Agentless VMware Restore is a specialized restore mode designed for restoring Agentless VMware Backups. This mode allows for the restoration of individual files and folders to virtual machines where the NetBackup client is not installed, making it a powerful tool for data recovery in virtualized environments

Most Full Virtualization jobs from snapshots of Windows clients are eligible for RRP processing and will transparently use RRP to bring the machine back in minutes. Such jobs are called Full Virtualization with RRP or Full with RRP. For more information about RRP, see Rapid Return to Production (RRP).

Rapid Return to Production (RRP) creates a full production VM from a temporary VM that was created with Instant Virtualization of Block Backups or Instant VM Restore from Agentless Backups. RRP converts a temporary VM into a working production VM without significant downtime (typically only a few minutes). The new VM is available for use while Catalogic DPX transfers data behind the scenes, using Storage vMotion, to populate the selected datastore. Secondary storage is automatically released after the Storage vMotion transfer completes.

When migrating a temporary, test VM to a permanent VM, RRP can save many hours, or even days in the case of large data transfer over a slow connection.

Typically, you initiate RRP with a temporary VM only once, but you can schedule the start time of an RRP job.

Prerequisites for RRP

• For general virtualization considerations and requirements, see Full VM Restore or Instant VM Restore.

• The Catalogic DPX client to virtualize must be running a supported operating system. See in the Compatibility Matrix.

• A VM created with Instant Virtualization or Agentless Instant VM Restore must already exist.

• For Microsoft Windows Full Virtualization with RRP (Full with RRP), the radio button Align virtual machine file system on the Virtual Machine Information screen of the virtualization wizard must be selected. For Linux or Clustered Data ONTAP volumes less than 2 TB in size, the file system will always be aligned and the radio button does not appear.

RRP General Considerations

• You cannot use RRP for VMware vApp or VMs in it.

• RDM disks are converted to virtual disks.

• Running an RRP job to an NFS target datastore causes the machine to power off when the job is completed. This is the outcome of using a cloning operation, as migration to an NFS target datastore is not supported. This is due to a VMware limitation.

• If the Instant Virtualization VM to be used for RRP (or Full with RRP) was created with a version of Catalogic DPX that does not support RRP, then RDM compatibility mode will be automatically converted from physical to virtual compatibility mode, which is required by Storage vMotion.

• If a RRP job fails, you cannot define and run another RRP job that uses the same Instant Virtualization VM. If you attempt to do so, a message will indicate that processing has failed because the VM is involved in an active or incomplete RRP job. Re-run the job.

Power State Considerations for RRP

Note the following considerations related to the power state of the Instant Access VM used for RRP jobs:

• While an RRP job or Full with RRP job is in progress, you cannot change the on/off state of the Instant Virtualization VM in vSphere Client. You must wait for the job to complete. The RRP job may seem to be complete because the new production VM is available almost immediately; however, data transfer is occurring in the background, and the job is not complete until this data transfer is completed (which can take hours or even days).

• Once the RRP job starts, don’t attempt to change the power state of the Instant Virtualization VM. If that VM is powered on and you power it off from the VM itself, the RRP job will fail. If the Instant Virtualization VM is powered off, you cannot turn it on until the RRP job is completed. The power-on state will be grayed out in VMware.

• RRP using Storage vMotion requires the Instant Access VM in the power-on state. If the Instant Access VM is off before the RRP job starts, RRP will proceed but will use the cloning method. In this scenario, the rapid creation of a usable production machine will not be realized.

• If you don’t select the Start VM after it is created check box in the virtualization wizard, that is equivalent to starting a Full with RRP job with the Instant Virtualization VM powered off, and the RRP job will use the cloning method rather than the migration (Storage vMotion) method.

Completing an RRP Job Despite Master Server Interruption

In the event the master server experiences an interruption due to network or hardware issues, the RRP job will continue. Thus, it is not necessary to restart the RRP job from the beginning (which could lose many hours, or even days, of processing time). However, you do need to take some simple steps to ensure the RRP job is completed successfully.

In the event of a master server interruption during an RRP job, the job monitor will indicate a status of Abort. However, the master server interruption only affects the reporting of job progress; the RRP job continues.

To ensure the RRP job is completed successfully, note the following:

• To resolve the Abort condition and update job monitoring, re-run the RRP job. Note that this is not a job re-run. The re-run simply syncs up the master server with the in-progress RRP job, and the job monitor will now indicate the actual progress of the job.

• If the RRP job has been completed before the job re-run, the re-run will initiate the RRP post-completion phase, LUN cleanup. Although the RRP job continues while Abort is indicated, it will not proceed to LUN cleanup until the job is re-run to resolve the Abort condition.

• If you want to cancel the RRP job for which Abort is indicated, you must re-run the job, and then cancel.

• While Abort is indicated, you can not start another RRP job based on the same Instant Virtualization VM. You must resolve the Abort condition first by re-running the job and either allowing it to be completed or canceling it.

Converting Temporary VM to Production VM by Using RRP

Rapid Return to Production (RRP) creates a full production VM from an existing VM created with Instant Virtualization from Block Backups or Instant VM Restore from Agentless Backups. RRP transfers data from a snapshot on secondary storage to primary storage attached to an ESX server. The new production VM is available for use within minutes while data transfer continues transparently in the background. RRP jobs are defined through the RRP Wizard. RRP jobs can be scheduled, but they are intended for single, not recurring use.

Take the following steps to convert a temporary VM to a production VM:

1. On the Function Tab Bar, click Restore, then click Block.

2. On the Task Panel, select RRP Wizard. The Welcome dialog appears.

1. Click Next. The Login dialog appears.

2. Log in to the host or vCenter Server for the new VM:

3. Enter IP Address / Name. This is a fully qualified network name or IP address of an ESX Server or vCenter Server.

4. Enter a valid username and password.

5. Click Next; the Select Virtual Machine dialog appears.

6. Expand the datacenter to display VMs.

7. Click on a VM for RRP to bring into production. Only machines eligible for RRP will be displayed. The properties of the VM are displayed in the right pane.

8. Click Next; the Select Datastore dialog appears.

9. Select a datastore from which the VM disks will be provisioned.

1. Click Next; the Specify Job Information dialog appears.

2. Identify the RRP job:

   • Name the job, specify a folder for the job, and optionally add a comment.

   • Optionally select Delete Job when Done. If checked, your job definition will be deleted once the job is completed successfully. It will not be deleted if the job fails. In most cases, you should leave this check box unselected since you will usually want to re-run a job. If you select the check box, the values you entered for it will be lost after the job runs.

   • Optionally schedule the job to run later. If you click Schedule, the job scheduler opens. If the job is not scheduled, after you click Finish on the final screen of the wizard, you will be asked if you want to run the job immediately.

3. The Summary screen displays the information you have entered for the RRP job. To change an entry, click Back. To accept all selections, click Finish.

After you click Finish, if you have not scheduled the job, you will be asked if you want to run the job immediately. If the job is not scheduled and you don’t choose to run it immediately, you can run the job later from the Monitor Jobs window.

The following table summarizes conditions associated with the different types of restore operations:

Storage Relocation vs. Cloning

In the context of Full Restores, storage relocation, and cloning are two distinct processes. Storage relocation allows immediate access to restored disks once RDM disks are connected to the VM. This is typically the preferred method for full VM and VMDK restores in Agentless VMware Backup.

On the other hand, cloning requires waiting until the full restore process finishes before the disks are usable. Cloning becomes necessary when:

• The target VM is powered off.

• Any target datastore is NFS (only original location restores are supported for NFS).

Instant VM Restore

Instant VM Restore uses iSCSI LUN mapping to quickly restore a VM to the original or an alternate VMware ESXi or vCenter. A snapshot stored on the backup storage system is mapped to the VMware ESXi host that you specify as the restore destination. This method does not physically transfer data, requiring minimal space in the datastore.

Changes made to the mapped drive do not affect the snapshot. The restored disk is attached as an RDM LUN in virtual compatibility mode.

Full VM Restore

Full VM Restore restores a VM to the original or an alternate location, creating a flat VMDK file on the target datastore for each restored disk. In most cases, Full VM Restore uses temporary iSCSI mapping of the restored disks as RDMs to the target VM.

This allows the restored VM to be used immediately, while storage relocation transfers data in the background. Again, if a VM of the same name already exists at the restore destination, the restore job fails. You must delete or rename the VM on the target host before rerunning the restore.

Instant VMDK Restore

Instant VMDK Restore uses iSCSI LUN mapping to restore a selected VMDK file from an Agentless VMware Backup snapshot to an original or alternate VM. This method is similar to Instant VM Restore, but it restores a VMDK rather than an entire VM. To restore multiple VMDKs on a VM, repeat the restore for each VMDK.

When restoring a VMDK, Catalogic DPX creates a temporary LUN on the back destination NetApp storage system hosting the backup, maps the LUN to the target host, and then attaches the LUN to the target VM as an RDM disk in virtual compatibility mode. A separate mapped LUN is used to create a temporary VMFS datastore, which contains attached RDM disks. The temporary datastore is created automatically by Agentless VMware Backup.

Full VMDK Restore

Full VMDK Restore restores a VMDK file to a VM from an Agentless VMware Backup snapshot. This method is similar to Full VM Restore, but it restores a VMDK rather than an entire VM. To restore multiple VMDKs on a VM, repeat the restore for each VMDK.

A temporary datastore is created to contain RDM disks. However, in the case of a Full restore, the temporary datastore is deleted after the restore completes.

This method first performs an Instant restore internally, with a LUN-attached VMDK. When the Instant restore completes, storage relocation is used to convert the attached LUN to a flat format VMDK on a production datastore.

Storage relocation, enabling immediate access to the restored VM, is used in most cases.

Creating an Agentless VMware Restore job involves a few more steps than other restore jobs due to the need for additional information such as Target Datastore or Virtual Machine Options. The Restore Wizard is used to guide you through this process.

1. Navigate to the Restore tab in the main desktop interface window. From the Restore Modes section in the task panel, select Agentless VMware.

1. To create a new Agentless VMware Restore Job, select Agentless VMware Restore Wizard.

1. Click New Job to create a new job or select an existing job from the dropdown list to modify it.

2. Select an operation, you want your Restore job to perform. You can choose from the following options:

   • Instant VM Restore

   • Full VM Restore

   • Instant VMDK Restore

   • Full VMDK Restore

1. Browse to the snapshot you wish to restore. The steps that follow may vary slightly based on the restore option you selected in the previous step.

In the left pane, select the VM to restore. The right pane lists snapshots for the selected VM. If you selected one of the VMDK operations on the Select Operation page, browse to a VM that contains the VMDK to restore and select it.

In the right pane, expand a backup instance to reveal the object to restore. The selectable items, snapshots, or VMDKs, depend on your choice on the Select Operation page:

• If a VMDK operation was not selected on the Select Operation page, only VM-level restore will be possible. You can view VMDKs under a VM, but they are not selectable.

• If you selected a VMDK operation on the Select Operation page, you can select a VMDK to restore, but Agentless VMware Backup VM snapshots are not selectable.

1. On this page, select the restore destination. The procedure differs depending on your selection on the Select Operation page:

• To select a target host, if you selected an operation other than VMDK Instant Access, choose a host to restore to. You can select either the original location or an alternate location. Note that when an alternate restore location is selected for a VMDK file, only VMs are selectable.

• A list of data stores appears under the selected destination host. Select a datastore for the restore target.

1. [Instant and Full VM Restore only] Choose the setting for your VM. The tabs contain fields populated by default with values from the source VM. For more detailed information on each available field, see the tables below:

Name

Resource

1. Give the restore job a name and location and indicate if the job is deleted when it completes.

2. Set up pre-job and post-job scripts, disk provisioning, and notifications. For more detailed information on each available field and tab, see the tables below:

The Source tab displays options related to setting up pre-job and post-job scripts and when they are run.

The Target tab displays only for Full VM Restore or Full VMDK Restore.

Notification

1. Scheduling a job is optional. If you do not want to schedule the job, click Next. To schedule the job, click Schedule.

1. The Summary page displays field entries from the previous pages. If the displayed values are satisfactory, click Finish. If you did not schedule the job, you will be asked if you want to start the job.