About Instant Recovery for VMware
NetBackup can recover a virtual machine almost instantly, without waiting to transfer the virtual machine's data from the backup. NetBackup starts the virtual machine directly from the backup image and makes it accessible to users on the target ESX host immediately. You can copy files (including vmdk files) without restoring the entire virtual machine. To restore the virtual machine, use VMware Storage vMotion to migrate the virtual machine data files from the backup image to the ESX host.
Some examples of instant recovery:
Access and restore individual files and folders from any type of OS and then delete the virtual machine. (Note for Windows or Linux: Instead of instant recovery, you can use the policy option and restore individual files with the Backup, Archive, and Restore interface.)
Test a patch on a restored virtual machine before you apply the patch to production systems.
Troubleshoot a virtual machine or host, such as when the production ESX host is down. You can start the virtual machine from its backup and use it until the production system is back online.
Permanently recover the virtual machine by means of Storage vMotion.
Verify the backup image.
Copy a vmdk file and then delete the virtual machine.
Verify an application.
In any case, the virtual machine is started directly from the backup image and is available in seconds or minutes. The startup time depends on the network speed and storage speed, not on the size of the virtual machine.
Table: How Instant Recovery for VMware works describes the steps in a virtual machine instant recovery.
Table: How Instant Recovery for VMware works
Sequence | Actions |
|---|---|
Step 1 | Run the nbrestorevm command* to access the virtual machine from its backup image. The NetBackup File System Service (NBFSD) on the media server accesses the backup image file system and mounts the image as an NFS datastore. The datastore becomes accessible to the ESX host where the virtual machine is to be restored. On the same command, select a temporary datastore that is accessible to the ESX host. |
Step 2 | NetBackup creates a virtual machine on the ESX host and configures the virtual machine with write access to a temporary (local) datastore. |
Step 3 | NetBackup creates a snapshot of the virtual machine. Any new write requests in the virtual machine use the temporary datastore. The virtual machine uses the NFS datastore as read only. |
Step 4 | NetBackup starts up the virtual machine on the ESX host. |
Step 5 | To keep the restored VM: Use Storage vMotion to copy the virtual machine data from the NFS datastore to the temporary datastore. |
Step 6 | When vMotion is complete, use nbrestorevm to unmount the NFS datastore. |
*NetBackup provides a command-line interface for instant recovery of virtual machines (nbrestorevm). A graphical user interface (the Instant Recovery Wizard) is available in the NetBackup vSphere Client (HTML5) plug-in. For details, see the NetBackup Plug-in for VMware vSphere Client (HTML5) Guide.