Restore to new location removed original VM

[Brad303]

Hi all,

Apologies in advance if this has been covered in the forum. I'm in solve-this-right-away mode.

I needed to restore a backup of a VM in order to see some settings that were deleted. I went through the restore process and selected a new host, new datastore, and new network. Seemed stupid simple. But after I started the restore process, I noticed that it shut down the original VM and removed it from the original host's inventory.

Is that normal? Why should restoring from a backup remove the original, running server?

I immediately cancelled the restore and scoured all the datastores, but the VM files were apparently already gone.

I'm now restoring from backup to the original location, but my client's down during the restore. No critical data will be lost since the last backup, but the 30+ minute downtime is embarrassing and maddening.

I'm flabbergasted. Obviously I'm a newb to Veeam, but this is totally counter-intuitive to me.

So, in the future, how do I restore a VM from a backup without shutting down and removing the original VM?

Thanks.

[Shestakov]

Hi Brad and welcome to the community!

Have you chosen Entire VM recovery option?

A VM can be restored to its original location or to a new location. When you restore a VM to its original location, the primary VM is automatically turned off and deleted before the restore. This type of restore ensures the quickest recovery and minimizes the number of mistakes which can be potentially caused by changes in VM settings.

When you restore a VM to a new location, you need to specify new VM settings such as the new VM name, the host and datastore where the VM will reside, disk format (thin or thick provisioned) and network properties. Veeam Backup & Replication will change the VM configuration file and store the VM data to the location of your choice.

[Brad303]

Yes, I went through the process, and referenced the docs, too. It was very simple, but the results were unexpected.

However, what I was expecting was a *copy* of the VM to be restored to the new location. The documentation didn't say anything about the original running VM being shutdown and removed from inventory when restoring to the new location. At least, I didn't see anything, and I re-read the docs. Perhaps it's mentioned somewhere else, but it certainly wasn't what I was expecting.

So, how do I restore a copy to a new location, and leave the original/running VM untouched?

[driley]

Hi Brad,
I have done this a few times. I didn't see where you changed the virtual machine name. I always (1) change the VM name so it does not conflict with the production one (2) put it in a seperate folder and (3) set the network to disconnected initially, so I can go in via the VM's console and set a different host name and verify the NIC settings are what I want. I found that not setting the hostname this way could cause two computers to be registered in AD with the name. In your case, if you only need to check a few settings, you may not even need it on the network.
Dennis

[Brad303]

Thanks, Dennis.

It didn't occur to me that I had to change the name on the restored VM. I figured that just restoring it to a different location would do the trick. But if that's all I have to do, it's a cinch.

[Shestakov]

Dennis is correct.
You needed to change the VM name for them not to conflict.

[johnd]

Hi,

I've done this, shutdown the production VM, brought up the restored one but I am unable to access it via RDP and it won't ping. I have flushed all my arp/MAC tables entries from my core switches but still no joy.