Rapid VM Restore From vCenter1.0

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2 Rapid VM Restores using VSC and VI Client

TABLE OF CONTENTS

1 INTRODUCTION TO RAPID VM RESORES ............................................................. 2

1.1 MOUNTING THE SMVI CREATED BACKUP.................................................................................................................3

1.2 RAPID VM RESTORE PROCEDURE ................ ................ ................ ................ ............... ................ ................ .............. 4

1.3 RELOCATING THE VM...................................................................................................................................................5

1.4 CLEANING UP .............. ................ ................ ................ ................ ............... ................ ................ ................ ................ ... 5

2 TROUBLESHOOTING ............................................................................................... 5

2.1 IDE DISK ERROR ............... ............... ................ ................ ................ ................ ............... ................ ................ .............. 5

3 CONCLUSION............................................................................................................ 6

4 FEEDBACK ................................................................................................................ 6

5 VERSION HISTORY................................................................................................... 6

1 INTRODUCTION TO RAPID VM RESORES

This document provides the procedures to perform a Rapid VM Restore from a backupcreated by the NetApp Virtual Storage Console (VSC) Backup and Recovery Module.The default restore option in VSC has some distinct advantages, with NFS the utilityuses SnapRestore to restore invidual VMs. This allows the entire VM to be restored withno load on the ESX hosts and with very little NetApp SnapShot growth. Howeverdepending on the size of the NFS Datastore this SnapRestore operation can take anextended period of time during which the VM is offline.

The process described in this paper leverages the Mount capability of the VSC Backupand Recovery module and the Storage vMotion capability of VMware vCenter to muchmore quickly restore the damaged VM. This technique though does generate load onthe ESX hosts and will cause greater NetApp Snapshot growth so should be used withthese limitations in mind.

Terms used;

VSC Virtual Storage Console, this is the plug in utility for VMware vCenter providedfrom NetApp

SMVI SnapManager for Virtual Infrastructure, this is now known as the Backup andRecovery module for VSC. It is the backup utility portuion of the VSC plugin

Target VM This is the VM which is damaged or corrupted and you wish restored

Source VM This the VM in the SMVI backup that you want restored


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1.2 RAPID VM RESTORE PROCEDURE

Within the VMware VI client select the the VM you wish to restore. That is, the targetVM.

1. Power off the VM, this can be a hard power off since the VM will be restored

2. Select Edit Settings on the Summary tab of the VM or alternativly you canRight Click on the VM and select Edit Settings from the drop down menu.

3. From the VM properties popup, on the Hardware tab click on the hard disk youwant to restore and click on Remove

4. You will get 2 options, remove from VM or remove from disk, unless you needthe disk for forensics reasons, selct remove from disk

5. From the VM properies popup, on the Hardware tab, select Add

6. From the Add Hardware wizard, select Hard Disk

7. On the Select a Disk dialog page, select the Use an existing virtual disk radiobutton

8. On the select Existing Disk page, click the Browse button

9. From the Browse Datastores utility navigate to the mounted Datastore you

created in section 1.1 above10. Within the mounted datastore, navigate to the VM you want to restore

11. Inside the VM folder select the VMDK you want files from and then select Nextfrom the Add Hardware wizard

12. If this is the boot hard disk, insure its Virtual Device Node is set to (0:0)


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13. Once this add completes you can now power the VM back on, users can begin toreconnect to the VM

1.3 RELOCATING THE VM

At this stage of the process the VM is now running and available to end users but isstored on the FlexClone of the backup. We now need to relocate it to a productiondatastore.

1. In vCenter, right click on the VM and select Migrate

2. In the Migrate Virtual Machine popup, select Change Datastore

3. Select the production datastore you wish the VM to run on

1.4 CLEANING UP

At this point the VM has been fully restored and placed back in the correct datastorewhere it will be protected. If the damaged VMDK was not deleted in the above process

that VMDK should now be moved or deleted from disk. The final step is to remove theSMVI mount.

1. In the datastore inventory view, find the datastore from which we did the restore,click the NetApp tab then restore

2. Locate the mounted SMVI backup and right click the back up

3. Select unmount

2 TROUBLESHOOTING

2.1 IDE DISK ERROR

If the VM you are trying to restore was created prior to the vSphere 4.0 release, theVMDK may have a legacy descriptor which will result in this error being displayed;

Adding existing IDE disk is not supported at the moment. IDE disks cannot be hot added or there

are no free available IDE controller slots.Details on this error and a workaround are listed in VMware KB article 1025883.

Figure 3 -Adding a Mounted VMDK - Note in this case the new disk will be number 2


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An alternate work around is to instead delete the entire target VM from disk, browse tothe mounted datastore, locate the required vmx file, right click it and add to inventory.Then Storage vMotion the VM to the desired final location. This workaround will result inthe VM having a different UUID and different MAC address on its NICS.

3 CONCLUSIONThis rapid VM restore process allows VI Administrators a means to quickly restore anentire VM from a SMVI backup. This technique does generate load on the vSpherehosts and can increase the NetApp SnapShot size but can be very useful if a VMquickly needs to be restored.

4 FEEDBACK

Send an e-mail to [email protected] with questions or comments concerning thisdocument.

5 VERSION HISTORYVersion Date Document Version History

Version 1.0 March 2011 Original document

NetApp provides no representations or warranties regarding the accuracy, reliability or serviceability of any

information or recommendations provided in this publication, or with respect to any results that may beobtained by the use of the information or observance of any recommendations provided herein. Theinformation in this document is distributed AS IS, and the use of this information or the implementation of

any recommendations or techniques herein is a customers responsibility and depends on the customersability to evaluate and integrate them into the customers operational environment. This document andthe information contained herein may be used solely in connection with the NetApp products discussedin this document.

2011 NetApp, Inc. All rights reserved. No portions of this document may be reproduced without prior written consent of NetApp,Inc. Specifications are subject to change without notice. NetApp, the NetApp logo, Go further, faster, Data ONTAP, FlexClone,RAID-DP, and WAFL are trademarks or registered trademarks of NetApp, Inc. in the United States and/or other countries.

Microsoft, Windows, and Windows Vista are registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation. XenDesktop is a registered trademarkof Citrix Systems, Inc. Stratusphere Fit is a trademark of Liquidware Labs, Inc.VMware is a registered trademark and vSphere is atrademark of VMware, Inc. All other brands or products are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective holders andshould be treated as such. TR-3902-0311

Rapid VM Restore From vCenter1.0

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