Restore entire VM without one drive

[omegagx]

Hi
I need to restore a large file server into a virtual lab environment for testing. The file server is a VM that has 10 hard drives attached to it. I'd like to restore all of them except the large 2TB drive that doesn't fit in my lab environment. I don't see a way to uncheck that drive during the restore process. How do I do that?
Thank you.

[foggy]

Hi Michael, you can use the restore VM disks option instead of the full VM restore. This will require manual VM registration, though.

[Vitaliy S.]

On a side note, why not to use On-Demand Sandbox functionality that spins up the entire VM in the isolated lab and runs directly from the repository?

[omegagx]

Hi Michael, you can use the restore VM disks option instead of the full VM restore. This will require manual VM registration, though.

Using the option you linked to does NOT allow for the direct SAN restore, so we go from speeds of 560MB/sec to 11MB/sec using that option. Looks like it would be a great idea to add to the "Entire VM restore" an option to unselect some disks.

[foggy]

Yes, this would be a valid feature request. Meanwhile you can consider Vitaliy's suggestion, if applicable.

[tsightler]

Foggy linked to restore VM files, but I believe there is actually a better option, restore virtual disks:

https://helpcenter.veeam.com/docs/backu ... tml?ver=95

If you create a VM in your lab with 9 attached disks (they can be empty), then start the "Restore virtual sisks" wizard (not Restore VM files), you can then select the new "target" VM, and select and map each individual disk that you want to restore individually and it will still use any transport mode, including Direct SAN. Not quite as slick as if it were in the full VM restore screen, but not too bad.

[martinic]

Indeed, restoring entire VM with the possibility of excluding disks, would be handy.

OR, separately restoring the "Hyper-V datastore" of a VM, would be handy.

[PetrM]

Hi Peter,

In case of Hyper-V you may use VM files restore to select individual disks or to restore all VM files, looks like that the option corresponds to both of your requests.

Thanks!

[omegagx]

@PetrM - and VMware?

[tsightler]

VMware also has VM files restore option, where you can restore any files that you want, as well as VM disk restore option mentioned above. You could restore, for example, just the VMX file, register it to vCenter, and then perform virtual disk restore of the disks you do want.

If you're attempting to restore an entire VM, but exclude specific disks, I'd say easiest option is to perform instant VM recovery with VM powered off, then detach the disks you don't want and either migrate while powered off, or power on and storage vMotion.

If it's a very large VM with many disks and you want to restore most, but not all of them, the performance of storage vMotion might be a concern, however, you can get creative and do this:

1) Restore VM via IVMR, powered off
2) Use migration in VMware to migrate only configuration to target datastore (takes a few seconds)
3) Use VM disk restore to restore disks to target production datastore/datastores (map to new location during restore)
4) Stop IVMR

Basically, IVMR in this case is just a way to quickly and easily create a shell VM and then you use instant disk recover to recover the actual virtual disks since that can use all of the standard Veeam transport modes and can restore disks in parallel so it's likely faster than Storage vMotion from IVMR.

So there's three different options, all pretty simple.

[omegagx]

you know, this would be way easier if there was just an option to exclude some disks from restoring. Any chance this feature would be ever added? I did ask for it 3 years ago.

[tsightler]

There's always a chance, I don't think it's a bad feature request or anything, I'm just offering options that are available today.

[omegagx]

Yes, this would be a valid feature request. Meanwhile you can consider Vitaliy's suggestion, if applicable.

Any chance you can submit it as a feature request? We did talk about it 3 years ago but I don't think it's in V10 or even on the roadmap yet, unfortunately.

[gregsmid]

Funny how this thread got active again the exact day I need to do this! I'm in the same boat, need to do a full VM restore with just one of the disks excluded. It would be very beneficial to have this as an option, rather than doing a 'VM Files Restore' or a 'Virtual Disks Restore'. Please add my +1 to making it a Feature Request.

@tsightler, just wondering if you've had the "IR then detach the disk" method work. That's along the same lines as I was thinking for my restore today, but after doing the Instant Restore, I couldn't change any of the disks around because of the redirection snapshot that gets created with an IR. I even tried deleting the snapshot first (which completed successfully) but vSphere still wouldn't let me remove a disk. I didn't grab the exact error but it was pretty generic, along the lines of 'invalid configuration for device 1". I'm probably just overlooking something obvious, it's been a long day.

[foggy]

Any chance you can submit it as a feature request? We did talk about it 3 years ago but I don't think it's in V10 or even on the roadmap yet, unfortunately.

Not in v10, right. We prioritize requests based on the demand and value to the product - this topic currently has only three requests for this functionality with a couple of workarounds available, so demand and value are not high. But we're monitoring forums closely and will react appropriately should the situation change.

[tsightler]

@tsightler, just wondering if you've had the "IR then detach the disk" method work. That's along the same lines as I was thinking for my restore today, but after doing the Instant Restore, I couldn't change any of the disks around because of the redirection snapshot that gets created with an IR. I even tried deleting the snapshot first (which completed successfully) but vSphere still wouldn't let me remove a disk. I didn't grab the exact error but it was pretty generic, along the lines of 'invalid configuration for device 1". I'm probably just overlooking something obvious, it's been a long day.

Absolutely, but you do have to delete the snapshot. If you did that and still received an error them I'm not really sure.

However, there is another alternative, use "Restore VM files" to restore just the vmx file, register the VM to the ESXi host with no disks, and then use Instant Disk Restore or Virtual Disk restore to restore only the disks that you want. I just went through the process and, sure, it's more clicks than having this option, but it's not too bad, unless you have lots of disks on the VM. In that latter scenario, the IVMR option is easier for sure.

[gregsmid]

Thanks Tom, restoring the .vmx first and then IR'ing the disks is probably what I'll do next time. Appreciate the advice!

Greg

[omegagx]

Do you know if this feature is on the roadmap for the next version yet? How hard is it really to allow to select which drives to restore?

Not in v10, right. We prioritize requests based on the demand and value to the product - this topic currently has only three requests for this functionality with a couple of workarounds available, so demand and value are not high. But we're monitoring forums closely and will react appropriately should the situation change.

[Vitaliy S.]

Hi Mike,

This feature is not on the roadmap for the next major release, given that there are existing workarounds to address it and features with a higher priority.

Thanks for your feedback anyway!

[steamingPeople]

Hi Vitaliy,

Was this ever implemented?

[Vitaliy S.]

No, this is still in the queue.