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NetVault Plug-in for VMware 12.3.1 - User Guide

Introducing NetVault Backup Plug-in for VMware Installing the plug-in Configuring the plug-in Defining a backup strategy Using the image-level backup method Using the file-level backup method Restoring image-level backups Restoring file-level backups Troubleshooting

Important notes

•
If you select one or more virtual drives instead of the virtual machine, the plug-in overwrites the contents of the existing “.vmdk” file.
When restoring individual virtual drives, the target virtual machine and the selected virtual drives must exist in the inventory. If the virtual machine is removed from the inventory, the job reports an error (“Could not locate the VM”) and fails. The plug-in also reports an error if the target “.vmdk” file does not exist in the inventory.
•
While restoring one or more virtual drives to an existing virtual machine, the plug-in tries to locate the virtual machine using its UUID. If the plug-in finds more than one virtual machine sharing the UUID, the following error message is logged and the job fails:
Failed to uniquely locate VM in server inventory because its uuid 'xxxx'
is in use by one or more other VMs.
When this error occurs, you must change the UUID for the virtual machines in the inventory so that each virtual machine has a unique UUID. You can use the following procedure to locate virtual machines that use the same UUID.
To find virtual machines that share a UUID:
1
Open a browser window, and in the address bar, type the following URL.
https://<server_address>/mob/?moid=SearchIndex&method=findAllByUuid
Provide the login information for the server.
(<server_address> must be the address of the target vCenter or ESXi Server on which you want to restore the virtual drives.)
2
In the uuid box, type the UUID for the virtual machine that you want to restore.
3
In the vmSearch box, type true.
4
Leave the remaining options blank, and start the search.
The virtual machines that share the given UUID are displayed in the val list.
5
Click the link for managed object reference of each virtual machine to view the name and other details.
6
Change the UUID so that each virtual machine has a unique UUID.
For more information about this procedure, see the relevant VMware documentation.

Restore selection tree icons

 
Table 7. Restore selection tree icons
Icon
Description

Virtual machine

Failed virtual machine (is displayed in a saveset for stopped job)

Configuration file

NVRAM file

Virtual machine disk file

Disk extent information file

Log file

Catalog file

Starting a virtual machine

After a virtual machine is restored, it is in a turned-off state. You must start it manually. When you start the virtual machine, the OS might prompt to perform an error recovery or record the reason for the unclean shutdown. Usually, you can ignore this message and select the normal boot option.

If you start a renamed virtual machine and a dialog box is displayed that asks whether you copied the virtual machine or moved it, select the I_moved it option, and close the dialog box.

Relocating a virtual machine to an alternate ESXi Server

1
Complete Step 1 through Step 4 in Restoring data.
2
Click .
3
Depending on your VMware environment, configure the applicable options in the Plug‑in for VMware Restore Options dialog box.
•
Cluster setup: To relocate a virtual machine in a cluster setup, configure the following options on the Restore virtual machine to vCenter tab.
 
Option
Description

Recover virtual machine to vCenter

To restore a virtual machine or one or more virtual drives to the same vCenter Server or a different one, select this option.

Alternate Datastore

Specify the destination datastore name for the virtual machine. For more information about this option, see Alternate Datastore.

This option is required when relocating a virtual machine. If you do not specify this job, the restore job fails.

•
Standalone ESXi Server setup: To relocate a virtual machine to a standalone ESXi Server, click the Restore virtual machine to standalone ESXi host tab, and configure the following options.
 
Option
Description

Recover virtual machine to standalone ESXi host

To restore a full virtual machine or one or more virtual drives to a standalone ESXi Server, select this option.

Alternate Datastore

Specify the destination datastore name for the virtual machine. For more information about this option, see Alternate Datastore.

This option is required when relocating a virtual machine. If you do not specify this job, the restore job fails.

Address

Type the IP address or DNS name of the alternate ESXi Server Host.

Port Number

If you want to use a custom port number, type it here. Otherwise, the plug-in uses 443 as the default port.

User Name

Specify a user account that can be used to log in to the ESXi Server. The user account must have privileges to register or create virtual machines

Password

Type the password for the user account.

4
Complete Step 5 through Step 11 in Restoring data.
 
* 
NOTE: A feature introduced in vSphere 5 prevents you from restoring a virtual machine directly to an ESXi 5 host when the host is managed by a vCenter Server. To restore a virtual machine directly to the host, you must first disassociate the host from the vCenter Server.
To disassociate an ESXi Server from a vCenter Server:
1
From the vSphere Client, connect directly to the ESXi 5 host.
2
In the Inventory panel, select the host.
3
In the panel on the right, click Summary.
4
Select the Disassociate host from vCenter Server check box.

For more information, see the relevant vSphere documentation.

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