; this is an out-of-place restore. For some hypervisors, such as VMware and Hyper-V, multiple VMs can be selected for restoration.

The following options can be used for an out-of-place restore:

  • Different vCenter – An entire virtual machine can be restored to a different vCenter. This feature provides the flexibility to distribute restored virtual machines to a location with greater space and resource availability. This is useful when the virtual machine's original location does not provide optimal space and resources.
  • Different ESX server – By default, a virtual machine is restored to the ESX server where it was at the time of backup, but you can choose to restore to a different ESX server. Specifying a different location provides the flexibility to distribute restored virtual machines to a location with greater space and resource availability.
  • Different Datastore – You can specify a different Datastore on the destination host. After the restore, the virtual machine is automatically associated to the new Datastore.
  • Different Resource Pool or vApp – By default, a virtual machine is restored to its original resource pool, but you can select a specific resource pool or vApp on the host. vApp is a customized form of a resource pool.
  • Different VM name – By default, a virtual machine is restored with the original name used at the time of backup, but you can change the name when the VM is restored. It can be seen as a VM clone operation.
  • Restore to a VM folder – Select a destination folder on the datacenter.
  • Restore with different network adapter – Select a network adapter that is available for the destination.



To recover a full virtual machine

1 - From the Browse and Restore option window | Full Virtual Machine.

2 - Select Full Virtual Machine.

3 - Click to View Contents and select the VMs to recover.



4 - Select the virtual machines to restore.

5 - Click to open the recovery options.



6 - Uncheck to execute an out-of-place restore and avoid overwriting the existing virtual machines.

7 - Select the virtualization infrastructure in which you want to recover the VM.

8 - Select the VSA proxy to use to conduct the recovery.



9 - Click to modify the virtual machine name.

10 - Select the ESX host.

11 - Select the datastore in which the VM will be restored.

12 - Additional vCenter recovery options. Add or modify Network settings.

13 - Select to configure rules to modify IP settings

14 - Select to change VM Host name.

15 - Click OK to save settings and continue.



16 - Restore process uses the original disk provisioning mode, but it can be modified.

17 - Let the system use the best transport mode available or specify a mode by selecting it from the list.

18 - Check to power on the VM upon restore.

19 - Check to overwrite the VM if it already exists.

20 - Click Next to save settings and continue.



21 - Select to run restore on demand or schedule.

22 - Click Next to save settings and continue.

23 - Before restoring VM, read through the Summary and verify selected settings.

24 - Click Finish to continue with restore.



Virtual Machine File Recovery

Right-click the desired subclient or backup set | Click All Tasks | Browse and Restore | Virtual Server tab

It is possible to restore the virtual machine files, such as vmdk, vmx, and any other VM configuration files, as flat files. A VM Files recovery operation does register the VM to any vCenter server. It is useful in cases where files can be restored in a location to be imported in another virtualization software such VMware Player.

During the restoration, disks can also be converted to another supported hypervisor format, such as VMware vmdk to Hyper-V vhdx.



To recover virtual machine files

1 - From the Browse and Restore option window | Full Virtual Machine.

2 - Select Virtual Machine files to recover.

3 - Click View Contents to select the VM files to recover.



4 - Select the VM files to recover.

5 - Click to recover the files.



6 - Select the client machine on which virtual machine files will be restored .

7 - Type or click Browse and give the location where files will be restored.

8 - If required, disk can be converted to a different format by checking the box and selecting the new format from the list.



Attach Disk to Existing VM

Right-click the desired subclient or backup set | Click All Tasks | Browse and Restore | Virtual Server tab

A virtual machine disk is restored and attached to an existing virtual machine. The disk is restored, and the VSA communicates with the vCenter server to reconfigure an existing VM to which the disk is then attached. It is useful when a larger virtual machine with many disks crashes. If one of the disks is critical, it is quickly restored and attached to another VM.



To recover virtual machine disk

1 - From the Browse and Restore option window | Full Virtual Machine.

2 - Select Attach disk to Existing VM to recover a disk to different VM.

3 - Click View Contents to select the VM disk to recover.



4 - Select the virtual machine disk to restore.

5 - Click to recover the files.



6 - Click on ellipsis to choose the virtual machine the restored disk will be attached to.

7 - Click to change the Datastore to recover to.

8 - Option to select a different disk provisioning mode, and option to select an alternate transport mode.

9 - Click OK to continue with restore.



Guest Files and Folders Recovery

Right-click the desired subclient or backup set | Click All Tasks | Browse and Restore | Virtual Server tab

The Virtual Server Agent for some hypervisors, such as Microsoft Hyper-V and VMware, supports agentless restores of files and folders into a virtual machine, without requiring the installation of the File System Agent on the destination VM. Using this feature simplifies deployment and reduces the impact of backup and restore operations for virtual machines.

Setup Requirements for Hyper-V:

  • The Hyper-V host must be running on a Windows 2012 R2 server operating system
  • For Windows, the destination VM must be running on Windows 2008 R2 with Service Pack 1 or later
  • The destination VM must be powered on
  • Ensure the latest integration services are running on the destination VM
  • Enable Guest file services on the destination VM. If not enabled, the restore operation enables the services

Setup Requirements for VMware:

  • For Windows, the virtual machine must have the NTFS file system
  • Requires ESX 5.x, 6.0, 6.5
  • The virtual machine must be powered on
  • The latest release of VMware Tools must be installed and running
  • You can use open-vm-tools on guest VMs running supported Linux releases; open-vm-tools must be installed and running
  • The user account that is used to browse the destination VM must have write permissions for the VM 

Whether the traditional file recovery or the Live File Recovery is used, the restore screens are the same. Only the mechanics under the hood differs to achieve the restore.



To recover virtual machine files and folder

1 - From the Browse and Restore option window | Guest Files and Folders.

2 - Select Guest Files and Folders to recover granular content from a VM.

3 - Click View Content to select the files and folders to recover.



4 - Note that the browse process may take time before content is displayed.

5 - Expand the virtual machine to browse .

6 - Select the files and folders to restore.

7 - Select Recover All Selected.



8 - Define to restore data and/or ACLs.

9 - Select the virtual environment and virtual machine to restore selected content.

10 - Provide a network account that has access to the virtual machine.

11 - Click Browse to choose the location for the restore.

12 - Click OK to continue with restore.



VM Conversion

Right-click the desired subclient or backup set | Click All Tasks | Browse and Restore | Virtual Server tab

For some hypervisor, it is possible to convert the VM to another hypervisor format. During the restore, simply select the target supported hypervisor. This useful feature can be used as a migration tool, or to provide recovery capability between two datacenters using different hypervisors.




To execute a VM conversion

1 - From the Browse and Restore option window | Full Virtual Machine.

2 - Select Full Virtual Machine and choose the platform to restore VM on. Only configured virtual platforms will be displayed.

3 - Click View Content and define traditional recovery options.


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