Restoring a virtual machine to a different location with Instant Recovery for VMware
This topic explains how to use the nbrestorevm command to restore a VM to a different location.
The overall instant recovery procedure is available in another topic:
See Restoring a virtual machine with Instant Recovery for VMware.
To restore a VM to a different location
- Find the path to a resource pool at the restore destination. (If you already know the full path, you can skip this step.)
Note: To restore to a different location, it is usually necessary to designate a different resource pool. Here is an example of a resource pool path:
/TechOffice/host/F2/pl9.acme.com/Resources
To find the path, enter the following on the primary server, media server, or restore host:
UNIX, Linux:
/usr/openv/netbackup/bin/bpVMreq <restore_host> 11 0 <ESXi_server> <VMserver_or_vCenter_server>
Windows:
<install_path>\NetBackup\bin\bpVMreq.exe <restore_host> 11 0 <ESXi_server> <VMserver_or_vCenter_server>
Note:
The numeric value 11 0 is required and must be entered as shown.
For example:
bpVMreq battleship.acme.com 11 0 ESXi_pl9.acme.com vC_p9vm3.acme.com
Where battleship.acme.com is the restore host, ESXi_pl9.acme.com is the destination ESXi server, and vC_p9vm3.acme.com is the destination vCenter server.
This command generates a path to an XML file in a temporary location. The XML file lists all the available resource pools.
Here is an example of an XML file that bpVMreq creates:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="no" ?> <ResourcePoolList><ResourcePool Name="Resources" Path="/TechOffice/host/F2/pl9.acme.com/Resources" Type="ResourcePool"><ResourcePoolList/> </ResourcePool></ResourcePoolList>
In this example, the path to the resource pool is
/TechOffice/host/F2/pl9.acme.com/Resources. Make a note of the path for use in the next step. - Create a text file with the following change entries.
Note: Each change entry helps to define the location for the restore. Each change line must end with a carriage return.
change vmname to <new_virtual_machine_name>
(The change vmname entry is optional)
change esxhost to <new_ESXi_host>
change resourcepool to <path_to_new_resouce_pool>
change networkname to <new_network>
(The change networkname entry is optional)
Enter each change line exactly as it appears in this list, except for the variable at the end (such as new_virtual_machine_name). Replace the variable with the new name. For example:
change esxhost to ESXi01.prod4.com
For the new_resouce_pool, use the path that was obtained in the first step of this procedure. For example:
change resourcepool to /TechOffice/host/F2/pl9.acme.com/Resources
This text file is called the -R rename file, and is used with the nbrestorevm command in the next step.
- To restore the VM using the -R rename file, enter the nbrestorevm command with the -R option as follows.
Note: The -R option specifies the path to the text file (rename file).
To restore to the same vCenter server but to a different ESXi host, enter the following:
nbrestorevm - vmw - ir_activate - C <virtual_machine> -temp_location <temporary_datastore> -R <rename_file_path>
To restore to a different vCenter server and a different ESXi host, enter the following:
nbrestorevm - vmw - ir_activate - C <virtual_machine> -temp_location <temporary_datastore> -R <rename_file_path> -vmserver <vCenter_server>
To restore a VM after Auto Image Replication (AIR) to a disaster recovery (DR) site: you must also include the -vmproxy option on the nbrestorevm command to specify the restore host at the DR site.