Contents of Selected Directory Boxes Grayed Out

[SBMTMiller]

Hello, I am trying to restore a VMDK and all of the available files are grayed out. Surely I am forgetting to do something or something is wrong with the console. Any ideas? 

[SymTerry]

Hello,

It being grayed out could be many things. I would like to get more information about your environment and what your tring to restore to, how the policy is configured, the versions of vmware/nbu, os of the vm.

[SBMTMiller]

What your tring to restore to: Im pointing the restore back to the same server name.

How the policy is configured: It is an SLP which backs up to disk and tape for two months

Versions of vmware/nbu: NBU = 7.5 VMware = 5.10

os of the vm: Windows Server 2008

[Marianne]

How the policy is configured: It is an SLP which backs up to disk and tape for two months

This does not help... The above tells us about backup storage and retention levels, not about VMware backup options.

Please show us policy output on the master server:

bppllist <policy-name> -L

[SBMTMiller]

Policy Name:       vmware_Houston
Options:           0x0
template:          FALSE
audit_reason:         ?
Names:             (none)
Policy Type:       VMware (40)
Active:            yes
Effective date:    06/18/2013 08:26:19
File Restore Raw:  yes
Mult. Data Stream: no
Perform Snapshot Backup:   yes
Snapshot Method:           VMware_v2
Snapshot Method Arguments: file_system_optimization=1,snapact=2,drive_selection=            0,Virtual_machine_backup=2,disable_quiesce=0,nameuse=1,exclude_swap=1,skipnodisk            =0,post_events=1,trantype=nbd:san:hotadd:nbdssl
Perform Offhost Backup:    yes
Backup Copy:               0
Use Data Mover:            no
Data Mover Type:           -1
Use Alternate Client:      no
Alternate Client Name:    
Use Virtual Machine:      1
Hyper-V Server Name:     (none)
Enable Instant Recovery:   no
Policy Priority:   0
Max Jobs/Policy:   Unlimited
Disaster Recovery: 0
Collect BMR Info:  no
Keyword:           (none specified)
Data Classification:       -
Residence is Storage Lifecycle Policy:    no
Client Encrypt:    no
Checkpoint:        no
Residence:         stu_disk_
Volume Pool:       NetBackup
Server Group:      *ANY*
Granular Restore Info:  no
Exchange Source attributes:              no
Exchange DAG Preferred Server: (none defined)
Application Discovery:      yes
Discovery Lifetime:      28800 seconds
ASC Application and attributes: (none defined)
Generation:      68
Ignore Client Direct:  yes
Enable Metadata Indexing:  no
Index server name:  NULL
Use Accelerator:  no
Client/HW/OS/Pri/DMI:   VMware VMware 0 1 0 0 ?
Include:           vmware:/?filter= Datacenter Equal "Houston" AND Displayname NotEqual "XXX" AND Displayname NotEqual "XXX" AND Displayname NotEqual             "XXX" AND Displayname NotEqual "XXX" AND Displayname NotEqual "XXX" AND Powerstate Equal poweredOn
Schedule:              Full
  Type:                FULL (0)
  Calendar sched: Enabled
    Sunday, Week 1
    Sunday, Week 2
    Sunday, Week 3
    Sunday, Week 4
    Sunday, Week 5
    EXCLUDE DATE 0 - 02/09/2014
    EXCLUDE DATE 1 - 04/06/2014
  Maximum MPX:         1
  Synthetic:           0
  Checksum Change Detection: 0
  PFI Recovery:        0
  Retention Level:     0 (1 week)
  u-wind/o/d:          0 0
  Incr Type:           DELTA (0)
  Alt Read Host:       (none defined)
  Max Frag Size:       0 MB
  Number Copies:       1
  Fail on Error:       0
  Residence:           Disk2Tape_2monthDisk_2monthTape
  Volume Pool:         (same as policy volume pool)
  Server Group:        (same as specified for policy)
  Residence is Storage Lifecycle Policy:         1
  Schedule indexing:     0
  Daily Windows:
   Day         Open       Close       W-Open     W-Close
   Sunday      000:00:00  060:00:00   000:00:00  060:00:00
   Monday      000:00:00  000:00:00
   Tuesday     000:00:00  000:00:00
   Wednesday   000:00:00  000:00:00
   Thursday    000:00:00  000:00:00
   Friday      000:00:00  000:00:00
   Saturday    000:00:00  000:00:00
Schedule:              Quarterly
  Type:                FULL (0)
  Calendar sched: Enabled
    SPECIFIC DATE 0 - 06/30/2013
    SPECIFIC DATE 1 - 02/09/2014
    SPECIFIC DATE 2 - 04/06/2014
  Maximum MPX:         1
  Synthetic:           0
  Checksum Change Detection: 0
  PFI Recovery:        0
  Retention Level:     0 (1 week)
  u-wind/o/d:          0 0
  Incr Type:           DELTA (0)
  Alt Read Host:       (none defined)
  Max Frag Size:       0 MB
  Number Copies:       1
  Fail on Error:       0
  Residence:           Disk2Tape_3monthDisk_InfiniteTape
  Volume Pool:         (same as policy volume pool)
  Server Group:        (same as specified for policy)
  Residence is Storage Lifecycle Policy:         1
  Schedule indexing:     0
  Daily Windows:
   Day         Open       Close       W-Open     W-Close
   Sunday      000:00:00  060:00:00   000:00:00  060:00:00
   Monday      000:00:00  000:00:00
   Tuesday     000:00:00  000:00:00
   Wednesday   000:00:00  000:00:00
   Thursday    000:00:00  000:00:00
   Friday      000:00:00  000:00:00
   Saturday    000:00:00  000:00:00
Schedule:              Differential-Backup
  Type:                INCR (1)
  Calendar sched: Enabled
    Monday, Week 1
    Tuesday, Week 1
    Wednesday, Week 1
    Thursday, Week 1
    Monday, Week 2
    Tuesday, Week 2
    Wednesday, Week 2
    Thursday, Week 2
    Monday, Week 3
    Tuesday, Week 3
    Wednesday, Week 3
    Thursday, Week 3
    Monday, Week 4
    Tuesday, Week 4
    Wednesday, Week 4
    Thursday, Week 4
    Monday, Week 5
    Tuesday, Week 5
    Wednesday, Week 5
    Thursday, Week 5
  Maximum MPX:         1
  Synthetic:           0
  Checksum Change Detection: 0
  PFI Recovery:        0
  Retention Level:     0 (1 week)
  u-wind/o/d:          0 0
  Incr Type:           DELTA (0)
  Alt Read Host:       (none defined)
  Max Frag Size:       0 MB
  Number Copies:       1
  Fail on Error:       0
  Residence:           Disk_Only_2weeks
  Volume Pool:         (same as policy volume pool)
  Server Group:        (same as specified for policy)
  Residence is Storage Lifecycle Policy:         1
  Schedule indexing:     0
  Daily Windows:
   Day         Open       Close       W-Open     W-Close
   Sunday      000:00:00  000:00:00
   Monday      018:00:00  036:00:00   042:00:00  060:00:00
   Tuesday     018:00:00  036:00:00   066:00:00  084:00:00
   Wednesday   018:00:00  036:00:00   090:00:00  108:00:00
   Thursday    018:00:00  036:00:00   114:00:00  132:00:00
   Friday      000:00:00  000:00:00
   Saturday    000:00:00  000:00:00
:/home/maintenance #

[Yasuhisa_Ishika]

In VMware backup and recovery, yoi can not restore individual VMDKs. You can only restore whole VMDKs that have been taken at the point of recovery.

BTW, you can configure VMware backup policy to exclude system or data disks.This is applied in backup, but once backup runs you can not select which disks to be recovered after.

[SBMTMiller · Accepted solution]

Ok this is resolved. Its basically user training. 

1. You have to clear the default "Browse Directory" of "/Admin". (Why isnt this blank by default?)

2. Clicking the "Use Backup History to Select Backup Range" in NBU allows me to see the backups and select the date of the VMDK image we want. When selecting the backup, it automatically loads all of the VMDK files needed to make the recovery. Why this isn't more apparant and placed over in the far right corner of the screen is beyond me. It looks like a "sort by" button and is next to the calendar selection button above the binoculars.

3. You actually have to hit refresh after selecting the VMDK file under "Use Backup History to Select Backup Range" otherwise you will just see a blank page.

4. Once you have the VMDK files, you select the Directory Structure tick box and all the VMDK files are checked off and ready to restore.