Backup Restore Testing - Need Some Feedback

[Khue]

So last year, I used the SureBackup process to restore whole VM's and test. SureBackup mounted my VMs from the backups on my DD2500 and got them to run as far as powering them on. All I am largely concerned about is powering on the VMs and validating that the local admin can login. Apart from that, I don't really want them to interact with the network. I am purely restoring them to prove that I can and that they will power up.

The biggest issue with the SureBackup is that it:

• Took forever
• Failed frequently because of timeout

All I want to do is restore the VM and have my ESXi environment power it on. I don't want to overwrite the existing VM and I don't want to interfere with it's production use. Is there a way to do an entire VM restore and register it with vCenter but not overwrite the existing server?

[foggy]

Not getting high performance with SureBackup from deduplicating appliance is somewhat expected. There's also a dedicated thread regarding Data Domain storages.

As another option, you could use full VM restore to alternative location with disabled NIC.

[Gostev]

Here is a feedback from your fellow user with slower Data Domain model > Wow, what a difference!

[Khue]

As another option, you could use full VM restore to alternative location with disabled NIC.

When I do the full VM restore, will it overwrite the existing VM? Like let's say for example I have VM1, VM2, and VM3 in a backup set. If I do a full restore on VM2, what (if any) procedures will I have to take when performing the restore to validate that VM2-restore doesn't over write the existing production VM2 (I had this exact issue with HP's Data Protector Software). In my old software, simply restoring to a different data store didn't prevent the VM-restore from being re-registered with vCenter and nullifying the existing production VM.

[foggy]

When you do full VM restore with Veeam B&R, you have the ability to select restore mode and specifically point it to the new location.

[Khue]

Thanks foggy. I appreciate it.

[Khue]

Follow up question. Is there a way to do a restore but not include a disk or a set of disks? Like say I only wanted to restore a C: and D: partition but I do not want to restore any subsequent partitions.

[foggy]

You can use the Restore VM files option to restore only required files and then register VM in VI.

[Khue]

Okay and then just register the VMX? Maybe edit it to remove the other drive files?

[foggy]

Yes, you might want to remove unneeded drives from configuration.