Host-based backup of VMware vSphere VMs.
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pinkerton
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Problem restoring entire VM with excluded disks

Post by pinkerton »

Hi,

yesterday I had to test a restore of one VM where all disks but the System disk are excluded from the backup job ("System disk only" selected in Exclusions). I chose to restore the entire VM with registration and noticed that the restore failed because the VMX file was not found:

Image

It's also strange that Veeam doesn't even try to restore the VMDK file, even though it is definitively in the backup. For instance: When choosing to restore the VM files only (instead of entire VM with Registration), all files are successfully being restored! It's also visible in the backup logs that everything is correctly backed up.

I tested this with several VMs and it is reproducible on all VMs which have set "System disk only" in the backup Job Settings. We are currently using one VBR Server (6.5.0.128) with vSphere 5. Is this a known issue or am I missing something here?

Thanks
Michael
veremin
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Re: Problem restoring entire VM with excluded disks

Post by veremin »

Do you have “Remove excluded disk from VM configuration” option enabled in the disk exclusion settings? Thanks.
pinkerton
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Re: Problem restoring entire VM with excluded disks

Post by pinkerton »

Thanks for your reply. No - it's not enabled. But in my opinion this shouldn't make a difference. Disabling the Option shouldn't Change the configuration at all and enabling it should only remove the excluded disk. As to my understanding, the system disk should always be present.
veremin
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Re: Problem restoring entire VM with excluded disks

Post by veremin »

If you’re willing to restore smoothly entire VM with excluded disk, this options needs to be selected. Otherwise, restoration task will fail with the said error, and the only option you will have in that case will be “VM files” restore. Thanks.
pinkerton
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Re: Problem restoring entire VM with excluded disks

Post by pinkerton »

Okay, thank you. I will enable this for the corresponding machines and will try a restore once a new backup has run.
veremin
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Re: Problem restoring entire VM with excluded disks

Post by veremin »

The best strategy, indeed. Kindly, keep us updated about the results you get. Thanks.
pinkerton
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Re: Problem restoring entire VM with excluded disks

Post by pinkerton » 1 person likes this post

I just tested a restore and now it is working fine! Thank you.
veremin
Product Manager
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Re: Problem restoring entire VM with excluded disks

Post by veremin »

You’re welcome. Feel free to contact us, should any other questions arise. Thanks.
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