Skip to main content

Restore the machine to a VMware-based cloud

Last update:

You can restore a backup created with Veeam Agent from the Selectel repository to a VMware-based public cloud.

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

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 VMware Public Cloud: 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 using guest OS recastomization or manually.

To restore a virtual machine:

  1. Create an empty virtual machine.
  2. Optional: Install VMware Remote Console.
  3. Start an empty virtual machine.
  4. Download the Tools virtual device drivers (Windows only).
  5. Restore the backup to the 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.

1. Create an empty virtual machine⁠

  1. From the Control Panel, open the Cloud Director panel: from the top menu, click Products → VMware-based Cloud → Cloud Director.

  2. Open the virtual data center page.

  3. Go to Compute → vApps.

  4. In the vApp card, click ACTIONS.

  5. Click Add → Add VM.

  6. Click Add virtual machine.

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

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

  9. In the Type field, select New.

  10. In the OS family field, 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 Virtual CPUs field, specify the number of vCPUs.

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

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

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

  17. In the Networking block, click CUSTOMIZE.

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

  19. In the Network Adapter Type column, select VMXNET3.

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

  21. Press OK.

  22. Check the parameters of the new VM and click ADD.

  23. Open the vApp page → Virtual Machines section.

  24. Open the virtual machine page.

  25. Go to Hardware → Hard Disks.

  26. Press EDIT.

  27. Press ADD.

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

    • Size — is the size sufficient to restore the original data;
    • Policy — Any;
    • Bus Type — Paravirtual (SCSI);
    • Bus Number, Unit Number — default.

  29. Press SAVE.

2. Optional: Install VMware Remote Console⁠

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

  1. From the Control Panel, open the Cloud Director panel: from the top menu, click Products → VMware-based Cloud → Cloud Director.
  2. Open the virtual data center page.
  3. Go to Compute → vApps.
  4. Open the vApp page → Virtual Machines section.
  5. Open the virtual machine page.
  6. Click ALL ACTIONS → VM Console → Download VM Remote Console. The download requires a VMware Customer Connect account, which you can register when you download VMware Remote Console.

3. Start an empty virtual machine⁠

  1. From the Control Panel, open the Cloud Director panel: from the top menu, click Products → VMware-based Cloud → Cloud Director.
  2. Open the virtual data center page.
  3. Go to Compute → vApps.
  4. In the vApp card, click ACTIONS.
  5. Press Power → Power on.
  6. In the virtual machine menu, click VM Console → Launch Remote Console or Launch Web Console. The Veeam Recovery Media will load automatically. If the environment does not load, check the 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 settings will be displayed.

Check Veeam Recovery Media settings⁠

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

  1. From the Control Panel, open the Cloud Director panel: from the top menu, click Products → VMware-based Cloud → Cloud Director.

  2. Open the virtual data center page.

  3. Go to Compute → vApps.

  4. Open the vApp page → Virtual Machines section.

  5. Open the virtual machine page.

  6. Go to Hardware → Removable Media.

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

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

  8. Go to the General section.

  9. Make sure that the Enter BIOS Setup field is set to Enabled.

  10. Reboot the virtual machine.

4. Download Tools virtual device drivers (Windows)⁠

Driver downloads are only needed for Windows machines.

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

5. Restore the backup to a virtual machine⁠

Use the instructions to Restore a virtual machine for the desired OS.

6. Configure the network environment⁠

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

7. Deploy a virtual machine with Windows Server⁠

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

8. 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 of the Install VMware Tools instructions.

  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 for a .tar.gz archive with VMTools on the mounted device:

    ls /mnt/cdrom

  7. Extract the archive to the /tmp directory:

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

    Specify <vmwaretools.tar.gz> is the name of the archive with VMware Tools, 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.

9. Configure the backup⁠

For VMware virtual machine backups, the VMware-based Cloud Backup service is available.

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 и backup agent again.