BackupExec 2010 Restore to VM, will this procedure work?

[rhap4boyz]

We have a physical machine running WIndows 2008 R2 that was backed up using Symantec BackupExec 2010.  The hard drives died and we want to restore from backup to a virtual machine running on VMware ESX.  Is it possible to do?  Will it boot?  What exactly do I restore?

I was thinking about doing it this way.

1. Install Windows 2008 R2 on Virtual Machine (VM)

2. Install BackupExec Remote Agent

3. Use BackupExec to restore to VM

4. Most likely it will not boot.

5. Boot Symantec BackupExec System Recovery CD on VM

6. Backup the virtual machine flat

7. Convert it to virtual machine

8. It should boot now?

Please let me know if this will work!

Thank you

[lmosla]

Hello,

This would work best if you had been using SSR Symantec.System Recovery.  Even so, you could do this with Backup Exec by using a redirected restore job. 

do steps 1-2 and then in step 3 do a redirected restore.  see http://www.symantec.com/business/support/index?page=content&id=HOWTO23032

[rhap4boyz]

Thank you for the answer!

Will doing a redirected restore to VM work for data that was backed up physically and not backed up from a virtual machine in the 1st place? The instruction link seems to be for data that was backed up from a virtual machine in the 1st place.

Once I restore, will it be able to boot? What exactly needs to be restored? system state? data?

[pkh]

Your procedure will not work because the restored VM will not have the necessary drivers to boot up.  Unfortunately, you are not using BE 2012 which has the ability to do B2V.

At best, what you can do is to build a new server and then restore the DATA from the old server to the new server.

[rhap4boyz]

If I upgrade my BackupExec from 2010 to 2012, will I be able to do B2V using backup that was done with BackupExec 2010?

If so, can I simply install BackupExec 2012 on another machine and some how transfer the data from my tape drive to the BackupExec 2012 and restore from there?  The reason for this so that my BackupExec 2010 will stay the same version.

Since the VM will not have the necessary drivers to boot up, will boot up Symantec System Recovery CD to it and do P2V be able to fill it with correct drivers?

[pkh]

If I upgrade my BackupExec from 2010 to 2012, will I be able to do B2V using backup that was done with BackupExec 2010?

If I understand how B2V works correctly, no.  The backup needs to be done using BE 2012 before it can be used for B2V.

Since the VM will not have the necessary drivers to boot up, will boot up Symantec System Recovery CD to it and do P2V be able to fill it with correct drivers?

You need to ask this in the SSR forum.

[Jaydeep_S]

No an upgrade at this point in time would not work. Instead, install windows manually with the same name and follow the Exchange DR setup steps (i.e to setup exchange enviornment using the Disaster Recovery switches). Then use BE to restore the Exchange databases on this server.