🆕 Multiple VM Restore from Archive

Multiple VM Restore from Archive recovers agentless VMware backups that have been moved to archive storage – such as tape or cloud – directly from the web interface. Because archived data cannot be read directly into vCenter, DPX first stages it on a Catalogic vStor volume. Two recovery options are available:

• The archived data only – DPX stages the selected recovery points on a vStor volume and the flow ends there. This is the equivalent of the Restore from Media job in the desktop interface.
• The virtual machines – after staging the data, DPX automatically runs a Multi-VM Restore to bring the virtual machines back to your vCenter.

Although recovering the virtual machines runs as two underlying jobs – a staging job followed by a Multi-VM Restore – the Multiple VM Restore from Archive procedure guides you through both as a single action.

Restrictions.

When you recover the virtual machines, that part of the flow is a Multi-VM Restore and follows the same limitations. In particular, all virtual machines must be restored to the same vCenter, and recovery points are staged on vStor; NetApp storages are not supported.

Important.

Restoring an encrypted VM in the VMware environment will result in creating a machine with unencrypted data. For details, see VMware Encryption.

Creating a Multiple VM Restore from Archive Job

1. Select the Restore Job Type

1. Go to Job Manager in the sidebar.
2. Click New Restore Job to open the New Restore dialog.

3. Select Multiple VM Restore from Archive and click Next.

2. Add Virtual Machines and Set the Restore Order

1. The initial Objects to Restore view is empty. Click the Add virtual machines button to open the virtual machine selection dialog.

2. The Add Virtual Machines dialog lists the archived VMware virtual machines. The VMs can be sorted by Virtual Machine Name, Source Node Name or Job Name. Use the Add Filter button to narrow the list.

3. Select the virtual machines you want to recover and click Add. The Objects to Restore view is populated with the selected VMs.

4. Under Device Cluster, choose where the archived data is read from:
   • Use original device cluster – read the data from the same device cluster that was used during the backup.
   • Select a different device cluster – choose a different tape library or storage device to restore from, then select it from the Device cluster dropdown that appears.

5. Use the Archive Date/Time column to select the recovery point of each machine.
6. The order of the VMs in the list reflects the order in which they will be restored. To change it, use the drag handle or the context menu, as described in Change Virtual Machine Restore Order for Multi-VM Restore.
7. Click Next.

3. Select the Restore Destination

Archived data must be staged on vStor before it can be restored.

1. Select the vStor and the vStor pool to be used as the temporary staging area.

2. Choose your recovery option using the Automatically restore to vCenter toggle. The options available from this point on will differ for each flow.

Toggle off	Only the archived data is staged on the vStor volume, where you can browse the staged files with the vStor Snapshot Explorer.
Toggle on	The virtual machines are restored to vCenter. Additional destination fields appear, and a Network Settings step is added to the wizard.

3. If you enabled Automatically restore to vCenter, set the vCenter destination.

4. Select the destination from the Node Name dropdown. If you cannot see the required node, go to the Nodes view in your DPX and check whether the desired vCenter has been added to your Enterprise. For more information, see Nodes.

5. Select the target host or cluster from the Host Name dropdown. It lists the hosts and clusters available within the vCenter selected in the previous step.

6. Select the target datastore from the list. You can narrow down the displayed list by searching by the datastore name, or sort the list by Name, total Capacity, Free capacity or Type.

7. Click Next.

4. Select Network Settings

This step appears only when Automatically restore to vCenter is enabled. This step allows the user to define how the original networks of the virtual machines are mapped to the networks available in the target vCenter.

Network Mappings

One of the networks available in the target vCenter is selected as the Fallback Network, i.e. all virtual machines without network mapping defined will be restored to this network. You can change this setting, by choosing another available network from the Fallback Network dropdown.

1. Click the Add network mapping button to map the original networks of the virtual machines to one of the new networks available.

The number in the blue circle indicates how many virtual machines were originally in the Source Network selected in the dropdown.

2. Select the Source Network you want to map to a new destination network.
3. Select the Destination Network from the right-hand dropdown.
4. If you want to remove a network mapping, click the X symbol at the end of the row.

When all available source networks are selected for mappings, the Add network mapping button becomes inactive.

5. When done with defining networks, click Next.

IP Mapping Rules

The IP Mapping Rules feature allows you to map specific static IPv4 addresses and address ranges of source VMs to new addresses and ranges of the restored machines. This allows the user to control output IP addresses of the restored machines, e.g. should the original addresses be unavailable.

• For address ranges, the x wildcard can be used.
• Nested mapping rules are allowed. In case of conflicting rules, the narrower rule will override the wider one, but only within the conflicting range.
• A maximum of 20 rules is allowed.

Note.

IP address mapping will only affect VMs with static IP address settings.

1. Switch on the Define IP mapping rules toggle. Additional fields will appear.

2. Select VM credentials from the dropdown or use the Add credentials button in the dropdown to store and use new credentials.

Restrictions.

All VMs subject to IP mapping must be accessible using the same credentials. Otherwise, IP mapping will fail.

3. Click Add rule to define a new IP mapping rule. You can add up to 20 rules.
   To remove a rule, click the “x” symbol to the right of the rule.

When finished with network settings, click Next.

5. Specify the Job Name

In the Options step, specify the Job Name and review the vStor volume name, which is generated automatically following the archive-restore-{timestamp}-{jobname} convention and can be overridden.

The remaining options – including the source and script options for reading the archive – are described in Job Options for Multiple VM Restore from Archive.

Note.

When you recover the virtual machines, DPX automatically creates a prerequisite job named dpr-{timestamp} that stages the data on vStor before the virtual machine restore runs.

Click Next.

6. Review Summary and Save

The Summary step displays the results of all previous steps. Review the definition and click Save.

Running the Job

When you save the job, a Run Job dialog asks whether to run it now.

When the job recovers the virtual machines, it runs as a chain – the staging job (dpr-{timestamp}) followed by the restore job. The dialog reflects this, and the Multi-VM Restore starts automatically once the data has been staged.

Click Yes to run the job now, or No to save it without running.

After the Restore

When you recover the virtual machines, they become available exactly as they are after a regular Multi-VM Restore. Any further actions, such as Rapid Return to Production (RRP) or Cleanup, are handled the same way.