Restore

Syntax

Parameters

The vmcli -f restore command requires that the VE_VCENTER_NODE_NAME is set correctly in the vmcliprofile. You cannot overwrite this parameter with a command-line entry.

The data mover system (the vStorage Backup Server where the Tivoli® Storage Manager backup-archive client is installed) must not set the ASNODENAME option.

-c tsm_mode

Specify the mode in which Tivoli Storage Manager restores up the virtual environment. The value is set in the VE_TSM_MODE parameter in the vmcliprofile. You can choose from one of the following modes:

VSPHERE

Specify this value when Tivoli Storage Manager restores individual VMs from a vCenter.

VCloud

Specify this value when Tivoli Storage Manager restores vApps from a vCloud director.

If the mode is not set in the vmcliprofile, the VSPHERE mode is used with the vmcli command.

-I restoreObjectListFile

Specify the file that contains the list of VMs or vApps to restore. Each line can contain only one VM identifier (vSphere mode) or one restore specification for a vApp (vCloud mode).

The restoreObjectListFile uses the following keyword in vSphere mode and vCloud mode:

backupid

Each line must begin with the backupid. The syntax is backupid:your_backup_ID. Specify the Tivoli Storage Manager Object ID for a specific VM backup (vSphere mode) or vApp backup (vCloud mode). Locate the Object ID by using the vmcli -f inquire_detail command. This keyword is required for a restore operation.

The restoreObjectListFile uses the following keywords in vSphere mode only:

vmname

In vSphere mode, specify the name of the VM that was originally backed up. If this keyword is not specified, the name vmname is used for the restore.

Restriction: Restrictions: When you specify a keyword in the restoreObjectListFile, Data Protection for VMware does not differentiate between a colon (:) used as a keyword separator or a colon that is used in a keyword value. Therefore, use caution when you specify keyword values. In addition, Data Protection for VMware support for VM restore operations is limited to VM names and VMware datacenter names that contain English 7-bit ASCII characters only. VM names and datacenter names that use other language characters are not currently supported. Additional character restrictions are listed in Troubleshooting.

The restore process does not create a snapshot of template VMs in the same manner that a snapshot is created for regular VMs. As a result, VMware VDDK advanced transports (SAN, HotAdd mode), change block tracking (CBT), and incremental backups are not available.

vmname

In vSphere mode, specify the name that you want the restored VM to be named. This keyword is the second entry. Existing VMs are not overwritten. Therefore, either rename the VM (by using this keyword) or delete the original VM before you issue the vmcli -f restore command.

-vmdk=cnfg

In vSphere mode, specify that the virtual machine configuration information is restored. The configuration information is always restored when the entire virtual machine is restored. However, by default the configuration is not restored when you restore only selected disks with the vmdk=disk label option.

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 was deleted, and you want to use the backed up configuration to re-create it.

For example, this entry in restoreObjectListFile restores all VMDKs for virtual machine VM1 and keeps the same name:

backupid:26801107 vmname:VM1:-vmdk=cnfg

vmdk=disk label

In vSphere mode, specify the disk label of the virtual disks to include in the restore operation. You specify this option only if you want to partially restore virtual machine data by restoring only specific disks.

For example, this entry in restoreObjectListFile restores only the VMDK named Hard Disk 1 as a new virtual machine:

backupid:26801107 vmanme:myvm:vmdk=Hard Disk 1::vmname:newname

-vmdk=disk label

In vSphere mode, specify the disk label of one or more virtual disks to exclude from the restore operation.

For example, this entry in restoreObjectListFile restores all VMDKs except the one named Hard Disk 1 as a new virtual machine:

backupid:26801107 vmanme:myvm:-vmdk=Hard Disk 4::vmname:newname

This entry restores VMDKs for the virtual machine as a new virtual machine without configuration information:

backupid:26801107 vmname:oldvmname:-vmdk=cnfg::vmname:newname

newdatacentername

In vSphere mode, when you want the restore destination to be a different datacenter, specify the name of that datacenter with this keyword.

newesxhostname

In vSphere mode, when you want the restore destination to be a different ESX host, specify the name of that ESX host with this keyword.

newdatastoreurl

In vSphere mode, specify the name (not the URL) of the VMware datastore where the VM is to be restored. For example, a datastore name such as datastore1 is supported. A datastore URL such as sanfs://vmfs_uuid:4d90pa2d-e9ju45ab-065d-00101a7f1a1d/ is not supported.

vmtempdatastore

In vSphere mode, when you want to issue an instant restore operation, specify a temporary datastore on the ESX host. This temporary datastore contains the configuration information and data of the VM that is created during the operation.

vmautostartvm

In vSphere mode, when a VM is created for instant access (vmrestoretype instantaccess), specify whether to automatically start the VM:

YES

The VM created for instant access is automatically started.

NO

The VM created for instant access is not automatically started. It must be manually started by the user. This value is the default.

vmdiskprovision

In vSphere mode, specify the type of provisioning for the VM disk that is restored during an instant restore process (vmrestoretype instant):

THICK

The disk is created with thick provisioning. This value is the default.

THIN

The disk is created with thin provisioning.

An example restoreObjectListFile in vSphere mode is provided here:

# restore of VM "678912345" named "vmName6" to new vmname "vm6newName" to datacenter
"DataCenter2" to ESX esxhostname:esxHost1Name to new datastore "datastore2"
backupid:678912345 vmname:vmName6::vmname:vm6newName newdatacentername:DataCenter2 
newesxhostname:esxHost1Name newdatastoreurl:datastore2 vmtempdatastore:datastore2temp
 vmdiskprovision:thin

Each restore specification must be on a single line. However, for the sake of page formatting, the restore specification in this example is on multiple lines.

The restoreObjectListFile uses the following keywords in vSphere mode for mount operations:

vmostype

Specify the type of operating system for the backed up VM.

AUTOMATIC

The operating system of the backed up VM is automatically detected. This value is the default.

LINUX

The operating system of the backed up VM is Linux.

WINDOWS

The operating system of the backed up VM is Windows.

exportfs

Exports the mounted file system to the location specified by the value of the exportparameter.

YES

The mounted file system is exported.

NO

The mounted file system is not exported. This value is the default.

exportparameter

The location where the file system is exported.

IP or machine name

The IP address or name of the machine that mounts the exported file system.

user name

The user name that is allowed to access Windows Share. It is the user's responsibility to be aware of which users and groups have access to their shared files.

mountpoint mount point path

Specify the path of the mount point.

The default value is /mnt/vmname.

The default value is D:\tsmvemount\vmname.

mounttag string

This string is text that you enter to make the mount point name easier to identify when you search on the local file system. Specify this string as part of the mount path.

The full path to a disk is /mount root/tag/vmname/snapshot date and time/file system number. For example:

/mnt/tickel-4711/VM1/2013-12-12-12:12:12/disk1

The full path to a disk is mount root\tag\vmname\snapshot date and time\file system number. For example:

C:\Users\Admin\tickel-4711\VM1\2013-12-12-12:12:12\disk1

An example restoreObjectListFile in vSphere mode for mount operations is provided here:

backupid:1167852  vmname:VM-Lin4 mounttag:limor exportparameters:9.123.456.78
exportfs:yes vmostype:linux  mountpoint:/tmp/tsm-mounts

backupid:1167850  vmname:VM-Name3 mounttag:limor exportparameters:WinUser1
exportfs:yes vmostype:windows  mountpoint:C:\temp\mnt

The restoreObjectListFile uses the following keywords in vCloud mode only:

vappname

In vCloud mode, specify the restore spec for one vApp. This keyword is specified after the backupid keyword. The vappname value is consisted of this triplet entry:

org=organization name,orgvdc=organization vDC node
name,vapp=vApp name

For example, the following restoreObjectListFile entry restores vApp named "vApp1" from organization "Mainz_org" and organization virtual datacenter "MZ_Silver" to a new vApp named "vApp1_restore":

vappname "vApp1_restore"
backupid:47110815 vappname:org=Mainz_org,orgvdc=MZ_Silver,vapp=vApp1 
vappname_new:vApp1_restore

org=organization,orgvdc=organization vdc,vapp=name of vApp backup

In vCloud mode, use this triplet to specify the following information:

org

The name of the organization to which the vApp belongs.

orgvdc

The name of the organization vDC to which the vApp belongs.

vapp

The name of the vApp that was originally backed up.

vappname_new

In vCloud mode, specify the new name for vApp to be restored. Existing vApps are not overwritten. As a result, use the vappname_new keyword to rename the restore vApp or delete the original vApp before you start the restore operation. If this keyword is not specified, the vappname value is used for the restore.

An example restoreObjectListFile is provided here:

# restore of VM "678912345" named "vmName6" to new vmname "vm6newName" to datacenter
"DataCenter2" to ESX esxhostname:esxHost1Name to new datastore "datastore2"
backupid:678912345 vmname:vmName6::vmname:vm6newName newdatacentername:DataCenter2 
newesxhostname:esxHost1Name newdatastoreurl:datastore2 vmtempdatastore:datastore2temp
 vmdiskprovision:thin

Each restore specification must be on a single line. However, for the sake of page formatting, the restore specification in this example is on multiple lines.

Tip: To make sure that correct information is specified in the restoreObjectListFile, you can issue the inquire_detail command. Inquire_detail provides current configuration information about the backup environment.

-d datacenternodename | providervDCnodename

When the VE_TSM_MODE parameter specifies VSPHERE, specify the datacenter node name.

When the VE_TSM_MODE parameter specifies VCloud, specify the provider vDC node name.

-o datamovernodename

Specify the data mover node name. This name is for the Tivoli Storage Manager backup-archive client node that is installed on the vStorage Backup Server. This node performs the data movement.

[-s tsmserverhostname]

Specify the host name or IP address of the Tivoli Storage Manager server. If this parameter is not specified, the value in the profile is used.

[-n vmclinodename]

Specify the VMCLI node name. This name is the node that connects the Data Protection for VMware command-line interface to the Tivoli Storage Manager server and the data mover node. If this parameter is not specified, the value in the profile is used.

[-p tsmserverport]

Specify the port of the Tivoli Storage Manager server.

• If this parameter is not specified in the Data Protection for VMware command-line interface and not specified in the profile, the default port (1500) is used.
• If this parameter is not specified in the Data Protection for VMware command-line interface but is specified in the profile, the value in the profile is used.

[-vmrestoretype (noninstant | instantrestore | instantaccess | mount | vmcleanup | vmfullcleanup | mountcleanup)]

In a vSphere environment, specify this option to switch between the following operations: existing restore, instant access, or instant restore. Instant access and instant restore capability is supported only for VMware VMs that are hosted on VMware ESXi 5.1 servers, or later versions. The vmrestoretype parameter uses the following keywords:

noninstant

A full VM restore is issued.

instantrestore

The VM is started during the restore process.

instantaccess

The VM might be started but it is not restored.

mount

The volumes of the VM defined in the input file are mounted in read-only mode on the data mover. On Linux, all the volumes of the VM are mounted as a Network File System (NFS). On Windows, all the volumes of the VM are mounted as a Common Internet File System (CIFS).

vmcleanup

Components that are no longer needed are cleaned up.

vmfullcleanup

The VM and all its components are cleaned up, regardless of the current state.

mountcleanup

All mounted volumes of the selected VM are cleaned up. This cleanup task includes removing file systems that were exposed for the restore operation and the file shares (CIFS, NFS).

Restriction: When an instant restore or instant access operation that is issued from the Tivoli Storage Manager backup-archive client (dsmc) is followed by an instant restore or instant access operation that is issued from the Data Protection for VMware command-line interface (vmcli) or Data Protection for VMware vSphere GUI, the TDPVMwareMount service must be restarted. This situation applies only when the Data Protection for VMware command-line interface accesses the Tivoli Storage Manager server with a node name different from the one used by the backup-archive client. This restriction applies to any order of operations between the two products.

Restart the service by going to Start > Administrative Tools > Computer Management > Services and Applications > Services. Look for service name Tivoli Storage Manager recovery agent in the Services window. The path to the Services window might vary depending on your operating system.

The service does not have to be restarted when the VMware datacenter name is specified with the asnodename option in the dsm.opt file.