Vmexpireprotect

Use this option to protect virtual machine snapshots so that they cannot be expired while an instant restore or instant access operation of VMware VMs or while a file-level restore of a VMware VM is in progress. Use this option to protect virtual machine snapshots so that they cannot be expired while an instant restore or instant access operation of Hyper-V VMs or while a file-level restore of a Hyper-V VM is in progress.

During a mount or restore operation, the snapshot on the IBM Spectrum Protect™ server is locked to prevent it from expiring during the operation. Expiration might occur because another snapshot is added to the snapshot sequence. This option specifies whether to prevent or allow snapshot expiration during a mount or a restore operation.

Supported Clients

Windows operating systems This option can be used with supported Windows clients that are configured to restore virtual machines.

This feature is available only if the client operates as a data mover for IBM Spectrum Protect for Virtual Environments.

Options File

For restoring VMware virtual machines, set this option in the client options file (dsm.opt) or on a restore vm command where the vmrestoretype option is set to instantaccess or instantrestore.

For restoring file-level backups for virtual machines, specify this option in the client options file, or on the restore vm command.

Note: File-level backups were created with the version 7.1 or earlier backup-archive clients.

Syntax


                    .-No--.   
>>-VMEXPIREPROTECT--+-Yes-+------------------------------------><

Parameters

Yes

Specify Yes to protect the snapshot from expiration. The snapshot on the IBM Spectrum Protect server is locked and the snapshot is protected from expiration during a mount or a restore operation.

No

Specify No to disable expiration protection. This value is the default. The snapshot on the IBM Spectrum Protect server is not locked and the snapshot is not protected from expiration. If the snapshot that is being mounted or restored is expired, the result of the mount or restore operation is unpredictable. For example, the mount point can become unusable or contain errors. However, expiration does not affect the current active copy of the virtual machine. The active copy cannot expire during an operation.

When the snapshot is on a target replication server, the snapshot cannot be locked because it is in read-only mode. A lock attempt by the server causes the mount or restore operation to fail.

To avoid the lock attempt and prevent such a failure, disable expiration protection by specifying No, or by allowing this option to default.

Examples

Client options file:

VMEXPIREPROTECT YES

Command line:

Run an instant access operation for a VMware virtual machine:

dsmc restore vm vm1 -vmname=new_vm1 -vmrestoretype=instantaccess  
  -vmexpireprotect=no

To restore files from a virtual machine backup, use the IBM Spectrum Protect recovery agent GUI.

For information about the IBM Spectrum Protect recovery agent, see the IBM Spectrum Protect for Virtual Environments documentation.