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Andreas Neufert
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VM restore and correct IP address restore - an overview

Post by Andreas Neufert » 3 people like this post

For operating system-based IP configuration:

- Hypervisors dynamically create new MAC addresses for new VMs (even for restore to other VM names in Veeam)

- Restore to the original will preserve the MAC address. The existing NIC configuration of the VM object is used as long as the original VM is still present at VMware. If the VM object was deleted at VMware, then at restore, a new VM object is created and will dynamically get a new MAC address (see above).

- There are operating systems that bind the IP address to the PCI/PCIe slot number like Windows and some Linux versions. After restore IP address is preserved as the network cards are at the same PCI/PCIe slot and the OS binds the IPs again to these slots.

- There are some Linux versions that bind the IP address to the MAC address, and after restore, they lose their static set IP address as a new MAC address is dynamically created (see above). To avoid this, you have 2 options:
  • Contact the Linux vendor and ask for what needs to be configured to bind the IP address to the PCI/PCIe slot number. You can google for solutions within the vendor database where customers lost IP addresses in VMware after cloning/restore/failover
  • In VMware you can also use static MAC addresses that Veeam will preserve at restore. This is a bit tricky as customers need to manage themselves when to change the MAC address (at restore/VMware internal cloning) to avoid having 2 VMs with the same MAC address (resulting in potential downtime of your VM based services). Note: vCenter double MAC error messages for SureBackup/Virtual lab usage can be ignored as the double MAC is in a sandboxed/fenced network, but outside of the virtual-lab or SureBackup usage it must be resolved.
  • Some older Windows versions and specific patch levels lose their IP addresses after restoration. Ensure that you always use the latest updates, specifically for older operating systems.
- When you update Nutanix to AOS 6.7.x / AHV 20230302.207, 20230302.216 there is a bug that creates after next VM reboot a new NIC and you loose the IP address.
https://portal.nutanix.com/page/documen ... 0010yPwSAI
Ensure that you reboot your VMs after this update, set the IP addresses again, and rerun your backup job. This will ensure that you do not lose the IP address after restore (as Nutanix would create new NICs at the first power cycle of the VM – which might be in this case the restore).
- For Nutanix with multiple NICs on the same VM, there is a limitation of the Nutanix API for backup operation that currently does not allow backup vendors to backup and restore the NICs PCI/PCIe slot numbers and at restore Nutanix create them in a Nutanix chosen order and number. In many cases, this leads to the situation that the IP addresses that were bound by the operating system to the
PCI/PCIe slots are not added to the newly created network cards or the wrong slot number. We are working with Nutanix on a feature enhancement (additional Nutanix API features) or workaround on their side to avoid this issue. In the meantime, we advise customers with multiple NIC usage of the same VM to configure the IP addresses for the VM within Nutanix (not within the OS), as the Nutanix API allows us to backup and restore this setting. Another workaround would be to deactivate NICs within the OS instead of deleting the NIC from the VM configuration. In this case, all other NICs will keep their order and slot number at restore. We will update you with additional findings when they arrive from Nutanix.

- Customers that lose the IP address at SureBackup Virtual Lab processing (PING test not successful and research shows that the VM does not preserve IPs) need to check on the above mentioned documentation. In nearly all cases SureBackup exactly does its job and warn you about an restore specific issues. In this case that you would loose your IP addresses because of a misconfiguration outside of Veeam. Please check the required above-mentioned configuration changes.

[Moderator: Added to the forum FAQ: post95287.html#p95287]
Andreas Neufert
VP, Product Management
Posts: 7145
Liked: 1531 times
Joined: May 04, 2011 8:36 am
Full Name: Andreas Neufert
Location: Germany
Contact:

Re: VM restore and correct IP address restore - an overview

Post by Andreas Neufert »

Updated the above text with additional clarifications based on feedback. Thanks community.
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