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Restore a machine to a VMware-based cloud
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Restore a machine to a VMware-based cloud

You can restore a backup created with Veeam Agent from the Selectel repository in the VMware-based public cloud. For more information about recovery via Veeam Recovery Media, please refer to the manual Recovery with Veeam Recovery Media.

In order for recovery to be possible, you must have a system image with the necessary drivers (Linux) or a boot disk (Windows) created prior to recovery, see the instructions for details Recovery with Veeam Recovery Media.

You'll need:

  • a backup of the machine created in Entire computer mode or containing the required partitions;

  • resources in a VMware-based public cloud:

    • virtual data center;
    • vApp;
    • network with internet access.

Learn more about connecting to the public cloud in the instructions VMware-based public cloud: a quick start.

After the restore, the server name, root login and password are the same as the original ones from the backup. They can be overridden with guest OS recastomization or manually.

To restore a virtual machine:

  1. Create an empty virtual machine.
  2. Optional: Install the VMware Remote Console.
  3. Start an empty virtual machine.
  4. Download the Tools virtual device drivers (Windows only).
  5. Restore the backup to a virtual machine.
  6. Configure the network environment.
  7. Deploy a virtual machine with Windows Server (Windows only).
  8. Install VMTools.
  9. Set up a backup on the restored machine.

Create an empty virtual machine⁠

  1. From control panel open the Cloud Director panel: VMware-based cloud → Cloud Director.

  2. Open the virtual data center page.

  3. Go to the section Compute →vApps.

  4. In the vApp card, click ACTIONS.

  5. Click Add → Add VM.

  6. Click Add virtual machine.

  7. In the field Name enter a name for the virtual machine.

  8. In the field Computer name enter the host name.

  9. In the field Type select New.

  10. In the field OS family select the OS family as on the original server (backup source).

  11. Specify Operating System — OS as on the original server (backup source).

  12. Specify Boot image:

    • for Linux: veeam-recovery-media-5.0.2.4567_x86_64.iso;
    • for Windows: Veeam recovery media.

  13. In the field Virtual CPUs Specify the number of vCPUs.

  14. In the field Memory specify the amount of memory.

  15. In the block Storage delete all disks. They will be added later.

  16. To select a virtual machine storage policy, select the check box Use custom storage policy and in the field Storage Policy select the desired policy. If you do not select a policy, the default policy will be applied.

  17. In the block Networking click CUSTOMIZE.

  18. In the column Network select network — default_net or other network with internet access.

  19. In the column Network Adapter Type select VMXNET3.

  20. In the column IP Mode select the appropriate mode for the selected network.

  21. Click OK.

  22. Check the settings for the new VM and click ADD.

  23. Open the vApp page → section Virtual Machines.

  24. Open the virtual machine page.

  25. Go to the section Hardware → Hard Disks.

  26. Click EDIT.

  27. Click ADD.

  28. Configure each virtual disk to match the disks on the source machine:

    • Size — volume sufficient to reconstruct the original data;
    • Policy — any;
    • Bus Type — Paravirtual (SCSI);
    • Bus Number, Unit Number — by default.

  29. Click SAVE.

optional: Install VMware Remote Console⁠

VMware Remote Console is required to use the mouse in the virtual machine console.

  1. From control panel open the Cloud Director panel: VMware-based cloud → Cloud Director.
  2. Open the virtual data center page.
  3. Go to the section Compute →vApps.
  4. Open the vApp page → section Virtual Machines.
  5. Open the virtual machine page.
  6. Click ALL ACTIONS → VM Console → Download VM Remote Console. A VMware Customer Connect account will be required for downloading, and can be registered when downloading VMware Remote Console.

Start an empty virtual machine⁠

  1. From control panel open the Cloud Director panel: VMware-based cloud → Cloud Director.
  2. Open the virtual data center page.
  3. Go to the section Compute →vApps.
  4. In the vApp card, click ACTIONS.
  5. Click Power → Power on.
  6. From the virtual machine menu, click VM Console → Launch Remote Console or Launch Web Console. The Veeam Recovery Media will be loaded automatically. If the environment does not load, check settings.
  7. Wait for Veeam Recovery Media to load the network configuration and SSH (if DHCP is available). If SSH is not required, click Proceed without SSH. After 60 seconds, the automatically configured network and access parameters will be displayed.

Check Veeam Recovery Media settings⁠

If Veeam Recovery Media does not load, check the settings.

  1. From control panel open the Cloud Director panel: VMware-based cloud → Cloud Director.

  2. Open the virtual data center page.

  3. Go to the section Compute →vApps.

  4. Open the vApp page → section Virtual Machines.

  5. Open the virtual machine page.

  6. Go to the section Hardware → Removable Media.

  7. Make sure that the field CD/DVD drive the correct boot disk has been selected:

    • for Linux: veeam-recovery-media-5.0.2.4567_x86_64.iso
    • for Windows: Veeam recovery media.

  8. Go to the section General.

  9. Make sure that the field Enter BIOS Setup indicated Enabled.

  10. Reboot the virtual machine.

Download Tools virtual device drivers (Windows)⁠

Driver downloads are only needed for Windows machines.

  1. In Veeam Recovery Media, go to the Tools.
  2. Select Load Driver.
  3. For SAS Controller and Ethernet Controller drivers, click Install driver.
  4. Make sure both drivers have a status of Online.
  5. Check the box Inject these drivers into operating system while performing bare metal recovery.
  6. Click OK.

Restore the backup to a virtual machine⁠

Use the instructions Restore the virtual machine for the right OS.

Configure the network environment⁠

By default, the virtual machine's network adapters do not match the network adapters of the original machine. Configure the settings to match the conditions of the new network environment.

Deploy a virtual machine with Windows Server⁠

If you are using Windows, use the instructions Deploy a virtual machine with Windows Server.

Install VMTools⁠

  1. Install VMTools (Perl required):

    sudo apt install open-vm-tools

  2. Make sure the service is running:

    systemctl status open-vm-tools

  3. If the virtual network adapter drivers or open-vm-tools are missing, the virtual machine will not connect to the network. In this case, follow steps 1-4 in the instructions Install VMware Tools.

  4. On the virtual machine, check to see if the VMTools disk is mounted automatically:

    mount

    Command output:

    /dev/cdrom on /mnt/cdrom

  5. If the disk is unmounted, mount it with device file paths and mount points depending on the distribution:

    sudo mkdir /mnt/cdrom
    sudo mount /dev/cdrom /mnt/cdrom

  6. Check if there is an archive with the extension .tar.gz with VMTools on the mounted device:

    ls /mnt/cdrom

  7. Extract the archive to the directory /tmp:

    tar -zxpf /mnt/cdrom/<vmwaretools.tar.gz> -C /tmp

    Specify <vmwaretools.tar.gz> — VMware Tools archive name, depends on the version.

  8. Navigate to the directory with the unzipped archive:

    cd /tmp/vmware-tools-distrib

  9. Run the installation script:

    sudo ./vmware-install.pl

  10. Follow the installer's instructions.

  11. After installation, reboot the virtual machine.

Configure the backup⁠

A service is available for VMware virtual machine backups VMware-based cloud backup.

Veeam Agents use BIOS UUIDs to identify machines. A recovered machine has a new BIOS UUID, so it may not be possible to continue existing Veeam Agent backup chains.

  1. Uninstall Veeam agents:

    Ubuntu, Debian:

    sudo apt remove veeamma veeam

    RHEL, CentOS, Fedora:

    sudo yum remove veeamma veeam

    SuSE:

    sudo zypper remove veeamma veeam

  2. Install the management agent and backup agent all over again.