Restore VM

The Restore VM command can be used to restore both Microsoft Hyper-V virtual machines and VMware virtual machines. The information for each type of restore is presented in its own heading. If you are restoring a virtual machine that is part of a Microsoft Hyper-V setup, you do not need to read the Restore VM for VMware virtual machines text. If you are restoring a VMware virtual machine, you do not need to read the Restore VM for Microsoft Hyper-V virtual machines text.

Restore VM for VMware virtual machines

The Restore VM command can be used to restore VMware virtual machines or VMware virtual machine templates.

If you have the backup-archive client installed on a separate system that is configured as a vStorage backup server, you can restore full virtual machine backups to the ESX or ESXi server that they came from, or to a different server. To restore a full virtual machine backup to a different server, use the -host option. The backup-archive client copies the data from the Tivoli® Storage Manager server over either the LAN or SAN. The client then writes the data directly to the ESX server, by using the transport method that is specified in the client options file.

Restoring a full virtual machine backup creates a new virtual machine; the configuration information and content of the new machine is identical to what it was when the backup occurred. All virtual machine disks are restored to the specified point-in-time, as virtual disks in the newly created virtual machine.

When you restore a specific disk, by using the :vmdk= syntax, an existing virtual machine is updated with the specified virtual disk data. Only the specified disks are restored to the existing virtual machine; other disks in the virtual machine are not altered. The existing virtual machine that you are restoring the disk to must be powered off before you initiate the restore operation.

To create a new virtual machine, specify the -vmname parameter and provide a name for the new virtual machine. The -vmname parameter creates a new virtual machine with a configuration that is identical to what it was when the backup occurred. If you also specify the :vmdk= syntax, data is restored to any disks that are included in the :vmdk= parameters; disks that are not included are restored, but only as unformatted disks that do not contain data.

Virtual machines are restored to their original vApp, Resource Pool, Cluster, or virtual machine Folder, if the containers exist. During a restore operation, if the destination target (a vCenter or ESXi host) does not have the required containers, the virtual machine is restored to the top-level default location on the target ESXi host. If you use the command-line client to restore a virtual machine, and if the virtual machine cannot be restored to its original inventory location, an informational message (ANS2091I) is displayed. If you use the Java™ GUI to restore a virtual machine, and if the virtual machine cannot be restored to its original inventory location, the informational message is not displayed, but the virtual machine is still restored to the top-level default location.

Full virtual machine backups that were previously created by using VCB can still be restored by using the original VCB restore steps. To restore full virtual machine backups that were created by VCB, see Restoring full VM backups that were created with VMware Consolidated Backup. If you use VCB to restore a virtual machine, use the VMware converter program on the client to move the restored files to a running state on a VMware server. If the backup-archive client is running in a virtual machine, and if you performed a file-level backup of the virtual machine’s files, you can restore the backed-up files to the virtual machine by using the command-line interface or the Java GUI.

Supported Clients

This command is valid on supported Linux clients that are installed on a vStorage backup server for a VMware virtual machine.

This command is valid on supported Windows clients that are installed on a vStorage backup server for a VMware virtual machine.

                             .-----------------------.   
                             V .-:vmdk=all-vmdk----. |   
>>-REStore VM--sourcevmspec----+-------------------+-+---------->
                               +-:vmdk=cnfg--------+     
                               +-:vmdk=disk label--+     
                               '-:-vmdk=disk label-'     

>--+------------------------------+--+------------+------------->
   +- -- -VMNAme="newVMname"------+  '- --options-'   
   +- --DATACENTER="myDatacenter"-+                   
   +- --HOST="myHost"-------------+                   
   '- --DATASTORE="myDatastore"---'                   

>--+---------------------+-------------------------------------><
   '-destinationfilespec-'   

Parameters

sourcevmspec

Specifies the name of the virtual machine (or virtual machine template) that was backed up.

VMNAme

This parameter is not valid for restoring VMware virtual machines that were backed up using VCB.

Specifies the new name for the virtual machine after it is restored (if you do not want to use the name that is specified by sourcevmspec). You cannot use wildcards in the virtual machine name.

DATACENTER

This parameter is not valid for restoring VMware virtual machines that were backed up using VCB.

Specifies the name of the data center to restore the virtual machine to as it is defined in the vSphere vCenter. If the data center is contained in a folder, you must specify the -datacenter option when you restore the virtual machine and include the folder structure of the data center in the data center name. For example, the following syntax is valid:

-datacenter=folder_name/datacenter_name

When you restore a virtual machine by using the GUI, you must restore the virtual machine to a different location. If you restore to the original location, you cannot specify the folder name of the data center. Without a folder name to help locate the original data center, the restore operation fails.

HOST

This parameter is not valid for restoring VMware virtual machines that were backed up using VCB.

Specifies the domain name of the ESX host server to restore to as it is defined in the vSphere vCenter.

DATASTORE

This parameter is not valid for restoring VMware virtual machines that were backed up using VCB.

Specifies the data store to restore the virtual machine to. The data store can be on a SAN, NAS, or iSCSI device. You can specify only one data store when you restore a virtual machine. If you do not specify a datastore parameter, the virtual machine's vmdk file is restored to the data store it was on when the backup was created.

destinationfilespec

This parameter is only for VMware VCB restore operations. It specifies the location where VCB full virtual machine image files are restored. If this option is not specified the vmbackdir option is used.

:vmdk=all-vmdk

This parameter is not valid for restoring VMware virtual machines that were backed up using VCB.

This option specifies that all virtual disks (*.vmdk files) are included when the virtual machine is restored. This is the default.

:vmdk=cnfg

This parameter is not valid for restoring VMware virtual machines that were backed up using VCB.

This option specifies that the virtual machine configuration information is restored. The configuration information is always restored when a new virtual machine is created. However, by default the configuration is not restored when you update an existing virtual machine with selected virtual disks.

Ordinarily, restoring configuration information to an existing virtual machine fails because the restored configuration information conflicts with the existing virtual machine configuration information. Use this option if the existing configuration file for a virtual machine on the ESX server has been deleted, and you want to use the backed up configuration to re-create it.

:vmdk=disk label

This parameter is not valid for restoring VMware virtual machines that were backed up using VCB.

This option is used to specify the disk label of the virtual disks to include in the restore operation. You only specify this option if you want to selectively restore data from specific disks.

Note: On the Restore VM command, the label names of the vmdk files that you want to include (:vmdk= parameter) in a Restore VM operation must be specified as the English-language label name, as it is displayed in the output of the Backup VM vmname -preview command. Examples of the English vmdk labels are "Hard Disk 1", "Hard Disk 2", and so on.

:-vmdk=disk label

This parameter is not valid for restoring VMware virtual machines that were backed up using VCB.

This option is used to specify the disk label of one or more virtual disks to exclude from the restore operation.

Note: On the Restore VM command, the label names of the vmdk files that you want to exclude (:-vmdk= parameter) from a Restore VM operation must be specified as the English-language label name, as it is displayed in the output of the Backup VM vmname -preview command. Examples of the English vmdk labels are "Hard Disk 1", "Hard Disk 2", and so on.

Restore VM for Microsoft Hyper-V virtual machines

Use the Restore VM command to restore Hyper-V guests. You can restore Hyper-V guests to a local disk, a SAN-attached disk, to a cluster shared volume, or to a remote file server share. Remote file server shares must be on a Windows Server 2012 (or newer) system.

If the virtual machine that you are restoring exists, the backup-archive client shuts it off and deletes all files that comprise the virtual machine. The client then restores it from the image that is stored on the Tivoli Storage Manager server. If the virtual machine is a member of a Windows Server 2012 cluster, the virtual machine is taken offline from the cluster, which stops the virtual machine, the files are deleted, and then the client restores it from the Tivoli Storage Manager backup.

Even though the client shuts off the virtual machine before it deletes it, manually shutting off the virtual machine before you run the Restore VM command is a good practice to follow, to bring any in-progress application activities to an orderly stop. Then, use the Restore VM command to restore the virtual machine such that its content and configuration is identical to what it was when it was backed up.

Supported Clients

This command is valid on supported Windows clients that are installed on a Hyper-V host system.

>>-REStore VM-- --sourcevmspec---------------------------------->

>--+------------------------------------------------+----------->
   '- -vmname=--new_vm_name-- -- -targetpath=--path-'   

>--+----------------+------------------------------------------><
   '-+------------+-'   
     '- --options-'     

Parameters

sourcevmspec

Required. Specifies the name of the virtual machine that was backed up. The virtual machine name is case-sensitive. You cannot use wildcards in the virtual machine name.

-vmname=new_vm_name

Optional. This parameter is valid only for restoring virtual machines that were backed up by using either mode=iffull or mode=ifincr. Specify a new name for the virtual machine. The name can contain 1-100 characters, and the following characters are not valid: \ / : ; , * ? " ’ < > |

If this parameter is not specified, the virtual machine is restored with the same name that it had when it was backed up. If you specify a new name for a virtual machine, a target path is required.

-targetpath=path

This parameter is required if you specify a new virtual machine name (-vmname=). Use this parameter to restore the virtual machine to an alterative location. Specify the disk drive and path that you want to restore the virtual machine to.