4 4 3:VMware Restore

Overview

SEP sesam integrates with VMware vSphere Storage APIs – Data Protection, leveraging changed block tracking (CBT) for efficient backups and restores. For details on how to configure a VMware client and prepare it for backup, see VMware Backup.

As of version 4.4.3, SEP sesam provides simple and flexible restore of an entire virtual machine, of a single file as well as VMware instant recovery based on almost any level of VMware backup, including differential and incremental. Since single item restore (SF) and instant recovery (IR) are now supported by default, it is no longer required to use the dedicated GUI option VM single file and instant recovery. To learn what applies to SF and IR, which backup level supports it and how it relates to the disk size usage, see SF & IR support matrix.

The restore steps differ depending on what you want to restore. This article provides information for restoring a single VMware virtual machine. For details on how to restore an individual item from a vSphere backup, see VMware Single File Restore. For details on how to perform VMware virtual machine instant recovery, see VMware Instant Recovery.

There are two ways to perform VMware restore and instant recovery in SEP sesam: by using GUI restore wizard (described below) or through the web interface Restore Assistant (in v. ≥ 4.4.3 Beefalo). Even though most of the options are the same in both restore interfaces, the web Restore Assistant interface is designed to be more intuitive and offers additional advanced options. However, it cannot be used for scheduling restore, as scheduling is only supported in the GUI mode. For details, see Restore Assistant.

You can restore any vCenter server that is configured as a SEP sesam Client and was successfully backed up. You can specify which virtual machine to restore, how it is restored, and where it is restored to. You can move virtual machines and VMDK files to different locations. Note that only one virtual machine can be restored at a time.

In the GUI, the restore is triggered from the Menu bar -> Activities -> Restore. The restore wizard guides you through the process of restoring your data. For step-by-step procedure, see Standard Restore Procedure.

Restore options

The following options are available when restoring vCenter server:

• Select an alternative location to restore your data:
  • restore a VM to the original or a different location (using relocation) with the same or a different VM name
  • restore a VM to the same or a different vCenter server
  • perform a simple path restore of your selected VM data directly to a directory on any system
• Restore a complete backup task.
• Schedule a restore task.
• Any vCenter Server that is configured as a SEP sesam Client can be selected for restore.
• Any relevant data centers and ESXi servers can be selected.
• If different login credentials are needed, SEP sesam will ask for them.
• If vCenter is not set, the restore will be done directly over the ESXi server.

Prerequisites

Before you perform VMware restore, check the following prerequisites:

• Depending on what you want to restore, make sure that you have the proper restore permissions and access rights.
• Make sure that there is sufficient free space on the target system to which you are restoring your data.
• During restore, it is recommended that you stop all activities on the target VM.

Restoring a VMware virtual machine

Create a new restore task for the VM you want to restore. You can only restore one VM at a time.

1. From the SEP sesam GUI menu bar, select Activities -> Restore. The New Restore Task window opens.
2. Select what you want to restore. You can search savesets by task name or by filename or path.
   • When searching by task name, use the drop-down list of available tasks and select the one you want to restore from. This option is selected by default.
   • If you are searching by filename/path, select the option Filename or path in saveset and enter your search expression in the search pattern field.
3. Under the Saved in period drop-down lists, specify the time frame for which you want to conduct the search. Click Next.
4. The search results are displayed. From the list of save sets matching your query, select the task you want to restore. The Complete restore of selected task is selected immediately the task is chosen. Other restore options are not relevant for an entire virtual machine restore. Click Next.

	Note
	The procedure for restoring an individual item is different and described in VMware Single File Restore.




5. In the Target Settings window the valid VMware infrastructure values for the backup are shown. Review your configured restore task and set additional options, if required.

	Note
	Up to SEP sesam v. 4.4.3. Beefalo, you can also verify the login information by clicking the Check button.

• Details of the selected saveset are displayed at the top and at the bottom (Optional data source selection) of the window. The name of the restore task is automatically generated in the Restore task name field. You can edit the name and insert a comment below.
• Under the Target data, select one of the following options:
• Restore to original VM (set by default): If selected, the data will be restored to the same location from which it was backed up. Note that this only applies if the target node is the same server from which the data was backed up, i.e., when the source and target server are the same.
• Restore with new VM name: It should be used when restoring a VM to the original or a different location with a different VM name. If you are restoring a VM to a different location with a different VM name, you also have to select new target path.
• Change VM target selection: If selected, the data will be restored to another location. If you are restoring a VM to a different location, you have to select relevant Data center, ESX server and data store from the drop-down lists. Optionally, you can set additional target options, e.g., network, folder, and Resource pool/vApp. Note that if a vCenter Server is not accessible for restore, you can also add the ESX server itself as a client and select it instead of the vCenter server from the vCenter or ESX drop-down list.
• Under the VM restore options drop-down list, select one of the following options:

	Note
	Under the Options, you can also perform VMware VM instant recovery, see VMware Instant Recovery.

• Do not overwrite existing items (set by default): the VM will not be restored if it already exists on the target server
• Overwrite existing items: if data exists on the target server, it will be replaced by the restored version
• Create new version: if data exists on the target server, the restored data will be restored under a different name
• (Do not) start virtual machine after restore: You can also define if you want to start a virtual machine after restore or not.
• Preferred media pool: If the data was migrated or replicated and different media pools were used for the process, the source media pool to restore from can be selected from the drop-down list of available media pools.
• Used media | barcode: If the data was migrated, the migrated copy is stored to another media; the source media to restore from can be selected from the drop-down list of available media.
• Optionally, you can select the Drive with backed up data from the drop-down list.
• The Interface field shows the server (RDS server or SEP sesam Server) with the attached data storage containing the selected saveset. You can select another interface from the drop-down list.
• Click the Expert Options button if you want to specify additional restore settings, e.g., modify the log level, define the pre/post script for restore, etc. If you want to quickly restore selected data directly to the file system, switch to the Task Type tab and select the As path backup option instead of the default VMware vSphere. Note that the main restore window will change accordingly to the changed restore type (from VMware to Path). For details on available options, see Standard Restore Procedure. There are also additional VMware (advanced) restore options available in a form of the command. See Advanced Backup and Restore Options.

	Note
	As of v. 4.4.3. Beefalo, the Expert Options button for specifying advanced restore options is only available in the Expert UI mode. It is not available for users that run the GUI in Basic or Advanced mode. In the latter case, if you want to access the Expert Options you first have to change the Basic/Advanced UI mode to Expert, as described in Selecting UI mode.




6. In the final step of the restore wizard, you can review all the settings of your restore task. You can also edit the settings by using Change Selection button. If you want to start your VM restore immediately, click Start. If you want to save the restore task, click Save.

	Note
	A restore task can be scheduled like any other task. If you want to add a restore task to the schedule, see Scheduling Restore.

You can view the status of your restore jobs by selecting Job state -> Restores from the Main Selection. Restore overview provides detailed information on the last run of restore jobs, including the task name, status (successful, error, in queue ...), start and stop time of the last backup, data size, throughput, client and message.

As of 4.4.3 Beefalo V2, you can also monitor your restores online by using new Web UI. For details, see SEP sesam Web UI.