Restoring VMware datastores

You can restore a datastore or datastores by using the instant_restore command. This command, restores a datastore or datastores and their associated virtual machines that were included in the snapshot backup at a specific point in time. You can restore from network-attached storage (NAS) or storage area network (SAN) storage systems. This type of restore is referred to as an instant restore.

About this task

When you restore a datastore, it overwrites the existing datastore with the virtual machines and files that it contains at the original location. Tivoli® Storage FlashCopy® Manager for VMware reverts the snapshot backup to the state it was in when the snapshot was taken. You specify the datastores to restore by using an input text file.

Procedure

To restore a datastore, enter the following command:

vmcli -f instant_restore -I restoreObjectListFile [-B backup_ID]

restoreObjectListFile

Where the restoreObjectListFile specifies an input text file that contains a list of datastores to restore. This file must have one datastore identifier per line. The identifier can be the URL or name of the datastore.

For example, datastoreurl:ds:///vmfs/volumes/50ade558-4fa9960d-db2c-e41f136af7c8/ or datastorename:Datastore1.

-B backup_ID

You can specify the backup to restore by entering the -B option followed by the backup ID. This option is not mandatory and if not specified the most recent snapshot backup is restored.

For a virtual machine that spans a number of datastores, you must complete the following tasks:

List all the datastores in the input text file.
To exclude a virtual machine from the datastore, on a new line specify an exclamation ! character. This character must be followed by the universal unique identifier (UUID) and value for the virtual machine. The UUID and its value are separated by a colon.
For example, !vminstanceuuid:6a2drae7-02d4-c4be-6g5-c44a1deseb78.

At a future date to restore the excluded virtual machine, use the restore command to restore the virtual machine to its original location after the instant restore.

During an instant restore, the datastore is assigned a new URL when writeable snapshots are restored and the datastore backup was attached previously to any ESX host.

A writeable snapshot can exist on SAN Volume Controller, DS8000®, and Storwize® family storage systems. A writeable snapshot can also exist on a XIV® system when the profile USE_WRITABLE_SNAPSHOTS parameter is set to yes.

If the URL is changed, Tivoli Storage FlashCopy Manager for VMware outputs the original URL from the backup and the new URL for each datastore after a datastore is restored.

Note: Tivoli Storage FlashCopy Manager for VMware creates a list of virtual machines from the datastores and omits any excluded virtual machines that are listed in the input text file. This list is compared to the current list of virtual machines that exist for these datastores on the vCenter Server. To restore, the list of current virtual machines must be a subset or equal to those virtual machines that are listed in the input file.

For example, the datastore named Datastore1 contains one virtual machine named VM1. After the backup snapshot of Datastore1, an extra virtual machine VM2 is added to the datastore. To restore the datastore named Datastore1, the input file must specify Datastore1 as the datastore to restore and must exclude the virtual machine named VM2.

Example

The following example restores datastores from the latest snapshot backup.

vmcli -f instant_restore -I restoreObjectListFile

The datastores to restore are defined in the restoreObjectListFile file. The following example shows a restoreObjectListFile file that identifies three datastores and excludes two virtual machines to restore.

#List of datastores that should be instant restored
	datastoreurl:ds:///vmfs/volumes/50ade558-4fa9960d-db2c-e41f136af7c8/
	datastoreurl:ds:///vmfs/volumes/47ade579-4fa9887d-db2c-k89f158ff67b3/
	datastorename:Datastore1
	
	#List of VMs that are currently contained in the listed datastores 
	#but which will not be part of the instant restore. 
	#these VMs are maybe not part of the backup or they should be excluded from the restore 
	!vminstanceuuid:8a2d7ae7-02dd-c4be-63g5-c44a1desfb75
	!vminstanceuuid:6a2drae7-02d4-c4be-6g5-c44a1deseb78
	vminstanceuuid:ba2dga57-02d5-c43e-63g5-c44a1desf34:on

The following sample shows what is displayed when a datastore is assigned a new URL. The output for each parameter is displayed on one line.

#PARAM DSURL_CHANGED=YES
#PARAM  datastoreurl:ds:///vmfs/volumes/50adfa95-208599ce-b7a4-e41f136af7c8
::newdatastoreurl:ds:///vmfs/volumes/58fdfae4-308de4ce-f45r-441ft364fdk5
#PARAM  datastoreurl:ds:///vmfs/volumes/74ewfa95-208599ce-b7a4-e41f136af7s31
::newdatastoreurl:ds:///vmfs/volumes/12adae4-308de4ce-f45r-441ft364fds2

The parameter DSURL_CHANGED is set to YES. In this sample, two datastore URLs are changed from the original URLs at backup time.

The following format is used to identify when a URL is changed: #PARAM datastoreurl:datastore URL from backup time::newdatastoreurl:new datastore URL after an instant restore.