Host-based backup of VMware vSphere VMs.
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joshgfeller
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Copy back to original production VM

Post by joshgfeller »

Ok so here is the deal,

We had a storage issue on our production datastore and our 1.2TB file server failed over to the replica on another host. Another admin was doing some storage cleanup and accidentally removed all of the snapshots on the replica. So when I tried to fail the machine back over to its original VM I get an error message saying there is no restore point. Now that I typed that I wonder if it would pick something up if I created a manual snapshot on the replica in VMware? hmmm.

Anyways now I really have a mess and am currently doing a full backup of the replica to another storage location. Instead of restoring the entire VM files or using instant recovery to bring it all back to the production server I was wondering if I could setup a replication job and map it to the original VM and have the system compare and update so I don't have to copy the entire 1.2TB. Like this article?
When configuring a new replication job, you can map an original VM in the production site to an already existing VM in the DR site. For example, this can be a replica VM created with a previous replication job or a VM restored from a backup on a DR target host.

Replication to a mapped VM is performed in the following way:

1.During the first run, the replication job will calculate the differences between the original and mapped VM. Instead of copying and transferring the whole of the original VM, the first replication job will transfer only increments to synchronize the state of the mapped VM with the state of the original VM. After successful synchronization, in the Backup & Replication view of Veeam Backup & Replication, under Replicas node you will see a VM replica with two restore points. One point will contain the latest state of the mapped VM (the VM located on the target host); the other point will contain the latest state of the original VM on the source host.

2.All subsequent runs of the replication job will transfer only increments as well.
Vitaliy S.
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Re: Copy back to original production VM

Post by Vitaliy S. »

Hi Josh,

Yes, you can do that and this would be a recommended way of bringing your VM back to production. Just specify the backup file while configuring new replication job or restore the VM from the backup file and then map your replication job to the restored VM.

Thanks!
joshgfeller
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Re: Copy back to original production VM

Post by joshgfeller »

Well it didn't work out like I wanted and am right now running a full replication back to the production server and it is at 55% after 5 hours. It's a big 1.2TB total VM. Do you see any reason why this would get all the way to the end and fail? Is it actually copying over during the process or only reading and copying at the end? I'm running out of time so I really hope this works.
Vitaliy S.
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Re: Copy back to original production VM

Post by Vitaliy S. »

If you've started full replication cycle, then it is reading and sending the entire VM back, not sure why it should fail. If you could use existing backup file of this VM, then replication job would restore this VM for you, compare VM images and then transfer VM changed blocks only.
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